Introduction: Installing Kitchen Cabinets Yourself and Save Money

By Kitchen Designer London
About: Trust Me I Am Interior Designer :)

Installing cabinets is probably not as challenging as you believe. You can pick up many useful tips from many sources: a friend or family member who has done it, a how to manual (which is easily understood), or a course at a community college or trade school.

Although it can be fairly easy, you cannot do it by yourself. You will need someone to assist you lifting cabinets onto your wall. Or you will need help moving floor cabinets into position.

However, there are some important aspects of your kitchen cabinet installation that you need to be aware of. If you have no idea as to where to begin when it comes to installing kitchen cabinets, then I will be glad to give you some pointers.

To install kitchen cabinets, you are going to need some basic power and hand tools to complete the project. These include a corded and cordless drill, table saw or circular saw, belt sander or hand held planer, jig saw, hand plane, a countersink bit, hammer, stud finder, clamps, four foot level and various sized drill bits.

TOOLS YOU MAY NEED

  • Jig saw and blades.
  • Electric planer.
  • Hammer Drill (if going into cement).
  • Wood putty to fill in any small gaps or holes
  • Laser level (if you have one or can borrow one – they save a lot of time).

Step 1:

Once you have determined the layout of your new kitchen, and have found the high point of the floor, then you are ready for your kitchen cabinet installation. To begin, you will want to start with the corner wall cabinet. Locate the framing behind the cabinet location using a stud finder, and mark the stud locations on the wall. Next, you will want to transfer those measurements to the backside of the cabinet, or best, transfer the stud locations to the inside of the cabinet and drill each location through the back of the corner wall cabinet using a, 11/64″ drill bit. Make sure that the holes are drilled through the hanging strip located at the top and the bottom of the cabinet.

Step 2:

Installing kitchen cabinets plumb and level is extremely important,because as you progress with the run of the cabinets, any small imperfection in the levelness of the first cabinet installed will be accentuated with each and every proceeding cabinet. When you install kitchen cabinets in your new kitchen, take extra time to make sure that they are installed level and plumb. Trust me, you will have a much easier time with your kitchen cabinet installation if you take the time to do so.

Step 3:

You will need to shim the corner cabinet out to where it is perfectly level and plumb. Get the first cabinet perfect, and the rest of the cabinets will basically fall into to place, so to speak. This is not to say that you will not need to make sure that they are level and plumb as well, but you will not have the problem of trying to adjust for the previous cabinet installed incorrectly.

Step 4:

Another point that I should make here about installing kitchen cabinets is to make sure that you remove the doors and the interior shelves before you try to hang them on the wall. Not only will this make them easier to handle, it will keep the chances of damaging the doors to a minimum, which by the way, are the most expensive component of the cabinet.

Don’t be afraid to challenge conventional wisdom. You may safe yourself hours of work! Plus, you’ll enjoy installing your kitchen cabinets a lot more.