Cutting plan for a chipboard kitchen: from the cut list to the cutting sheet

In this guide you go through a real kitchen from start to finish: five cabinets, three materials, 41 parts. You will see how to calculate part sizes from the cabinet dimensions, how to name them, how to mark edge banding and grain, and how to get from the cut list to the cutting plan, the operator's sheet and the labels stuck on the parts. At the end you build the same kitchen as recipes in OptimCut, so for the next order you do not have to write anything from scratch.

The example kitchen

It is a straight 1600 mm kitchen, with space for the cooker hood between the wall cabinets. The values are typical for chipboard kitchens; adjust them to your own construction system.

The worktop is not part of the board cutting plan: it is bought separately, by length, and cut separately.

How to build the cut list per cabinet

All the parts of a cabinet come from three dimensions: width W, height H and depth D. With 18 mm chipboard and full-height side panels, the rules are simple:

• Side panel: H × D, 2 pieces.
• Bottom, top, rails, shelves: the inside width, that is W − 2 × 18 = W − 36 mm.
• Shelf: a few centimetres shallower than the cabinet, so it does not touch the door.
• HDF back: 4 mm smaller than the cabinet in each direction, nailed on the back.
• Door: the cabinet height minus 4 mm; with two doors, the width is split, with a 3 mm gap between them.

The 600 mm base cabinet

The 600 mm wall cabinet

The 400 mm versions

For the 400 mm cabinets only the width-dependent sizes change: the bottom, top, rails and shelves are 364 mm (400 − 36), the back is 716 × 396 mm, and instead of two doors you have a single 716 × 397 mm door. The side panels stay identical to those of the 600 mm cabinet of the same type.

Names the saw operator understands

The operator does not have your design in his head. He sees a board, a diagram and a label. That is why part names should be short, the same in every project and tied to the part's position in the cabinet.

• Use the same words everywhere: side panel, bottom, top, rail, shelf, back, door, drawer front. Do not write “shelf” one time and “board” the next.
• Do not number identical parts: the 720 × 560 side panels of the three base cabinets are interchangeable. What matters is the size, not the cabinet they come from.
• Group parts that belong together: doors, drawers or adjustable shelves can be a sub-assembly. On the label they appear as “Doors · Door”, so they are recognised at once during assembly.
• Give cabinets names with their size: “Base cabinet 600 – 2 doors”, “Wall cabinet 400 – 1 door”. Easy to find in the list and in the next project.

Grain on the fronts and edge banding on each side

Grain

On the fronts, the grain shows the most. The doors in the example have vertical grain, along the 716 mm. Enter them with the length in the grain direction and with fixed grain: the software will not rotate them, even if they would fit better rotated. In a kitchen with woodgrain fronts, all doors and drawer fronts must have the grain running the same way. More in the guide to chipboard grain direction when cutting.

Edge banding

Carcasses usually get thin edge banding, 0.4–0.8 mm, on the front edge only. Doors get 2 mm edge banding on all four sides. You enter the finished sizes, the ones from the design, and only state how many edges are banded along the length and along the width.

If you cut the doors at 716 × 297 and put 2 mm banding on top, you get 720 × 301 mm, and the gaps between the doors disappear. To calculate the metres of edge banding, see also the article on calculating edge banding for furniture.

Group the parts by material and colour

The cutting plan is made separately for each material. An oak chipboard part cannot be placed on a white chipboard board, however much room is left on it. Before laying out the boards, sum up the list by material:

The cutting plan in OptimCut, step by step

Everything you did on paper above becomes a few recipes in OptimCut. You write them once and reuse them for every kitchen with the same cabinets.

1. 1
   Materials and stock

   In the Material catalogue add white chipboard, oak chipboard and HDF, with the name your operator recognises and, if you like, the manufacturer code. In Board stock enter the raw boards and the offcuts you already have.

2. 2
   A category for kitchens

   In Furniture recipes create a category, for example “Kitchens”. Categories are folders; later you can have “Wardrobes” or “Chests of drawers” separately. The Kitchen category marked “Example” shows you what a complete recipe looks like.

3. 3
   One recipe per cabinet type

   Four recipes: base cabinet 600, base cabinet 400, wall cabinet 600, wall cabinet 400. Main material: white chipboard. For each part enter the name, material, length, width, pieces, grain and edge banding along the length and the width. The back goes on HDF.

4. 4
   The doors as a sub-assembly

   Add a “Doors” sub-assembly with the oak chipboard doors, fixed grain and 2 mm edge banding on all sides. On the labels they appear as “Doors · Door”.

5. 5
   Check and save

   The Material usage summary shows the number of parts, the area and the total edge banding. If the numbers match what you calculated, save the recipe.

6. 6
   Choose the cabinets and quantities

   Under Optimize choose Saved furniture, select the four recipes and enter the quantities: 2 base cabinets of 600 and one of each of the others. The Material requirement step shows the area for each material and the recommended value, with 30% extra.

7. 7
   Boards, trimming and pre-milling

   Choose the boards from stock, offcuts included. Say whether you trim the boards, by how many mm per side, and whether you pre-mill the edge-banded parts. Check the blade width and the minimum reusable offcut, then start the optimization.

An order with three materials counts as a single optimization: the materials are optimized one after another. The example kitchen has 41 parts, so it fits comfortably within the 100-part limit of the Trial account. The details of every screen are in the user manual.

The cutting sheet, labels and offcuts

After optimization, OptimCut checks the plan itself: every part is on a board, with no overlaps and nothing sticking out. If something is missing, Unplaced parts appears before you cut. Then you prepare the workshop documents:

When you start work, press Start cutting, save and update stock. The sheet is saved under Optimization results, where you can reopen or download it for 6 months. The boards used are taken out of stock, and you add the reusable offcuts back. In the example kitchen, the large offcuts of oak chipboard and white chipboard are good candidates for the next order. Read about reducing the offcuts that can no longer be used in the article on chipboard cutting waste.

Conclusion

A good kitchen cutting plan starts with a correct cut list: finished sizes calculated from the cabinet dimensions, clear names, fixed grain on the fronts, edge banding marked on each side and parts split by material. If you write them once as recipes, the next kitchen is just a matter of choosing the cabinets and quantities.

Build your own test kitchen with a free Trial account: 3 optimizations per month, up to 100 parts per optimization. When you cut every day, the Pro plan gives you 20 optimizations per day, up to 300 parts and the Precise method; see the pricing. If you only want the number of boards first, read the guide how many chipboard sheets you need.