Building Kitchen cabinets

[os1kne]

Next month, I will be improving my kitchen. The existing cabinets are very well made and in good shape, so I will be re-using most of them and plan to build additional cabinets to go along with the existing cabinets (the previous owner painted the cabinets, and I will repaint so matching finishes won't be a problem).

I have been reading Danny Proulx' book on building your own kitchen cabinets and am intrigued by his use of adjustable legs on the base cabinets. On one hand, it seems that this will simplify and speed up construction quite a bit - on the other hand, I've never seen this style cabinet so I'm unsure of how it will work out. Has anyone built this style cabinet? If so, what did you think of them?

Thank you.

[scorrpio]

New houses always take years to settle. This means that a kitchen floor that was level and flat might become slightly not so - causing base cabinets to go askew. Adjustable legs, especially the kind that can be adjusted from inside the cabinet, make righting the cabinets easy. No need to remove the toekicks, no mess. Putting in cabinets in a house less than 20 years old, I'd definitely go for adjustable.

Older houses settle a lot less, so simply shimming cabinets level during installation should be good enough. However, I'd stil lagree that a few turns with a wrench is a lot more streamlined than adjusting all those shims.

Bottom line - if you can find a source of good cheap legs that can be adjusted through cabinet bottom - go for it.

[knimac]

Adjustable legs

If you have ever toured through IKEA, virtually all their kitchen cabinets rest on adjustable legs. If I remember correctly, the toe kicks mount to the legs by spring clips making removing/adjusting easy. The legs can be bought there. I think Lee Valley also sells them in their hardware catelogue.

[ExYankee]

I am doing my kitchen with this style legs, having a major-gloat-eBay-score of 300 Poggenpohl white doors. I was going to do my own cabinets, but time is just not there. So I found http://www.cabparts.com/main.html I ordered a catalog and a sample cab and I am most impressed. all dowelled and confirmat screws, (can be ordered glue and dowels too) perfect fit and finish, not one blade nick on the melamine. I am thinking long term of doing house flipping and this is a good way for the "ExYankee Workshop" to get some exposure to commercial sources and to really find out how much work a kitchen remodel is.
Cost for the ready to screw cab kit is very roughly twice the material cost if I did it myself, I have 15 or 16 cabs to buy and its just seems better to contract the lot out and I can concentrate on detail woodworking. BTW one cool thing about the legs vs. a standard built in toekick is that you can run cables, icemaker lines phone , whatever in the 'crawlspace' underneath, I am planning to make on of the cabs with a false toekick IE: not clipped on the legs, with a wide drawer undermounted on the cab as 'secret storage'. It will probably just be used to store appliance manuals etc. but it’s a use of otherwise wasted space.

[RayintheUK]

Has anyone built this style cabinet? If so, what did you think of them?

I regularly build base cabinets with adjustable feet (or plinth legs, as they're known here). I use Hafele products, like these:


They screw onto the base and are about the easiest to adjust I've found. I don't use the "through the base of the cabinet" adjusters because they spoil the clean interior look IMO. The plinth (toekick) clips are staggered, in order that you can fit two onto one leg (as in an external corner). As has been said, the under-cabinet space is great for running all sorts of wiring, plumbing, heating, whatever. Mark a level line all around the kitchen, check for the high spot, adjust the line to the height of any slot-in appliances and away you go. Once the cabinets are attached to the wall, cut all the plinth in one go, fit, stand back and admire!

One word of warning - when you turn the cabinets right way up after fitting the feet, be sure NOT to pivot them on the legs, put them down squarely on all four. The legs will take an amazing amount of vertical load, but they don't like leverage too much.

Ray.

[paulstenlund]

Ray

I use Hafele also, do you have a part number for those levelers, I'm using one that has a hole in the cab and it DOES look untidy

Thanks
Paul

[JR]

Rockler's got a number of levelers: http://www.rockler.com/CategoryView.cfm?Cat_ID=37

I used this one on my shop cabinets, as recommended by Nahmy. They worked fine. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=2312

JR

[RayintheUK]

Ray

I use Hafele also, do you have a part number for those levelers, I'm using one that has a hole in the cab and it DOES look untidy

Thanks
Paul

PM sent, Paul.

