Time for a cuppa and some avoidance! Kettle on and launch into a conversation with our nearest and dearest. Mother-in-law’s impending visit! The kids’ current school project. Clean out the gutters! Anything, to avoid the daunting prospect of putting these confounding jigsaws together. Before we even attempt the all-important task of attaching them to the walls!
Faced with such an onerous task? Most of us will appreciate any tips on kitchen cabinet installation. First we have to understand how the kitchen cabinets themselves are actually fitted together.
As a starting point what we need is a step by step guide to fitting all the components together!
This usually comes in the form of an accompanying diagrammatic booklet! Written in several different European languages! The most prevalent of which often seems to be Double Dutch!
Over the years I have inflicted kitchen cabinet assembly upon myself several times. I should have had a swear box ready to hand! A sizeable amount of money would be in it by now. Enough for sure to pay a professional next time!
So when faced with dozens of cardboard packages where do you begin? I've learned over the years and here’s my step-by-step guide.
Tip: NEVER open more than one set of boxes at a time. Construct your first unit and then only move on to the next when finished. It avoids wasting time and so much unnecessary frustration.
Often the individual components which make up each separate kitchen cabinet may not be in a single large box. Likey they are in half a dozen or so smaller packages.
Want to save a great deal of time and energy in the long run? Before you even open a single box take the time and trouble to identify which boxes go together. Place them in separate piles.
Space is essential. Whether you are undertaking the work in a new built space or in a gutted old existing kitchen. You want to be working in an empty room.
Identify a wall which will not be part of your new kitchen plan. Line the boxes up in separate piles, with each one corresponding to an individual ktichen cabinet.
If you don’t have space to do this in the kitchen, a good alternative is to use the hallway in the house. It can be ideal. A long, narrow passageway to line the boxes up starting with the unit you will be making up first.
Before you even start, gather together all the tools that you are likely to need. Making sure that you have screwdrivers with an assortment of different heads.
It never ceases to amaze me why kitchen manufacturers find it necessary to use such a variety of heads in an individual unit. I presume that they are working on a commission basis with screwdriver manufacturers!
Needless to say you will be using power tools to construct your units. Give them a health check before you start. Make sure they are well charged. In essence. Get everything set before you start. That's a great way to speed up your kitchen cabinet installation.
A word of warning here! Don’t reach for the Stanley knife and slice through the tape. You may well cut into the surface of one of the components of your new kitchen cabinet in the process. Open the box, but always do so CAREFULLY.
We know you will find piles of small fixtures and fittings. Open the cellophane packaging with care. Seldom are they pre-sorted. They are often very alike to look at, but each with a different function. Getting this right will save you time!
Sort through them segregating the different parts. Placing each in a separate small container. Old takeaway cartons can be great. Check that you have the requisite number before you start assembly. It's very frustrating. You get halfway through assembly then discover you are fixtures short to completion. Big time waster.
No, this is not to mop your fevered brow, due to the stress of putting in kitchen cabinets! But to layout on the floor or on top of your raised work bench. That's your "Safe Zone". Make sure NEVER to leave the odd metal fitting laying around on top of it. An indentation on the “good side” of the next kitchen cabinet that you are putting together will cost you!
Spend a few minutes familiarising yourself to understand the sequence of necessary tasks. Get this wrong and time is going to be wasted.
Get one simple operation out of sequence and it may well mean that your unit will NEVER fit together. Taking the whole thing apart and starting again from scratch is horrid. Unbuilding is such a waste of time and so frustrating!
Do not imagine that you know best! The manufacturer will understand how it all fits together far better than you will. It takes them years in planning and designing these kitchen cabinets, trust in the instructions! There is never an easy shortcut to getting it right.
Print on the instruction sheets on the small side? Like me, you rely on reading glasses? Then make sure to have your spectacles to hand please!
6. Get the hang of it!
Remember that the first kitchen cabinet you put together will take longer to construct than the rest. Start with small simple units. Single base cabinets are best. Work your way up to the more complicated corner cabinets with carousels.
Most cabinets construct in a similar manner. Understand the basic principles involved. Once that's achieved you should whistle through much easier. As well as digging into your pocket far less often to add to the swear box!
Cut down the frustration and speed up your fit!
