Cabinet Installation Question - Toe Kick

Your impression was correct. You don't see many North American kitchen cabinets, if any, moved from house to house (even the hybrid cabinet adopted by North American manufacturers and based on the European design), but with the European 32mm cabinet system, aka "frameless European cabinets", it is not uncommon to see their highly modular nature being utilized by European owners to take them from residence to residence in many countries.

Though commercial Euro often depends on mechanical fasteners and particle board. In my own case I inter-connect plywood sides with dovetailed rails, dado the base/shelf to the sides and front and back rails and use 1/4" ply in slots in the sides and rails for the back, the end result is a very stiff jointed and glued structure, especially when screwed to a counter top.

Needless to say mine are built to be integral to the house.

Bernard R

Mine is more concerned about material storage for quilting. I posted a storage I made to one of the binaries groups recently, can send JPGs to you if desired from one former Aramco-er to another. S.F.

SWMBO really lit up on this one! She's a quilter and thinks this is a wizard way to store her large cutting mat and templates - which currently try to hide behind various pieces of furniture and gather dust between uses. I think it's a great idea!

I like surveying the site first and running a level line around the area where the cabinets are to be placed.

Back in the shop I'll taper some 3/4" ply for the fronts and backs of ladder frames to sit the boxes on (two thicknesses for the back and the front - framing lumber doesn't really cut it.) I cut the 3/4" ply crossmembers all at four inches of width and set them to the bottom of the frame.

If I still have to shim when I get onsite, I'll shim with pieces of step flashing - most of the boxes I've built over the last fifteen years or so get granite on them, and I don't want any compression from softwood shims.

I fasten the boxes to the frame only on the fronts and backs of the ladder.

Doing this I wind up with a very solid and quick installation - and it's easier to make money/time in the shop than in the field.

Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker (ret) Real Email is: tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet Website:

I have used the leveling legs on several installs. They work great. I also built drawers and used plastic wheels like these:

This gave us a lot of extra space including one drawer (under the corner cabinet) that held all our Christmas wrapping paper from year to year.

I don't care for the levelers. I don't like having something mechanical in the mix that might go out of adjustment over time.

That's just me.

YMMV.

Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker (ret) Real Email is: tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet Website:

Thanks. We're trying to figure out how to store several dozen quilts. I've been giving thanks that SWMBO won't use a sewing machine and takes tiny stitches - else we'd need a cedar /barn/.

Thanks all for excellent ideas and advice!

bob

Tom Watson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

snippage

Possibly dumb question: What do you mean by 'taper' in this case?

BTW, I like the idea of using doubled ply for the ladder frame. Much faster, and more consistent than the tubafours readily available...

Patriarch