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Installing Kitchen Cabinetry Yourself
By
Sue Holt and Larry Hamilton
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How hard is installing cabinets yourself? Well, my wife Sue
and I discovered that with a few basic tools and a little
good old fashioned teamwork, even we could do it. You’ll
not only save a good chunk of money, but you’ll enjoy
years of satisfaction spending time in a wonderful kitchen
that you created yourself.
We just finished
installing our own kitchen cabinets that were ordered and
delivered safely from Cabinetry Direct. We can now tell you
emphatically that installing cabinets, a job we once thought
only “professionals” should attempt, can be done
by just about anyone possessing basic tool skills and a little
patience.
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After we placed our order with Cabinetry Direct,
we busily filled the eight week period between the
ordering time and delivery of our new kitchen . The
weeks flew by as we gutted the old cabinets and reworked
some of the plumbing and electrical circuits to meet
our new needs. Fortunately we managed to get it all
done and we were ready and roaring to go the day the
cabinets arrived.
The first step for installing our cabinets entailed
mapping out in pencil the footprint of where each
base cabinet would reside, then analyzing how level
our floor was under the cabinet. With the help of
a four foot level, we ascertained where the highest
spot was on our floor. This was the level that all
the other base cabinets would have to be shimmed up
to. It’s very important to note this high point
in the floor as having perfectly level cabinets not
only ensures that the countertops will be level, but
it also creates a virtually unnoticeable joint between
adjacent base cabinets.
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A homemade inverted U-Shape frame made from
2 x 4's provides a great support for installing
wall cabinetry & frees up hands for leveling
& securing. |
| Fig. 1 |
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enlarge it |
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From
the high spot on the floor, we measured up the wall 34 ½”.
This mark would indicate the top of the base cabinet before
countertop is added. Using the long level, we marked this
height around the room where the base cabinets would be. Measuring
up 19 ½” from there, we were able to make a line
depicting the bottom of our upper cabinets. With an allowance
of 1 ½” for countertop, this would leave us with
the standard 18” space between base and upper cabinets.
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Using a long straight edge, we checked and marked
the wall for any high or low spots. This would provide
us in advance information regarding exactly where
and by how much we would need to shim behind each
cabinet. Once again, this would help us down the road
to line up our face frames. Our walls were much straighter
than our floor was level.
From here we moved on to locating secure attachment
points for the upper and lower kitchen cabinets.
Upper cabinets especially must be affixed to the
wall where studs are located, and not just through
wall board. Your options are to use a stud finder
and mark each center of stud, or simply drive a thin
finishing nail through the wall until you find a stud,
then confirm the location of each next stud. Wall
studs are usually spaced 16” on center, but
not always.
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Pre-drill pilot holes through the cabinet
back at the top & bottom being sure your
hole also goes through the hanging hanging
rails as well as into a solid stud behind
the wall. Shim behind & under the cabinet
as necessary to keep it perfectly level and
square. |
| Fig. 2 |
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With
stud framed walls, cabinets are held in place by wood screws
that are often 3 or even 3 ½ inches long. The goal
is to provide at least 1 ½ to 1 ¾ inch penetration
into the underlying stud. Remember to allow for wallboard
thickness, dead air space, and cabinet hanging rail thickness.
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In our particular installation, the walls were concrete
block. After asking around, we discovered that the
best attachment method was to drill a hole into the
concrete and secure the cabinet to the wall using
a Tap-con screw. A Tap-con screw is a special self-tapping
screw made specifically for attachment into concrete.
With a lot of the layout and thinking finally out
of the way, we were ready to begin installing kitchen
cabinets.
So that we would have plenty of room to work and
move about, we began by installing the upper cabinets
first. Knowing that it would be difficult to physically
hold the cabinet in place, level it, place shims and
drill holes we decided to use a support frame. We
fashioned an inverted U-shaped frame out of 2 x 4
inch lumber. The height of the frame was ¼
inch lower than where the bottom of our upper cabinets
needed to be. The use of shims helped us to position
each cabinet exactly into place along the wall leaving
our hands free to attend to leveling and securing.
(See Fig. 1)
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Once the cabinets are properly clamped together,
pre-drill pilot holes at the top, bottom,
(and center if needed) of the adjoining face
frames with a 1/8" bit & secure the
face frames together with 2 1/2" multi-purpose
screws. A counter sink attachment for your
bit can be handy for recessing the screw heads
flush with the frame & out of site. |
| Fig. 3 |
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On stud walls, a ledger board is sometimes used alone
or in conjunction with a frame like ours. A ledger
board is a temporary piece of wood like a 1 x 2 which
is screwed into the wall to help support the weight
at the back of the cabinet and hold it at the correct
height.
Before we started installing cabinets, we removed
all the doors. We labeled each prior to removal to
ensure a smooth, speedy and correct reinstallation.
Sue held the support frame while I maneuvered the
first upper cabinet into position. We shimmed the
cabinet upwards from our support frame until its bottom
aligned perfectly with our mark on the wall. After
leveling the cabinet with shims up and down, side
to side, and front and back, I screwed it to the wall.
I soon discovered that it was best to not over tighten
the fasteners since the cabinet may need some more
tweaking when being aligned with the adjacent cabinet.
(See Fig. 2 )
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Quick Grip clamps pull the face frames together
tightly without scratching the finish. The
wall cabinet support frame was built 1/4"
under the standard height of 54" so the
cabinets could be shimmed to the exact height. |
| Fig. 4 |
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The remaining kitchen cabinets were installed in
a similar fashion to the first cabinet with one small
exception. The face frame of the new cabinet was aligned
with and screwed into the already installed cabinet
prior to screwing the new cabinet into the wall. This
ensured a neat and gapless seam between cabinets.
