How Do You Measure Cabinet Doors?

Ordering new or replacement kitchen cabinet doors can be an exciting time. One of the most important steps for in a kitchen remodel or cabinet door refacing project actually happens before any products are ordered. That step in measuring. To measure your cabinet doors, you will need a tape measure and something to record the measurements with. Next, take down the width and height of the cabinet door and write them down in that order. If you don't have a cabinet door to measure, then you can measure the cabinet box opening and add your desired overlay.

However, this method only works if the cabinet box opening is covered by a single door. If you have split cabinet doors, then you will have to do some math. Luckily, you will only need to use the formula to determine the width for your split cabinet doors. The height can be determined in the same way as a single door cabinet. Simply measure the height of the cabinet box opening, and then add your desired overlay.

Download the Printable Measuring Guide

Formula for Measuring Split Cabinet Doors

Like with single door cabinets, if you already have your cabinet doors, you can use a tape measure to measure the width and height of the doors. You will need to first measure the width of your cabinet box, then follow these steps

1. Take your desired overlay and multiply by 2. This way you are taking into account both the left and right sides.
2. Next, take that number and add it to the width of your cabinet box.
3. Once you have that, divide by 2.
4. While you might be tempted to stop here, there are a few more vital steps. Next, we need to account for the reveal. The reveal is the distance between you cabinet doors. This is important because it ensures your doors won't bang against each other. Typically, a reveal of 1/8" is recommended.
5. Before we can take off the reveal, we will need to divide it by 2 to account for both doors.
6. All that is left to do is subtract that from the result you got in step 3.
7. At CabinetNow, you can order your new or replacement cabinet doors and drawer fronts to the 1/16 of an inch, so be as precise as you can be!