Installing kitchen cabinets

[Wes Billups]

I am going to be installing kitchen cabinets for the first time this weekend and was wondering if there is any reason not to screw the base units together and install them as one big piece. It is just a 9' straight run so I was thinking this may make more sense than the conventional one-at-a-time method. Please let me know your thoughts.

Wes Billups

[Lee Schierer]

Shimming is the only reason I can think of. The cabinets will tend to sag over time if you only shim at the ends of such a long section. Place shims under each cabinet so they have support in the center of your run. Make sure the area where you are putting them together is flat.

[Steve Clardy]

I shim and attach each one individually. You can do the whole thing together if you don't have to shim up the cabs, and your floor where they sit is flat. If the floor runs downhill one way or another, start at the high point on your floor.

[Glenn Clabo]

Done it both ways...and it works as one peice only if you shim them level...length wise and front to back...then screw them together...then to the wall. It's easier imho if you do them one at a time because you have them in the exact place you want them and can get to all areas to adjust as you go. Besides they get heavy to pry around as a group.

[Richard McComas]

There are probably as many approaches to installing cabinets are there are in making them.

Here's a link to one approach you might get something out of.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Installing_Framed_Cabinets.html

[Dave Falkenstein]

Walls are seldom flat, and floors are seldom level and flat. I would install each cabinet individually, and shim as needed to get a level countertop and to match the cabinets up to each other.

[jack duren]

if you can assemble the units as a whole, then install them as a whole. just make sure even as a "whole" the individual units get screws through each to the wall.

too much effort in individual installation....jack

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I have done two cabinets in a 5 foot stretch together and that was a big pain! Would have been easier to do separately. You can't get to where you need to be to shim them when they are screwed together. So you end up putting down a shim, putting the cabinet in place. Oops, it's wrong, try again :)

Your mileage may vary.

[Sam Blasco]

Are they 34 1/2" pre-notched (for toe-kick) bases or 30 1/2" plain boxes installed on a separate 4" base? Hanging your uppers first or second? I like to find the high spot in the kitchen floor and start laying out from there. I like to hang the uppers first (don't have to deal with lean over bases, I'm sure there are many who like to do the uppers second). Measuring from the high point in the floor start your upper level lines (typically 54" to the bottom of upper). I use a homemade jack system, start at one corner and go, leveling as I go (both horzontally and vertically, I like to rely on door adjustments as little as possible).
For the bases, I level the back of the 4" base frame first (again starting from high point, shimming up where neccessary), set my base cabinets in place, screw each run together so that the faces line up, then level the whole run vertically as I screw the run to the wall. Usually, once screwed to the wall there will be a gap between the base cabinets and the base frame at the front because I only leveled the back. I then shim judiciously (especially in the center of cabinet floors, to avoid sag later) between the base and the cabinets at the front. This way, the front of your base always touches the floor (no one will ever see the gap between the front of the base and the cabinets) eliminating the need to apply a finished toe-kick later.
If the base cabinets are pre-notched for toe kicks, then no base frame is used, and I have found I get into less trouble by shimming and leveling as I go, one cabinet at a time (again starting at the high point in the floor).
When I build a kitchen I always plan on a base frame, so much easier to level than trying to wrestle base cabinets one at a time. The most difficult and time consuming part is when you are in the field, not the shop. Plan on non-level floors and wacked walls. Do whatever you can in the shop to make it easier on the install.

[Steve Aiken]

I installed my base cabinets on a 4" base, like Sam described. My wall was bowed about 3/4", so after screwing the carcasses together, I ran a bead of low-expansion foam along the backs at the top and bottom. I aligned the cabinets in relation to the wall, then just let the foam set up. Then I screwed the cabinets to the wall. It was alot easier than trying to shim behind the cabinets.

Steve