Base vs Wall Kitchen Units: What Goes Where

Planning a new kitchen and unsure which cabinets do what? This guide breaks down the three families of kitchen unit — base, wall and tall — explains where each one belongs, and shows you how to combine them into a run that works for the way you cook. By the end you will be able to sketch a sensible layout with confidence.

1. The three building blocks

Almost every fitted kitchen, however grand or modest, is assembled from just three types of cabinet. Understanding them is the single most useful thing you can do before you start planning.

• Base units sit on the floor and carry your worktop. They do the heavy lifting — storage for pans, the sink, and the space where your hob and appliances slot in.
• Wall units hang above the worktop at head height. They keep everyday items within easy reach without eating into floor space.
• Tall units run from floor to ceiling. They house larder storage, or built-in ovens and integrated fridge-freezers in a single full-height column.

Mix these three in the right proportions and you have a kitchen. Get them wrong and it feels cramped or awkward, however nice the doors look. Browse the full range at kitchens to see how these units come together.

2. Base units explained

Base units are the workhorses of the kitchen. They stand on the floor (usually on adjustable legs hidden behind a kickboard plinth) and support a continuous worktop across the top. Because they carry weight and hide the plumbing and services, most of your storage capacity lives here.

You will find several variations:

• Standard cupboard bases — a single door or double doors with an internal shelf, ideal for pans, mixing bowls and dry goods.
• Drawer units — typically a stack of three or four drawers. Drawers are far easier to use than a deep cupboard because nothing gets lost at the back.
• Sink units — an open or partially open base designed to take your sink and its waste and supply pipes.
• Corner units — L-shaped or with a carousel to reclaim the otherwise dead space where two runs meet.

3. Wall units explained

Wall units are mounted to the wall above the worktop, keeping crockery, glasses and everyday ingredients at eye and hand level. They are shallower than base units so they do not loom over you while you work, and they leave the worktop clear underneath.

Because they hang, they must be fixed securely into solid masonry or into the studs of a partition wall — this is not a job to rush. They come as standard cupboards, glazed display cabinets, open shelving units, and short “bridging” units that sit above a cooker hood or fridge to keep the top line of the kitchen level.

Wall units are optional in a way base units are not. Some modern kitchens skip them entirely on one wall in favour of open shelving or a run of tall larders, which can make a small room feel more open. If you love that look, our kitchen storage ideas guide covers ways to keep everything organised without a full bank of wall cabinets.

4. Tall units explained

Tall units (also called full-height or larder units) run from the floor to the top of the wall cabinets, or all the way to the ceiling. They serve two main jobs. The first is bulk storage: a larder unit with internal shelves or pull-out wire baskets holds an enormous amount of dry food and small appliances in a slim footprint. The second is housing appliances: a tall “tower” unit is where a built-in single or double oven lives, or where an integrated fridge-freezer is concealed behind a matching door.

Tall units are the tidiest way to add serious storage, because they use vertical space that would otherwise be wasted. The trade-off is floor space and cost per unit, so most kitchens use one or two rather than a whole wall of them. The same go-up-not-out logic applies to a nearby home office nook.

5. Standard UK cabinet sizes

UK fitted kitchens are built to a broadly standard set of dimensions, which is what lets doors, worktops and appliances interchange so neatly. Widths come in regular increments so you can plan a run on paper before anything is ordered. Heights and depths are more consistent. The figures below are typical rather than universal — always check the specification of the range you are buying.

Add a base unit (72 cm), its legs and plinth (about 15 cm) and the worktop (about 4 cm) together and you land close to the familiar 90 cm finished worktop height. The standard gap between the worktop and the underside of the wall units is around 45–60 cm — enough to fit a kettle and small appliances underneath, but not so high that the top shelf is out of reach.

6. What goes where: planning the run

The golden rule is to think in horizontal bands. Base units form the bottom band and carry the worktop. Wall units form the upper band. Tall units break both bands with a full-height column. When you draw your kitchen, sketch these bands first and the cabinets will fall into place.

Start by fixing the three things that cannot easily move: the sink (dictated by the waste and water supply), the hob (dictated by gas or the cooker circuit and the extractor above), and any tall appliance tower. Everything else — the cupboard and drawer bases, the wall units — then fills the gaps between them.

• Put a run of drawer bases either side of the hob for pans and utensils.
• Keep a stretch of clear worktop between the hob and the sink; this is your main prep zone.
• Place wall units above the worktop for the crockery and glasses you reach for daily, but leave the space above the hob for an extractor or a short bridging unit.
• Group your tall units together at one end so the oven tower and larder form a single, tidy full-height wall rather than interrupting the worktop run.

7. Combining units into a working kitchen

A good kitchen is really about the relationship between three zones: storing, prepping and cooking. Designers call the path between the fridge, the sink and the hob the “work triangle”, and the aim is to keep it compact so you are not walking miles between tasks.

Base and wall units cluster around the sink and hob to serve the prep and cooking zones. Tall units usually sit at the storing end — a larder next to an integrated fridge keeps all your food in one place. In a galley or single-wall kitchen you simply read this left to right: larder tower, then fridge, then a worktop prep run with drawers below and wall units above, then the sink, then the hob with its extractor.

In a small room, be ruthless about which units earn their place. A single tall larder can replace a whole bank of wall units and make the room feel airier. Our storage ideas guide is a useful companion, and once the cabinetry is settled, finishing touches like lighting under the wall units transform how the space feels to work in.

8. Common layout mistakes to avoid

Most kitchen regrets trace back to a handful of avoidable planning errors:

• Too many wall units, too few drawers. Deep cupboards swallow things at the back. Prioritise drawer bases and you will use your storage far more.
• Wall units hung too high. Set for a tall fitter, the top shelf becomes useless for everyone else. Hang to suit the people who actually cook.
• A tall unit stranded in the middle of a run. A full-height column mid-worktop chops your prep space in two. Keep tall units to the ends.
• Corners left dead. Without a carousel or a proper corner unit, the space where two runs meet is simply lost.
• Forgetting door swing and appliance clearance. An oven door, a dishwasher and a drawer can all try to occupy the same square metre. Plan the swings on paper.

The same measure-first discipline that prevents these mistakes applies right across the home, from a bathroom fit-out to arranging a living room. Get the numbers down before you fall in love with a finish.

9. Buying with confidence

Once your layout is settled and your units chosen, the rest should feel easy. At Elystra Living we back your kitchen purchase with fast, tracked delivery so you can plan your fitting date with confidence, and a straightforward 30-day returns policy if something is not right. Klarna interest-free instalments let you spread the cost of a full kitchen over manageable payments rather than paying it all at once. When you are ready to see the ranges, browse the full collection of kitchens and start turning your plan into a room you will love to cook in.