Cabinet Linear Footage Calculator

Convert kitchen cabinet runs into linear feet, countertop square footage and a rough budget.

Draft — figures checked, awaiting an editorial read. Not indexed.

Formula: Linear feet = base + wall + tall runs. Countertop ft² = base run × (25 ÷ 12). Cost = each run × its price per foot.

What this calculates

Kitchen cabinets are quoted in linear feet, and the number of linear feet in a kitchen is much less obvious than it sounds because base, wall and tall cabinets are priced quite differently and measured separately. This adds the three runs, converts the base run into countertop square footage, and applies a per-foot price to each to produce a rough budget. It is a planning tool for the stage before you have a quote, and useful mainly for sanity-checking one when it arrives.

How it works

Each run is measured along the wall in feet — a straight 10 foot wall of base cabinets is 10 linear feet regardless of how many individual cabinet boxes make it up. The three runs add to a total. Countertop area comes from the base run multiplied by a standard 25 inch depth converted to feet, which is 2.083, since countertops are quoted by the square foot and overhang the 24 inch cabinet box by an inch. The cost estimate multiplies each run by its own price per foot, because upper cabinets are typically the cheapest per foot and tall pantry units the most expensive.

Worked example

A kitchen with 14 feet of base cabinets, 12 feet of wall cabinets and a 3 foot pantry. Total: 29 linear feet. Countertop: 14 × 2.083 = 29.2 square feet. At $250 per foot for base, $175 for wall and $400 for tall, the cabinet cost is (14 × 250) + (12 × 175) + (3 × 400) = $3,500 + $2,100 + $1,200 = $6,800 — before countertops, hardware, or fitting.

Common mistakes

Counting the same wall twice by adding base and wall runs as though they were separate lengths of wall. They are separate *runs* but they usually sit above one another, so a 12 foot wall with cabinets top and bottom is 12 feet of base and 12 feet of wall, not 24 feet of anything. Second, forgetting that corner cabinets waste space — a corner unit occupies linear feet on both walls but stores far less than a straight run of the same length. Third, reading a per-foot cabinet price as a finished kitchen price; it rarely includes countertop, hardware, or installation.

Common questions

What is a linear foot of cabinets?

One foot measured horizontally along the wall, at one level. A 10 foot wall with base cabinets below and wall cabinets above is 10 linear feet of each, quoted separately.

Why is the countertop deeper than the cabinets?

A standard base cabinet is 24 inches deep and the countertop runs about 25 inches, giving roughly a one inch overhang at the front. That overhang is what keeps spills off the cabinet doors.