What height is your kitchen counter and how tall are you?

I'm asking because we're redoing our kitchen, and the current supplier, if that's the right word, we're checking out has switched from counter tops that are 90cm/35,4 in. high to ones that are 100cm/39,4 in high.

(Using the argument that "people have grown since 1950!", which is a euphemism for "now men cook too"... ;) )

I'm 166cm/5 ft 5 tall and my dh is a tad taller, at 170cm/5 ft 7. And I already think our current counter at 90cm can be a bit tall, especially when I need to chop a lot of vegetables or knead a dough. I think 100 cm may just be too tall, unless we have a second counter top available somewhere else for the heavy-duty food prepping.

Anyone have an opinion on what the most comfortable height is?

I'm 160 cm. My counters are 93 cm. I'm comfortable when I stand on a 20 cm stepstool. So I suppose that means my 93 cm counters are built for someone 180 cm tall? :eek: Which, DH isn't that tall, either, but he doesn't whine about the counters like I do. My bad shoulders and neck sure don't help with that.

But, if you have built in appliances, if you want lower counters, that can cause problems. Either you'll need to set them into the floor, which means installation and, when the time comes, removal are an enormous hassle, or they won't be the same height as the counters.

Half our kitchen is at 90cm/35in and the other half is at 95cm/37in. We are 182cm/6' (me) and 168/5'6" (DH) tall.

The 95cm counter tops were intentionally designed by us in our first kitchen remodel 15 years ago. I wanted the higher counter top, but it is DH that adopted the higher counter and works nowhere else in the kitchen. When we recently moved and redid the kitchen (not optional, it was one that *had* to be done), the 95cm counter top was a requirement for both of us. I would have put the entire counter top at 95, but it makes for interesting games with the appliances so that section of the kitchen remains at 90cm.

I'm not sure I'd do 100cm/37". I like the taller counter, but even leggy me would find that tall.

[aside: I have no problem thinking metric for engineering drawings or road distances, but people heights seem to confuse me]

I am 5'5" and my countertops are at 34 inches. I find that a comfortable height for everything except kneading or rolling. Then I move to my kitchen table which is 30 inches high and my board adds another inch to that so I am working at 31 inches. My stove is 35-1/2 inches tall so it sits a little above the height of the counter beside it. My previous stove did not. My kitchen is old (built in the 60's) and probably needs updating but I would not raise the height of my counters.

I'd go to a kitchen showroom and see how the different heights worked for me. Shouldn't you be getting what you want rather than a supplier telling you what they are going to give you?

Ok, thanks folks. It sounds like I may be right in suspecting that 100 cm will be too tall. We'll go and check it out. We'll be getting new appliances too, as the ones we have are all malfunctioning in some way or another :rolleyes: (Old house, last inhabited by an elderly woman who had been a widow for ten years.)

I'm not fussy, I just want a reasonably practical kitchen up fast, without having to spend too much time thinking about it. But my dh tends to ooh and aah over the latest new stuff, so I have to keep an eye on what he's found too.

At the moment we don't even have any lighting in the kitchen. It disappeared when we tore down a wall...

Find a counter height that you are comfortable with. After that-pick your appliances (most appliances come in several sizes, so finding one to fit should be a huge problem. ) Then pick your cabinets-thats the easiest to fit-you can get literally any height and width you want.

One more thing-go and look at all the different bells and whistles they offer in cabinetry. The organizers, the lazy susans, there are so many things to make your life esier these days, and hopefully-you can design a kitchen that has everything you've always wanted.

My husband has a home improvement company, and some of the kitchens he's done are out of this world. My kitchen is fairly new-8 years old, and there's stuff out now that I LOVE. The kitchen is the most expensive room in the house, but the heart of the home. Good Luck!

Mine are 36 inches. We are all short here, so it's fine. But, I wish the cabinets were lower. I always have to climb up on the counter or ask DH to get soething on the top shelf.

I just checked the plan set for the reno we did last year and our cabinets are 34.5", which converts to 87.6 cm not including the countertop. That makes about 90cm if our countertop is 1" thick. I'm 5'1".

