Kitchen Base Cabinet Sizes and Dimensions

A base cabinet has three numbers worth memorizing, and only one of them ever changes. The standard base cabinet is 34½ inches tall and 24 inches deep, every time, on every box in the run. The third number — the width — is the one you actually design with, and it steps from 9 inches up to 45 inches in 3-inch jumps. Learn how those three numbers behave and you can sketch a working base run on graph paper before you ask anyone for a price.

Most "standard cabinet sizes" guides hand you a single chart that lumps base, wall, and tall cabinets together and call it a day. This one stays on the floor cabinets, goes configuration by configuration, and ties each size to a cabinet we actually stock and ship. We're TC Wholesale Cabinetry in Tampa, we sell these base cabinets all-wood and in six shaker finishes, and the SKUs named below are real boxes you can order. So you're not just reading dimensions here — you're reading the menu.

The Three Numbers on a Base Cabinet

Picture the run of cabinets your countertop sits on. Every one of those boxes shares two fixed dimensions: 34½ inches of height and 24 inches of depth. Those don't move from a 9-inch filler cabinet to a 42-inch sink run. What moves is the width, and the whole craft of planning a base layout is choosing widths that fill your walls cleanly.

Height and depth are the constants, so we'll explain why they are what they are first, then spend most of the guide on width and configuration — because that's where the real decisions live.

Why a Base Cabinet Is 34½ Inches Tall, Not 36

People quote kitchen counters at "36 inches," and that's the right number for the finished height you cook at. But the cabinet itself is 34½ inches tall. The difference is the countertop. The box gives you 34½ inches; the top you set on it adds the rest, and together they land at the familiar working height.

This trips up first-time planners, so it's worth being precise: the cabinet does not measure 36 inches, and a countertop does not magically close a 1½-inch gap on its own thickness. The 34½-inch box plus a countertop is what gets you there. When you measure for appliances — a dishwasher slides under the counter, a slide-in range sits beside the boxes — you plan around the 34½-inch cabinet height and then account for the top separately. Every base cabinet we sell is built to that same 34½-inch case height, so the run stays dead level across single-door boxes, drawer stacks, sink bases, and corners alike.

The 24-Inch Depth, and When You'd Go Shallower

Standard base depth is 24 inches, measured from the wall to the front of the cabinet box. That depth is what makes a base cabinet feel like a base cabinet: it holds a sink, it lines up under a standard countertop with a small overhang, and it leaves room for plumbing and disposals behind a sink base.

You don't usually change it. The 24-inch depth is the default on every base box we stock, and matching it across the run is what keeps your countertop a straight, continuous plane. The times people reduce base depth are special cases — a shallow run along a peninsula to keep a walkway open, or a spot where a cabinet has to clear a radiator or a chase. Those are custom situations. For a normal kitchen wall, plan on 24 inches and don't overthink it.

Base Cabinet Widths: the 9-to-45-Inch Ladder in 3-Inch Steps

Here's the number you design with. Base cabinet widths climb from 9 inches to 45 inches, and almost always in 3-inch increments — 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 45. That 3-inch ladder is the quiet logic behind every stock cabinet line, and it's why you can plan a kitchen without a custom shop: pick boxes off the ladder, line them up, and absorb the leftover inches with a filler.

The width also tells you, roughly, what kind of box you're looking at. Narrow widths from 9 to 21 inches are single-door cabinets — one door, one interior shelf, one top drawer. At 24 inches and up, the opening is wide enough that a single door would sag and swing awkwardly, so those boxes get two doors. Drawer bases, sink bases, and corner units have their own width rules, which we'll cover one type at a time below.

How to Fill a Run with Standard Widths

This is the part the chart guides skip, and it's the part that actually saves you from a cabinet that won't fit. Say a wall measures 94 inches. You don't order a 94-inch cabinet — there's no such thing. You fill the run with standard boxes off the 3-inch ladder, then cover the small remainder with a filler strip.

A few rules make this painless:

• Always round down to the next standard width, never up. A box that's half an inch too wide cannot be installed; a small gap disappears behind a filler.
• Lay your sink base in first. The sink location is usually fixed by the plumbing, so place that box, then build out from it in both directions with the widest standard cabinets that fit.
• Treat the leftover inches as a filler, not a problem. Fillers are trimmed strips that absorb the odd remainder and keep doors and drawers from binding against a wall or each other. Every run has one or two.
• Leave clearances. Aim for roughly 42 inches of aisle between facing runs so doors, drawers, and the dishwasher can all open without a standoff.

If you'd rather not do this math by eye, our companion guide on measuring your kitchen walks through recording the walls and turning them into a cut list, and our team will review your sketch before anything ships. That review is the cheapest insurance in the whole project.

Single-Door vs Double-Door Base Cabinets

Single-door base cabinets cover the narrow end of the ladder, from 9 to 21 inches. Each one is a single door over one fixed shelf with a top drawer — the B09 (9 inches), B12 (12 inches), B15 (15 inches), B18 (18 inches), and B21 (21 inches). The B09 and B12 are the workhorses for filling tight spots beside a range or at the end of a run, while the B18 and B21 give you a genuinely useful single cabinet of everyday storage.