Ray.

[cbrown]

I did a cabinet project using the Rockler levelers that seem meant to compete with the Hafele ones

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5217

The ability to level by screwing the feet in and out (rather than shimming a 2x4 frame) was great. But I have a few caveats about these particular ones (check to see how far they may apply to other offerings).

If you are building to match existing cabinets, be sure that the levelers will adjust low enough. The Euro-style cabinets assume a higher toe-kick than (at least my) old stick-built American cabinets. I had to pare down the feet with a hacksaw to be able to match the adjacent cabinet height.

They are delicate, as noted, if subjected to lateral forces (especially if you have cut down the feet with a hacksaw)

They require a metric bit to drill the hole, an additional expense unless you have the right one on hand. But, if you use a Forstner in 3/4" plywood, you can drill the hole short of breaking through to the inside of the cabinet for a clean look (these aren't designed to adjust from the top anyway). The mounting of these feet with a center (plastic) post seems more stable than designs that just use wood screws to mount the socket to the cabinet bottom.

The worst feature of these Rockler levelers is that the plinth clips are plastic and WILL snap easily. I would definitely favor a model with metal clips instead. However, these are designed so that they will slide laterally about 1/2" each way for adjusting the fit, making a tricky measurement more forgiving.

Christopher

[RayintheUK]

If you have ever toured through IKEA, virtually all their kitchen cabinets rest on adjustable legs.... The legs can be bought there.

There are a couple of different styles of IKEA legs, but they're all made to fit their own base units. They locate into holes that are drilled into the base in manufacturing. I'm not saying that you can't fit them to other units, but the dowelling required would be an extra pain and I wouldn't recommend it.

The worst feature of these Rockler levelers is that the plinth clips are plastic and WILL snap easily. I would definitely favor a model with metal clips instead. However, these are designed so that they will slide laterally about 1/2" each way for adjusting the fit, making a tricky measurement more forgiving.

I've never had a problem with the plastic clips, Christopher. They're only designed to locate the plinth, not to support it off the floor - and the lateral movement they allow is great for both internal and external corners.

What I do is to cut all the plinth first, then lay it flat (face down) in front of the cabinet(s), using a combination square to mark both sides of the legs right up the inside of the plinth. Fitting the clip is then just a matter of centering it on each pair of marked "rail tracks."

Make sure that the underside of the plinth is totally sealed (PVA, iron-on, etc.) or that you use the purpose-made sealing strips - Hafele does a range and I expect others do too. This will prevent wicking if any water "escapes" and is really worth doing.


Ray.

[Stan]

This thread is very timely indeed...

I also am in the process of a kitchen cabinet remodel (kinda learning as I go). I ordered a box full of the Titus cabinet levelers from Woodworkers Hardware, and have been unsuccessful in getting much of anything in the way of install instructions.

The one part that really has me confused is the 'Leg Fix Block' as shown


I'm not entirely sure what the 'tab' is used for.

[RayintheUK]

The one part that really has me confused is the 'Leg Fix Block'
I'm not entirely sure what the 'tab' is used for.

The tab is to transfer some of the load from the base to the carcass sides. This is especially useful if the cabinet construction is by the usual flat-pack method of alloy dowels and camlocks, otherwise the alloy dowel is carrying the whole lot. I'm not saying they can't carry it, but it's a great idea to give them all the help you can - hence the tab.

The tab is to be faced "outboard" and held back just a hair from the outside of the carcass sides, both front and rear. If used as part of a flat-pack kit, you'll find locating holes that position it correctly. Otherwise, just as described.

You can also get base leg units that span across a pair of adjacent cabinets, but I don't use those, as it cuts down on the number of legs overall.

HTH, Stan.

Ray.

[Stan]

The tab is to be faced "outboard" and held back just a hair from the outside of the carcass sides, both front and rear. If used as part of a flat-pack kit, you'll find locating holes that position it correctly. Otherwise, just as described.

HTH, Stan.

Ray.

Well now, that makes perfect sense...

Thanks much.