Cabinet carcasses are cut from sheets, and sheets come in different sizes depending on which country you are standing in. Pick yours, enter the units, and get a sheet count — with the two things that quietly cost you an extra sheet spelled out.
Kitchens, vanities, laundries and wardrobes. Enter each size of unit, pick the board your supplier stocks, and get sheets.
Works in metric and US imperial — you choose at the start and can switch at any time. Every figure this calculator uses is published with its source, and the result comes with a printable order sheet. No account, no email, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
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All calculators · How to use them · The standards behind our figures
Which is why the dropdown exists rather than a fixed assumption. 2440 × 1220 mm is the UK, US and Canadian standard — the old 8 × 4 ft. Australia, New Zealand and much of Europe work to 2400 × 1200. They are close enough to look interchangeable and different enough to change the sheet count on a kitchen. Pick the one your supplier actually stocks.
Every cut removes 3–4 mm of board. Across the parts in a run of units and the cuts needed to make them, that is real material rather than a rounding error — it is the difference between the last unit coming out of the last sheet and it not. The calculator accounts for it, which is why the answer is sometimes a sheet more than a straight area division suggests.
18 mm is the carcass standard. 16 mm exists, is cheaper, and is fine for a small vanity or a wardrobe interior — but it is not the same thing for a kitchen base unit carrying a stone worktop. And shelves sag: an 18 mm melamine shelf over about 800 mm unsupported will bow visibly under books or crockery within a year or two, so either keep spans under that or add support. Melamine chips on the underside when cut, so use a negative-rake blade, a scoring cut or masking tape on the line — face-down on a circular saw, face-up on a table saw.
2440 by 1220 mm in the UK, US and Canada — the old 8 by 4 ft. Australia, New Zealand and much of Europe use 2400 by 1200. The two are close enough to look interchangeable but different enough to change the sheet count on a full kitchen.
18 mm is the carcass standard and the right choice for kitchen base units, especially under a stone worktop. 16 mm is cheaper and perfectly adequate for a small vanity or a wardrobe interior.
About 800 mm for an 18 mm melamine shelf. Beyond that it will bow visibly under books or crockery within a year or two, so either shorten the span or add support.
Use a negative-rake blade, a scoring cut, or masking tape along the cut line. Cut face-down on a circular saw and face-up on a table saw, so the blade exits through the waste side.