How to make a kitchen cabinet cutting list (the fast, accurate way)
A cutting list is the bridge between a kitchen design and the panels that come off the saw. Get it right and the whole job flows; get it wrong and you're paying for a wasted sheet or re-cutting a carcass at 5pm. This guide walks through building one properly — and a much faster way to generate one automatically.
What a cutting list actually needs
Every panel on your list should carry six things. Miss any of them and the person on the beam saw has to guess:
- Finished length and width — the exact cut size in millimetres, not the nominal cabinet size.
- Quantity — how many identical panels.
- Board type — 16 mm white melamine, 16 mm MDF, 3.2 mm hardboard back, and so on.
- Edging — which edges are banded (length, width, or both) and the edging thickness.
- Grain direction — for woodgrain boards, which dimension the grain runs along.
- A remark — which cabinet and part it belongs to (e.g. "Base 3 — side").
Step 1 — Break each cabinet into panels
For a standard base cabinet that's two sides, a top and bottom (or stretchers), a back and a door or drawer fronts. Work out the finished sizes from the carcass dimensions, subtracting material thickness where panels sit between others. This is where most manual errors creep in — every 16 mm you forget compounds across the run.
Step 2 — Account for edging
Edge banding adds to the visible dimension but you cut the panel to finished size, so the list should show the cut size and simply flag which edges are banded. Decide 1 mm or 2 mm edging up front — it affects the look and the price.
Step 3 — Set grain direction
On oak, walnut or any woodgrain melamine, grain usually runs vertically on doors and along the length of a run. Note it on every relevant panel so the saw orients the sheet correctly — a door cut with the grain the wrong way is scrap.
Step 4 — Group by board and check offcuts
Group panels by board type so you can nest them on full sheets (a common size is 2750 × 1830 mm) and estimate how many sheets you need. This is also your costing input.
Skip the spreadsheet
Joinery Designer builds this list for you. Lay out your cabinets in the browser, see them in 3D, and it generates a Board Store-ready cutting list — sizes, edging, grain and offcuts — automatically. Designing is free; you only subscribe when you want to export.
Try it free →Common mistakes to avoid
- Listing nominal sizes instead of finished cut sizes.
- Forgetting the back panel or the wrong back thickness.
- Ignoring grain on woodgrain boards.
- No offcut plan, so you over-order board.
Whether you build it by hand or generate it automatically, an accurate cutting list is the single biggest lever on how smoothly a kitchen build runs. Nail the six fields above and the workshop takes care of the rest.