Floor cabinet installation question:

[oldberkeley]

Remodeling our small kitchen in our little 1958 ranch house. Of course, nothing is plumb or level.

Got the floor tiled, not perfect but pretty darn level.

Got the wall cabinets up.

Working on the floor cabinets: the countertop company is coming on Thursday to laser measure a template for the quartz countertop.

I'm just a fairly experienced, decent DIY'er, certainly not a pro cabinet installer. Working with basic hand tools, a good level and a very straight 10' oak 1" x 4".

My question: just how flat & level (close to perfect) do the cabinets have to be? Does the adhesive itself allow for some adjusting, like thinset and floor tiles?

TIA

 

[RivennHewn]

Flat is more important than level for stone counters.

A good installer can shim the slab, maybe up to a 1/4". Any more would be pushing it, asking for failure.

Level is always the target, but sometimes it just works better to be slightly out.

Maintaining a flat plane is more important.

 

[Kaizen]

if you're not level and/or not supported well once that top goes on you'll see some misfitting doors and maybe gaps. use plenty of shims and if the cabinet is an inch or more out don't hesitate to cut that oak and make your own pieces to fill the gap at the floor then shim. once that top goes on you don't want to be doing this stuff.

 

[The FIB]

Spend a little extra time and get your cabinets as flat and straight as possible. You don't want to have to adjust the counter top latter, it will not look as nice.

Start your base cabinet at the highest point on the floor and shim the bottoms of the others so the top edge is flat. It should be flat front to back as well as side by side.

Keep the back of the cabinets off the wall a little so you can shim at the wall, this will allow you to keep the cabinet faces in a straight line.

Screw the cabinets to each other as well as the floor and wall.

 

[gasgas17]

Draw a level line on the wall to install your cabinets too (the line should represent the top edge of your boxes). Shim each box level where it goes. If it is above the line, set your scribers to the amount you need to remove from the bottom of the box(the amount the box is higher than the line) and draw a line around the bottom of the box. Flip the box over and either jig saw or power plane the extra material off. If you put some thought into it, you should be able to install all the boxes with no shims under neath and have a set of cabinets that are flat and level. Provided your floor is not too wonky. And yes you want a very flat surface for a stone counter. No excuse not to be level.

 

[Cyberbear]

Try to make the floor cabinet boxes as plumb and level as possible, your doors will fit better and the counter top installer will thank you for it as well. Mount everything as solid as possible so the weight of cabs and top won't cause shifting or settling later.