Room clearances: how much space to leave around furniture

A room can be big enough on paper and still feel cramped: a bed you have to squeeze past, a dishwasher door that blocks the kitchen, chairs that hit the wall. Almost always it's the space between things that's wrong, not the room. These are the clearances designers use, in inches with the metric equivalent. Building codes set some of them (stairs, toilets); the rest are what makes a room comfortable to use.

1. Keep walkways 36 inches wide

Any path people walk along needs at least 36 inches (90 cm): between a sofa and a bookcase, past the end of a bed, between a table and the wall. That's also the usual minimum width of a hallway. Main routes through a home, from the front door to the kitchen say, feel better at 42 inches. Gaps under about 15 inches don't count as walkways: nobody tries to walk through them.

2. Leave room around beds

Leave 24 inches (60 cm) at the foot of the bed and on every side someone gets in from; 30 to 36 inches is comfortable for making the bed. Nightstands sit right beside the bed, so they don't need a gap. Use the room size guide to see the room each bed size needs.

3. Leave room in front of kitchen and laundry appliances

• At least 36 inches in front of counters, the stove, the fridge and the dishwasher.
• 42 inches between facing counters, or a counter and an island, for one cook; 48 inches for two.
• 36 inches in front of a washer and dryer, so the doors open and a basket fits.

4. Leave room in bathrooms and closets

A toilet needs at least 21 inches clear in front (30 is comfortable) and 15 inches from its centre to any wall or fixture beside it. Leave 24 inches in front of a shower's opening and 21 to 30 inches in front of a sink. A wardrobe or closet needs about 30 inches in front so its doors open and you can stand there. The bathroom layout guide has the rest.

5. Leave room to pull out dining chairs

Measure from the edge of the table, not the chair: you need at least 36 inches to a wall or another piece of furniture to pull a chair out and sit down, and about 44 inches if people walk behind someone who's seated. A table for six (about 36 × 72 inches) needs a dining area of roughly 9 × 12 feet.

6. Check doors and stairs

Draw each door's swing and make sure it clears furniture and other doors; where two doors meet in a corner, flip one or use a pocket or sliding door. For stairs, most US codes allow a step to rise at most 7¾ inches, ask for treads at least 10 inches deep, and 80 inches (6' 8") of headroom above every step.

7. Check the plan automatically

In DrawPlans, draw the room to scale (or start from the one-bedroom apartment), place the furniture, and press Check layout in the toolbar. It lists every walkway, door swing, clearance and staircase that's too tight on the floor you're on, says how far to move things, and marks the spots in red. The list updates as you move furniture, and you can dismiss anything that's tight on purpose. On a metric plan it uses metric sizes.

Working out the size first? The square footage calculator adds up rooms, L-shapes included.