Hanging IKEA kitchen cabinets

[mjwrobinson]

I would like hang three 60cm wide IKEA kitchen cabinets on a plasterboard wall but find that there is very little wood behind the plasterboard. There are two vertical battens, 30mm wide and 38mm deep at 3 feet and 6 feet from an external wall that I wish to start the cabinets at. The wall consists of two sheets of 12.5 mm plasterboard separated 38 mm apart by the vertical wood. When the base units were removed, the vertical battens were identified at the bottom of the wall where the plasterboard doesn't reach the (concrete) floor. Also visible at the bottom is a horizontal batten nailed to the plasterboard with a gap of about 6 cm between the ends of the horizontal wood and the verticals. Skirting boards are nailed to this - with no skirting behind the base units. I currently have one wall cabinet flanked by two floor standing cabinets, By poking the plasterboard there appers to be hioizontal battens at the top and bottom of the wall cabinet but these horzontal pieces of wood do not span to the verticals. The total width of the wall is 63mm. I suspect that the wall is constructed of cellular wallboard.

As the angle brackets for the three wall cabinets can't all be fixed to the secure(??) vertical pieces of wood, does anyone have any sugestions on the best way to hang the cabinets such that they won't fall off? [The bottoms of the verticals have a slim piece of metal on them - possibly attached to the floor inder the wood - but that is not visible]

Many thanks,

Mike Robinson

[andrew]

What I might be tempted to do is to cut a long thin slot in the plasterboard 180cm long (or just under) to line up with the fixings on the cabinets, and set a piece of 2x1 timber into this flush with the surface of the wall (cutting half an inch back into the battens), and screwing this timber into the battens. Then you'll have a good firm support to screw the cupboards to. You could also fix a small piece of 180cm long timer to the wall (through into the battens) for the cupboards to sit on, which won't notice if you are fitting pelmets.

[Christian McArdle]

Remove plasterboard from behind units. Insert framing timber to suit. Replace plasterboard. Attach units. No-one is going to see the plasterboard, so no need to worry about how it looks. I presume the vertical studs do pass directly behind the units?

Christian.

[mjwrobinson]

I'm a bit reluctant to cut the plasterboard as it looks as if the the vertical edges of the wallboard sheets are not nailed to the uprights and some weakness may result. In particular, the cut edges of plasterboard may not have any/sufficient support??

I would guess that battens could be put on top of the plasterboard but this would not be ideal.

Does anyone know if the plasterboard would be strong enough to hold kitchen cabinets (directly) with hollow wall/plasterboard fittings?

Regards

Mike Robinson

[AJB]

Possibly, if you put almost nothing in them and the cupboards aren't heavy..

Definitely not if you fill them with cups/glasses/plates/pans/food etc.

Don't risk it!

[John Cartmell]

1. probably
2. certainly not
3. I'd expect it to hold the weight of the cupboard and packets of weetabix
4. A wall cupboard should hold what might be put into it (eg stacks of crockery) plus someone putting their hand and at least some of their weight on it - probably at an angle other than directly vertically down.

I would *not* trust it.

If you cut a hole what's to stop you putting a batten under the plasterbaord at the edge of the cut and fixing that to the wall?

[Steve Walker]

It would be very brave.....

[Doctor Drivel]

Fermacell can.

[Gogs]

I used toggler anchor system and my units seem to be pretty solid

[charlieB]

You don't say how much room you have above the cabinets - but here's another suggestion:

Fix something like a 25x44mm batten horizonally to wall so the the cupboards can rest on it - you can paint it the same colour as the wall and you won't really see it as it will be hidden by the pelmet anyway. Fix a larger batten to the wall above the cupboard so that the bottom of it just clears the cupboard. Use L-angle brackets to fix the top of the cupboard to the batten.

Alternatively if you haven't got much room on top of the cupboard, still use the bottom batten and make a clearance hole in the plasterboard where the holes in the top rear of the cupboard are. Drill and rawlplug a hole in the brick wall behind the plaster board and secure the cupboard to the wall - the batten taking the weight of the cupboard and the screw/ikea L-shape bracket taking some weight and all of the rotational pull of the cupboard "trying to fall off the wall.

Charlie

[Stuart Noble]

High Anxiety