How to Install Kitchen Cabinets

Before a single cabinet goes in, find your level line. Set up a laser level and shoot a line all the way around the room. Then find the highest point of the floor and measure up to where the cabinet tops need to land. Floors are never dead flat, so you build off the high spot and shim everything else up to meet it. Mark that line clearly. It becomes the target for the whole run.

Pull out the layout drawing and match every cabinet code to a real box on the floor. The plan tells you which cabinet goes where, how wide each one is, and where your gaps land for the sink, range, and dishwasher. Lay the cabinets out roughly in place first. It is a lot easier to catch a mistake now than after you have screwed three boxes to the wall.

Run your level line onto the wall and mark it, then track down the studs behind the drywall. Cabinets hang off screws driven into solid framing, not just the drywall, so you need to know exactly where each stud sits. Mark them above your line where the marks stay visible once the cabinet is in place. A tape measure and a stud finder make quick work of it.

Always start in the corner. Slide the corner base cabinet into position and set a level across the top, checking it front to back and side to side. The corner anchors everything that ties into it, so if it sits crooked, the whole run drifts off. Nudge it around and get it dialed in before you touch another box. This one is worth the extra few minutes.

Lay a 4-ft level across the tops and start shimming. Tap tapered shims under the low corners until the bubble sits dead center and the tops of neighboring cabinets line up flush. Check level in both directions. This is the step that separates a clean install from doors that never quite hang right, so take your time and re-check as you go.

Bring the next cabinet snug against the one you just set and clamp the two face frames together with bar clamps. Line up the front edges so they sit dead flush before you fasten anything. The clamps hold everything steady and pull the frames tight, which gives you clean, even gaps between the doors once they go on. Two quick-grip clamps handle most joints.

With the boxes clamped and level, drive screws through the back mounting rail into the studs you marked. This locks each cabinet to the wall. Then run screws through the face frames to join neighboring cabinets so the whole run behaves as one solid unit. Use screws long enough to bite deep into the framing but not so long they blow through into the next room.

Last piece is the toe kick, the trim that closes off the recessed space under the cabinets. Measure the length of the run, cut the toe kick to fit, and scribe it to the floor if the flooring rises and falls. Snap it into place or fasten it with a few finish screws. It hides the shims and the gap under the boxes, and it makes the whole install look finished.