Sink Base Cabinet Sizes, Types and How to Choose One

A sink base cabinet is the base cabinet built to sit under the kitchen sink: the same 34½-inch height and 24-inch depth as the boxes beside it, but with a false drawer front across the top instead of a working drawer, no shelf inside and an open back so the bowl, the trap, the supply lines and a disposal all fit. The most common widths are 30, 33 and 36 inches, and the right one is decided by the sink, not by the space left over: an undermount sink usually needs a cabinet about 3 inches wider than the sink itself, so a 33-inch bowl goes on a 36-inch base. This guide covers every size and type, how to match one to a sink, and how to keep the one cabinet in the kitchen with water inside it from failing first.

We sell cabinets for a living, and the sink wall is where orders go wrong most often. The common mistake is simple: someone buys a 33-inch sink, orders a 33-inch cabinet because the numbers match, and finds out on install day that it does not go in. The fix is easy if it happens on paper and expensive if it happens on site.

Table of Contents

• What Is a Sink Base, and How Is It Different Inside?
• Sink Base Cabinet Sizes: Widths, Height and Depth
• Matching the Cabinet to the Sink
• Centering Under a Window
• Farmhouse (Apron-Front) Sink Bases
• Corner Sinks: Diagonal Base or Sink Front
• Can a Sink Cabinet Have Drawers?
• How to Measure for a New Sink Base
• Plumbing Cutouts and Rough-In
• Water Damage, Box Material and Floor Protection
• Tilt-Out Trays, Pull-Out Waste and Organizers
• Accessible Sinks and Removable Bases
• Bathroom Sink Cabinets Are a Different Size
• What Sink Cabinets Cost
• Which Sink Base Should You Order?
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a Sink Base, and How Is It Different Inside?

From across the room, nothing tells you which cabinet holds the sink. It shares the toe kick, the door style and the band of drawer fronts that runs the length of the counter. Open the doors and it is a different animal. Our overview of types of base cabinets introduces it among the eight or so base styles; here is the detail that matters when you are ordering one.

• The top front does not open. The bowl drops into exactly the space a drawer box would slide through, so the manufacturer fits a fixed panel, called a false front, that matches the drawer heads next door. In Fabuwood's Allure spec book that panel is 6¾ inches tall on every standard sink base, the same as the top drawer on the neighboring boxes.
• There is no shelf. A shelf would sit exactly where the trap and the disposal hang. The interior is one open cavity from the floor of the box to the underside of the counter.
• The back is open or easily cut. Supply stops and the drain come out of the wall behind the cabinet, so the back is either left partly open or thin enough for the installer to cut holes where the pipes land.
• The floor, sometimes called the deck, is exposed. It is the one cabinet bottom in the kitchen that sits under running water, and it is where every drip ends up.

Beyond those four points it is an ordinary base cabinet. It uses the same box material, the same hinges and the same door as the rest of the line, which is why a sink cabinet usually costs less than a drawer base of the same width: there are no drawer boxes or slides to pay for.

Sink Base Cabinet Sizes: Widths, Height and Depth

Height and depth are fixed by the rest of the kitchen. A sink base is 34½ inches tall without the counter, which becomes about 36 inches once a 1¼- to 1½-inch countertop goes on, and it is 24 inches deep so the counter lines up with the other bases. Width is the variable. Most lines offer a range from about 24 to 42 inches in 3-inch steps; the Fabuwood Allure Galaxy line we carry runs from 21 to 42 inches.

Prices are our current listings for the twelve standard Galaxy finishes that share one price list (Frost, Dove, Horizon and the rest), all 34½ by 24 inches. They are not a price for every line we carry: Galaxy's two oak finishes run about 20% higher (a Desert Oak SB36 is $588.25), and other brands price their own way. The SDF versions on the 33- and 36-inch sizes carry a single false front across the full width instead of two panels, at the same price; choose the one that matches the drawer bases next to it.

Three widths are in play inside any sink cabinet, and they are different numbers.

The nominal width is the size on the label.

The interior is roughly the nominal width minus the two side panels, so about an inch less on a box with ½-inch sides. The face frame opening, which limits what you can slide in and out, is narrower again because of the stiles. And the 39- and 42-inch boxes add a 3-inch center stile, which splits the opening in two. Measure the opening, not the label, before you buy a pull-out or a trash unit to go inside.

