Free kitchen cabinet cut list calculator

What a kitchen cabinet cut list calculator does

Building a kitchen cabinet means turning one outside box into a stack of carefully sized panels. A kitchen cabinet cut list calculator does that translation for you. You give it the outside dimensions of the cabinet (height, width and depth), say whether it is a base or a wall unit, and it works out the carcass: the two sides, the top and bottom, the back, and any shelves. The cabinet designer in cutlistlab derives these panels parametrically, so it adjusts each size automatically for the material thickness and the way the panels meet. Once the panels exist, the calculator packs them onto full sheets and gives you a numbered cutting plan, a clear cut list, and the number of sheets to buy. Everything runs in your browser, with nothing to install and no account needed.

How to use it

1. Enter the outside dimensions. Type the finished height, width and depth of the cabinet, and pick base or wall. The designer treats this as the outside box and builds the carcass to fit inside it.
2. Lay out shelves, doors and drawers. Add the number of shelves, set one or two doors with a hinge gap, drop in drawer fronts, and add a plinth or toe kick on a base cabinet. Choose your material, including a moisture-resistant board for a cabinet next to the sink.
3. Get the panel sizes and cutting plan. The calculator returns every panel at its exact size (sides, top and bottom, back, shelves, doors and drawer fronts) and lays them out on your sheets with the least waste. You see the layout as a drawing and the cuts listed in order.
4. Check why it saves material. The optimizer tries several packing strategies and keeps the best one, so you usually need fewer sheets than you would by eye. Add offcuts from earlier projects and it uses those first.

Why it saves material (and money)

Sheet goods for a kitchen are not cheap, so every panel that fits onto an existing sheet is money kept. Working from the outside dimensions also removes the most common building mistake: forgetting to subtract the material thickness when the sides, top and bottom overlap. A few things make a real difference on a cabinet build:

• Doors and hinges. Doors are sized down from the opening to leave a hinge gap and a reveal, so they swing without binding. The calculator handles that gap for you.
• Plinth and depth. A base cabinet sits on a plinth or toe kick, which changes the carcass height. The designer keeps the finished height correct.
• Kerf and offcuts. The blade width is included on every cut, and leftover panels are used before a fresh sheet, so the plan is realistic rather than theoretical.

A worked example

Here is a typical base cabinet so you can see the cut list before you start. As an example, a 600 mm wide base unit in 18 mm board needs two side panels, a bottom, two top stretchers (front and back rails), a back panel and one adjustable shelf. The cabinet designer (kast-helper) builds this part list automatically from a handful of measurements: width, depth and height. You set grain direction so the visible faces run the right way, and the kerf so the saw width is accounted for.

With these parts the optimizer packs onto about one sheet of 18 mm, roughly 20% offcut in this example, and gives you a numbered cutting order to follow at the saw. You can switch the goal between least waste, fewest cuts and lowest cost, drag a part by hand if you want, and send any usable leftover to your offcut stock for the next job. Edge banding allowance, labels, CSV export and mm or inch units are all there too.

Frequently asked questions