Speed up kitchen cupboard installationsThe Space-Plug Adjustable Spacer Fixings, inventing by a former kitchen fitter to speed up kitchen cupboard installation. Buy handy packs to keep your took box topped up! OFFICIAL SPACE-PLUG SHOP |
Don’t do too much in one go! Remember that “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and nor is putting your new kitchen together, ever going to be completed in 24 hours. Start the job on a Saturday morning and you are not going to be cooking tomorrow’s Sunday roast in your new oven!
Plan to eat out, or at least make sure that you have the menus for a nearby take-away to hand. Forget the washing up too. You are not likely to have your new kitchen sink plumbed in and ready to use by the end of Day One. But don't forget you do have water in the bathroom! If the dirty dishes are beginning to stack up, they can always get a soak in the bath, or even join you in the shower!
Needless to say, you will want the job finished as soon as possible. But take time to think and plan. A detail like raising the base cabinets up an inch can save masses of plynth trimming. Always think ahead.
Avoid another classic mistake.
Get the cooker hood height set right. Raising the height of an extraction hood by an extra inch or so may have a result! That you are not forever bumping your head on it whilst cooking on the hob!
Have the tiles you are planning to use to hand and measure the amount of space they need. Allow for worktops and set the correct space between work surface and wall cabinets.
Get it so that the space between the work surface and the wall cabinets equals the tiles including grout. This will save yourself a whole heap of tile cutting and give you the best looking finish.
Try to decide what kitchen items you will be storing in each of your cabinets. Sort this BEFORE you set about installing the shelving. Then you won't find yourself changing them later.
Moving those annoying little pegs up and down is frustrating and can cause breakout. It's an irritating job so get it right first time!
Make sure that there is somebody there to help. Don’t believe those film clips found on YouTube. Those ones where an individual moves at a snails pace and works alone. Then seems to finish in less time than it takes to prepare an evening meal.
There are always going to be tasks which need a second pair of hands. Even if it is a simple case of having someone to hold something in place. A good helper will perform an essential part of the construction and can be a godsend.
A few words of encouragement from your assistant? A bit of moral support! Someone else to put the kettle on and make you stop can make all the difference.
Here are our Top Kitchen Cabinet Installation Tips to make sure that your new kitchen goes in a treat.
The fast way to attach your base kitchen cabinets to the wall. These are still new. Even some professional kitchen fitters may not be aware of them. But this particular kitchen cabinet installation tip is a no brainer. So, here is the heads-up on what are the best possible fixings to fit your kitchen. Fast, simple, accurate and professional!
See what our friend - Gosforth Handyman has to say and see how the Adjustable Spacer Fixing Works!
It goes without saying a fitted kitchen should be fitted securely. This is where Space-Plug can rise to the challenge. As a rule, your new base kitchen cabinets will come with some "L" brackets or 'Angle Brackets'. These can be fiddly, weak, time-consuming, unsightly, and inaccurate. Space-Plug offers a simple, cost-effective alternative to these!
These fast, simple and professional plastic adjustable spacers are now sold worldwide. Invented by me, Cliff Petit a former kitchen fitter. I have reached sales of over 11 million units to date. I found myself yet again being slowed up putting in kitchen cabinets by the fittings manufacturers supplied. It was then that I had a light bulb moment and came up with the solution to this age-old problem.
in 2013, the Adjustable Spacer Fixing was born and I setup selling my new invention through my (then) new company Space-Plug!
With its great flexibility, Space-Plug's Adjustable Spacer Fixings proved to be an ideal problem solver. Anyone putting in kitchen cabinets should have Space-Plug Adjustable Spacers to hand.
Drill straight through the cabinet and into the wall behind. No need to move a unit and so fast and 100% accurate. You usually only need 1 per cabinet too so that makes them even faster. Put your wall plug in. Thread your screw and locate. Unwind your Space-Plug to fit and tighten up. Job done!
It is as simple as that and will speed up your kitchen cabinet installation no end.
To buy either Space-Plug Adjustable Spacer Fixing or U-Scribe Jig - visit the Space-Plug Shop
Be careful. Floors have electricity, heating pipes etc. in them just like walls. When attaching the frame to the floor be aware and use your stud finder here too!
Thank you for reading, I really hope it has helped prepare you for putting in your kitchen cabinets. I'd very much like to see you become a Space-Plug Fixologist. By joining the Space-Plug mailing list, you will receive a 10% discount on your first order through the Space-Plug Shop. I will then be sending stories and sharing tips on what other Space-Plug Fixologists are fixing!
Please use the link below to register.
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Cliff Petit
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