Matching the Cabinet to the Sink

The sink comes first. Choose it, find its spec sheet, and look for the line that says "minimum cabinet size" or "fits minimum base cabinet." Sink makers publish that number because they know how their mounting hardware and bowl shape fit a box. Kohler's 33-inch 8 Degree undermount (K-3673), for example, lists a 36-inch minimum base cabinet. If the spec sheet is silent, the working rule for undermount sinks is to add about 3 inches to the sink's outside width, which accounts for the face frame stiles and the clips or brackets on each side.

A drop-in sink hangs from its rim, which sits on the counter, so its bowl can be a little closer in width to the cabinet. Always go by the maker's figure over any rule of thumb; bowl shape, the position of the drain and the clip design all move the number.

Double bowls work in the same boxes as single bowls of the same outside width, but look at the drain positions. Two drains mean two tailpieces and a continuous waste pipe across the cabinet, which eats the space where a trash pull-out would sit. A single bowl with an offset drain leaves the most room underneath. If a garbage disposal is going in, it hangs under one bowl, and its body plus the dishwasher connection usually claim one side of the box.

Depth matters too. A standard 24-inch cabinet under a 25½-inch-deep counter accepts almost any kitchen sink that is 22 inches or less front to back. Very deep workstation sinks can leave too little counter behind the bowl for a faucet, so check the faucet's required deck space as well.

Centering Under a Window

Most sinks sit under a window, and the eye expects the bowl to be centered on it. That sets up two choices at once.

Measure the window from trim to trim, then pick a base whose center can sit on the window's center line with the cabinets on either side landing on standard widths. Then check that base against the sink's minimum cabinet size. When the two disagree, the sink wins. A sink an inch off center is rarely noticed; a sink that does not fit the box is a return.

The NKBA's kitchen planning guidelines also recommend a landing area of at least 24 inches of counter on one side of the cleanup sink and 18 inches on the other, and placing the dishwasher within 36 inches of the sink. If the window forces the sink so close to a corner that one side has less than 18 inches, it is worth shifting the sink off the window's center. Our kitchen layouts guide covers the work zones, and the kitchen dimensions guide has the clearance figures.

Farmhouse (Apron-Front) Sink Bases

An apron-front sink shows its front face in the cabinet opening, so it cannot sit on an ordinary sink base whose false front would be in the way. Manufacturers handle this two ways. Some ship a cabinet with the front already cut down. Others, including Fabuwood's Allure series, ship a farm sink base with a closed front panel that the installer cuts to fit the specific sink on site.

The Allure spec book limits that cut to 12 inches high and to a width 1½ inches less than the cabinet, so the FS30, FS33 and FS36 fit aprons within those limits. In the Galaxy finishes they list at $806.00, $815.75 and $825.50.

The sizing rule is different from undermount sinks. Many apron sinks are designed to sit on a cabinet of the same nominal width, because their apron overlaps the face of the cabinet. Kohler's 33-inch Whitehaven, for instance, lists a 33-inch apron sink base as its minimum. So a farmhouse sink is not automatically three inches smaller than its cabinet; read the sink's spec sheet and compare its apron height and width against the cabinet's cut limits before you order either one.

Weight is the second check. Fireclay and enameled cast-iron apron sinks are heavy even before they fill with water, and they rest on a support frame inside the cabinet rather than hanging from the counter. Ask the installer how the support will be built and confirm it before the counter template is made. Our overview of base cabinet types has a photo of the arrangement, and the Galaxy Frost farm sink cabinets show the box.

Corner Sinks: Diagonal Base or Sink Front

When the window lands in the corner of an L or U kitchen, the sink can follow it on a diagonal. There are two ways to build it.

A diagonal sink base is a complete cabinet with its face set at 45 degrees. In the Galaxy line it is the DSB36, 36 inches along each wall, or the DSB36FD, with a full-height door in place of the false front for tall items like a filter tank or a bin. Both list at $617.50.

A diagonal sink front is only a face frame and door, the DSF36, set across a corner cavity the installer frames on site; the Allure spec book notes the sink front and its floor, the DSFL36, are ordered separately. The sink front lists at $149.50 and the floor at $100.75.

The trade-off is counter space and reach. A corner sink takes 36 inches of wall on each side and pushes the user back into the corner, and the landing area on each side is shorter than it looks on a plan. It works best in a U-shaped kitchen with a window in the corner; in a small L it can make the counter feel smaller. The Galaxy Frost diagonal sink base page shows both door styles.

Can a Sink Cabinet Have Drawers?

