Best Toe Kick Dimensions for Cabinet Design

Best Toe Kick Dimensions for Cabinet Design At the bottom of every base floor cabinet in your kitchen or bathroom, you will notice a notched profile below the front door of the cabinet. This notched profile, called a toe kick, is an ergonomic feature designed to make it safer and more comfortable to work at the cabinets countertop. This might seem like a small advantage, but long experience shows that this small amount makes it much easier for a user to stand for long periods without uncomfortable leaning and without struggling to maintain balance. As with many other standard features of home and furniture design, the toe kick follows a fairly common measurement standard.  So universal is this standard that factory-made stock cabinets always follow these standard dimensions for a toe kick,  and an experienced carpenter or woodworker who constructs  a base cabinet will include the toe kick with these standard dimensions. Standards such as these are neither  legal requirements nor mandated by building code. Rather, builders have established over time that such measurements make for greater comfort and safety, so it is wisest to follow these measurements unless specifically directed otherwise.    Standard Dimensions for Toe Kicks The optimal depth for a toe kick is 3 inches. This provides an adequate recess to stand comfortably and maintain balance while working at a countertop. Almost all factory-made stock cabinets will comply with this depth standard.   Toe-kick depths greater than 3 inches do not hurt the effectiveness of the toe kick, but depths less than 3 inches should usually be avoided, as they interfere with ergonomic effectiveness.   The optimal height for a toe kick is 3 1/2 inches, and heights up to 4 inches are common. Increasing the height over 3 1/2 inches does not hurt the effectiveness of the toe kick, but it may very slightly reduce the space in your base cabinet. Is There Any Reason to Change the Dimensions of Your Toe Kick? Its quite rare that a reason presents itself to vary from these standard dimensions for your base cabinet toe kicks. It is actually only possible at all in custom cabinets built to specifications or having a carpenter alter the installation of factory cabinets.   Family need for altered dimensions is generally the catalyst for requests for alteration of such specs. For example, a very tall person with large feet might find a larger toe kick more accommodating. The likelihood of a need to reduce the size of the toe kick is slim, although a very short person might consider this as a means of slightly lowering the countertop height to provide an added level of comfort to a workspace.

Free Essays on Banning Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has many positive points including the fact that it can be used to educate children and the characters can be compared to stereotypical people and situations in real life, which are merely cloaked in fantasy to disguise a classic story of good v. evil which should be accepted for what it is, a really good story. This extremely controversial series has parents and religious leaders across the world denouncing the books as evil propaganda for Satanism. Here in the United States the books have been challenged and banned in schools and public libraries with some extremists staging book burnings that resemble those held in Nazi Germany. Throughout all of this controversy children have continued to become enthralled by the harmless fantasy and magic. In her article, â€Å"Banning Books From the Classroom: How To Handle Cries For Censorship,† Sharon Cromwell uses a format that is easily understood to explain the issues involved with the challenging and banning of books. Ms. Cromwell strives to present both sides of the argument equally, and begins by presenting the issues in the statements: †¦advocates of banning certain books maintain that children in grades K-12 will be harmed if we don’t protect them from inappropriate materials. Opponents are equally heated in insisting that censorship of books and other curriculum materials violates the academic freedom and diversity of thought protected by the U.S. Constitution (2). This presents both sides of the issue clearly and defines the outlines of the article, which strives to be fair. In discussing the case, Island Trees Union Free High School v. Pico (1982), the Supreme Court is quoted as saying the â€Å"Constitution does not permit the official suppression of ideas,† and then it is stated that the banned books were returned to the school shelves. This is followed by the statement, â€Å"the Court seems to allow school boards a rather free hand wi... Free Essays on Banning Harry Potter Free Essays on Banning Harry Potter J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has many positive points including the fact that it can be used to educate children and the characters can be compared to stereotypical people and situations in real life, which are merely cloaked in fantasy to disguise a classic story of good v. evil which should be accepted for what it is, a really good story. This extremely controversial series has parents and religious leaders across the world denouncing the books as evil propaganda for Satanism. Here in the United States the books have been challenged and banned in schools and public libraries with some extremists staging book burnings that resemble those held in Nazi Germany. Throughout all of this controversy children have continued to become enthralled by the harmless fantasy and magic. In her article, â€Å"Banning Books From the Classroom: How To Handle Cries For Censorship,† Sharon Cromwell uses a format that is easily understood to explain the issues involved with the challenging and banning of books. Ms. Cromwell strives to present both sides of the argument equally, and begins by presenting the issues in the statements: †¦advocates of banning certain books maintain that children in grades K-12 will be harmed if we don’t protect them from inappropriate materials. Opponents are equally heated in insisting that censorship of books and other curriculum materials violates the academic freedom and diversity of thought protected by the U.S. Constitution (2). This presents both sides of the issue clearly and defines the outlines of the article, which strives to be fair. In discussing the case, Island Trees Union Free High School v. Pico (1982), the Supreme Court is quoted as saying the â€Å"Constitution does not permit the official suppression of ideas,† and then it is stated that the banned books were returned to the school shelves. This is followed by the statement, â€Å"the Court seems to allow school boards a rather free hand wi...