Standard room sizes for a house plan
There is no law that says a bedroom must be a certain size, but there are sizes that work and sizes that do not, and the difference is almost always the furniture. These are the figures to design to, and the reasons behind them.
Bedrooms
A bedroom is sized by its bed plus the room to walk round it and open a wardrobe. Work from the bed outward, not from a target area.
| Bedroom | Minimum | Comfortable | Generous |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main / master | 10' × 11' | 12' × 14' | 14' × 16' |
| Second bedroom | 9' × 10' | 10' × 12' | 12' × 13' |
| Child / single | 8' × 9' | 9' × 11' | 10' × 12' |
| Guest | 9' × 10' | 10' × 11' | 11' × 13' |
The beds those rooms have to take:
| Bed | Size | Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Single | 3'-0" × 6'-3" | 900 × 1900 mm |
| Double | 4'-6" × 6'-3" | 1350 × 1900 mm |
| Queen | 5'-0" × 6'-8" | 1500 × 2000 mm |
| King | 6'-0" × 6'-8" | 1800 × 2000 mm |
Leave 2'-0" of clear floor down at least one side of the bed and at the foot — that is the space to walk, to make the bed, and to stand while dressing. In front of a wardrobe leave 3'-0", because you need to open the door and stand back. A 10' × 11' room with a king bed leaves 2 ft one side and about a foot the other; it technically fits and it is miserable to live in.
Living and dining
| Room | Minimum | Comfortable | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Living room | 11' × 13' | 13' × 18' | Seating needs an uninterrupted wall run |
| Dining, 4 seats | 9' × 9' | 10' × 11' | Table 3' × 3', plus 3' all round to pull chairs out |
| Dining, 6 seats | 10' × 12' | 11' × 14' | Table 3' × 5'-6" |
| Dining, 8 seats | 11' × 15' | 12' × 17' | Table 3'-6" × 7' |
| Family / TV room | 11' × 12' | 13' × 15' | Sit 8–10 ft from the screen |
| Home office | 7' × 8' | 9' × 10' | Desk 2'-6" deep, 3'-6" to push the chair back |
The number that governs a dining room is the 3 ft clearance all the way round the table. That is the space to pull a chair out and walk behind someone sitting. Halve it and the person on the far side has to ask everyone to stand up. It is the single most common sizing mistake in a plan.
Kitchens
A kitchen is sized by its aisle, not by its area. Everything else follows.
- A single run of units needs 3'-6" of clear aisle in front, so a galley one side wants a room about 7'-6" wide.
- A galley with units both sides needs 4'-0" between the fronts — 3'-6" is the absolute minimum and two people cannot pass. That makes the room about 8'-6" wide, since standard base units are 2'-0" deep.
- An island needs 3'-6" to 4'-0" clear all round it, so the room has to be at least 12 ft wide before an island is worth having. Islands in narrow kitchens are the commonest regret.
| Kitchen | Minimum | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|
| Galley, one side | 7'-6" × 9' | 8' × 12' |
| Galley, both sides | 8'-6" × 10' | 9' × 13' |
| L-shaped | 9' × 10' | 11' × 12' |
| With an island | 12' × 13' | 13' × 16' |
Standard counter depth is 2'-0" at a height of 3'-0", with wall cabinets starting 4'-6" above the floor. Keep the sink, the hob and the fridge within a comfortable triangle — each leg between 4 and 9 ft, and the three legs adding up to somewhere between 13 and 26 ft.
Bathrooms
| Bathroom | Minimum | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|
| WC only | 2'-6" × 5'-0" | 3'-6" × 6'-0" |
| Shower room | 5'-0" × 6'-0" | 6'-0" × 7'-0" |
| Full bathroom | 5'-0" × 7'-0" | 7'-0" × 9'-0" |
| En-suite | 5'-0" × 6'-6" | 6'-0" × 8'-0" |
The fixtures themselves: a bath is 5'-6" × 2'-6", a shower tray 3'-0" square (2'-6" is the minimum and feels it), a basin 2'-0" wide, a WC 2'-4" deep from the wall. Leave 2'-0" of clear floor in front of every fixture and 8" either side of the WC centre line. A 5' × 7' bathroom holds a bath, basin and WC and nothing else — which is why it is the minimum rather than a target.
Circulation and the rest
| Space | Minimum | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|
| Hallway / corridor | 3'-0" wide | 3'-6" – 4'-0" |
| Entrance hall | 5' × 6' | 7' × 8' |
| Stair width | 3'-0" | 3'-6" |
| Landing depth | 3'-0" | the width of the flight |
| Utility / laundry | 5' × 6' | 6' × 8' |
| Single garage | 10' × 20' | 12' × 22' |
| Double garage | 18' × 20' | 20' × 22' |
| Ceiling height | 8'-0" | 9'-0" – 10'-0" |
A 3 ft corridor is walkable but two people cannot pass, and it is tight for carrying furniture round a corner. If a corridor serves more than two rooms, 3'-6" is money well spent.
These are design figures, not building regulations. Minimum room sizes, ceiling heights, corridor widths and accessibility clearances are set locally and they differ between countries — and where a room is a habitable room, or a means of escape, the rules are stricter. Check what applies where you are building before you commit.
Draw the furniture
Every figure above is a shortcut for the same test: does the furniture fit with room to move around it? The shortcut is useful, but drawing it is definitive. Put the bed, the wardrobe, the sofa and the dining table on the plan at the same scale, then look at what is left. Rooms fail on paper for free.
DrawHousePlan draws rooms to exact dimensions. Type wall lengths in feet and inches, and the room areas are calculated as you go and collected into a room schedule on the printed set. Stack storeys, check it in 3D, and print at a true scale so you can lay a ruler on it. Free, no account, and the drawing stays on your machine.