Base Cabinets

[Jim Murphy]

Okay, guys, so tomorrow I help #2 son hang cabinets in his house. I ain't never done this before, and since I can "half way" cut dovetails, and I'm SuperDad, he thinks I am the bomb. Well, that's good, but I've got a problem and I need y'all's help. I don't want to "bomb out."

Here's the quandry:

On the right side of the base cabinets we need to put in a side panel between the dishwasher and the refrig. Lowes did not have the "side panel" in stock, and he was told to get some whiteboard. Melamine? Well, that's what we got. So, the refrig snugs the wall on the right side, and we leave a void for that. Beside it, we need to put in the "side panel." (The DW is to the left of this side panel). Then comes the kitchen base.

So...

Yeah, I can cut the melamine to fit, but how does it stay up? Angle brackets to floor? A 2x2 frame? What if the side panel is midway between studs? Do I need to worry about attaching the back side?

HELP!!!!

 

[Travis Porter]

You can attach it anyway that works for you. If it were me, I would attach a strip on the back of the melamine and use that as your screw strip to the wall. On the front bottom of the melamine, cut a couple of pocket holes on the dishwasher side and screw that to the floor. I would also STRONGLY recommend attaching a piece of 3/4 x 3 1/2 melamine across the front top between your melamine and cabinet to give you something to attach the dishwasher.

 

[Woodman2k]

I'm guessing that the melamine panel is only a divider between the two appliances.If so ,I would build a narrow frame say 1 " thick with melamine applied on the refrig side screw the frame to the floor and the back wall,add the melamine to the dishwasher side,put some rigid foam board in side first to quiet down the dishwasher,then trim out the front edge to blend with the finish on everything else and it should look pretty good.
Good Luck,Greg B

 

[skysharks]

I have installed plenty of kitchens, and there is a kit for what is a called a dishwasher return panel
basically it is about 1 1/12" - 2" wide, as tall as the rest of the base cabinets (34.5") looking at the front it looks just like the face frame of the rest of the cabinets.
You fasten it to the floor and the back wall. Seems flimsy at first, until you set your countertop on it. Then you fasten it to the underside of the counter top.
then Boom rigid!!!:icon_chee

Hope this helps

MAC

 

[russellellis]

The original post was a few days ago so just wondering if youve gotten the cabinets in. My suggestion is not to over think or over work this. A simple poplar strip attached to the wall, floor, or adjoining cabinet will suffice in holding the dishwasher side panel in place. Its not structural, even with granite tops, its just to add stability to "that" panel. Skysharks advice is a perfect option also.
Good luck with the kitchen. Im sure your son will appreciate it.

 

[Jim Murphy]

Okay boys and girls, a follow up.

First of all, second born is following his dad's footsteps (as has first born) and is a duly licensed Professional Land Surveyor. One might think that means that one is particularly skilled at measurement. When he embarked on this project, he prepared a lovely AutoCad drawing, fully dimensioned, showing the cabinet layout, right down to the 1/16" inch. That's a feat in itself, as we surveyors work in decimal feet and abhor fractions of any kind.

So, all the cabinets are ordered, delivered to the house and in their respective boxes. We use some surveyor magic to find the high spot, measure up and extend our reference line around the walls. Step one is the corner cabinet. For reasons I don't understand, the lazy susan corner cabinet is not set up to be 24" deep, it's somewhat short in depth. So Father and Son measure (with darned fractions), adjust, measure, adjust, measure, adjust, check square, check plumb, measure, adjust, check plumb (imagine that this goes on for at least a half hour) until finally both are convinced that the short-shrift lazy susan is property placed.

Second Born has a book on how to install cabinets ( let me be honest... everything I know how to do I learned either from a book or somebody else who knew how to do it showed me-- I was born naked and clueless) which suggested that we lay out the positions of the cabinets on the wall. The book said, you can easily confuse a 15" cabinet for an 18" cabinet, so make sure they go in the right place. I said to Second Born that I am NOT a professional cabinet installer, and we are going to follow the book step by doggone step. So we began to lay out the base cabinets on the wall.

(anybody got an idea what happens next?)

Well, the darned sink base wursn't under the winnder. It's offset, about 6". Looks real dumb. So we start checking (measure twice...install once?) Somehow, SB (Second Born) has mucked up the measuring. The wall is 6" shorter than he measured (or recorded), probably due to working in inches and fractions therof.

So we decide to send back the 30" cabinet and exchange it for a 24" cabinet to make the sink base line up. We mark out the revised cabinet layout and it turns out that when we factor in the missing 6" (or additional, depends on where you measure from) and the 3" side panel that was NOT in stock and necessitated the melamine panel, we can acquiire a 9" narrow cabinet, a stock item, and don't need to use precious melamine for a side panel when it can find a place in the shop to serve as a shelf.

For my buddies and associates who offered 'how-2s', I thank you, as I now have a clue about how to affix a panel beside a dishwasher. I'd much rather use the 'handy panel' to make shelves, jigs, fixtures and other necessary shop furniture.

Thanks for being here when I "thought" I needed you.

 

[skysharks]

Jim, oh man that was a good read.
The whole time I was seeing myself and my brother the frist time we installled cabinets together. What an experience:rolf:

I am happy that it worked out for you two in the end. Drop a line if you need anymore info. I did this as a profession for years.

everything I know how to do I learned either from a book or somebody else who knew how to do it showed me

I swim in the exact same pond.:icon_thum