How To Measure Your Laundry Room

Precision Is Key

Measuring is a compulsory process when planning to renovate any room in your home or building. Whether you create mood boards or plan your design first, measuring always has to be done at the initial stage of the renovation project.

What to Measure In Your Laundry room

Wall to wall measurements of the entire room.
Floor to ceiling measurements, important to understand the maximum height of your cabinetry. It's a good idea to take the floor to ceiling measurement in each corner, especially in older homes.
Measure the floor from one end of the room to the other. Skirting boards are usually cut to make way for cabinetry so we need to add their depth back into the overall dimensions. Also make sure floors are level. If your floors are not level, you can speak to a licensed builder to do this for you. If you want to try it at home, you can use a Laser Level which projects a beam over a long distance.
Size and location of doors and windows. Note how much room is needed for doors to open as well as which way the doors open.
Waste & pipe positions, essential if you plan to relocate plumbing fixtures.
Location of light switches, PowerPoints and/or future PowerPoint locations, remembering you need PowerPoints for your washing machine, dryer and a couple accessible above the bench for smaller appliances .
Any other features that may obstruct your proposed reno, such as low hanging lights, fans, shelves.

Common dimensions used by each fixture

The commonly used unit of measurements in the building industry is millimetres (mm). Lengths, widths, depths and heights are usually given in millimetres. Where larger dimensions are shown such as the floor plan area of a room, metres will be used. Centimetres are rarely used.

Important cabinet measurements

Depth: Measure the side of your cabinets, from the front of the cabinet to where it meets the wall. This measures how deep it is within your cabinet.
Width: Measure the front of your cabinets from side to side, starting at one end of the cabinet to the other.
Height: measured from the base of an object to the top or measured from floor up. Measure the front of your cabinets from the floor to the top of the counter or, for wall cabinets, the top of the cabinet to the bottom.

Measuring specific cabinet types

All cabinetry styles follow the same measurement guide as explained above. If you are a first time renovator, figuring out where to measure for the Depth, Width and Height of a cabinet will become intuitive with continued research and hands on experience.

Here's the measurements for each cabinetry style explained:

Floor or Base Cabinets:

Blind Corner Cabinets:

This cabinet is used where you have cabinets continuing round a corner. The Blind Corner Cabinet extends to the adjacent wall, behind the adjacent cabinetry. Imagine a long cabinet with just one door. As items positioned toward the far end of the cabinet can be harder to reach, it is a good idea to incorporate storage baskets or boxes to make items more accessible.

Wall Cabinets:

Wall cabinets can be fitted on the wall above your laundry working area, usually between 500mm and 700mm above your benchtop. Wall cabinets are a great option to create additional storage space, especially in smaller rooms where storage space is a premium. Measure from wall to wall and keep in mind where windows are and any lights, fans or other features that may affect the amount of space available for this cabinetry style.

Corner Wall Cabinets:

This cabinetry style is fitted to the wall above the base cabinetry to fit the corner. To make sure this cabinet fit’s into place, measure from the corner of your wall to the right for the width and then measure from the corner of your wall to the left for the length of your cabinet.

Open Shelves:

Open shelves can be positioned below, or in place of wall cabinets to store items that are used regularly. With open shelves having no cabinet doors and only a base, it is best to install open shelves at an easily accessible height above the benchtop to store items you would use on a daily basis.

Tall Cabinets:

Tall cabinets are usually placed at the end of the room in a laundry floor plan in order to keep the height of cabinetry consistent and fit perfectly with the flow of wall cabinets. The most important measurement for this cabinetry style is the height. Make sure the height of your tall cabinets fits perfectly in your room or proposed space and is not obstructed by lights, ceiling fans and any other feature in your laundry room.

End and Filler Panels:

Where your cabinetry is finishing against a wall, you will require a filler panel. This fills any space between the wall and your cabinetry and allows doors to open completely without hitting the wall. Where your cabinetry finishes within the room you will require an end panel. Cabinet carcasses are white and are ‘dressed’ in coloured panels. End panels ensure that any visible cabinet ends are dressed. If you are leaving a gap between cabinets for a washing machine, you may also like to incorporate end panels on either side of the gap.

Know your Sink

Consider the size, style and shape of your sink when measuring your laundry dimensions. Will your sink be stand alone with a built-in cabinet, or need to be recessed into your cabinet top? Check out a small selection of laundry sinks & tubs below, or view our whole range available here!

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Tools to help you measure

Pen and grid paper

Our Technical Drawings

Or contact us for expert advice!

Filed in: Room:Laundry

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