The contractor managed to get my new kitchen cabinets installed about a degree or two off level–they are tipped forward. Now the drawers won’t stay closed–they open themselves.
Unfortunately no one noticed until the countertops were installed.
Here’s where I need expert advice. Is there a way to level the cabinets WITHOUT having to take off the countertop or remove the cabinets from their spots?
Here’s why. The countertop installer did a beautiful job of scribing and caulking and I know there’s no way we’ll ever get the counters in as nicely as they are now.
The two cabinets which are out of level are on either side of the dishwasher, so we have access to one side of the cabinets.
Unfortunately, the cabinets are not shimmed in front, so there’s no way to shim them upward without pushing the counter out of level.
Anyone have a FineHomebuilding-worthy solution?
Thanks in advance.
Replies
Welcome to breaktime.
If the fronts tip forward, then the front to back of the cab is not level. So to do this is going to lower the back a bit.........
Release the screws holding the back of the cab to the wall, pull the cab. fwd at the bottom.
The fronts are not plumb heh?
Wow.
At the sink base, you'll need sloppy enough holes around the drains and supplies to move the base cabinet.
If it doesn't look bad and you can't / don't want to move the cabs, lower the drawer guides at the back of the cabinet.
Best of luck.
The fine homebuilding solution would be not to do it in the first place and / or don't put a counter on it if they're not right.
But this is the real world.
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I'd say just drop the backs of the drawer slides. Couldn't hurt to try.
Forrest
A magnet mounted inside the cab, at the rear of the drawer?
You said "the contractor." What has "the contractor" suggested as a correction? It's not your fault or problem to fix, unless you've already let "the contractor" off the hook.
Calvins suggestion is the correct way to go. I have to commend him on the drawer slide suggestion. Pretty, I don't know if I would have thought of that one. You may end up having to do that. If the cabinet installer shimmed the back side of the cabinets, you'll never the backs of the cabinets down.
...............wait a minute! Here's a crazy thought. Check to see if the drawer slides were installed correctly. Put a level on the drawer slide. Do you know how far a cabinet has to be out to get the drawers to slide open on there own. ALOT
Dave
If everything else looks OK, then you can just reset teh draw slides. Some of them even have adjustment slots.
I can't believe that nobody noticed until the tops were in. It really would have been hard to install a countertop with the drawers openning in my way....
So - methinks maybe these are granite tops and the weight caused some settling in which raises more questions like is the floor framed correctly - are the cab boxes solid or loose knock together type, etc.
Are the cabs set on the finish fllor or ???
When I set them, they would have an applied baseboard toe kick added, so I would be able to remove that toekick base and add shims under them at the front.
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Everybody is suggesting droping the back side of the guides. Whats that going to do to your drawer front? If you have full insert doors/drawers its going to look like sh!d.
Even if you have overlaping doors/drawers you may have an unplumb drawer front.
I'm of the thinking that you re-do it and do it right. How long ago did this get installed? If recently then get the contractor back and make him fix it.
Doug
I agree. Not to mention that anything round placed on the counter (such as an egg, apple or pen) will want to roll forward and onto the floor.
I don't know about these cabinets, by my kitchen drawers would need to be seriously out of level to not stay closed. They would probably be so far off, it would even be visually bad.
To the OP: Can you quantify how far out of leve they are? A 2-foot level should work.
So,the Countertop is level??? The cabinets are out of plumb. What is the countertop material? If, like somebody mentioned the cabinets sagged after top install would'nt the tops be out of level? What brand of cabinets? Quality level? Sometimes the boxes the cabinets come in are made better than the cabinets. If the cabinets are out of square, you can not get them level and plumb.
The two cabinets which are out of level are on either side of the dishwasher, so we have access to one side of the cabinets.
Are these the only cabinets out of plumb? Are they in plane(line up evenly, according to the dish washer)? How close to an inside corner is this?
Check the wall for plumb and the floor for level(both ways). Are the cabinets sitting on the finished floor or buried in it.
Someone needs to find out what the problem is before a solution can be found.
At this point the best suggestion is to adjust the glides and then adjust the fronts.
Good luck,
DAVE
To be honest with you if you hired a kitchen installer to install a kitchen and the drawers didnt close, you shouldnt worry at all.
Let him learn his lesson.
