Do it yourself Cabinet Installation - Kitchen Cabinet Installation Tools

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If you have already taken down your old cabinets you should have a good idea of where your studs are located. Electrical boxes are connected to the side of a stud so that should also give you a clue. The wires going to the boxes are probably attached to the side of the 2x4's so you don't want to miss and hit a wire. Where are your water pipes and gas lines? If you aren't sure and are really nervous about something you can cut out a small piece of sheetrock and look. Patch it up after and the mess will be covered by the cabinet anyway.

I do not think I could have done this job myself without the Cabinet Jacks. Mark all your studs before you begin, mark them below where the cabinet goes so you can see the marks after you put the cabinet on the wall. Set you cabinet up on the 1x3 ledger board then put the cabinet jacks underneath to hold them in place. Now you have to mark your studs inside the cabinets. If you are lucky you can use your stud finder inside the cabinet. I found that this works sometimes when I set the stud finder to paneling mode. Putting more pressure on the stud finder also seemed to help. Using this and the marks I had under the wall I was able to locate and mark the studs on the inside of the cabinets. Another method you might try is to mark and measure the studs on the wall, transfer these measurements to the back of the cabinet and then drill a pilot hole through the back of the cabinet. I tried this method on the first cabinet but I didn't like it.

One problem I had with some of the kitchen wall cabinets was that the stud was behind the middle face frame of the cabinets. Not enough room to get my large drill in there. A Right Angle Drill would be big advantage in these situations. I had a smaller less powerful drill that I had to use in some places.

Start your installation in the corner and drill pilot holes before you put in the screws.

Besides screwing the cabinets to the walls you want to screw them to each other. You will need some clamps to hold the front cabinet frames together when you do this. You don't want gaps between the cabinets.

After installing the corner cabinet I moved on to the short over the range cabinet. I put a 1x2 ledger board slightly lower than I wanted the cabinet. With the cabinet resting on the ledger board I adjusted it to level with the cabinet jacks. I set an old cabinet on top of the stove and put the cabinet jacks on top of it to get to the height I needed.

The wall cabinets are all installed. I still have to adjust the doors and add some trim.

I used 2-1/2" screws and a 1/8" drill for the pilot holes.

Armstrong and Mills Pride have some good do it yourself cabinet installation guides online.

Click to Find Unique Hardware to Dress Up Your Cabinets

If you want to get some ideas on what type or color of cabinet hardware will look good on your color and style of cabinets, browse the photos on the Thomasville Cabinetry web site. They have kitchen photos you can zoom in on for a close up view.

These are solid wood Sunco RTA cabinets that I ordered online.

Now that this project is done I can say that I could not have completed it without the help of my cabinet jacks. They were used for much more than just the cabinets. I used them to hold the shelf in the above picture, I used them to hold up the range hood, I even used them when I installed my shutters. A right angle drill would have come in very handy. There were times I just couldn't fit my large drill inside the cabinet where I needed it to be. My smaller drill could sometimes fit but it didn't have the power.

A Drawer Pull JIG-IT® Template made it easy to get the holes lined up to add knobs and pulls to the cabinet doors and drawers. You will find most builders don't bother to put any knobs or pulls on the kitchen cabinet doors. Choosing the right knobs can really dress up your cabinets and kitchen. You will find a more unique selection online than you can find at your local big box store. VIew Selection at KnobsandThings

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