Kitchen Cabinet Installation - Do it Yourself

I cannot stress enough the importance of getting familiar with your new kitchen layout. Go over the drawings and visualize how the finished kitchen will look. This will help you feel more comfortable when you start with the installation. Also, make sure that each and every cabinet that you hang is level and plumb. This is very critical. Take your time and get it right. There is more to installing kitchen cabinets than most people realize. There is more to it than just drawing out lines on the wall and fastening the cabinets. Sure, you can just throw the cabinets against the wall and screw them in place, but the end result is going to look like it as well. I have had many carpenters tell me that what I did for a living was "cream work" until they actually tried to install some of the kitchens that I have installed over the years. When it came to actually installing the kitchen and installing it the right way, they were totally lost. They found out in a hurry that when it came to just installing kitchen cabinets as opposed to knowing how to install kitchen cabinets that were two totally different things altogether. Now I am not saying that you need to be a seasoned professional to install kitchen cabinets, but you do need to understand at least the basics of kitchen cabinet installation if you want to tackle your own kitchen remodeling project. Making sure that the cabinets are level, plumb, and in a straight line with each other is the most important aspect to any kitchen cabinet installation. Let us say that you have chosen a granite counter-top and have all of the base cabinets installed and the fabricator shows up ready to template for your counter-top, only to find that the base cabinets are out of level ever so slightly or they are not in a straight line or they have some minor dips or humps between them. The fabricator more than likely is going to pack up his equipment and advise you that the cabinets will have to be adjusted before he can come back to make the template. A stone counter-top fabricator will not install their product unless the cabinets are perfectly flat and level. Stone is totally unforgiving, and if there is a slight hump in the middle of the run of base cabinets, it is going to cause a huge problem for the counter installation. Your kitchen cabinet installation needs to be precise in order for everything else to fall into place. You can install kitchen cabinets yourself and save money in the process, but if you are not careful, then the mistakes that you could possibly make will eat into those savings.