First time installing kitchen cabinets. Uppers went it fine, no trouble at all. With the base cabinets, though, I have one wall that is out of square about 1.5 inches in 12 feet.
Should I just be making them level for the countertop and plumb, as tight to the wall as possible, or should the entire run of cabinets along that wall be perfectly square to the perpendicular row? Said differently, should I be shimming them out from the wall at each cabinet so that when I get to the last cabinet I have 1.5 inches of shims behind it?
Wouldn't that make the countertop look a little funny if it was 1.5 wider at one end than the other, especially if it's only 12 feet?
Thanks all.
Best Answer
You want the faces of the cabinets on the same plane, and the entire assembly as close to the wall as can be easily achieved. On average, the wall and the cabinet assembly should be roughly parallel.
If you're dealing with two sets of cabinets at right angles, you'd still want the faces of each set on plane, respectively, but you may not be able to keep a 90 degree included angle.
In this case, your biggest concern is the countertop. A pre-cut 45 degree miter affords you maybe half an inch at the most of scribe-fit depth. You need more than than, which means you'll need your countertop miter pre-cut at a custom angle. That's not a problem if the shop measures in place, but if you're buying tops from a big-box store you're in for a challenge.
Another consideration is how the cabinets align with any relevant patterns in the floor. Diverging lines can make a high-quality installation look shoddy in a hurry.