WELCOME TO OUR Fitting a kitchen wall unit or cupboard. PROJECT
This project is presented by Better Kitchens
Summary: How to fit a kitchen wall unit or cupboard
Fitting kitchen cupboards requires some carpentry skills and some common sense but most of all it requires that you know the basics of how and why you are doing what you are told to do by the instructions. This is because most units are put together the same way or at least using the same principles and as long as you are aware of this you can cope quite easily with any of the slight varainces that exist between all the different suppliers.
Some kitchen wall units are hung onto brackets and others are screwed through the back or sides. The ones that are supposed to be screwed through the back or sides will always have special strengthening timbers fitted or they will be made up of 15mm boards. You should never attempt to hold up a unit by screwing through a flimsy hardboard back.
In this project we install two of each kind of kitchen wall unit. Two with hanging brackets at each side and two (horizontal) units which screw directly to the wall. These are also fixed to the units which are hung. The blue colour is the protective wrapping these units come with.
The first job is to set out your units properly. Wall units are usually fitted or hung with the bottom of the unit 600mm above the worktop to give enough head height for working on the worktop. The first job with hung units is to work out where the wall brackets will go. The manufaturers instructions will show you the distance from the bottom of the unit to the hanging bracket in the unit and this can be marked on the wall, along with the distance between the brackets. If you have a lot of wall units to hang its a great idea to mark the height of the wall unit brackets at both ends of the wall and ping a line between them using a chalk line.
Once you have the height of the wall brackets marked, refer to our projects on fixing to plasterboard or fixing to masonry depending on your wall type and fix them in position. Look at the related projects on the left to see either or both of these projects.
aaaaaSet out walls aaaaaaaaFix wall brackets aaaa Fix cupboard brackets
aaBack of cupboard aaaa Hanging wall unit
Once the wall brackets are fixed you can fix the cupboard brackets inside the cupboard. The back board of the wall unit will have two cut outs for the hanging arm of the barcket to fit through. There are two screws at the back of the internal wall unit bracket. One adusts the height of the bracket for fine tuning on the wall and the other pulls the unit in towards the wall to keep it tight against it.
For this project we now had to fit two horizontal units which did not come with hanging brackets. We fixed through the back after setting out the height and marking it on the wall as we did with the wall unit brackets. They were then fixed as shown in our fixing to masonry project. For additional strength we fixed screws into the horizontal units through the inside of the vertical units but to make sure this did not look unsightly we put the screws in behind the hinges.
The left hand image shows the holes which are in place for the hinge to be fixed to and we have placed a screw in between these to fix through to the vertical unit. Using simple tricks like this keeps every job neat and tidy as well as doubling up on safety and strength. Always make sure your units are plumb and level with a spirit level. If they are not it makes fitting the doors properly very hard work indeed.
For a great range of kitchen wall units, full replacement kitchens and other kitchen products click through to the Better Kitchens web site and browse through their extensive range
Top Tools
Click on a tool below for additional information.
Much more construction information is available in our bookstore. All the tools and fittings you need in the toolstore.
Forums
Building a company brand
BUILDING A TIMBER CUPBOARD
Carpentry: Tips and tricks of the trade
CHALK LINE
CHANGING TAPS
CLEANING GROUT WHEN HARD
CUPBOARD DOOR ADJUSTMENT
Fitting a gas hob into a kitchen worktop
Fitting a kitchen sink
Fitting cupboard handles and knobs
Fixing Architrave to doorframes
Fixing to Ceramic Tiles
Fixing to lightweight blocks
FIXING TO MASONRY & CONCRETE
FIXINGS - A COMPLETE GUIDE
granite or marble inserts in worktop
Kitchen Appliances
KITCHEN FITTING
KITCHEN PLANNING
Kitchen unit lighting
KNOCK DOWN JOINTS
Low Voltage Lighting
PLASTERBOARD FIXINGS
Plumbing in a Washing machine or Dishwasher
REPAIRING A MIXER TAP
REPAIRING A SUPATAP
TILING OVER CERAMIC TILES
TREATING WOODEN WORKTOPS
Washing Machines
WOODEN WORKTOPS
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