Installing Kitchen Cabinets - DIY (Make a Mess with Tile Mastic)

Can a 48 year old women replace kitchen cabinets by herself? What are cabinets but shelves with doors that are screwed to the walls , why does everyone think this is so difficult? The way my kitchen is set up I have some empty space on ends of the cabinet walls. Not like I have to fit them all into an exact space with no room left over. So the big question is can I lift them by myself. How will I hold them in place while I remove the screws. Cabinet jacks would be great but they are too expensive for a one time job. I settled on Igloo coolers and 2 x 4's. I am happy to say all wall cabinets are down and I didn't break my neck! The new wall cabinets are now up and I found some affordable cabinet jacks to help me with the job. Click here to see new kitchen cabinets.

Each of the large cabinets had one extremely stubborn screw that I could not remove with my drill driver. I had to use a pivoting ratchet driver to remove these. The other problem was that the cabinet over the stove was screwed to each of the side cabinets. This was done before they were installed, so they could be put up as one piece. Trouble is there were 2 screws that you could not reach until the unit was dropped down. Needless to say this little surprise caused some very bad language. I tried the crowbar, the hacksaw and various other violent things, finally I realized I was going to have to drop all 3 pieces at one time. Thank goodness I had 2 igloo coolers! Images below show the removal procedure.

To me it was a challenge to see if I could actually pull off this project by myself. The other reason of course was to save money on labor costs. I had the cash to pay for my cabinets so I used a cash rewards card when I ordered them and then paid the bill in full when it arrived. I still had to buy tile, tools, paint and lots of this and that so I applied for a Citi® Platinum Select® Card which offers 12 months 0% APR. You can't save much if you are paying interest so consider all your options before you get started. If your house isn't paid for yet you may want to look at the Citi® Home Rebate Platinum Select® MasterCard® and be sure to check out my favorite the Chase Ultimate Cash Award^sm MasterCard® that offers up to 5% rebate at supermarkets, gas stations, drugstores and home improvement stores. Keep in mind you only want to use rewards cards if you are going to pay your bill in full every month, if not go for the 0% intro APR.

First you will want to remove the doors and the shelves if you can, to make the box as lightweight as possible. My shelves were non- removable. The first cabinet I removed was a bit smaller than this one so I wasn't sure I would be able to get this one down off the cooler by myself. I used my shorter cooler and 2 x 4's so I could flop them over then pull them out, this lowered the cabinet enough that I could get a good grip on it. Fortunately this was my largest wall cabinet.

This is where I ran into a bit of trouble because the cabinets were screwed together in the back, from the top. The top of the cabinet is actually about 3/4" lower than the frame. This is where the hidden screws are, between the ceiling and the top of the cabinet. They were put in before the cabinets were installed. I put an old cabinet door on top of my stove and used the large cabinet that I previously removed to support the small cabinet over the stove, then of course my trusty Igloo coolers were used for the side cabinets. There still wasn't enough room to get my screwdriver between the ceiling and the top of the cabinets. I had to separate this mess before I could pick it up. I used the crow bar.

Should you install your wall cabinets or your base cabinets first? It is done both ways, if you have 2 people it is probably easier to remove all cabinets and then install the wall cabinets. This gives you lots of room to move around. Since I am doing this myself I want to use the current countertop as a support. I will not remove the base cabinets until I have the wall cabinets installed.

Visit woodweb for a great list of ideas on how to make wall cabinet install jigs.

I ordered Sunco cabinets from U.S. Building Products. These are all wood cabinets so they are not as heavy as particle board. They come RTA (ready to assemble) this is an advantage to me because they come in flat boxes that I can easily move by myself. Sunco also makes fully assembled cabinets but they are not available for order on the Internet. 3 of the cabinets I ordered were out of stock so they offered to send me the pre assembled cabinets instead. They should be here next week and the RTA cabinets have already arrived.

You should wash your walls with TSP to remove all the kitchen grease and before you paint. I was being lazy and went ahead and put a coat of paint on first. Today I broke down and bought a sander and some TSP. Might as well do this right, I won't be doing it again. Besides I keep changing my mind about what color to paint. You really have to decide on your new countertop and flooring before you can decide on the paint color. I have already changed my mind 5 times. Forget the paint, I have decided to go with a full tile backsplash and glueless laminate flooring.

I finally found some affordable cabinet jacks and ordered them today, so I won't start installing my wall cabinets until they get here. 1 x 2's or 1 x 3's can be put up to rest the back of the cabinet on and keep it level while you screw it to the wall. It will also give you a chance to check and make sure you have your studs marked correctly. The Zircon Stud and Metal Finder with AC Scanning is what I used along with a laser level to mount the 1 x 2's and then a regular level to see if they were level with each other. Then of course one more level to see if my level was level ;) You can just see the corner of the gas stove down there. So where exactly in the wall is the gas line? You will have electrical wires, pipes and maybe gas lines in your wall so be sure to think before you drill. My house is on a slab with no basement so most water lines, gas lines etc. run down the wall from the attic. I traded my Zircon Stud and Metal Finder in on a Strait-Line Wall Scanner. This one seems to work much better on the metal and ac.

This is the Strait-Line 120 Foot Laser Level I drew a line where I wanted the bottom of the cabinet to be, tacked the laser level to the wall, then set the 0 mark on the level dial on this line. Then just rotate the head until is says it is level, turn it on and it shoots a red line across the wall. I lined up my 1 x 2's with this line and screwed them in with a drill driver. They will be removed after the cabinets are installed.

On the left are the Cabinet Jacks I ordered and these are what I will use to hold up my new cabinets while I install them. They are only $60.00 for the pair so very affordable for a do it yourself installation. They have textured rubber pads on both ends for gripping and extend from 16.5 to 22. 8". They are designed to sit on the countertop while they hold the wall cabinet in place. I'm sure they will come in handy for lots of other projects. The Little Hand is designed to provide support, brace or clamp whenever you might need an extra hand.

I took down the 1 x 2's and decided to use 1x3's because it is very important to get these boards straight and level. 1x2's are a bit flimsy and hard to tell if they are even straight themselves. I used my cabinet jack to hold up one end while I drilled the other end to the wall.

One advantage of doing things yourself is you can spend all the money you save on new tools!
Before I started I got a credit card with a 1 year 0% interest rate. Apply online and you will probably have the card within a week. If you plan to pay cash, why not use a rewards card and get something back?

Be sure to check out the new over the range microwave vent hoods.
This will free up the counter space your current microwave is taking.

Click here to see the new cabinets installed.

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