Cabinet Conundrum

[Patrick in DC]

Hi all,

I just moved into a new (to me) house a couple weeks ago and I have an unfinished garage (not insulated, no drywall). We are re-doing the kitchen in the house and I planned to re-use some of the existing cabinets in the garage... but the kitchen company destroyed them when doing demo. They have offered to let me come to their warehouse and pick from some "free" cabinets. Kind of a cool offer - but I don't know what they have yet, and I hate to install cabinets into an unfinished space.

1) Should I just mount some plywood to the studs where I'm planning to create a workbench/station and mount the cabinets to the plywood?

2) Should I get the cabinets now and then wait to install them until spring/summer when I've had a chance to add insulation/drywall to the garage?

3) Should I just insulate/drywall the area where I plan to create the workbench/station?

4) Should I beg/steal/borrow and try to insulate/drywall the whole space right now even though the house needs furniture, etc. so I can install the cabinets right the first time and then it'll be "done" ?

The house has a basement and an attic so I don't really need to add a lot of storage in the garage. I was thinking a couple nice base cabinets with a workbench top, and a row of shallower cabinets above, with some under-cabinet task lighting. But I'm pretty stuck on the question of whether to bother with the offer of free cabinets right now at all since I can't decide how to approach the question of whether/how to install them in the garage. ANY insight is appreciated. Thanks all.

Pics: I plan on doing the workstation to the right side of the window in the attached pics, parallel to the back wall of garage (where the tall shelf is currently)

 

[ratdoggy]

Just put some cleats up and mount the cabinets....
They won't be in the way and you can use them.....
Not hard to take out some screws to insulate behind them when the time comes....
You are overthinking this

 

[ddawg16]

Just put some cleats up and mount the cabinets....
They won't be in the way and you can use them.....
Not hard to take out some screws to insulate behind them when the time comes....
You are overthinking this

Yup ^^

And....it will give you time to figure out exactly what you want to do. Where you want a bench....outlets....etc.

So get them...hang'em....Come spring, take it all down...run electrical (never enough outlets)....Lights....insulation...drywall....put them back up

 

[rburke65]

How confident are you thatthe cabinet guys will honor the offer of the cabinets ..?.. 6 months ...11 months don the road? If not, then go get the cabinets now and store em until you're ready for them. If you will need electrical outlets on thewall in the garage, you should get it wired before insulating and drywall or what ever is your choice. Take your time and get your budget and the sequence of rehab right.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Get drawer cabinets with slides. Get as many as you can. Sit the base units in place. Hang the wall cabinets on cleats. Do it now before the cabinets guys forget.

 

[Kaizen]

Just to add what was said above look up French cleat. Easiest way to install perm or temp


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[Patrick in DC]

Just put some cleats up and mount the cabinets....
They won't be in the way and you can use them.....
Not hard to take out some screws to insulate behind them when the time comes....
You are overthinking this

I do have a tendency to overthink things - you're right about that

Yup ^^

And....it will give you time to figure out exactly what you want to do. Where you want a bench....outlets....etc.

So get them...hang'em....Come spring, take it all down...run electrical (never enough outlets)....Lights....insulation...drywall....put them back up

Yeah - good call... better to take the time and get it "just right"

How confident are you thatthe cabinet guys will honor the offer of the cabinets ..?.. 6 months ...11 months don the road? If not, then go get the cabinets now and store em until you're ready for them. If you will need electrical outlets on thewall in the garage, you should get it wired before insulating and drywall or what ever is your choice. Take your time and get your budget and the sequence of rehab right.

Yeah.. I think it's probably best to get them while it's still fresh on his mind - not sure he'll remember his mistake/offer in the summer

Get drawer cabinets with slides. Get as many as you can. Sit the base units in place. Hang the wall cabinets on cleats. Do it now before the cabinets guys forget.

Drawers on both sides below, and cabinets above, got it!

Just to add what was said above look up French cleat. Easiest way to install perm or temp

Thanks - I actually wondered what ratdoggy was referring to when he said "cleat" so that helps!

 

[jgregt]

If it were me, I’d get the cabinets now while the offer still stands, and also start insulating and adding drywall now. Getting the drywall up in my garage really motivated me to keep at it. And once the paint was on, the place was transformed.

I don’t think I’d want to go through the work of hanging the cabinets now, just to take them down and re-hang them later. Those cabinets sitting in your garage could be a big motivator to keep at it.

 

[Patrick in DC]

If it were me, I’d get the cabinets now while the offer still stands, and also start insulating and adding drywall now. Getting the drywall up in my garage really motivated me to keep at it. And once the paint was on, the place was transformed.