Not in the top position, because the bowl is there. Lower down, yes, with some planning. Three approaches work.

1. A U-shaped drawer. A drawer box with a notch cut out of the back to clear the drain and supply lines. It gives the most usable storage, but the notch has to match your plumbing, so it is usually a custom or aftermarket part fitted after the plumber is done.
2. A pull-out organizer. Slide-out trays or bins that sit on the cabinet floor to one side of the trap. They are easy to add later and do not care exactly where the pipes land.
3. A full-height door instead. Some cabinets drop the false front for one tall door, like the corner DSB36FD above. You lose the drawer band on the front, but you gain a taller opening for a bin, a water filter or a tall bottle of cleaner.

If drawers under the sink matter to you, tell your plumber before rough-in. Pulling the drain and supply stops tight to the back wall and as high as the code and the sink allow leaves more room below for a drawer or pull-out.

How to Measure for a New Sink Base

Whether you are replacing an old cabinet or planning a new kitchen, the measurements are the same six, taken in this order:

1. The sink. Outside width and front-to-back depth of the rim (or the apron's width and height for a farmhouse sink), plus the minimum cabinet size from its spec sheet.
2. The wall space. Width available between the neighbors, or between a wall and the dishwasher opening, measured at counter height and again near the floor, since walls are rarely plumb.
3. The window center line, if there is one, measured from the nearest corner.
4. The pipes. Distance from the nearest side wall and from the floor to the center of each supply stop and the drain stub-out.
5. The existing cabinet, if you are replacing one: measure the outside of its face frame for the nominal width; the inside width is roughly 1 to 1½ in. less, depending on the side panels.
6. The height stack. Floor to top of the old counter should be about 36 in. If it is not, a tile floor was laid over the old toe kick or the counter was built up, and the new box needs to match.

Take those six to your designer, or write them on a sketch. With them, the right box can be chosen in a few minutes, and without them the order is a guess.

Plumbing Cutouts and Rough-In

A sink cabinet has to be married to pipes that were placed before it arrived, so check the rough-in against the cabinet before the box is set.

• Supply stops and the drain must land inside the cabinet footprint. A stop that ends up behind a side panel means cutting the neighboring box or moving the valve. A drain that lands too low can put the trap below the cabinet floor, which means cutting the deck.
• Mark and cut holes, do not remove whole panels. Measure each pipe's position from the cabinet side and the floor, transfer it to the back, and bore holes about ¼ inch larger than the pipe. A clean hole keeps the back stiff and makes sealing easy.
• Plan the dishwasher and disposal connections. The dishwasher's drain hose and supply line usually pass through the side panel between the dishwasher and the sink base, and the disposal needs a receptacle or a switched outlet inside the cabinet. Where those holes go is easier to decide before the cabinets are screwed together.
• Leave room for extras. Reverse-osmosis filters, instant hot water tanks and soap dispenser bottles all live under the sink. A 30-inch cabinet with a disposal and a trash pull-out has no room left for an RO tank; if you want one, size up.
• Seal every cut edge. Raw plywood or particleboard at a pipe hole soaks up water. A coat of sealer or a bead of silicone around the pipe keeps it out.

If you are replacing cabinets and keeping the plumbing, photograph the old sink cabinet's interior with a tape measure in the frame before demolition. It saves a lot of guesswork when the new box goes in.

Water Damage, Box Material and Floor Protection

The sink cabinet is the one box in the kitchen with water inside it, and it is almost always the first to show damage. The failure is rarely the cabinet's fault. It is a supply stop that weeps a drop an hour, a disposal gasket that has gone soft, or a dishwasher hose clamp that loosened. Over months that drip soaks into the cabinet floor, the edges swell, and by the time anyone sees it the deck needs replacing.

Box material affects how long you have.

Plywood tends to hold its shape and screws better after it gets wet and dries. Particleboard and furniture board, when their surface is breached, swell more and do not recover. That is not a reason to reject an engineered-board line outright, since many use a sealed melamine surface that resists spills well, but it is a reason to protect the sink cabinet floor whatever the box is made of. Our comparison of furniture board vs. plywood cabinets covers the trade-offs in detail.

For reference, the Fabuwood Allure Galaxy boxes we sell are ½-inch veneered plywood with a natural wood-veneer interior, and even so we tell buyers to line the sink deck.

