Kitchen Wall Units (January 5, 2009)

Introduction

Wall cabinets are available in at least two different heights. Those that you choose will largely be determined by the height of your ceilings, bearing in mind that a gap of at least 450mm (18in) should be left above the worktop, and that the highest practical shelf is 1060mm (42in) above the worktop.

The following guide is intended to illustrate the size and shape of the units that are commonly available. Your specific kitchen supplier will be able to provide full details and dimensions of their own particular cabinets.

Standard wall units

The standard depth of a wall unit is 300mm (12in) including the door, which means that a 30cm plate won¡¯t fit flat inside the cupboard. Some manufacturers therefore also produce wall cabinets that are a little deeper at about 340mm (13⅜in) to get round this problem.

With one door, these units are generally available in widths of 300mm, 400mm, 500mm and 600mm (12in, 15¾in, 19½in and 24in). A pair of doors is attached to units of width 600mm, 800mm, 900mm and 1000mm (24in, 31½in, 34½in and 39⅜in).

Bridging units

Shallow wall cabinets called bridging units are also developed to be hung above a hob (no closer than 760mm (30in)) or to traverse across a window or hang above shelves. These are usually 35cm (13¾in) high and 600mm (24in) wide.

Dresser units

For that extra bit of storage space, wall units that sit directly on the worktop and traverse all the way up to the top of the normal wall cabinets are available. Shelving is often hidden behind an aluminium or wooden ¡®shutter¡¯ door that rolls up and down the full height of the unit, or these dresser units can include a combination of cupboards and drawers.

These units are generally 600mm (24in) or 500mm (15¾in) wide, 300cm (12in) deep and about 1200mm (47¼in) tall.

Corner units

Several different cabinets are available for optimising the huge amount of space that exists in corners where two perpendicular runs of cupboards meet.

With the help of various clever mechanisms such as carousels and Vario corner wirework, access to the very deepest parts of these cupboards is made simple and easy.

Open ended shelves