Quick answer
A kitchen site measure is a 45 to 90 minute appointment where the manufacturer measures your room before anything is cut: walls at three heights, floor level, window and sill heights, and services positions. Final dimensions come from the site, not the plan. Have appliance model numbers and finish choices ready, because handing, gaps and overhangs get locked that day.
Key points
- One measurer, usually 45 to 90 minutes, with a laser level, tape and template sheets; a technical visit with nothing for sale.
- Walls get measured at three heights because they bow; the tightest number is the one the cabinets are built to.
- Appliance models get locked: a dishwasher at 600 mm wide and 820 to 850 mm tall has to live under a 900 mm bench, after flooring.
- Handing, fillers, overhangs and clearances are decided in the room and written down; changing them once the drawings are signed off is a variation.
- Have model numbers, finishes and your flooring plan ready, and the measure turns from an inspection into a working session.
Along the skirting, the wall behind your old kitchen measures 3,610 mm. At shoulder height the same wall measures 3,596. Nothing is wrong with your house. Framing and plasterboard bow a little in almost every room ever built, and cabinets are square, so somebody has to find those numbers before a saw starts.
That is the site measure: the appointment between accepting a quote and the cutting list going to the workshop, where the kitchen stops being a drawing and becomes a set of real dimensions. Here is what happens from your side of it, what gets decided in the room, and the small amount of preparation that makes the finished kitchen measurably better.
Who turns up, and how long it takes
Expect one person, often the installer who will fit the kitchen or the person who priced it, carrying a laser level, a tape and a template or measure sheet. A standard kitchen takes 45 to 90 minutes; a big room with an island, or a house with wonky bones, runs longer. It is a technical visit. Nobody should be selling you anything, and the money conversation belongs before or after rather than in the middle of the measuring.
What comes out of the visit is a measured drawing that becomes the manufacturing spec: every cabinet width, every gap, every appliance space, in millimetres. If you want to understand that document before you sign it off, the kitchen spec document explained walks through it line by line.
What actually gets measured at a kitchen site measure?
- Walls at three heights: at the floor, at the 900 mm bench line, and up near the 2,220 mm top of the tall cabinets. They bow, and the tightest measurement is the one the run gets built to.
- Overall lengths wall to wall, at both ends of the room, because opposite walls are rarely parallel.
- Floor level along the cabinet run. The 150 mm toe kick and adjustable feet absorb a lot, but the installer needs to know where the high point is.
- Window and sill heights. Villa and bungalow sills often sit 750 to 850 mm off the floor, below the 900 mm bench line, and that clash has to be resolved on paper, not on install day.
- Services: where the water, waste and power actually are, which power points survive, and what the cooktop circuit looks like.
- Ceiling height, door swings, hallway and door widths on the delivery path, and anything that will fight a 2,220 mm pantry tower getting into the room.
The measure checks the room at the heights that matter: floor, bench line, sill, and the top of the towers.
If your sills sit below bench height, there are three honest options: drop the benchtop to a lower level at the window run, stop the run short of the window, or raise the sill if the window joinery is being replaced anyway. Each has a cost and a look, and the measure is where that decision gets made with real numbers instead of hope.
The appliance numbers that get locked
Cabinets get built around appliances, so the measurer wants model numbers rather than descriptions; 'a normal dishwasher' has no width.
| Appliance | The numbers | Why it matters on the day |
|---|---|---|
| Dishwasher | 600 mm wide, roughly 820-850 mm tall, adjustable feet | Must fit under the 900 mm bench after flooring thickness is counted |
| Freestanding stove | 595 mm appliance into a 600 mm gap | The gap is set by cabinet spacing fixed at the measure |
| Fridge | Cavity commonly 900-1,000 mm wide, 1,800 mm plus high | Needs about 20 mm side clearance and the maker's ventilation top and rear |
| Wall oven | Oven floor set 700-900 mm off the floor | Position built into the 2,220 mm tall tower, decided that day |
Integrated dishwashers and fridges add one more item each: a matching door panel and a hinge kit, which have to be in the cutting list from the start. An induction cooktop usually needs its own circuit, often 32 A, run by an electrician, so the measure is also where someone confirms the power is real rather than assumed.
Why the final millimetres come from the site, not the plan
The plan of your kitchen says the wall is 3,600 mm. Measured at bench height, the wall says 3,588. Cabinets come in modules, 600 mm as the default, and the difference between plan and reality gets taken up by filler panels and scribes that are sized from the site measure. Build to the plan instead and one of two things happens: a benchtop 6 mm too long that will not drop in, or a run 6 mm short with a gap you will look at for fifteen years.
This is also why a quote can be priced from your plan or photos, but nothing gets manufactured until the site is measured. The two measurements have different jobs. If the measured room matches the plan you were quoted from, the price holds; where walls, windows or services differ materially from what was priced, the difference gets priced and agreed as a variation before manufacture starts. That distinction matters even more on new builds and renovations where walls move between quote and fit-out, which is the territory covered in site measure versus plan measure, and the cost of skipping it is documented in why approximate kitchen measurements cost you.
