Renovated kitchen - floor

[Bruce W Phillips]

I am planning on installing new cupboards and floating floor.  The front legs would be resting on the floor and the back of the base cabinet is supported by screwing to the wall.

My question: Should I run the floating floor under the cabinets, using the recommended space for expansion?

 

[Ken Darga]

The recommended practice, is to have the entire cabinet base frame, (front, sides and back), resting on the floor.

Use shims to make the unit level and plumb.

Add a molding, (quarter-round, or the like), along the front to close gaps.

[Bruce W Phillips]

Thanks for the answer Ken, but the cupboards are all premade and have to be assembled, from Ikea.  The base cabinets have front legs and a board id attatched to the wall for the back to sit on.

 

My question was, can I install floating floor under the cabinets, ie: Install floors before cupboards?

[Ken Darga]

Bruce,

I wouldn't go thru the expense of adding the ''floating floor'' section, under the cabinets.

  Butt the new flooring to the kickplate.

(If for any reason, the boards need to get replaced, you'll be faced with a bigger undertaking.  

Bruce W Phillips said:

Thanks for the answer Ken, but the cupboards are all premade and have to be assembled, from Ikea.  The base cabinets have front legs and a board id attatched to the wall for the back to sit on.

 

My question was, can I install floating floor under the cabinets, ie: Install floors before cupboards?

[Bruce W Phillips]

Thanks again for the help, I will install the cupboards first on the old floor and put the new floor after, it will add about 1/4 to 3/8 inch to the original floor.

Ken Darga said:

Bruce,

I wouldn't go thru the expense of adding the ''floating floor'' section, under the cabinets.

  Butt the new flooring to the kickplate.

(If for any reason, the boards need to get replaced, you'll be faced with a bigger undertaking.  

Bruce W Phillips said:

Thanks for the answer Ken, but the cupboards are all premade and have to be assembled, from Ikea.  The base cabinets have front legs and a board id attatched to the wall for the back to sit on.

 

My question was, can I install floating floor under the cabinets, ie: Install floors before cupboards?

[Steve Dey]

I did not put the flooring under the cabinets and glad I did it that way.  Floating floors are great but they can become damaged over time and you may want to replace it with some other type of flooring ... like we are talking about doing.

[Bruce W Phillips]

Thanks for that, Steve, we are up in age lol, so I think this floor will last for us, but it is a good idea incase we need to replace it.
Steve Dey said:

I did not put the flooring under the cabinets and glad I did it that way.  Floating floors are great but they can become damaged over time and you may want to replace it with some other type of flooring ... like we are talking about doing.

[Rick]

Bruce, I don't think there is a "right" way, since I have heard both ways argued for years.

Personally I prefer to do flooring under the cabinets.  I think everything is easier that way.  It becomes much easier to slide the fridge and d/w into their places.  Once I had to remove a 10 foot long c'top just to change out the d/w. 

Another downside of doing the floor last is the c'tops are less than 36 in high.  After a few layers of flooring, my current house c'tops were at 35 in high, and the stove was an inch above the c'tops next to it.

If you do plan to install the cabinets first, you might want to shim them up to make up for the thickness of the flooring, and don't forget to floor under the fridge and d/w.

[Bruce W Phillips]

Hi Rick,

Well that was my first choice, but a local carpenter said it should be done after because of replacement etc..

I was going to run the floor under the d/w and other appliances though, but the idea of having less than the 35 inch is also not so good.

My taught was that, it would be easier to install the cabinets after and not have to worry about height or anything like that, I am glad that you wrote this as it is sure making me go back to my original idea.

It is like multiple answer questions lol, never change your mind after the choice or you could be wrong ...

This will be the last floor in this room lol.  I hope

 

[Rick]

Bruce, personally I have found that the biggest danger to the floor was me.  During construction.  Like the time I dropped my jig saw on the ceramic tile -- the tile lost that one. I sold that house with a chip in the tile in front of the d/w.

That's one reason I now like to save big pieces of cardboard to lay down where I am working.  Boxes from kitchen cabinets work great, just cut the flaps off.  It also helps to slide appliances on cardboard.

All floorings can be replaced.  Even laminate.  It takes more time, but can be done.  Did I ever mention about being careful with your tools?  ;-)

[Rick]

*********************

[Bruce W Phillips]

Hi Rick,

you did not, but thanks for the advice, sometimes I do drop things, like the top I made for my cabinet, it was made of 1 inch birtch and made a dent in the wood, which I had to change the style to cover up my mistake lol,