I'm almost all done making my kitchen cabinets. I was going to just screw 'em on. Until I saw wall cleats? They look OK! but I didn't resess the rear panel (flush) and the 7/16's sticking out kinda bothers me (not a real great issue concerning that one, but....)
What else can anyone recommend?
TIA Joe
Cleats are just for ease of installation. However, if you wanted to use them you could always trim out the gap. In most cases the cabinets won't match the wall exactly anyway and you scribe a piece of trim to the wall to cover the gap anyway.
Thanks! I still consider that the gap would allow trim and "possibly" make it "fancier" looking or may not. I'm more of a nut's and bolts type and the cleats, well for no real reason seem like "possibly more work I assume though the Cleats must be flush, level straight and true to the Wall and Cabinet. before mounting the cabinets. The one problem I see right now is that I can only get 18 inch length's of metal cleats. Having 5 or 10' lengths for the Wall would save me a great deal of work making sure it's true. I saw an episode on Bob Villa's a while back where his cabinets had what looked to be two long cleats running across the length of the wall making it just like racking the cabinets in... Instead of having to do every
18 inches or so.....Thanks again! Joe
I installed uppers a couple of months ago. I ran cleats on the two walls that took the cabs using strips of baltic birch. I did this because it made installation much easier and ensured that they would all be on the same plane.
My uppers have 1/2" plywood backs and are screwed directly into 2x4 blocking in the wall. I had this room down to the studs, so I took the opportunity to run blocking between each stud. I used 3" drywall screws to attach them, but since the screws will be visible when the doors are open, I'm going to find some decorative screws to replace them with. Shims were used to make everything plumb before driving the screws home.
My cabs have cherry face frames. Before I install the base cabs, I will remove the baltic birch cleats and replace them with strips of cherry to match the look of the face frame. I feel comfortable with the cabs screwed to the wall, but I tend to over engineer everything. The cherry cleats will provide additional support and will actually improve the look - IMHO.
.HMFIC@1369 wrote:
Hi, Joe.
Use french cleats. They can be as long as you want. Easy to make and install.
Better to over-engineer then under!
I was looking at metal (over engineering) cleats (my uppers are also
5/8th's"). The only real problem I see without cleats is the struggle to hold and screw and align the cabinet. With just more pre-prep., the metal cleats interlock so without any screwing they'll be very secure to the wall. The current dilemma is the Metal cleats come in 18" length which your wood design eliminates! If I can find 5' or 10' lengths of the steel cleats, I'll probably go that way if not, I'll look at using wood as you have and save a bundle.Thanks, Joe
French cleats are great if the wall is perfectly flat. I use them in the shop. In my case, the wall is far from true enough to use french cleats and get a run of four cabinets to line up flush and plumb.
Actually I can make almost everyone happy (still working on the wife) I did a google on french cleats!
OUTWATER ITEM #: CON-111 ALUMINUM "Z" HANGING STRIPS: 2 Sizes Master Catalog "Volume 50" - Page # : 730
Price: $9.09 (10 Feet)
The only real reason was that the cabinet rear was flush so I was concerned with a using wood simply with the width.
This looks good and the price is cheap....
Thanks for your input! Joe
For this information to be useful, we need a URL. Could you post one?
Bob
Sure thing.... I just have no experience with them yet!
Not sure what kind of woodworking equipment you've got, but you can make your own cleats out of hardwood but cutting a mitered corner along the edge of a piece of timber on your table saw... Then you don't have to worry about what lengths are sold commerically. My only caveat here is that I've always felt that the main value of cleats is that they will support a heavy object in a wall with too few studs by evenly distributing the wieght over several points, thereby reducing the wieght that each screw is required to support. If you have the option to attach your cabinets to directly to the studs, I can't see a compelling reason to use cleats.
If you're considering just using the commerically available cleats for convieniance's sake, there are several models of laser levels on the market, and some of them are pretty inexpensive, though you can expect to do a little work getting them set up. I've got a $20 version for hanging pictures, and it actually works ok, provided you take the time to make sure it is adjusted properly. While it isn't very classy, it would work just fine for installing cleats.
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam
Why not "face frame" the back edges of the cabinets to get your 7/16ths? Go with 3/4" face frame and biscuit them on if your want to get really anal about it.
charlie b
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