I’m looking for advice, so let me make some key assumptions first.
1. We are putting new tile flooring in our water damaged kitchen.
2. The existing cabinets are being re-used, but they have been temp removed from the kitchen.
3. In the future, we would be more likely to replace the cabinets, but not the tile floor. (We are picking the tile now, but the cabinets are just okay with us)
Would you tile under the cabinets? I’m thinking that it would make the most sense to set tile under the cabs because I could see us replacing the cabinets in 5 or 10 years, but I think the tile would still be in fine shape at that point.
Any advice or input is appreciated.
Replies
Order enough tile to cover 20% of base cabinet sqft (and extra grout), in case you make changes to your cabinet layout later. But my question is always, way buy tile that no one will ever see? Do tile under the dishwasher and refridgerator.
Bing
yes tile under the cabs... no reason not to... everything will be o the same plane the cost is small and it'll be easier to reset your existing cabs... and much easier to change your layout when the time comes... if it's $40sf tile i might change my tune... but if it's $5sf then why not...
p
yes, yes and yes.
"When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking." — Sherlock Holmes, 1896
always when possible!
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Always tile under cabinets.
Tile under the cabinets. It's a pain to cut around a toe kick, and sometimes, if you tile around the cabinets and under the dishwasher, the dishwasher won't fit back under the counter top. If you have them out, there is no reason not to.
It's also a pain to scribe a toe kick to an unlevel tile installation, but hey, we all got straiight edges don't we-- including the tile setter!!! A tad of silicone can cure all ills, but huge amounts of silicone look real trashy.
Setting cabinets on a partial tile installation is a double edge sword, the ladders have to be raised on the back to be sure, but at least it ain't likely that you'll have to shim much on the front- unless the tile setter ain't got a straight-edge, never heard of a proved level, or just don't give a damn about straight and level!!
Eric in Calgary.
That's a good point. If, for some obscure reason, the tile is some of that expensive stuff that won't lay flat, tiling up to the cabinets may be the better choice (if one can figure a fix for the dishwasher problem).
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
Thanks to you all for the replies. I really appreciate it.
My take is that you should probably tile under the DW, and at least run the tile under the front of the cabinets for several inches. This will allow the cabinets to be replaced without damaging the tile or possibly leaving a gap due to slight differences in cabinet size.
To help the cabinet (re)installer get the cabinets level, the tile setter can run a row of tile (could be scraps or cheap tile of the same thickness) near the back wall. Or the entire area can be tiled.
Yes, tile under cabinets now - s-o-o-o-o much easier now than to try and come back and lay in additional tile in a few years.
Get a few spares just in case when you remodel down the road something has to change -- floor penetration of some sort.
Jim
Tile under the cabs. The amount of extra work and material is relatively trivial. If you change the layout of the kitchen in the future then you won't have to work around the floor. The prior owner of my house had tile put in around the cabinets. On the end of an L the side goes all the way down to the floor, even where there's a toe kick on the sides of the L. The tile is actually cut around the side. I'm not looking forward to the day when I have to replace the cabs...
Ryan -
As a cabinetmaker and installer, I'm gonna take the position that you should NOT tile under your cabinets.
I'm just finishing installing cabinets in a small kitchen where the large format tile (18" x 18") was installed wall-to-wall first. The tile guys did a decent job, but there was still quite a bit of variation in the level and it took some really creative shimming (and all of my extensive vocabulary of cuss words) to get the base cabs leveled up. What should have taken 3-4 hours took a very long day.
The GC and I have agreed that on future jobs, I'll build base cab platforms before the tile goes down, and they can tile to the platforms. This will let me get the platforms dead on and solidly anchored into the subfloor instead of hoping that construction adhesive sticks to the tile and a stack of shims.
Since you're reusing your old cabs, it shouldn't be difficult to lay out the footprint and tile to it rather than fighting with it on top of the tile.
>>Since you're reusing your old cabs, it shouldn't be difficult to lay out the footprint and tile to it rather than fighting with it on top of the tile.<<
And in 5 or 10 years, when he changes the cabinets (contained in OP) - how much work does he create for himself to correct the tile floor which no longer fits his new cabinets?
I think more than a day's worth......
Jim
JimNever underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
That would be a problem for then. In my experience, people seldom change the basic layout of their cabinets unless they're doing a major remodel which usually includes a new floor anyway.I'm doing another job right now that's adding two new cabinets to an existing kitchen. The old cabs are on the subfloor and my new base cab will sit on a tile floor. Since I built the base cab with this in mind, I'm expecting to spend maybe a whole 30 minutes trimming the new cab to fit beside an old one.
I had a similar problem once, installing a bar over a tile floor. Leveling the under bar cabinets took longer than I thought they would. It was kind of like a kitchen island. I even used one long separate base and leveled that first. Anyway, in the future I have decided that I would use cabinet leveling legs like these. I could have done that because I built the cabinets, like Dave did.Pictures here if any one wants to see.- Kevin
Edited 10/2/2009 10:47 am ET by Krico
Edited 10/2/2009 10:51 am ET by Krico
Seeing as how I do both tile and cabinets, I'm glad someone agrees with me
Bing