41 guides on how furniture is designed and made: the dimensions a kitchen is built on, what a cabinet is cut from, how the parts are joined, and the details that decide whether it still looks right in ten years. Every number in them is checked against how we actually build, and where we cannot do something, the page says so.
Open the editor →The numbers a kitchen is built on, and how to tell which of them your room will allow.
Every height, depth and width, and why the numbers are consequences of each other rather than a list to memorise.
The five layouts, the clearances each needs, and which figure on the wall is building code rather than guidance.
Why base cabinets are twice as deep as wall cabinets, and when a shallow one is the right answer.
The 18 inch gap, where it comes from, and what 15 or 20 inches each buy you.
The elbow rule, why a sink and a pastry board want different heights, and what a custom counter costs in appliances.
How much room an island needs on every side, the seating overhang, and when a peninsula is the better answer.
Lazy susan, blind corner or diagonal, how much of the corner each gives back, and the option of leaving it empty.
What a dishwasher, oven and fridge need, and why an oven cabinet arrives with a niche too small on purpose.
The parts, the joints and the things that look structural and are not.
Every part named, what each does, and the parts that should not be in the cabinet at all.
Dowels, cam locks and face-fixed connectors, and why the edge of a board is the worst place for a screw.
Five ways to build a back, what stops a box racking, and how a wall cabinet actually hangs.
Fixed against adjustable, how far a shelf can span, and why span beats material every time.
How a cabinet meets the floor, and what that decides about levelling, water and looks.
Screwed, connectored, dowelled, dovetailed or metal-sided, and what each does to the cut list.
The order that saves you taking it apart again, and the mistakes that damage a panel permanently.
What furniture is cut from, and what water does to each of them.
The board in each part of a cabinet, part by part, and how thick it is.
How the three compare, and why every well-made cabinet combines them instead of choosing one.
Tape material, thickness and colour, and which edges get sealed as standard.
Where water gets into a cabinet, what moisture-resistant board buys you, and which hidden edges are worth sealing.
The parts you touch, which decide how a cabinet feels to live with.
Flat, shaker, fluted and milled fronts, shown side by side in the same cabinet.
How the front sits on the box, and what the tighter fit costs.
The two ways to build the front of a carcass, and what a face frame takes from the opening.
Opening angles, how many a door needs by height, and why wide doors sag rather than tall ones.
Roller, ball-bearing and concealed undermount, and what each does to how a drawer feels.
Why drawer banks replaced cupboards below the counter, and where a door is still right.
Sizing storage around clothes rather than around a catalogue.
Depth from a coat hanger, the three hanging zones, and the shelf depths that work.
The room width each layout needs, and when an island costs more than it stores.
Garment lengths, how much rail one person needs, and the clearances around a rail.
What a fitted run gains, what you leave behind when you move, and the hybrid nobody mentions.
Shallow depths that still hold a hanger, and why the door swing decides the room.
The furniture beside and around a bed.
There is no standard height, only a relationship: the mattress sets it.
Height from the mirror, depth from folded clothes, and why the drawers should not all be the same.
Heights a child can reach, why open storage gets tidied, and the wall fixing that is not optional.
Cabinetry with electronics in it.
The rooms that are harder on furniture than the rest of the house.
Getting everything off a floor that is wet by design, and what board does in a room that freezes.
Why a top-loading lid changes every answer, and what steam and standing water do over time.
Why deep shelves hide food, and how to space shelves to what you actually buy.
Before any of it is built.
What made to order means here, and an honest comparison against stock, IKEA and semi-custom.
What drives the price, and what makes up the cost of a single cabinet.
Measuring walls at three heights, recording the obstacles, and who should take the final measurements.
Every rule in these guides is already applied when you draw a cabinet: the hinges are counted from the door height, the drilling comes off the hardware, and the parts list prices itself. Start with a size and change it until it fits your wall.