Appliances decide more about a kitchen than most people expect. They set cabinet widths, they set bench heights, they dictate where ventilation has to go, and they determine how many circuits the room needs. Everything else in a kitchen can be adjusted on site by a millimetre or two. An oven cavity cannot.
This page covers the four things worth resolving before a cutting list is issued: sizes, clearances, ventilation, and services.
Start with a written appliance schedule
Not a wish list — a schedule, with the actual make and model of every appliance, whether it is being kept or bought, and the manufacturer's installation dimensions beside it.
Those dimensions are not the same as the appliance dimensions. A manufacturer will publish an overall product size and a separate cut-out or cavity size, and often a minimum ventilation gap at the back, sides or top. The cut-out is the number the cabinetmaker needs. The product size is the number people read off a retail website, which is how an oven ends up two millimetres too wide for the hole built for it.
Where an appliance is being kept rather than replaced, measure it yourself and note the brand and model so the documentation can be checked.
Sizes that commonly catch people out
The fridge. The most frequent failure in a new kitchen. A fridge cavity needs the appliance width plus clearance either side, plus depth for the door to open and the hinge to swing clear of adjacent cabinetry, plus top ventilation on many models, plus space behind for a plumbed water connection if the fridge has one. A cavity built to a nominal size will often take the fridge you measured and not the one you buy two years later, so err generous.
The dishwasher. Standard widths are consistent, but the hinge side, the door swing and the height adjustment range are not. A dishwasher door that fouls an island seating overhang or a corner cabinet door is a common and entirely avoidable clash.
Wall ovens and microwaves. Tall cabinets are built around the stack, so the order of oven, microwave and warming drawer has to be fixed before manufacture. Think about the lift height as well as the fit: a hot, heavy dish coming out of an oven set high is a genuine hazard, and the comfortable range is roughly between hip and chest height.
Cooktops. The cut-out is usually smaller than the glass, and there is a minimum distance required from the cut-out to the front edge of the benchtop and to any side wall. Downdraft units need space inside the cabinet below, which can eliminate a drawer bank.
Rangehoods. Width should be at least as wide as the cooktop, and canopy hoods are often specified wider for better capture. Mounting height above the cooktop is set by the manufacturer, not by taste.
Sinks. Bowl size and the mounting method decide the cabinet below and whether the benchtop is cut for an undermount.
Clearances are safety, not preference
Several appliance clearances are mandatory rather than advisory, and they are set by the manufacturer's instructions and the relevant installation standards.
Gas cooktops have a required clearance to any combustible surface beside and above them, which affects end panels, open shelves, timber splashbacks and the height of a rangehood. Freestanding cookers have their own side clearances and sometimes require a heat-resistant lining behind. Built-under ovens need the ventilation gaps the manufacturer specifies, because an oven that cannot shed heat will cook the cabinet around it. Rangehood mounting height is a compromise between capture and head clearance, and the manufacturer sets the minimum.
Get these onto the drawings. A clearance discovered at installation is resolved by cutting something that was already paid for.
Ventilation and ducting
Extraction is the most under-planned part of a kitchen, and the easiest to get wrong permanently.
Ducted beats recirculating. A ducted hood moves steam, grease and smell out of the building. A recirculating hood passes air through a charcoal filter and returns it to the room. If a duct route exists, use it.
The route is the constraint. The ideal duct run is short, straight and sized to the hood. Every bend and every metre of flexible duct reduces performance. A kitchen on an external wall is easy. A kitchen against an internal wall in a double-storey home is the hard case, and whether a duct can go up through the ceiling space or across to an eave needs to be checked before a hood is chosen.
Duct diameter matters. Reducing a hood's outlet to fit a smaller duct throttles it. Match the duct to the appliance.
Extraction rate. Enclosed kitchens, powerful gas burners and open-plan living all argue for a higher rate. So does a built-in barbecue under a roof outside, which should never be fitted under a recirculating unit.
Make-up air. A very powerful hood in a tightly sealed home can struggle simply because there is nowhere for replacement air to come from. It is rarely an issue at domestic rates, but it is worth a thought in a new, well-sealed house.
Steam ovens and coffee machines also release moisture. They are happiest with a little space above them rather than tucked hard under a benchtop.
Power and gas points
Decide the services at the drawing stage and mark every one of them.
Dedicated circuits. Ovens, induction cooktops and sometimes a large multi-function appliance generally need their own circuit. Add up the load before assuming the existing switchboard can take it. Older homes frequently need a board upgrade, and in a house with no safety switch on the kitchen circuits that upgrade is overdue anyway.
Accessible isolation. A built-in appliance needs a point that can actually be reached to switch it off, which means not behind a fixed cabinet panel. Isolation switches above the bench are a tidy solution for a cooktop or oven.
Bench outlets. Four or five along a working run is sensible, and double outlets are cheaper than wishing for them later. Put them where people stand, not where the drawing had space.
Island power. Almost no builder-spec island has it, and almost everybody wants it. Getting power into an island after the fact means a conduit or a core through a slab, so do it while the benchtop is off.
Scullery and appliance cupboard outlets. The whole point of hiding the kettle, toaster and air fryer is that they stay plugged in. That needs outlets at bench height and a general outlet spare.
Fridge water. A plumbed fridge needs a tap point and a shut-off that is reachable.
Gas. A new or relocated gas point is licensed gasfitting work, and so is decapping an abandoned one. If you are moving from gas to induction, resolve the electrical capacity first and the gas decommissioning second.
A short pre-manufacture checklist
Every appliance has a model number recorded. Every cut-out and clearance has come from the manufacturer's documentation, not a retail listing. The fridge cavity accounts for door swing and ventilation. The dishwasher door has been checked against adjacent cabinetry and any seating overhang. The rangehood has a duct route drawn, with a diameter matched to the appliance. Every appliance has a point, and the ones that need a dedicated circuit have one. The switchboard has been assessed. The island has power if it is wanted. Isolation points are reachable.
If all of that is true, the cutting list can be issued with confidence.
Where to next
Appliance selection and the services mark-up are both part of the planning stage — see kitchen design and planning for how that pack is put together and signed off.
For what the whole job is likely to cost, including where appliances sit as a flexible line item, see the kitchen renovation cost guide.
Questions people ask before they commit
Should appliances be chosen before cabinetry is ordered?
Always. Cabinets are manufactured to a cutting list derived from appliance cut-out dimensions and clearances. Choosing appliances afterwards means either a filler panel, a modified cabinet, or an appliance that does not fit the opening that was built for it.
Is a recirculating rangehood ever acceptable?
It is better than nothing and sometimes it is all that is physically possible, for example in an apartment or where a kitchen sits in the middle of a double-storey plan with no duct route. But a ducted hood removes steam, grease and odour from the building rather than filtering some of it and returning the rest, and it is worth real effort to achieve.
How many power points does a kitchen need?
More than most are built with. A working bench run wants four or five outlets, an island wants at least two, and every built-in appliance wants its own dedicated point in an accessible position. A scullery or appliance cupboard needs its own outlets too.
Can I convert from gas to induction?
Usually, but it is an electrical job rather than a swap. Induction cooktops draw heavily and typically need their own dedicated circuit, which may mean switchboard work. Decapping the gas point is licensed gasfitting work and should be done properly, not plugged.