I recently noticed that the height of the cabinets and countertops need some consideration when adding cooking and baking pieces to your kitchen such as a custom wood cutting board.
Making a cutting board for a client that is 5’4″ forced me go through the process of understanding the needs of the design of a kitchen. The cabinet heights, the thickness of the counters, etc.- these all were taken into account for our most recent custom build.
There are many golden rules and proportions that really make your kitchen either a joy to work out of or a painstaking process that makes you order in.
Either way, the height of your custom wood cutting board needs some consideration before ordering. Hopefully we don’t get too lost in the trees with this article but let’s cover as much we can. And as always, drop me a message if you have any questions or comments.
A Few Standard Kitchen Design Elements:
- Cabinets are 34 1/2″ tall
- Most countertops are 1 1/2″ thick
- Standard countertop depths are 24″ deep. However, a trend has been popping up with refrigerators getting deeper and more feature rich. Some custom kitchens have 36″ deep cabinets to match the depth of the refrigerator! Thats a ton of storage space!
- Islands offer a lot of additional counter space but are all over the map in terms of type of standard design.
Why is this all important? An inch of height on your counters can really “add up” over time. Or that extra inch can really make for a painful experience in the kitchen. But you’ll want to take a quick review of your current space and see what works and what doesn’t.
For instance, for someone who is 5’4″ or shorter, a thinner custom wood cutting board would be critical so you don’t have to reach higher than normal when chopping things on your cutting board.
On the other hand, if someone is closer to 6′ tall, adding 1-2 extra inches will be more worth it so there is less leaning over. I built a cutting board that was 5″ thick for a client a few years ago and he loved it because of how thick it was. A few months after use he wrote me saying how pleasant the board felt in his space and as we got chatting back and forth, I realized that we has 6’2″! A thicker cutting board made the world of difference for him!
A small element can really add up!
You can add you custom order here: https://www.woodcuttingboardstore.com/custom-cutting-board-quote/
Often times, an extra inch or two will add a few extra bucks, a design consideration that’s totally worth it.
This is one of the beauties of working with a custom shop like ours. Instead of churning out boards in mass productions and you have to fit to my design, my designs are built around your needs and wants.
Ordering a custom wood cutting board with these kitchen design considerations is easy-
- A picture of your existing kitchen space is really helpful in getting the ball rolling
- Any other preferences like wood color or storage needs are also helpful. If you plan on getting a larger custom wood cutting board, considering if it will sit out on your counters majority of the time or put away in a cabinet is really critical. Not a make or break experience element but certainly worth noting and communicating during the design process.
- Once I have these 2 main points, I will review the design elements with you. We may consider adding in handles or adding in rubber feet underneath the custom wood cutting board. A thicker board is easier to stand up on its side than a thinner one, for instance.
I remember a board we did for a customer that chops vegetables like a commercial kitchen. So a board that fit perfectly over the sink basin was the ticket. All the scraps could be scraped right into the kitchen sink to optimize efficiency for the client.
So, before getting your new custom wood cutting board, feel free to consider a couple of things in your current kitchen. This will make sure your custom cutting board is worth your money and worth my time!
Thanks for reading! Did I miss anything you would consider? What do you not like about your current cutting board?