– You suggested installing the cabinets before putting in tiles. What’s wrong with putting tiles in first & installing the cabinets on top of the tiles ?[/quote]
You don’t want to install first because it’ll cost you more than it need to be. Since the cabinet need to be screw/nail to the ground, it would crack/break the tile underneath anyways. If you have expensive tile, hired someone to install your tile, and have a lot of cabinets, it would be quite a bit of wasted money.
Our cabinets aren’t screwed into the slab. We discussed back and forth whether to tile under the cabinets and decided to compromise… we tiled under the dishwasher- but the storage cabinets have just slab underneath.
Our cabinets are attached to the wall, but not the floor. Both for our house and for the granny flat we just built.[/quote]
UCGal,
You may need to attach cabinets to the floor if you have a Island and/or Peninsula. Cabinets need to be attach to prevent movement in all axis (X,Y,Z). For Island and/or Peninsula cabinets, there is no wall for attachment.
As for cabinet construction, unless have a very high-end home, MDF with wood facing is perfectly good for kitchen cabinets. The only exceptions would be sink bases, islands, and end of peninsulas. The sink base should be all plywood to prevent any water damage. islands and end of peninsulas should be at least plywood sides or all plywood.
We used Kraftmaid from Lowe’s, HD had same. All as mentioned above with dove-tail drawers and auto-closers. Over $9000 retail, we paid $7800 with all discounts (10 bases, 6 walls), not real fancy with toffee finish. We needed their special blind return cabinet.
Our 2700sf home purchased for $617k FSBO(Dec-2005). Zillow: $524k, County Tax: $483k. Myself: $500k. If you spend more 1-3% of home value on kitchen cabinets you probably will not get your money back. So I don’t get ‘were you crazy!!!’ comments, I sold 1st home 1400sf in Apr-2007 for $590k. That’s why a call myself…
