Swedish manufacturer IKEA offers a wide range of support materials to help customers assemble and install its prefabricated cabinets, including videos, step-by-step photo broadsheets, online help, phone support and the infamously minimal pictographs shipped with every order. Because IKEA has such thorough instructions, it makes little sense to duplicate them here. The six tips below are a personal take on the process, supplemented by the 12-photo sequence of a professional installer at work.
Getting (and staying) organized
7. Keeping track of a kitchen’s worth of parts takes meticulous organization. Because IKEA assembly hardware is uniform, we assembled all like parts in plastic zip-lock freezer bags, labeled them and put them someplace safe. Large hardware elements, such as drawer slides, we grouped in smaller cardboard boxes. Leave the melamine panels for each cabinet in its large shipping box till you’re ready to assemble the cabinet. Tempting though it may be, do not throw out the large boxes yet.
D-Day
8. Invite friends and make a weekend of assembling the cabinets. It’s possible for a handy couple to assemble a kitchen’s worth of cabinets in two days but it’s easier to maintain momentum with more bodies. If one member of the party has a good collection of tools or has assembled IKEA cabinets before, all the better.
9. Allow plenty of room for assembly and storage once each cabinet is completed. Flattened shipping boxes make an excellent assembly area, protecting both your floors and the melamine surfaces.
10. Keep cool. The pictographs showing installation are minimal but if you study them carefully you’ll find that the details are there. More than once I was sure IKEA had screwed up when panel holes didn’t line up. But after revisiting the instructions and conferring with my friends-till one of us had an Ahah! moment-the assembly was always correctly machined. Typically, a panel had to be flipped 180 degrees.
11. Never force things. Every bolt or screw has its place and if it isn’t fitting, revisit the instructions. Likewise, resist the temptation to re-drill a hole that displeases you. And when tightening screws, don’t over-do it: Panel cores are particleboard, which can strip if you apply too much muscle to a screw. If you use a screw gun, make sure it’s a variable-speed model, and take it slow.
12. Hiring pros to install the cabinets is not a bad idea if you’re pressed for time or not all that comfortable doing it–or if kitchen walls are irregular. Aligning cabinets takes skill and patience–especially if there are corner cabinets in the mix. You can also leave some of the more complicated IKEA hardware for the pro to assemble, such as sliding shelf mechanisms that pull out of corner-cabinets.
Thanks to Marciel Dornelio for sharing his cabinet-hanging skills and allowing us to photograph him at work.
This blog is adapted from Renovation 4th Edition, which contains thousands of field-tested tips and techniques. Brand new from Taunton Press, Renovation 4th Edition‘s 614 pages include 250+ technical drawings and 1,000 photos selected from the 40,000 that I have taken over the years. I hope you find it useful. -Mike
© Michael Litchfield 2013
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1. Before installing cabinets, survey walls and floors. Note out-of-level floor sections, out-of-plumb wall areas and low spots that may need to be shimmed. Mark stud locations. Working from your kitchen layout, mark a level line indicating the top of wall cabinets and then a lower line, indicating the height of the suspension rail.
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2. IKEA wall cabinets hang from a leveled metal suspension rail. Cut it to length and screw it to every stud it crosses. Where the rail crosses low spots of more than ¼ in., insert shims between the wall and the rail so the rail stays straight. When the rail is secure, slide mounting-bolt heads into the suspension rail. The bolts slide freely so you can align them to predrilled holes in the backs of the wall cabinets.
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3. The job will go more smoothly if you get help hanging wall cabinets. If you have a corner cabinet, hang that one first. As one person supports each cabinet, the other person slides the mounting bolts until they stick through holes in the cabinet back. Fit a small metal plate and nut over each bolt. Tighten nuts loosely so you can level and adjust each cabinet. Shim cabinet bottoms so they line up to adjacent cabinets.
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4. Once cabinet faces are aligned, use quick-release clamps to draw adjacent cabinets together. Clamp jaws should be cushioned or shimmed to avoid marring the cabinets. (Note the mounting hardware to the right of the clamp.)
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5. The insides of IKEA cabinets have predrilled holes. Depending upon the cabinet door you buy, drill though the second or fourth holes from the top and bottom, using a 3/16 bit. Drill through adjacent cabinet sides, as shown, insert the connection screws into the holes, tighten them to join the cabinets, and remove the clamps. When you've joined all the cabinets, tighten all the mounting nuts that secure cabinets to the suspension rail.
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6. To attach doors, insert cup hinges (AKA European hinges) into the predrilled holes in the door frames. These hinges attach to…
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[7] ...receiving hinge parts screwed into predrilled holes along the insides of the cabinets. Hinges can be adjusted in three directions so that doors sit flat to cabinets and align to adjacent doors.
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8. Dividing the chores is the best way to install cabinets in a cost-effective and timely manner. Most DIYers are capable of assembling prefab units and installing interior hardware, but hiring a pro to install cabinets is money well spent.
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9. Installing base cabinets starts with a review of wall and floor conditions--including the high point of the floor. Measure up 4 5/16 in. from that high point and run a level line around the room. This line represents the top edge of a wall strip screwed to each stud it crosses; the strip supports the backs of base cabinets.
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10. Here, the carpenter notes the location of stub-out for the kitchen sink drain and supply pipes. He will transfer those locations to the back of the sink cabinet and cut holes before installing the sink cabinet.
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11. Lining up and leveling base cabinets is easier than hanging wall cabinets: the wall strips already align cabinet backs, adjustable plastic feet can be screwed up or down to adjust cabinet fronts and you're not fighting gravity.
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Job done!
View Comments
I would not have thought to install the IKEA cabinetry on my own. All those storage cabinets are quite expensive and you do get a good price when you get the IKEA guys to come and put their product into your home. But you guys did a really good job and it looked simple enough. Maybe something to try the next time!