Furniture Is Listed in Centimetres, Rooms Are Drawn in Metres
Every sofa, wardrobe and worktop you look at online is described in centimetres. Every floor plan, estate-agent listing and set of architect's drawings is in metres. Planning a room means holding both in your head at once, and it is where most "it looked like it would fit" mistakes start.
When You Need This
Furniture Shopping
Floor Plans
Ordering Materials
Checking a Piece of Furniture Against Your Room
Take the listing figure
Copy the width, depth or height straight from the product page — 180, 90, 240 — and put it in the upper field. Metres appear below immediately.
Compare it with the wall
Set the piece against the metre figure from your plan and keep a gap. A sofa filling a wall edge to edge reads as furniture that was bought for a different room.
Check the route in as well
Convert the doorway, the stair turn and the lift opening too. The piece has to arrive before it can fit.
Going the other way is a single tap: a plan that says 3.6 m becomes 360 cm the moment you press the swap arrows, which is the form you want when you are comparing it against a shop listing.
What the Usual Household Dimensions Look Like in Both Units
These are the figures that come up in nearly every room plan. Bed and door sizes vary by country, so treat them as the common European measurements rather than a standard.
| Item | Centimetres | Metres |
|---|---|---|
| Internal doorway | 76 cm wide | 0.76 m |
| Single bed | 90 × 190 cm | 0.9 × 1.9 m |
| Kitchen worktop depth | 60 cm | 0.6 m |
| King bed | 180 × 200 cm | 1.8 × 2 m |
| Door height | 198 cm | 1.98 m |
| Living room | 400 × 500 cm | 4 × 5 m (20 m²) |
Read Metres While You Are Still in the Showroom
The metre figure lands as you type, so you can work through width, depth and height of three different sofas without ever pressing a button.
Flip to Match a Metre-Based Plan
The swap arrows put metres on top, turning the 3.6 m on an architect's drawing into the 360 cm a retailer's filter expects.
Copy Straight Into a Layout Sketch
Each field copies its number alone, which is what a plan tool, a spreadsheet of room dimensions or a message to the fitter wants to receive.
Drop to Millimetres for Joinery
Fitted furniture and worktop cuts are specified in millimetres. Search the unit list for that instead and the same two fields carry on working.
Room Planning and Measuring Questions
Will a 2 m sofa get through a 76 cm doorway?
Usually yes, because the length never has to pass through — the sofa goes in on its side. What has to beat 76 cm is the smaller of its depth and its height, typically 85–95 cm deep and 70–85 cm tall. If both exceed the opening, the feet normally come off.
How do I work out room area in square metres?
Convert each wall measurement to metres, then multiply. A room of 400 cm × 350 cm is 4 m × 3.5 m = 14 m². For an L-shaped room, split it into two rectangles and add the results.
What ceiling height counts as standard?
Modern homes are usually built at 240–270 cm (2.4–2.7 m), and building regulations in most countries set a minimum near 240 cm for habitable rooms. Victorian and other period properties often run to 300 cm or more, which changes what a tall wardrobe looks like.
How much clear space should I leave to walk through?
Sixty centimetres (0.6 m) is the tightest gap an adult can pass comfortably. Main routes through a room want 90–120 cm, and 75 cm is the usual allowance between a dining table edge and the wall so chairs can be pulled out.
Why do listings mix the two units at all?
Convention, mostly. Anything under about three metres reads more naturally without a decimal point, so furniture stays in centimetres, while rooms and floor areas are quoted in metres because they are compared and priced per square metre.
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