How do you install kitchen cabinets?
Find the high point of the floor and draw two level lines: one at 34 1/2" for the top of the base cabinets and one at about 54" for the bottom of the wall cabinets. Mark every stud, hang the wall cabinets first, starting in a corner, and screw them through the back into the studs. Then set the base cabinets from the same corner, shim each one level to the line, screw it to the studs and clamp and screw neighboring face frames together. Finish with fillers, end panels, toe kick, crown and light rail, then adjust the doors. At RTA Cabinets Plus the boxes click together on a licensed system before any of this starts, in under 2 minutes each with 100% tool-free box assembly; installing them is ordinary carpentry with a drill, a level and shims.
Tools, and what to do the day before.
Build every box first, check it against the plan, and stack the cabinets in the room in the order they go in.
- For hanging: a drill and driver, a 4 foot level, a stud finder, a tape measure, a pencil, clamps, a box of wood shims, and cabinet screws long enough to reach well into the studs.
- For trim: a fine tooth saw or a miter saw, a brad nailer or finish nails, construction adhesive, and a jigsaw or hole saw for cutting a sink base around the plumbing.
- A second person for lifting wall cabinets and tall cabinets into place. You do not need one to build the boxes, but you want one for the wall.
- Clear and check the room. Shut off the water and power where you are working, remove the old cabinets, and check that the walls are flat with a long straightedge. Patch or note any big hollows now.
- Build the boxes first. Anything wood-to-wood clicks together, no tools, no glue, no screws. The only parts that need screws are the metal ones: hinges, glides and pulls. Leave the doors off until the run is hung, so the boxes are lighter and nothing gets knocked.
Twelve steps, wall cabinets first.
This order works for any framed cabinet run. Your cabinets' instructions and local code come first wherever they differ.
Find the high point of the floor
Level and tape
Lay a long level along the floor where the bases will stand and find the highest spot. Every base cabinet is set to that height and shimmed up everywhere else, never cut down.
Draw two level lines
34 1/2" and 54"
From the high point, measure up 34 1/2" and draw a level line around the room for the top of the base cabinets. Measure up about 54" (the 36" counter plus an 18" gap) and draw a second level line for the bottom of the wall cabinets.
Find and mark the studs
Stud finder
Mark the center of every stud above and below both lines. Confirm each one with a finish nail where the cabinet will hide the hole. Studs are usually 16" apart; every cabinet should catch at least two of them where it can.
Screw a ledger to the wall
Optional, and worth it
Screw a straight board to the studs with its top edge on the 54" line. The wall cabinets rest on it while you fasten them, which keeps the run on the line and saves your arms. It comes off once the wall cabinets are up.
Hang the wall cabinets, corner first
Two people
Start with the corner cabinet. Lift it onto the ledger, check it is plumb and level, and drive cabinet screws through the back into the studs, near the top and near the bottom. Shim behind it at the studs where the wall dips, so the box is not pulled out of square.
Join the wall cabinets
Clamps and a drill
Set the next cabinet against the first, clamp the face frames flush at the top, bottom and front, drill a pilot hole and screw them together through the side of the face frame where a hinge will hide the head. Then screw it to the studs. Work out from the corner.
Set the base cabinets, corner first
Level and shims
Start at the same corner. Set the corner cabinet, shim under it until its top meets the 34 1/2" line and it is level front to back and side to side, then screw through the back into the studs. Cut the sink base for the drain and supply lines before it goes in, with the box supported.
Level and join the run
Check every box
Add each base, shim it level to the line, clamp it face frame to face frame, screw the frames together and screw the box to the studs. Check level along the whole run as you go: a countertop finds every high spot.
Fit the fillers
Scribe to the wall
Measure each gap at the wall at the top and the bottom, rip the filler to width, scribe it to the wall's shape and screw it to the face frame from inside the cabinet. Fillers at inside corners keep drawers and doors on the two runs from hitting each other.
Fit panels and toe kick
Finished ends
Attach end panels or skin panels to every exposed side, and return panels beside the dishwasher and refrigerator. Cut the toe kick to length and fix it to the toe recess with construction adhesive or brads, so the floor line reads as one piece.
Fit crown and light rail
Miter and nail
Nail crown molding to the top of the wall cabinets, mitering the outside corners and fitting it tight on the inside corners; stacking molding builds it taller. Fit light rail molding under the wall cabinets to hide under-cabinet lights.