I don’t think I’d want to go through the work of hanging the cabinets now, just to take them down and re-hang them later. Those cabinets sitting in your garage could be a big motivator to keep at it.

Yeah, exactly - I think it makes a lot of sense to get the cabinets now either way, but I was just thinking that once they're mounted & loaded up my motivation to insulate/drywall is going to plummet.

 

[Catadj78]

Just put em up temporarily. You will have changed your mind 12 times by the time you get it insulated and wall surfaces up.

 

[Patrick in DC]

I have never insulated or done drywall at all. The studs are spaced like 23" +/- an inch it seems... is this normal for an old garage? After having electrical routed through the studs, do I just basically stuff insulation in there, add a vapor barrier, and then put drywall over it?

 

[ChaseDE]

That is crazy they destroyed the old cabinets, were they like terribly bad and unusable? My neighbor is having her kitchen redone now and had her contractor set the cabinets on her back deck so I could take them and they are perfect still, I been hanging them in the garage for a week now.

Like the others, go get the cabinets now and put them on cleats for the time being....done deal.

 

[Patrick in DC]

That is crazy they destroyed the old cabinets, were they like terribly bad and unusable? My neighbor is having her kitchen redone now and had her contractor set the cabinets on her back deck so I could take them and they are perfect still, I been hanging them in the garage for a week now.

Like the others, go get the cabinets now and put them on cleats for the time being....done deal.

What's funny is that they didn't go demolition crazy or use a sledge to remove them... it's just that there was a misunderstanding about whether the cabinets be saved and reused... when they scheduled a pickup of all the trash, they hauled the cabinets out as well. It was a rainy day and by the time they realized the mistake, the cabinets were done.

 

[Patrick in DC]

Just put em up temporarily. You will have changed your mind 12 times by the time you get it insulated and wall surfaces up.

It's probably what I'll end up doing... and I'm sure you're right about me changing my mind 12 times

 

[ChaseDE]

typically studs should be 16" on center, 23 sounds wide/old. I guess it will be ok, just different

 

[jgregt]

Patrick,

Insulating and adding drywall isn't difficult. Insulation, add add a vapor barrier and hang the drywall.

There's a gazillion youtube videos on taping and mudding. I actually enjoyed the challenge and learning how to do it. The beauty (at least for me) is that you can take your time and make it right -- and I'm not paying someone else to do it. I was pleased with the results and think it looks like a professional job.

 

[ratdoggy]

Yeah, exactly - I think it makes a lot of sense to get the cabinets now either way, but I was just thinking that once they're mounted & loaded up my motivation to insulate/drywall is going to plummet.

Sure you'll lose interest in getting the insulation done...Until you are freezing or sweltering your a$$ off..It's a great motivator

 

[Jinks]

What was your plan if they had not destroyed the original cabinets? Were you going to store them? Were you going to insulate/drywall the garage? Were you going to hang them on plywood? How is using free cabinets from the cabinet company different from using your old cabinets?

 

[Patrick in DC]

typically studs should be 16" on center, 23 sounds wide/old. I guess it will be ok, just different

okay...

Patrick,

Insulating and adding drywall isn't difficult. Insulation, add add a vapor barrier and hang the drywall.

There's a gazillion youtube videos on taping and mudding. I actually enjoyed the challenge and learning how to do it. The beauty (at least for me) is that you can take your time and make it right -- and I'm not paying someone else to do it. I was pleased with the results and think it looks like a professional job.

Thanks for the encouragement, I'll have to look around on youtube.

Sure you'll lose interest in getting the insulation done...Until you are freezing or sweltering your a$$ off..It's a great motivator

hahahaha

What was your plan if they had not destroyed the original cabinets? Were you going to store them? Were you going to insulate/drywall the garage? Were you going to hang them on plywood? How is using free cabinets from the cabinet company different from using your old cabinets?

I guess my old "plan" was just to stick them in the garage and then figure out what I could do with whatever cabinets I had... then I'd mount some, get rid of some, whatever... the new scenario feels like an opportunity I'd rather not squander, if that makes any sense, and it seems a little silly to make a trip to a warehouse (with a rental truck/van?) to bring home some cabinets and then just set them on the floor in the garage. Idk. It made sense in my head that it was kinda different - but I see your point too.

 

[shadyluke]

Get them now. Throwing up a few rolls of insulation where they will go is cheap as is a couple sheets of drywall. That's what I did in my attached garage. Never did get around to finishing the insulation before the big shop went up though.