Decisions that get locked in the room
A surprising amount of the kitchen's daily feel gets settled in this one visit, usually in the last twenty minutes. These are the ones worth having an opinion on before the measurer arrives.
- Handing: which side of the sink the dishwasher sits, and which way corner solutions open.
- Breakfast bar overhang: 300 mm is comfortable for knees, 250 mm is the workable minimum, and past about 300 mm the top needs brackets or engineered support.
- Island clearances: 900 mm minimum all round, and 1,050 to 1,200 mm on the dishwasher side so an open door and a standing human coexist.
- Filler placement: whether the spare millimetres hide against the wall, in the corner, or split across both ends.
- The splashback zone: the 600 mm between bench and uppers, and what happens where it meets the window.
What you should have ready
- Appliance model numbers for everything, emailed ahead so the measurer arrives with the spec sheets.
- Finishes decided, or close to it: door colour, benchtop, handles. The decor codes go on the spec.
- Your sink and tap choice, since bowl size drives the sink cabinet and undermounting needs the right benchtop material.
- The flooring plan: what goes under the cabinets, what butts against them, and its thickness, because floor build-up changes toe kick heights and dishwasher headroom.
- Any wall work finished or clearly scoped, and a decision on who removes the old kitchen.
What happens after the measure
The measured dimensions go into final drawings, you get them to check and sign off, and manufacture starts against a delivery window. From your side the sequence runs: measure, confirm drawings, wait while the workshop cuts and assembles, then install. If you are still at the beginning of that chain, what happens after a kitchen quote request covers the front end, and what a good install day looks like covers the finish.
The one thing not to do in that window is quietly change the room. New flooring, a moved power point, a different fridge: all fine, but each one has to reach the person holding the cutting list before the saw does.
The 48 hours before your measure
Collect the appliance model numbers into one email and send them. Settle the finishes you have been circling. Decide the flooring question, even provisionally, and be ready to say what is happening under the cabinets. Clear enough bench and floor space for a laser and a person to work, and write down the two or three things you are unsure about, because the measurer is the right person to ask and the room is the right place to ask it.
We run the same appointment ourselves on every job, supply-only or supply and install: the site measure locks final dimensions before manufacture, and the drawings that follow show every cabinet width in millimetres. An hour of your preparation buys a kitchen that fits the house it is actually going into, which is the entire point of measuring.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a kitchen site measure take?
Commonly 45 to 90 minutes for a standard kitchen. A larger room, an island, or an older house with bowed walls and uneven floors pushes it toward the long end, because walls get measured at three heights and the floor gets checked for level along the whole run. Rushing it is false economy; the measure is what makes the cabinets fit.
Do I need to be home for the site measure?
You, or someone empowered to make decisions, yes. Handing, filler placement, overhangs and appliance positions get locked during the visit, and they are daily-life decisions rather than technical ones. If you truly cannot be there, send written answers for those questions ahead of time and be reachable by phone while the measurer is in the room.
What should I have ready for a kitchen site measure?
Appliance model numbers for the dishwasher, cooktop, oven and fridge, ideally emailed ahead; decided finishes and handles; your sink and tap choice; the flooring plan including thickness; and any wall or window work either finished or clearly scoped. With those ready, the measure locks everything in one visit instead of generating a week of follow-up questions.
Why do they measure the walls at three heights?
Because walls bow. A wall can read 3,610 mm at the skirting and 3,596 mm at shoulder height, and cabinets are square, so the run gets built to the tightest measurement with fillers and scribes taking up the difference. Measuring at floor, bench line and tower height finds the tight spot before manufacture rather than on install day.
Can I change the design after the site measure?
Before you sign off the final drawings, yes, freely. After sign-off the cutting list goes to the workshop, and changes become variations that cost money and usually programme time, because parts are already cut to the old dimensions. If something must change, tell the manufacturer the moment you know, since the price of a change climbs steeply once the saw starts.
What if I have not chosen flooring yet?
Tell the measurer exactly that, and agree an assumption in writing. Floor build-up changes toe kick scribing and the headroom a dishwasher needs under a 900 mm bench, so an 8 mm laminate versus a 20 mm tile job are different kitchens at the bottom edge. An assumed thickness that later changes is a small variation; a surprise discovered at install is a bad morning.
Is the site measure the same as the quote visit?
No. A quote fixes the scope and the money, and can be priced from your plan, sketch or photos before anyone visits. The site measure happens after you accept, and it fixes the physical dimensions before manufacture. Final millimetres always come from the house, which is why nothing gets cut until someone has stood in the room with a laser.
Can the price change after the site measure?
If the room matches the plan or photos the quote was priced from, the price holds; the measure exists to confirm dimensions, and normal filler and scribe adjustments are part of the job. Where the site differs materially from what was priced, say a longer run, a moved window or services in the wrong place, the difference gets priced and agreed as a variation before manufacture starts, never discovered on the invoice.