Key Measurements For Home Office Cabinet

Customizing your office is the ultimate perk of remote working. You get to choose your cabinet size, material, location, and so on. That being said, getting the right measurements is a difficult task. 

For the record, try to keep the cabinets 30 inches high, and 14-16 inches wide with double doors or sliding panels. Leave some room for your chair while measuring the available space for cabinets. Also, the material should match the desk. 

And, it only starts from there. You have to consider a lot of other things to turn your home office vision into a reality. So, let’s take the first step by noting down the key measurements. Shall we?

How Tall Should Office Cabinets Be?

The ideal height for bottom cabinets is 30 inches or 76 cm. You can lower it to 28 inches if you are around 5’5”. The reason is that most people like attaching cabinets to desks. So, the desk surface would also be the cabinet top. Hence, how tall your cabinets would be, depends a lot on the height of your work desk.

However, if you have already bought a desk, just measure its height. That’s the height you should consider for your cabinets as well. And, if you are yet to buy one, consider one that matches your ideal cabinet height.

How Deep Should Office Cabinets Be?

When it comes to depth, you have more freedom than height. You can choose the cabinet’s depth to match your desk. That way, the cabinet door will align with the desk’s borderline. Usually, 15 inches is the ideal depth of office cabinets. It’s feasible if you need to store a lot of documents inside it.

Suppose you are preparing an office cabinet to store random stationaries and some files. You can clearly get away with a depth of 10 to 12 inches. However, we would suggest matching the desk’s depth if you plan to convert them into filing cabinets with folders. 

How Much Space Should You Keep Between Two Shelves?

Hardly any office cabinet exists without shelves. You need shelves to better utilize the cabinet’s space. For example, you want to use the cabinet for storing papers, and certificates. At the same time, you have closed boxes that need to be relocated. Having shelves allow you to compartmentalize the whole cabinet. You can use each portion for different needs.

Ideally, each shelf should be 14 to 16 inches away from the previous one. That’s enough space for organizing office files and books. If your whole cabinet is used for paperwork and letters, attach more than two shelves. That way you won’t create a huge pile of files.

4 Things To Consider While Building Home Office Cabinets

1. bottom cabinets should be higher and wider than top cabinets. If you only have the scope for building some top cabinets, you have to reduce the measurement significantly. 

2. Leave some legroom while measuring the available space for the home office cabinet. 

3. If two people are going to use the desk, bottom cabinets can be a way of partitioning their respective areas. 
4. To store stationaries, consider inserting several pull-out drawers instead of shelves. That provides you with the best opportunity of organizing office supplies.

Before You Go!

A home office cabinet is essential for keeping the office neat and tidy. But building those customized cabinets from scratch is a big deal. That’s why many DIYers wonder whether it is possible to use a regular kitchen cabinet for that purpose.

If you are wondering the same, check out this article on converting kitchen cabinets for an office.