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Found out a standard upper cabinet is only 12 inches deep and I've been building them 14 for a decade
I was reading through an old woodworking book from the 1970s at a used book store in Denver last month and saw a line saying standard upper cabinets are 12 inches deep. I sat there in the aisle and felt my stomach drop. I've been building mine at 14 inches deep since I started my shop 10 years ago, and nobody ever told me. That extra 2 inches adds up across a whole kitchen, plus it makes the doors heavier and eats counter space below. I called my old boss to ask why he taught me 14, and he just laughed and said he liked the extra room. I've got 3 sets of uppers on a job right now that are all 14, and the homeowner has no idea. Does anyone else build at 14 or am I the only one out here making up my own rules?
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ryan_coleman219d ago
The line that gets me is "the homeowner has no idea." Good. They shouldn't. Most people have no clue what depth their cabinets are and they never will. The 12 inch "standard" came from a time when kitchens were smaller and plates were thinner. Plenty of custom shops run 13 or 14 on purpose, and designers ask for it all the time to fit a deeper microwave or a bigger plate stack. Your old boss laughing about it tells you everything. It was a choice, not a mistake, and it worked for ten years of customers. Nobody has ever walked into a kitchen and said the uppers stick out too far unless they were already looking for something to complain about.
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