Installing Kitchen Cabinets

You can save a lot of money and stretch your budget further by installing kitchen cabinets yourself.

Kitchen cabinets aren't difficult to install, but since they endure heavy use and are the most important part of the kitchen, you need to make sure you take your time with the prep work before you begin the installation process. If you don't take time to do the following steps, you may find yourself with uneven countertops because the kitchen cabinets are not level on the floor. To ensure this doesn't happen, complete the following steps the day before the cabinets are scheduled to arrive:

Tools Needed

• Pencil
• Four foot level
• T-Square

Grab the original order form from when you ordered your cabinets so that you have the exact measurements of the floor and wall cabinets. Mapping the layout of your cabinets by drawing where they are to go on the floor and the wall helps to ensure the installation process goes more smoothly. Here's how to get started:

• Using the level, find the highest spot on your floor – In a perfect world, all floors and walls are perfectly plumb. If you've ever done a floor or wall home improvement, you know that this is a rarity. It is necessary to find and mark the highest spot on your kitchen floor because when you begin the installation, you will shim all the other cabinets to be even with this spot.
• Measure the outline of your kitchen cabinets
  • Get the dimension of the cabinet off your order form.
  • Measure from the wall out, according to the width directions and mark it on the floor.
  • Then, measure from the floor up, according to the height dimensions and mark it.
  • Finally, measure along the wall according to the length dimensions and mark it.
  • Connect your marks using a t-square, creating an outline of where the cabinet is to sit.
• Continue measuring all of the cabinet outlines in the same manner as described above for the remainder of the floor and wall cabinets.
• Mark the studs – Your kitchen cabinets have to be attached to the studs, especially the wall cabinets. Using a stud finder, find the studs and mark them on both the floor and the wall. Be sure that you will be able to see your mark when the cabinets are in place.

Kitchen cabinets are heavy and cumbersome, so this is definitely a two person job at the least.

• Drill pilot holes – If you're confident about the location of your wall studs, go ahead and drill pilot holes into the wall cabinets to make attaching them to the wall much easier.
• Begin hanging the wall cabinets first – Everybody has an opinion of where to begin when installing kitchen cabinets, but beginning with the wall cabinets makes it easier to get underneath them to lift them into place.
• Make sure it's level – When you have the cabinet up in it's proper place, check to make sure it's level before attaching it to the wall. If the first cabinet isn't level, all the rest of them aren't going to be level either.
• Attach the cabinet – Use 3 - 3 1/2 inch long wood screws to ensure a tight hold to the wall stud behind the cabinet.
• Continue this process until all the wall cabinets are hung.

Since you don't have to hold these cabinets in place, installing the floor cabinets is much easier.

• If possible, begin installing the first cabinet at the highest point of the floor – Remember, you have to bring all the other cabinets up to this height. Check to make sure it's level, then fasten this cabinet to the wall stud.
• Put the next cabinet in place – Once it's in place, use shims to bring it up to the same height as the first cabinet.
• Continue this process until all the floor cabinets are in place.

Again, kitchen cabinets are one of the most important components in a kitchen so take your time during the installation process and for the best results, get a helper. Not only will it make the work much easier, but with someone else there, you'll be less likely to make mistakes during the installation process.

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