Whether you’re doing the work yourself, or hiring a contractor to install new kitchen countertops, you’ll need to plot out the arrangement of your current counters, measuring as accurately as you can to help determine the materials cost for the project. Most major home improvement stores have graph paper charts that you can take home for measuring kitchen countertops.

In short, you draw a layout of your entire kitchen area, including the countertop sections, the appliance locations and dimensions, as well as the island and sink positions. You’ll use a tape measure to take readings of the distance from the end of the end of the section of the countertop to the wall, or from the end to the next section of kitchen counter. Then, you’ll need to record the depth, measuring from the wall to the front edge of the counters.

Don’t forget to measure the height and length of the backsplashes, too. It’s basic math: multiplying length times depth, then adding all the countertop area together to get your total number of square inches. The next part of the equation is to divide total square inches by 144 to get the total for square footage. Then it becomes a matter of multiplying the price per square foot for the countertops you’re evaluating against total footage needed to cost your project materials.

Using Kitchen Countertop Templates

Countertop manufacturers often have their own templates to take home for measurement. Laminate Tops has a chart and directions on its website. And Home Depot has an online graph to print to paper, along with concise instructions for charting and computing prices for your project.