Hanging two rows of cabinets

[Jim German]

I'm working on some cabinets for my office, (see this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?179480-Office-Cabinets)) and was planning on using a french cleat to hang them. However I was realizing that if I do that for the lower cabinets, then it wouldn't work very well for the uppers. Should I just screw the upper ones in, or is there some other method I haven't thought of?

[Mike Goetzke]

(Remember this is from a hobbyist) A little while back I hung a bunch of upper kitchen cabinets. I used 3/4" ply for the backs and routed about a 2" x 1/2" deep dado in the backs. I attached a little under 2" x 1/2" cleat around the room where the cabinets would be. I hung the cabinets on the cleats and fastened the cabinets to the studs. For your case I would think you could use your cleats to hang the lower set, then fasten them to the wall and finally place the very upper cabinets to the top of the others.

Mike

[Sam Murdoch]

Jim, by "lower cabinets" are you talking about the units under the desk top? I'm looking at the drawing in your first post and assume that you built what you drew :confused:.

Are your uppers 3 sections of full height cabinets or are they 6 separate pieces? If you are asking about just the upper cabinets and they are built as 6 cabinets I would fasten the top and bottom sections of each vertical section together on the bench. Now you have 3 cabinets. You can now hang one length of french cleat across the right wall and another for the left wall. Attach the french cleat mates on your assembled cabinets and lift each of the 3 sections into position. Speaking only for myself I would assemble the entire upper cabinetry together on my bench and hang the entire assembly all preassembled - but I own a Gil Lift :D.

[Jim Rimmer]

If I read your drawing correctly, you have a smaller row of cabinets with glass doors on top of the cabinets that appear to have 3 shelves. If that is correct, I would hang the lowers on the French cleat and place the others on top of them and anchor to the wall.

[Steve Baumgartner]

French cleats work only when there is enough open space above to lift the cabinet over the bevel of the cleat. The traditional solution would be to cover this gap with a face frame or molding. If you can't do that, you can use a flat cleat and screw through to the wall after slipping the cabinet onto the cleat.