Four cheap habits protect it:

1. A sink cabinet mat or tray. A molded, raised-edge tray holds a spill instead of spreading it. Choose a light color; a single drip shows on a pale liner where it would disappear into wood grain.
2. A battery leak alarm. A small sensor on the floor of the cabinet sounds when it gets wet. It costs little and catches the slow leaks that do the most damage.
3. A look every few months. Put a hand on each supply stop and the trap. Dry is good; damp means a fitting to tighten.
4. Keep heavy bottles off the deck edge. A full bottle of detergent knocked over at the back of the cabinet can pour straight into the gap around the drain.

Tilt-Out Trays, Pull-Out Waste and Organizers

The space under a sink is awkward, but it is not wasted if you plan for it.

Tilt-out trays turn the false front into a shallow bin. A hinge kit replaces the fixed panel's mounting so it tips forward, and a tray on the back holds sponges and brushes. Kits are sold to suit common false-front widths, so measure the panel before you buy one, then check the space between the back of the panel and the sink bowl; a thick undermount rim or a bowl set close to the front can leave no room for the tray to swing.

Pull-out waste bins are the most requested sink accessory. The NKBA guidelines recommend a waste receptacle near each cleanup sink, and under the sink is the obvious place.

The catch is room: a trap and a disposal take one side, so a double-bin pull-out usually wants a 36-inch cabinet or larger. Often the better answer is a dedicated pull-out waste cabinet right beside the sink base. The Fabuwood accessories guide goes through the trash pull-out options and widths; ask your designer which waste units are available in your finish.

Organizers fill in the rest: two-tier sliding shelves that fit around a trap, door-mounted racks for sponges and gloves, and U-shaped trays that wrap the drain. Buy them after the plumbing is in, with the actual pipe positions measured.

Accessible Sinks and Removable Bases

An accessible sink needs knee and toe space under it, which at first seems to rule out a cabinet. The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (section 606) set the rim or counter at 34 inches maximum above the floor, require a forward-approach clear floor space with knee and toe clearance, and require pipes under the sink to be insulated or otherwise shielded. In residential dwelling units, the standard allows cabinetry under the sink if it can be removed without removing the sink, the finished floor extends under it, and the walls behind it are finished.

That is how many accessible kitchens use a removable sink cabinet that comes out when a wheelchair user needs the space. KCD's spec book, for example, lists ADA-compatible sink bases (SB30-ACC and SB36-ACC) at 32½ inches tall with a removable, non-operating door front.

Whether the ADA Standards, a state accessibility code or a local housing program applies depends on the project; a private single-family remodel is usually not covered. Our sibling guide to ADA kitchen cabinet heights and clearances explains which rules apply where. The full text of section 606 is on ada.gov.

Bathroom Sink Cabinets Are a Different Size

People searching for "sink cabinets" are sometimes shopping for a bathroom. Bathroom sink cabinets are called vanities and run shallower than kitchen bases: Fabuwood's Allure vanities are 21 inches deep and 34½ inches tall, from 12 to 60 inches wide. A 12-inch-deep vanity is a different product again, usually a wall-hung or narrow unit for a tight powder room with a small bowl, and it is sized to the sink's depth rather than its width. Our Fabuwood vanity guide covers the bathroom side.

What Sink Cabinets Cost

A sink base cabinet is usually one of the cheaper base boxes, because it has no drawer boxes. In the standard Galaxy finishes, a straight sink base runs $386.75 for 21 inches up to $572.00 for 42 inches. The apron-front version costs more, $806.00 to $825.50, because the front is built to be cut and to carry a heavy sink. The diagonal base is $617.50. Your budget goes further than the cabinet, though:

Put pulls on the false front. Without them, the drawer band across the kitchen has a gap in the middle, and a guest's eye goes straight to it. Our sibling guide to cabinet hardware covers sizing and spacing, and Captivating Pro gives contractors trade pricing on multi-kitchen orders.

Which Sink Base Should You Order?

Most sink walls fall into one of a handful of situations. Find yours, then confirm against the sink's spec sheet.

You can browse every straight width on our sink base cabinets page and the apron versions on the farm sink cabinets page. For the tilt-out hardware, the glossary entry on the sink tilt-out tray explains how the kit mounts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What size sink base do I need for a 33-inch sink?

For an undermount sink, usually a 36-inch cabinet; Kohler, for example, lists 36 inches as the minimum for its 33-inch 8 Degree undermount. The extra three inches cover the face-frame stiles and the mounting clips on each side. For an apron-front sink, read the spec sheet instead, because some 33-inch apron sinks are built to sit on a 33-inch farm sink base.

