OK, this is hard to explain, but I wanted to see if anyone had any advice: I am renovating the kitchen. After ripping down old walls (1927 house), discovered that old cabinets were proud of the wall about 2″ to accommodate the cast iron waste pipe from the bathroom above. It runs down the exterior wall of the kitchen into the basement. So I have a flat wall until it hits the cast iron pipe which curves out about 2 inches, then back to a flat wall.
I know the simple solution is to just mount the upper cabinets two inches out and live with it. Same with base. But what if I want to put the cabinets on the actual wall — can I cut into the cabinets to accommodate the pipe and then try to mask it when it comes to the backsplash area? Just don’t want to create a lot of extra work in building out the wall 2″, and wouldn’t be bothered by the pipe being exposed as long as I can paint it, etc.
Any ideas?
Replies
You can do what you suggest, but, IMHO, it's a whole lot easier to fir out the wall 2" than to customize both upper & lower cabs, the backsplash and the countertop. If you have the space, I'd say fir out the wall. If not, improvise.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Would it look weird to fir out just the center section of the cabinet run where the pipe is located -- like a bump-out of a couple of inches, and the rest of the cabs are against the real wall?
Dunno. Depends on what you think looks wierd. Lotsa folks are perfectly happy with something that sends me running retching. ;-)
You may wanna post a plan or photo.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
You might want to go with the "fitted kitchen" look.Where the cabinets are different depths and some stick out to give a hint of a bunch of individual pieces of furniture..
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Aw, just paint the pipe a nice cheery color and notch the cabinets around it.
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Exterior wall? Plaster and lath? If you can't /don't want to move pipe completely into wall. You could jog pipe into wall just where it would be seen in backsplash and notch & box in cabinets.
Furring out might facilitate other things though. Like wiring for more outlets.
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
That was my original idea --- jog the wall around the pipe. It wasn't plaster and lath -- the original Beaver Wallboard from 1927. This is an obvious question, but will notching the cabinet (one upper, one lower) to accommodate the pipe seriously affect their stability? They are plywood boxes, not particleboard. Thanks.
Shouldn't affect cab strength, but I'd notch and then box with 1/4" for shelf stability and looks. Unless there's a reason not to, I'd make the backsplash area flat, so the only clue to the pipe is seen inside cabinets.
Might also want to consider if you'll ever need to get to pipe again in future remodeling. Truth is, I'd fur the wall out unless there was a compelling reason not to.
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
Cut the pipe and route it in the wall. The owner doesn't want to see that every day.
Spending a few hours now will save you a few hours installing the cabinets.
Notching the cabinet won't affect it too much.But it will destroy the back.And if that is the main attachment points for the upper it might give you some problems.Might need to reinforce the back or the way that it attaches to the box and/or add other ways of attaching the cabinet to the wall..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
I had the same problem, I had to add a soffit at the top due to truss sitting on top of the frame wall
Can your cabinet supplier supply a 10" deep cab in addition to the 12's?
Firring the wall is a heckuva lot easier than fighting old, crooked framing when hanging the cabinets. You can run your nailers at key intervals to accomdate your cabinet choice... in this case, full height cabinets. You also have much more ability to locate outlets where you need them rather than being limited by stud locations.
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Notice on this picture that two adjacent studs would have caused the wall to have a 1/2" difference...
shimming and letting in the firring allowed for a much easier installation of the cabinets. In fact, the wall was so true that there is no need for trim strips where the cabinets meet the drywall. The entire cabinet installation was done by the homeowner and his FIL in about 3 hours.
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Exactly. (Nice pics.) WAY easier in the long run, and as a bonus, you get a perfect hanging system, a straight wall, and easy countertops/backsplash. Spend an hour firing out, save about 10 hrs. messing around butchering and rebuilding cabs, shimming wacked studs, futzing with a jogged counter, boxing in the pipe, etc.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Unless your case is something very different than you describe, I would fur it out. Your cabinets are the finish, and at that stage you don't want to notch out things or whatever. If the wall was not open and you did not want it open, then maybe something else would be a better solution but not with the wall open.
Figure out your where you will screw the cabinets to the wall and put furring there so you won't need to find studs.
Three options
Have plumber move pipe into wall
Rebuild cabs around pipe
Furr wall out plumb and straight to leave pipe there.
pick your choice and live with it.
Mine would be the first or the last.
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Michael.
I've done all the suggestions above-according to the demands at the time.
The only problems with cutting into the cabs would be the depth of drawers. .........and I've "relieved " them too when needed to clear gas line/pipes etc. At the counter-I'd put a boxed cover over the pipe-splash and counter around that. Looks weird to some-others don't even see it.
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In 1927 that carpenter knew what to do,
Follow his example.........
My advice is call the plumber to reroute the waste drain. You and I could spend all week cutting the pipe, and he'll do it in a few minutes, put in plastic elbows, and viola (my brand of voila), it's over. Life is too short.
First remove the section of old galvanized pipe and replace it with pvc,abs or copper.
Then fur out the wall. You don't want to go back and remove cabinets in the future if the old pipe fails.Might as well do it now as it is a simple job using fernco couplings.
mike
You are all right -- the only reason I hesitate to fir out the wall is the fact that there are two windows that I just installed, so they're going to have a weird 2 or 3" extra depth to them with a very large sill. This really isn't a major issue, but you know how we can get.So now my other question: the cast iron drain pipe is the problem. Runs straight down from bathroom to basement, through kitchen wall. Walls are now open. Does anyone have an idea how much it would cost to have a guy replace that pipe with PVC so it will fit in the wall cavity? If it's not astronomical, I'd prefer to do that and just treat the wall normally.I imagine there will be lots of opinions on this one, and I'm grateful for all of them. Thanks.
In NYC? Probably more than you would guess. The cost would depend on exactly how it needs to be replaced, can you just use neoprene sleeves or do you need to lead in the pvc adaptor to the cast iron in the basement. Also a factor you might not think of is, that cast iron may or may not be supporting cast iron sections above the kitchen wall. Also, when you start replacing things like that, you might be opening up a bigger project.In my experience the vertical sections like that last a long time. The sections that rot out are horizontal sections, especially ones that are not pitched correctly.For the windows, its nothing unusual to have extension jambs that are larger than a traditional jamb on a 2x4 wall. If you don't like the look of that wide of an extension jamb, then make the jamb two pieces and step it out halfway. You can do the same with the stool/sill too.
I'd ask if pvc drains are allowed by NYC codes....
I think they aren't compliant.A La Carte Government funding... the real democracy.
I'm actually in Westchester, the county above NYC, where PVC is allowed. But after reading everything in this thread, I'm going ahead and firring out the walls and leave the pipe where it is. I'll create a nice bump-out with the cabinets and people will think it was part of the master plan. Thanks to everyone for your advice. Much appreciated.
Could you put a floor to ceiling pantry cabinet at that location to hide the pipe?
That's a good idea -- only thing is the pipe is about 15" away from the kitchen sink and a floor to ceiling cab would kill the run of countertop -- so the idea of making a bump out that is centered on the sink and the window above the sink seemed the most aesthetically appealing.
Maybe build a small as possible decorative box on both sides of the sink and hang coffee mugs on them. Or build small shelves for nick nacks.
'how much it would cost to have a guy replace that pipe with PVC so it will fit in the wall cavity?"Less than either of the other options
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