Help install Kitchen BASE cabs

[cputnam]

I bought the cheapest stuff from Home Depot (long story and lesson learned).  Issue revolves around the corner cabs which float free from wall, held only by neighbors and any weight from the counter top.  I'm wrapping these cabs around my office - there are three corners involved.  Two of the three corners are square.  One is out 3/4" over 4' - or so.  In the pics, the area to the right of the cabs is where there will be a "drop down" to desk height.  To the left, there is an open area where there will be a cab but I'll have to make it myself.  HD wants $100 for the 15" cab and their vendor wants $100 to ship it.

My questions are two:

1) - Although the wall is plumb, I cannot get the cab to sit against the wall without about a 1/2" shim.  The cab is square and plumb.  The wall is plumb.  There is nothing preventing contact between cab and wall - they just will not mate.  Causes and fixes?

2) - No matter what I do it seems as though I will have an unequal distance from wall to front of cabs.  This is of concern because it will haunt me either in the 15" cab area (left side of pics) or in the desktop drop down (right side of pics.)  How do you guys handle this?

I've never installed base cabs before so please consider that before you climb on me for arrant stupidity.  Another issue is that my arthritis is bad enough that I cannot bend over, kneel or get down on the floor - or having beaten the odds and done those things the chances of getting back up are slim and none - and Slim done left town.  My wife does those chores now.

General View - blue tape is where studs are


Misalignment


Another general view

[EricU]

the corner cab is rotated in the pics, looking down, it's off in the counter-clockwise direction.  I'm having trouble understanding your problem otherwise.

[museumguy]

Ok, about the 15" cabinet. Is it 15" wide or what ? Not sure I understand. When my mom redid her kitchen, she had a wall section that she wanted 2 base cabinets, 14" deep. The supplier wanted a ridiculous amount of money for semi custom cabinets. I told her to order 2 wall cabinets the width she wanted. I then took the face frames and doors off, built deeper boxes and reattached the face frames. It saved her a couple hundred bucks. I don't know if you can do something similar or not.

I agree with Eric, it looks as though the cabinet is rotated slightly.

[woodhead]

When ever I did a kitchen, I put the layout on the wall. Find the high point of the floor and put a mark at 34 1/2" above, on the wall. Carry that line around. Then layout your cabinets with plumb lines on the wall. Most of the time we did the hangers first, unless it had a full backsplash.



Al

...and BTW, a lot of cabinets come twisted especially the cheaper ones. Ya gotta cheat gracefully!

---

the corner cab is rotated in the pics, looking down, it's off in the counter-clockwise direction.  I'm having trouble understanding your problem otherwise.

What he said.  Also put a shim between the cabinet right where your level crosses the tops. Then screw the two cabinets together at that spot on both sides of the corner cabinet.


Al

[tsbrewers]

They are box cabinets, and the floor, the wall and the cabinets themselves are never perfect. tilt and twist the cabinets until the face frames are close enough to screw together. Then shim the bottoms and backs of all the cabinets to get them relatively plumb and level. A lot of times the corner cabinets are way out of square. When you try to shim them, sometimes you just drop some shims on the floor behind it, then use a level to fish the shims in where you need them.

I usually put 2x4's along the wall behind the corner cabinets or lazy susan cabinets to help support the counter tops and to give me something to brace the corner cabinet against.

In your picture, the corner cabinet needs to twist in to the corner, and all the cabinets to the left of the corner one need to slide to the right too. You can also add a small filler between the corner cabinet and the one next to it too.

[rwe2156]

First, flush clamp and screw the face frames together.  Then screw sides together using a spacer.  It should be very close to square, but it doesn't really matter because once you have everything assembled as one unit, you will be able to find a happy place.  You may need to split the difference if there are gaps anywhere.

Then check the top for level.  You may need to ship bottom if floor is uneven.  Once the base is installed, scribe the top to the wall.

Countertop installers often use a template.

[EricU]

it's possible the counter on the right is too close.  Or maybe both right and left counters are too close.  First thing I would do is get the corner counter square with the counter on the right and see where you are.

[cputnam]

The 15" cab (to go on left) is 15" wide. All are 34.5" tall and 24" deep (front to wall)

Yes, I know the corner cab is not squared up. I was just trying to show that no matter what I do something is off. I've already got the lines drawn in the done corner for hanging a top support.

Right now, I like the idea of using spacers to put the three together nice, tight and square and then deal with relationship to the wall (with shims.) The problem then comes with the countertop. Which will be two 4 x 8 sheets ripped down the middle - top sheet to be walnut ply.

Did I answer all the questions?

[Bob10]

quarter round

[mike4244]

The wall is probably out of square.Screw the corner cabinet to the cabinet on the right first.You may have to pull one or both away from the wall a bit.When the two cabinets are screwed tight and flush,push both towards the wall.Add the left cabinet.To get the left cabinet flush with the corner you may have to move the corner and right cabinet out a bit.After all three are together they should be square with one another.Move the units as close to the wall as possible.There will be gaps if the wall is out of square,no problem.
Drill pilot holes in the back to install to the wall.Shim any areas where there is a gap and a screw after checking for level and plumb.
The top will show the out of squareness when you install it. Usually backing rod and a quality caulk will take care of it.
mike