Hang the doors and adjust
Screwdriver
Hang the doors and fit the drawer fronts, then adjust the soft-close hinges side to side, up and down, and in and out until the gaps are even along the run. Drill the pulls last, with a template, so every handle lines up.
What each finishing piece does, and where it goes.
Trim is cut on site and fitted last. It is the first thing that looks wrong if it is cut to the drawing instead of the run you actually built.
- Fillers
- Close the gap between a cabinet and a wall, or between two cabinets at a corner. 3" and 6" wide, for base, wall and tall heights, ripped to fit.
- End and skin panels
- Finish a cabinet side you can see. An end panel stands on its own; a skin panel is a thinner finished sheet laid over a side. Tall end panels finish pantries and oven cabinets.
- Return panels
- A dishwasher return closes the side of a dishwasher at the end of a run. A refrigerator return panel runs down beside the refrigerator to frame it.
- Island end panels
- Finish the ends and back of an island, cut to fit, so it reads as furniture from every side.
- Toe kick
- The board that covers the recess at the foot of the base cabinets, cut to length and fixed after the run is level.
- Crown and stacking molding
- Crown finishes the top of the wall cabinets, in small, medium and large profiles. Stacking molding builds it up, toward a high ceiling.
- Light rail
- A narrow molding under the wall cabinets that hides under-cabinet lighting from a seated view.
- Scribe molding
- A thin, flexible strip that covers small gaps where a cabinet meets an uneven wall or floor.
Six installation mistakes that show later.
- Leveling to the floor. Floors are rarely level. Level to the line drawn from the high point, and shim.
- Screwing into drywall alone. Drywall anchors are not enough for a loaded cabinet. Every cabinet goes into studs or solid blocking.
- Pulling a box out of square. Over-tightening a screw into a wall that dips twists the box. Shim at the stud first, then fasten.
- Adjusting doors too early. Hang and level the whole run, then set the hinges. Doors adjusted on the floor come out wrong once the run is shimmed.
- Cutting trim to the drawing. Measure every filler and panel against the run you built, at both ends of the gap.
- Templating the countertop on a run that is not level. Check level along every run before the countertop is measured. It is far cheaper to shim a cabinet than to recut a countertop.
What people ask next.
Do you install upper or lower kitchen cabinets first?
Upper cabinets first. With no base cabinets in the way you can stand close to the wall, rest the wall cabinets on a ledger board on the level line, and fasten them without leaning over a finished base.
How high should upper cabinets be from the floor?
The bottom of the wall cabinets usually sits about 54" off the floor: a 34 1/2" base cabinet, about 1 1/2" of countertop, and an 18" gap above the counter.
How do you level base cabinets on an uneven floor?
Find the highest point of the floor, draw a level line 34 1/2" above it, and shim every base cabinet up to that line, front to back and side to side. Cabinets are raised to the high point, never cut down to a low one, and the toe kick covers the shims.
What screws do you use to hang kitchen cabinets?
Cabinet screws, long enough to go through the back of the cabinet and well into the studs, driven near the top and near the bottom of each cabinet. Neighboring face frames are screwed to each other with shorter screws where a hinge hides the head.
Can I install kitchen cabinets myself?
Yes, with a drill, a level, a stud finder, shims and a second person for lifting. At RTA Cabinets Plus the boxes click together on a licensed system about 10x faster than traditional RTA, so most of the day goes on hanging, leveling and trim rather than building boxes.
Do I need fillers between cabinets and the wall?
Usually, yes. A filler where a cabinet meets a wall lets doors and drawers open past the wall and the trim, and it absorbs the inches that standard cabinet widths leave over. It is ripped to width and scribed to the wall on site.
Who we areRTA Cabinets Plus is an independently owned retailer that sells ready to assemble kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities direct to homeowners, remodelers and trade buyers. Made by a manufacturer that builds cabinets for one of the largest semi-custom brands in the U.S.
How do you measure a kitchen for cabinets?
Measure a kitchen for new cabinets: walls, ceiling, windows, plumbing and appliances, plus filler, scribe and corner rules and a printable worksheet.
Kitchen cabinet terms, explained.
Kitchen cabinet terms in plain English: cam lock vs click-together, face frame vs frameless, full overlay, fillers, scribe, toe kick, plywood vs particle board and more.
Want a person to check your plan?(305) 782-7587, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm ET. Or send your measurements for a free design.