At 24 inches the box switches to two doors, because a single 24-inch door is too wide to hang well. Double-door bases run from the B24 (24 inches) up through the B27, B30, B33, B36, B39, and B42 — same 34½-by-24 case, same top drawer, just a wider opening split by a pair of doors. The B30 and B36 are the most-ordered widths in most kitchens; they swallow large pots and small appliances and anchor the runs on either side of a sink or range. Pick the width that fits the gap, and the door count takes care of itself.

Three-Drawer Base Cabinets

When you want drawers instead of a door-and-shelf, you order a drawer base. These are all-drawer boxes — typically three graduated drawers, shallow at the top for utensils and deeper at the bottom for pots, pans, and mixing bowls. They're the cabinet you put beside a range, where reaching down into a drawer beats bending into a low shelf.

Drawer bases follow the same width ladder: the DB12, DB15, DB18, DB21, DB24, DB30, and DB36. A pair of them flanking a cooktop is one of the most useful moves in a working kitchen. Same 34½-by-24 case as every other base box, so they drop straight into the run at level height — you're only choosing width and how many drawer stacks you want.

Sink Base Cabinets

A sink base is built to do one job: clear out the inside so the sink, faucet plumbing, disposal, and supply lines all have room. So it's the one base box that breaks the usual layout. Instead of a real top drawer, it wears a false drawer front — a fixed panel that matches the look of the run while leaving the space behind it open for the sink bowl. And there's no interior shelf, because the plumbing needs the height.

The standard sink base is 36 inches wide (the SB36), with a 33-inch version (the SB33) for tighter runs. Behind its two doors, the SB36 is wide enough to seat a standard drop-in or undermount sink with room on either side for the trap and the disposal. Because the sink location is usually fixed by your existing plumbing, this is the box you place first when you plan the run, then build out from it with door and drawer bases. If you're fitting a farmhouse or apron sink, that's a different front than a standard sink base — tell us what sink you're setting and we'll point you to the right box.

Corner Base Cabinets: Blind Corner and Lazy Susan

Corners are where storage goes to die, and a corner base cabinet is how you get it back. Where two runs of cabinets meet at a right angle, a standard box would leave a dead, unreachable cavity behind it. Two designs solve that.

A blind corner base lets one run "die into" the corner behind the adjacent run, with a door and an access opening on the reachable side. Our blind corner bases come in 33-, 39-, and 45-inch widths, each with a door, a drawer, and a shelf — sized so the face fills the corner while the blind section tucks behind the neighboring cabinets. A lazy susan corner takes the opposite approach: a rotating shelf that spins the back of the corner out to your hand. Both recover storage you'd otherwise lose; which one fits depends on how your two runs meet and how you like to reach into a corner.

Specialty Bases: Microwave, Spice Rack, Waste Basket, Base End Shelf

Beyond the four main types, a few purpose-built base boxes solve specific problems in the run:

• A microwave base gives a built-in microwave a dedicated home below the counter, freeing your countertop.
• A spice rack base is a narrow pull-out that turns a slim gap into organized spice and bottle storage.
• A waste basket base hides one or two bins behind a door or front, keeping the trash out of sight and off the floor.
• A base end shelf finishes the exposed end of a run with open display shelving instead of a flat panel.

These slot into the same 34½-by-24 run as everything else, so you can drop one in wherever it earns its place without breaking the line of the counter.

RTA vs Assembled — Same Box, Two Ways to Buy It

Every base cabinet here comes two ways, and the choice doesn't change a single dimension — it changes how the box ships and who puts it together. Ready-to-assemble (RTA) cabinets ship flat. You pay less freight because you're not trucking around empty air, and you assemble the boxes on site before they go up. Assembled cabinets arrive built and ready to hang, so you skip the assembly step entirely; the trade-off is that they take more room on the truck.

Neither is automatically cheaper overall — RTA tends to win for a handy DIYer or a crew with time, while assembled wins when you want the install moving fast. The cabinets are identical either way: all-wood plywood cases, solid-wood doors and face frames, soft-close hardware. If you're doing the install yourself, our base-cabinet installation guide walks through setting and leveling a base run step by step.

From Dimensions to an Order: Samples, Stock, and a Written Quote

Once you've got your widths penciled in, turning a sketch into an order is short. We ship free full-size door samples — actual doors, not chips — so you can set a finish in your own kitchen light before you commit; they usually land in three to five business days. Our Tampa warehouse keeps the core base sizes and finishes on the shelf, so stock items are often ready within days, and anything special-order gets a confirmed timeline written on the quote.

Send your measurements, a rough sketch, or even just a list of the base cabinets you think you need, and our in-house team turns it into a written wholesale quote. From there it's your call how it reaches you: pick up at the Tampa warehouse, take local delivery, or have it freighted to a farther job. We sell to the trade at wholesale, and homeowners are welcome too. When you're ready for a real number, reach out through our contact page or call (813) 644-2034.