How to plan a kitchen layout to scale

Kitchen units come in standard widths, so a kitchen plan is mostly a puzzle of rectangles. Draw them to scale over your room and you'll quickly see what fits.

1. Get the room to scale

   Drag a floor plan or a photo of your sketch onto the board and Calibrate on a measured wall. No plan? Draw one wall as a line, calibrate on it with its real length, then draw the rest at exact sizes: select a line and type its length.

2. Add the units

   Draw a rectangle (R), select it and type its width and depth. Common UK base units are 300, 400, 500, 600, 800 and 1000 mm wide and about 600 mm deep. Duplicate a unit to add more of the same size.

3. Check the gaps

   Use Measure to check walkways and door swings. Kitchen planners commonly aim for around 1 to 1.2 m between facing runs of units.

4. Colour and label

   Use colours for appliances, text for labels, and the pen for notes. Export a JPEG to share with a fitter.

Measure your room properly first

• Measure each wall at worktop height as well as at the floor: walls are rarely perfectly straight.
• Mark windows, doors, radiators, boiler and soil pipe positions.
• Check the ceiling height for tall units.