Ergonomics was very important to us for this renovation, so we actually hired an interior designer who specializes in this. She took measurements off of both me and DH. One of things she did for us was move the bottoms of the cabinets over the counters down to 14" clearance. Standard is 18". This means that I can comfortably reach both the bottom shelf and the next shelf up, without standing on my toes or reaching for a step stool. There is not as much room for taller appliances underneath, but we have plenty of countertop elsewhere that had nothing above it for those situations.

Incidentally, when our GC went to get estimates for the countertops, he went first to the manufacturer that our designer recommended, and they came in way over our budget. We then took our drawings to a custom cabinet maker that our GC had worked with before, and he was about to knock $12,000 off the initial estimate. And we were just as happy with the quality of materials and workmanship -- it was a no-brainer. So it is worth shopping around. A big manufacturer might seem like a good idea, you would think they would save on volume, but they also might have more overhead to support than the local guy. You just never know.

I'm on vacation right now so can't measure, but I bought standard height cabinets from a US big-box store and they seem fine for me. I am 5' 7". I don't make elaborate meals but I do prepare something to eat at least twice a day and I spent a fair amount of time baking cookies last winter. I've never felt the counters were too tall or too short.

I agree that it's worth looking at the different options for organizers, lazy susans, etc. especially for corner cabinets. They do make things much easier.

One of the best things in my kitchen is the recessed sink. I was cleaning water bottles the other night and knocked over a 20-oz bottle that was full of soapy water, and cleaning it up was easy since all I had to do was push the water from the counter into the sink.

Another thing about corners -- after they install the cabinets, make sure you can easily open all the doors. When they installed mine they left out a 3-inch spacer that was supposed to go in the corner to push the corner cabinet out from the wall, and as a result when I opened the door it crashed into the cabinet next to it. I had to have the contractor come back and move the corner cabinet and have him remove a spacer that he had erroneously put at the other end of the row of base cabinets. This was after they measured for the counters so I worried that moving things would mess up the countertop fit. Fortunately everything worked out okay but it made me realize how important it is to check every detail at the end of every work day.

Good luck!!

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Originally Posted by lph

...At the moment we don't even have any lighting in the kitchen. It disappeared when we tore down a wall...

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Oopsie.
We tore out cabinets and discovered that there was no wall behind them!

Thanks, lots of good tips here. We've made a rough plan of what goes where, and need to go finetune it now :-)

I just measured. My base cabinets are 88 cm high, just over 90 cm total height when you add in the counter. My counters not granite; they are "Eco" by Cosentino, which is a manufactured solid-surface counter made with recycled materials.

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Originally Posted by lph

...Using the argument that "people have grown since 1950!", which is a euphemism for "now men cook too"...

Anyone have an opinion on what the most comfortable height is?

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I think waist height or maybe 1" lower should be about right. When we did our own kitchen reno in an apartment condo some years ago, we set the counter height at 37" and are now wishing we'd insisted on that for our present kitchen. I'm 5'-8", he's about 5'-10" now but used to be 6'0" even.

The height of 35,4" (or 36") dates from the 1920s, and was originated by a home economist named Christine Frederick by using the time and motion studies used in factories at the time. People are taller than they were in the 20s and 30s, although 39" is possibly a little too high for you and your husband.

Inspired by this thread, I've measured my counter height: 35.5". I'm 5'6" and it doesn't feel too low, but maybe I'm just used to it. BTW, my kitchen's last re-do was 50+ years ago. Steel cabinets, formica countertop, and actual linoleum on the floor. It's all held up quite well. Appliances are newer than that, though.

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Originally Posted by nuliajuk

I think waist height or maybe 1" lower should be about right.

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That's a good way to look at it. Ergonomically, you want to keep your shoulders relaxed, and that means having the countertop enough below elbow height that you can chop and slice without moving your upper arms. My elbows fall right at my natural waist, but I've been told I have really short humeri and that most people's elbows fall at their hipbones?

Yup. I find my shoulders hiking up whenever I need to chop something large like a cabbage or need to put some oomph behind the chopping, which is practically every dinner I cook (lots of veggies). Looks like I'm going to get a separate counter top under the window for my litte T.Rex arms... ;)