How to make a cut list for a kitchen base cabinet

A 15-minute job with a pencil and this page. Example sizes in millimetres; the same rules work in inches.

A cut list is every part you need to cut, with its length, width and quantity. Get it right and the rest is easy: the sheets can be planned so that nothing is wasted and every part comes out the right size. Below is the method for a simple base cabinet (a box with a shelf and two doors), using one worked example you can open in the calculator at the end.

Example cabinet: width 800, height 720 (carcass, without legs and worktop), depth 560, made from 18 mm board. The back is a thin 3 mm HDF panel, cut separately.

1. Fix the overall size and the board thickness

Everything follows from four numbers: W (width), H (height), D (depth) and T (board thickness). Standard kitchen base units are 300–1200 mm wide, 720 mm high on legs and 560–580 mm deep, so the worktop overhangs the doors. Measure your real board: "18 mm" chipboard can be 18.3 mm, and that adds up across a row of cabinets.

2. Work out every panel

The sides run the full height, and the bottom and rails sit between the sides, so they are the width minus two board thicknesses.

Part	Formula	Size (mm)	Qty
Side	H × D	720 × 560	2
Bottom	(W − 2T) × D	764 × 560	1
Top rail (front + back)	(W − 2T) × 100	764 × 100	2
Shelf	(W − 2T − 2) × (D − 40)	762 × 520	1
Door	(H − 5) × (W − 6) / 2	715 × 397	2

Shelf: 2 mm narrower so it drops in easily, and 40 mm shallower so it clears the doors and hinges.
Doors: a 2–3 mm gap around each door. Two doors share the width, so each is (W − 6) / 2. If you use thick (1–2 mm) edge banding on the doors, take its thickness off the door size too.
Back: usually 3 mm HDF nailed into a rebate or onto the back edges, roughly W × H. It is a different material, so plan it on its own sheet.

3. Mark the edge banding

Only edges you can see need banding. For this cabinet that is the front edge of the sides, bottom and shelf, and all four edges of each door. Writing it down now tells you how many metres of edge band to buy: in the example it is 7.4 m (1440 + 764 + 762 for the carcass, 4448 for the two doors), plus a little extra for trimming. How to work it out exactly is in How much edge banding do I need?

4. Mark the grain direction

With plain white chipboard the parts can be turned any way to fit the sheet better. With wood veneer or a wood-look decor, the grain on the doors and sides should run along the height. Mark those parts as "grain fixed" and leave the rest free; the fewer fixed parts, the fewer sheets you need.

5. Turn the list into a cutting plan

Enter the parts, your sheet size (a common size is 2800 × 2070 mm), the saw blade width (kerf, usually 3–4 mm) and a 10 mm trim along the factory edges, which are often chipped. A cut list calculator then places the parts on as few sheets as possible and shows every cut.

Try it with a ready example. CutRun opens with two base cabinets like this one already entered: sides, bottoms, rails, shelves, doors and drawer fronts, with edge banding marked. Press Calculate and you get the sheet layouts and a free PDF for the saw.

Open the cabinet example Start with an empty list

Tips that save a sheet (and a weekend)

Name every part ("Side L", "Door 1"). On the printed plan you will know which piece is which.
Check the hardware first. Concealed hinges and drawer runners have their own rules for gaps and depths; read the instructions before you fix the sizes.
Cut the biggest parts first and keep the offcuts until the cabinet is assembled.
Already have a list on paper? Take a photo of it in CutRun (Import / Export → Import parts from a photo) and the parts are typed in for you — see how it works.