What size sink fits a 36-inch sink base cabinet?

By the add-three-inches rule, an undermount sink up to about 33 inches wide, single or double bowl. A drop-in sink hangs from its rim on the counter, so its maker may allow a slightly wider model. Either way the sink's published minimum cabinet size overrides the rule, and a deep bowl with a disposal may still leave little room for a trash pull-out.

What is the standard sink base width?

There is no single standard, but 30, 33 and 36 inches cover most kitchens. A 30-inch base is common in builder and rental kitchens with a 25-inch sink, while a 36-inch sink base is the usual choice for the 33-inch sinks most people buy today. Galaxy lists every 3-inch step from 21 to 42 inches.

What size sink fits a 30-inch sink base?

An undermount sink up to about 27 inches wide, by the three-inch rule, or a drop-in whose spec sheet names a 30-inch cabinet; the 25-inch singles common in builder kitchens are the usual match. A double bowl is only possible if it's compact, since most are 33 inches or more. If you want two bowls, plan on a 36-inch base, or choose a single bowl with an offset drain for the 30.

What size sink fits a corner sink cabinet?

Smaller than the cabinet suggests. A 36-inch diagonal sink base like Fabuwood's DSB36 uses 36 inches on each wall, but its angled face is only about 17 inches wide, and the bowl has to pass through the countertop cutout behind that face. A standard 33-inch sink won't sit square to it. Pick a sink whose spec sheet names a 36-inch diagonal corner base, usually a single bowl or a purpose-made corner sink.

Why does a sink cabinet have a fake drawer?

The sink bowl sits exactly where the top drawer box would slide, so the maker fits a fixed false front that matches the drawer heads on the neighboring cabinets and keeps the band unbroken. On Fabuwood Allure sink bases it is 6¾ inches tall. A tilt-out tray kit can hinge it forward to hold sponges, if the bowl leaves room behind it.

Do sink base cabinets have a bottom?

Yes. A standard sink base has a floor, or deck, but no shelf, and its back is open or thin enough to cut for the pipes. The exception is a corner sink front: Fabuwood's DSF36 arrives as a face frame and doors across a site-built corner, with its floor, the DSFL36, ordered separately. Seal the deck and any cut edges before the plumber connects anything.

Can I put a sink in a regular base cabinet?

You can, by removing the top drawer and shelf and cutting the back, but you lose the matching false front and weaken the box where it carries the sink. A drawer base also costs more than a sink base of the same width, because of its drawer boxes and slides. Ordering the proper box is cheaper and cleaner.

How do I protect the bottom of a sink cabinet?

Line the deck with a molded, raised-edge mat or tray in a light color so drips show, seal every cut edge around the pipes with sealer or silicone, and set a battery leak alarm on the floor. Then feel the supply stops, the trap and the dishwasher hose every few months. Slow leaks, not floods, cause most sink cabinet damage.

What is the difference between a sink base and a farm sink base?

A standard sink base has a false drawer front that hides the sink bowl behind it. A farm sink base has a front that is cut down, or cut on site, to expose the apron of a farmhouse sink; Fabuwood's Allure version is cut up to 12 inches high. The heavier fireclay or cast-iron sink usually rests on a support frame built inside the box.

How deep is a kitchen sink cabinet?

24 inches, like every other kitchen base cabinet, under a countertop about 25½ inches deep that overhangs the box by about 1½ inches. That fits almost any sink 22 inches or less front to back with room for a faucet behind it. Bathroom vanities are shallower; Fabuwood's Allure vanities, for instance, are 21 inches deep.

Get the Sink Wall Right on Paper

Send us the spec sheet for the sink you want and the width of the window above it, and we will size the cabinet, the neighbors and the accessories around both. Our free 3D design and an itemized quote puts the sink base, the dishwasher, the trash pull-out and the fillers in one plan, and door samples let you check the finish next to the sink material before you order.

Start through our contact page or call 609-900-3358. If you are still deciding on the rest of the kitchen, the Fabuwood cabinet sizes and specs guide lists every standard box, and the Galaxy Frost sink base page shows the full range.

Sources: Fabuwood Allure spec book (sink, farm sink and diagonal sink base specifications); Kohler product spec sheets for the K-3673 and Whitehaven sinks; NKBA Kitchen Planning Guidelines; 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, section 606; KCD cabinet spec book. Prices are our current Galaxy listings and change with the price list.