Cabinet Installation Quality

How do you know if your cabinet installation is a quality job? There are many factors to consider. Please read below to learn about all the things you should do to ensure that you have received the best installation job.

Cabinet Installation Checklist

Many problems can occur as a result of your cabinets not being level. Crooked cabinets will become more crooked overtime and affect more than just the look of the kitchen. If your cabinets are crooked, this issue will affect your countertops drastically. There is no way to perfectly install countertops on crooked cabinets. There will be a gap between the cabinet and countertop, which will not only look bad, but will also affect the support of the countertops. Countertops are extremely heavy and need to be properly supported. If they are not, countertops may crack.
You can check this by placing a level on top of your cabinets to ensure that they are perfect.
It is also very important to verify that the bottom of the cabinets is level. You need to check this separately by placing a level at the bottom of the cabinets. Although you may not notice, many people have uneven floors so it important that the installer works from the highest part of the floor up.
Please note that less than a quarter inch is forgivable.
Cabinets must be plumb, which means that they are vertically level. You can check this with a tape measure. Measure the exact height from the floor, and from the cabinets above, on each side of the cabinet. Everything should measure up. If it doesn’t, then your cabinets are not plumb. Please note that less than a quarter inch is forgivable.
Check for crooked cabinets. Make sure that everything is square.
Check for gaps that should not exist. A common gap area is between the cabinet door and the frame, which can be caused by misaligned hinges.
Opens and close all the drawers and cabinets to ensure that everything is working properly. If a drawer is hard to open, the contractor may have installed the hinges uneven and should fix that.
Make sure that all the drawer faces lie flush (horizontally straight) with the cabinet walls.
Check all the gaps between cabinet doors. The standard gap size is 1/16 “ to 1/8 “ between 2 cabinet doors. There should be a small space to allow the doors to open and close smoothly.
Tap the walls behind the cabinets to ensure that they are supported by studs. If cabinets are screwed into hollow walls, with no stud support, they will eventually create problems.
Check the seams of the crown molding. It should match up properly and appear to flow nicely.
Always use a licensed and insured contractor. You should ask for references as well and request pictures from past jobs. You can verify that they are licensed on www.cslb.ca.gov and ask the contractor to present a copy of their liability insurance certificate.
Be sure of exactly who is going to install your cabinets. Some contactors will sub-contract or send an employee. You want to speak with the exact person who will be performing the installation so that you can ensure they are qualified.
Verify that your installer will measure and mark out the layout of the kitchen cabinets prior to installation. There can be major issues if they skip this step and it should be done twice to ensure that everything is exact.