I dont believe anyone here would leave a customer with work like that.
What type of countertop? I could maybe see if you had granite installed and the cabs settled, but other than that the boxes should have been installed plumb.
Heres what I would do
1. Set a 2' level on the countertop (front to back) and lift the front of the level until the bubble is centered. Make a note of the correction (1/8", 1/4", etc.)
2. Hold the 2' level on the front of the cabinet in the vertical position and check that to see how far off that is. Make a note of that correction.
3. Open the drawer all the way and set a smaller level on that to see how far off that is.
4. Call the contractor who did the installation and tell him what you found.
Also, make sure you have an accurate level before you check everything.
Good luck, and it would be interesting to hear just how far off they are, so a follow-up report would be appreciated.
Could you refit the drawers with Blumotion slides?
Thats the response I was waiting for. That would solve lots of problems, but they aren't cheap. The drawers were most likely removed for the counter install, and quite possibly were not re-installed after the cabinets were installed at all. So nobody would have noticed.
You are correct. The drawers weren't installed until after the counters were in and that's when the out of level problem turned up.The cabs are just stock KraftMaid, they seem pretty well made, and were not noticeably out of square. They were installed over a finished floor. Several of you have said I should get the contractor back to fix his mistake, but I won't let him back into the house. He was a complete chowderhead and whatever solution he would come up with would not be nearly as good as what you all have suggested already.
What kind of tops are they?
The countertop is Formica over particle board.
Is there a formica back splash? Or is it tile or something else?
The countertop is Formica over particle board.
Take the counter tops up and reset the cabinets! NO way in hell would I reset drawer guides to accomidate out of plumb cabinets.
They'd have to be pretty far out of plumb in order for a drawer to "fall open" - fix it right.
This should be 1/2 to one day of work for a competant carpenter. Obviously you didnt have that the first go round.
Doug
I was picturing granite tops and a floor that haad settled.
You are right - easy fix to reset with just a formica top.
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Yea, we could of had it done by now and on to bigger things.
I still dont think they got that middle east thing figured out!
Doug
afterwe fix that we can deal with the energy situation.;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Snow leaving fast. Early quits, I guess I'll go hit a few.
Later.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Anyone have a FineHomebuilding-worthy solution?
Sure. Have the countertops pulled and reset the cabinets. That's simply how it's done. Have you checked the cabinets with a level or is it a guess that they are not plumb?
What kind of slides do your drawers have? Most are self closing and would take a great deal of incline to actually open on their own. If it's not visually obvious that the cabinets aren't plumb, better self closing slides would solve the problem.
If a proper fix is done, chances are the countertop guy will perform as well the second time around as he did the first. He should be encouraged to talk with the carpenter who is releveling the cabinets so any alterations/scribes made the first time will cover up. 5 minutes going over the ideal height of the properly set cabinets could save hours in the end.
If you dink around with the cabinets and crack the countertops guess who's problem it is. Overload a cabinet corner and crack the face frame--guess who's problem that is.
Anytime you mess with the cabinets it's no longer up to the cabinet installer to fix anything. Ditto with the counter top. If they've had a bad day some will say you broke it, you fix it.
Call the counter top guy and explain what happened. He'll pull the tops correctly and you can hire a carpenter who owns a level, or at least knows when to use it, have the counter tops reinstalled and back charge the fix to the orginal guy and adjust your final payment.
You haven't paid the original guy in full yet have you? In that case you're likely to pick up the bill. Make note to self, "I will never pay 100% until the job is done correctly."
Best of luck
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
He'll pull the tops correctly and you can hire a carpenter who owns a level
Don, I'd bet that I could install cabinets without a level that would not have drawers falling open! Man thats gotta be way out or something else is screwy.
I say redo the whole thing, why live with something that you know is wrong when its not all that big a deal to correct it.
Doug
I agree with removing the tops. If they are scribed to the wall, they should fit very well at 1/4"-3/8" higher which should be all thats needed to level out the cabinets. I can eye it up to be closer than 1/4" out of level across 24", so they can't be much more than that. The only problem I see is if you had tile installed down onto the tops. That would suck.
Any chance that there was a second chowderhead at the factory who installed the drawers wrong. If the front of the cabinet is plumb and the drawer looks like it is sagging down when you hold it closed, I would look at the drawer glides.