How to Install Kitchen Cabinets - Tips on Installing Kitchen Cabinets

One of the most popular upgrades to homes these days are those made to the kitchen. We a great deal of time in the kitchen, and it's often a focal point when we entertain as well.

Sometimes we can get by with a simple upgrade like painting kitchen cabinets. But at other times we need to make a wholesale set of changes. Here we take a look at one of the most popular upgrades, installing kitchen cabinets.

Starting with the corner cabinet we start hanging the kitchen cabinets with Joe. Here we learn the best techiques for locating the studs. We also see where to drill in the cabinets themselves for best support. We drill the support holes at an angle for the mounting screws. It's critcally important that the mounting screws go into the studs, as the amount of weight we ask a set of cabinets to hold can be several hundred pounds.

Here we actually hang the corner cabinet, which is the starting point for the whole project. Getting it at the proper height and properly leveled is key to our success.

This shows how we attach the cabinets that adjoin the corner cabinet that we started with. In particular, a device called a cabinet claw is used not only to hold the cabinets in place but to act as a drill guide to aid in securing one cabinet to the next.

This simplifies the job of aligning and securing the cabinets greatly. While a normal clamp may help, the addition of the drill guide makes sure that the cabinets are secure and aligned properly while the drilling is taking place.

To summarize the whole set of videos

Make sure you have laid out the plan, and have measured where each of the cabinets will go.

- Mark the wall with the layout of the cabinets.

- Precisely locate the studs for the mounting holes in the cabinets.

- Drill the mounting holes at an angle in the cabinet backs, lining them up with the stud locations.

- Secure the cabinet in place with a mounting shim, and mount the corner cabinet, be sure that it's level in all directions.

- Using a cabinet claw to align the cabinets and holes, drill the holes for the next cabinet, and put in the mounting screws.

- Repeat this process for each of the cabinet units.

The simple steps shown in these videos can get you well on your way to starting your own remodelling effort on your kitchen. While installing kitchen cabinets is a big project, as you can see it can be broken down into manageable steps that many home handymen (or women) can tackle successfully.

Good Luck on Your Home Project