Contents
Create your comfort
An ergonomic approach to home improvement assumes high functionality of every detail in the room including kitchen counter height dimensions thanks to which you accept unneeded actions and movements, economize your time (don’t waste it on searches, going from 1 edge of the kitchen to another), make home look organic, modern and functional, don’t get irritated while doing your activities and get harmony in life in general.
As for the kitchen, ergonomics becomes an even more essential principle in the creation of the furnishings: you can’t find a more dangerous place in the house. If the furniture and its placement are not comfortable, it is easy to get injured, to get dirty, or to drop something.
One of the most important and big problems is the choice of the kitchen countertop height. You may be wondering “what is standard kitchen counter height?”. The wide-spread opinion says that the standard kitchen counter height which is the most comfortable for work is 3 foot or 36 inches. However, it obviously doesn’t suit everyone. Let’s find out what other factors influence the countertop height.
3 foot or 36 inches rule for standard kitchen dimensions
The main factor you should look at choosing a height of kitchen counter is of course your own height. The traditional point of view tells that for people of average height, which varies from 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 8 inches, the perfect working counter height will be approximately 36 inches (92 cm or 914 mm). Such a height provides comfort and safety. However, not only the height makes difference, but also postures of the body while cooking. If a person prefers to sit during the process, a typical counter height table with a standard chair may appear to be too high. If you change posture or there are people of different heights who like to cook, then you can buy tables of different heights.
Different operations also require different standing countertop heights. For example:
- When cooking food, the kitchen countertop height should be the one that provides exactly 3-4 inches below the elbow.
- If you cook something with oil, 5-6 inches below the elbow will be enough to prevent drops from splashing on you.
- The distance of 8 inches below the elbow will suit for rolling dough and kneading bread.
As for people of bigger and smaller height than the average one, experts say that countertops 870 mm high are suitable for shorter people, and countertops 950-1000 mm high are for taller people.
Deciding your kitchen counter height above or below 36” standard
In England, China, the USA, Brazil, or Egypt the kitchen countertop height won’t be the same. From country to country the average counter height varies since the average people’s height there is different. Below you can see the table showing a correlation between people’s height and suitable kitchen counters dimensions.
Kitchen counter height-Human height
30”-33” high countertop – 4.6” -5.2” height
33”-36” high countertop – 5.2”- 5.8” height
36”-39” high countertop – 5.8”- 6” height
39”-42” high countertop – 6”+ height
According to the standards, 38-39 inches is a good height for above-average height and 32 inches is perfect for below-average height people. People with disabilities need to buy a table of 31-34 inches in height.
One more parameter of the table you should give attention to is the thickness of the countertop: it should be about 30-40 mm.
If you prefer natural materials and your budget allows you to spend quite a big quantity of money on furnishing the kitchen, then marble is a great option for you. It will decorate every space and will bring expensiveness, style, and feeling of reliability to design.
There are lots of variations of marble in the market now: for example, Volakas, Selina, Giallo, Perlino Pink, Vere Guatemala, Rosso Porino, Crystal, Juparana, Multicolor, Nero Impala, Blue Pearl, Nero Absoluto, Emerald Pearl, Black Galaxy. There are pictures of these types of marble below.
It is also easy to find many cool marble suppliers such as Marble Systems and Marble.com which deliver marble not only tables with average counter height but with any you want to a lot of countries.
Granite, natural wood, tempered glass, concrete look quite interesting, too.
In case you don’t really care about naturality or you are on a tight budget, the artificial stone will be a cool choice since it doesn’t really look cheap. However, it is important to choose it correctly.
That was all. We hope you will purchase a table of exactly the kitchen counter height you need. Good luck with shopping!