(See Fig. 3)
To hold the cabinets together, we used Quick Grips.
Quick Grips are a small, easy to tighten with one
hand bar clamp with padded jaws. The padding ensures
you will not mar the finish of the cabinets.
(See Fig. 4)
Another technique to ensure smooth face frame joints
is to fasten two or more kitchen cabinets together
as a unit before lifting them into place. This method
for installing cabinets required a few more hands
than we had.
With our upper cabinets complete, we jumped into
getting those lower units installed.
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Installations should usually start from a
corner & work outward. For all other cabinets
to line up properly the first cabinet installed
must be perfectly plumb in all directions.
For base cabinets this includes making sure
the top of the cabinet is level from front
to back to ensure the counter tops fit correctly. |
| Fig. 5 |
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As
with the upper cabinets, we first removed all the doors and
then completely removed each drawer. Whenever possible, it’s
best to begin your installation in a corner, so that’s
what we did. We shimmed the base up to our mark on the wall,
then leveled it with more shims and permanently attached it
to the walls. (See Fig. 5)
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As each cabinet base was moved into position, we
once again aligned the faces, clamped them tightly,
and then screwed them together. Only then did we proceed
with final leveling and securing to the wall.
Throughout this process of leveling our base cabinets,
we discovered that our 4-ft level gave us a more precise
reading and better overall picture than did our shorter
levels. (See Fig. 6)
Before long, all our kitchen cabinets were in place
and we started to get a really good feel for how our
new kitchen was going to look.
The next step in the process of installing the cabinets
was to attach the toe board.
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The use of a long 4' level will give you a
more precise reading & a better overall
feeling of how well the cabinets are staying
plumb. |
| Fig. 6 |
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Toe
board is a decorative panel placed at foot level which disguises
the joints between the base cabinets and makes them appear
to be one solid unit. Before installation of toe board, all
protruding shims must be cut flush with the cabinet. We used
a Dremel tool with a cutting disc to reach the shims positioned
in the toe kick. Depending upon where they are, shims can
also be cut with a sharp chisel, sawn with a very small saw,
or even broken by hand. (See Fig. 7)
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After measuring and cutting the toe boards to length,
we adhered them with Liquid Nails, a readily available
construction adhesive. If you have access to an air
nailer, 3/4" brad nails do a great job. They
can be nailed by hand if you don't have access to
an air nail, it just takes a while longer.
For us, installing our cabinets meant dealing with
a soffit that was already in place from the original
kitchen. A soffit is an area which is boxed down from
the ceiling leaving no open space above the cabinet.
We could have removed the soffit, or just painted
it. We chose, however, to deal with it by covering
it with ¼ inch thick cherry plywood stained
and finished to match our cabinets. We then trimmed
out the bottom edge with molding. This resulted in
a very classy and rich look. If no soffit is present
in your kitchen, the addition of crown moldings at
the top of your cabinets will give you a nice finished
furniture quality appearance.
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Base cabinets must be shimmed to keep them
plumb. It is important to keep them level
from left to right & front to back. Once
all units are installed, the excess shim can
be trimmed flush with cabinet with a saw,
chisel, or Dremel tool. Add toekick to cover
the face areas. Scribe or shoe mold can be
used to cover the side areas. |
| Fig. 7 |
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So
far this experience of installing kitchen cabinets continued
to prove the point that most any "Do-It-Yourselfer"
can handle the project.
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Finally it was time to reinstall the doors and drawers.
Today’s door and drawer hardware makes this
task laughingly easy. All door hinges slide into a
receiver where they are easily adjustable. The self-engaging
drawer hardware allows you to simply slide the drawer
back into place where it snaps and relock's itself
automatically with the sliding
I think it was at this point that we both sat back
and went, “Wow".
The only step remaining in our installing kitchen
cabinets project now was to mount the door and drawer
pulls. We found a wonderful and very inexpensive tool
at the hardware store to help with this procedure.
It’s a small plastic template that ensures consistent
locating of all holes and virtually eliminates misalignment
and mistakes. (See Fig. 8)
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The use of this small plastic template will
ensure that all door & drawer hardware
mounting holes are drilled consistently. For
the do-it-yourself installation, this little
tool will save you hours of measuring &
hand marking . It only costs a few dollars
& virtually eliminates mistakes. |
| Fig. 8 |
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Today
with our new kitchen complete we reflect back upon our entire
experience of buying cabinets online and the process of installing
the cabinets ourselves. The beauty and warmth of our kitchen
far surpass any custom kitchen that we’ve ever seen.
And our friends…..well, they’re absolutely speechless
when we tell them that we did it all ourselves.
Thank you Cabinetry Direct for making our dream come true!
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| The
Completed Project
Click An Image
For A Larger View |
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| Tools
Required: |
Necessary
Items:
Electric Drill
Electric Screwdriver
Drill Bits
Tape Measure
Level (4 ft, 2 ft, and 6 inch)
Shims
Screws
Hammer
Clamps
Chisel
Hand Saw
Pencil
Straight edge
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Optional
Items:
Countersink Bit
Dremel Tool
Hardware Template
Liquid Nails
If Adding Crown Mold:
Mitre saw
Nails
Air Nailer (If available) |
Be sure to also read Larry & Sue's article "Buying
Kitchen Cabinets On The Internet"
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Budget
Kitchen Cabinets
7243 Will Robbins Hwy.
Nettleton, MS 38858 |
Toll
Free 1-877-963-2050
Local (662) 963-2050
Fax (662) 963-2047 |
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