AMN Construction · Finish carpentry · Kitchen cabinet installation

Kitchen cabinet installation, level and plumb.

You bought the cabinets. We install them: level, plumb, fastened to the wall framing, with fillers cut to fit your walls and the trim on. When we finish, the kitchen is ready for the countertop template.

Email photographs and measurements 805 886 0988

In short

Floors are not level. The run starts from the floor’s high point, and every other cabinet is shimmed up to it.
Cabinets hang from studs or blocking, not from drywall.
Check the delivery against the order before installation starts. A missing box stops the job.

Toe kickThe recess at the floor. Cabinets are leveled from the floor’s highest point.
Scribed fillerA strip cut to the exact shape of the wall, so no gap shows where cabinet meets plaster.
Cabinet crownCloses the cabinets to the ceiling, which is rarely level.
Countertop lineMeasured only after the cabinets are fixed in place.

A run of cabinets in elevation: what installation adds to the boxes you bought.

Step by step

How a cabinet is built, frame by frame.

1 / 6

How a cabinet is built

Cut the partsSides, bottom, top and back are cut from one sheet of cabinet-grade plywood, so the grain and color match.
Assemble the boxThe parts are glued and screwed into a box, then checked corner to corner so it is square.
Face frame or edgeSolid wood is fixed to the front edges. It is what the eye reads, and where the doors will hang.
Doors and drawersDoors and drawer fronts are made and hung with an even gap all round, the same width everywhere.
Finish in the shopPaint or stain goes on in the shop, sanded between coats, and cures before the piece leaves.
Level, fasten, scribeOn site the cabinet is leveled from the floor’s high point, fastened to the wall, and a filler is cut to the wall’s real shape.

Built by Tom. Fifty years of custom cabinets and finish carpentry, from Oregon and Hawaii to Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Westlake Village, and now from Goleta to Carpinteria. Meet the carpenter

What we do

What is included.

Installing stock, semi-custom or flat-pack cabinets you bought elsewhere. Flat-pack cabinets arrive as panels and are assembled on site.
Finding the high point of the floor and marking a level line around the room.
Fastening wall and base cabinets to studs, or to blocking added inside the wall.
Fillers (narrow strips that close the gap at a wall) scribed to the wall’s real shape.
Crown, light rail (the strip that hides under-cabinet lighting) and toe kick.
Doors and drawers adjusted, handles fitted, and the run left ready for the countertop template.

How it goes

Step 1
You send the cabinet order or layout drawing and photographs of the room.
Step 2
We check the room against the layout: walls, floor, windows, appliance positions, and where the studs are.
Step 3
Wall cabinets usually go up first, then base cabinets from the floor’s high point, shimmed, joined to each other and fastened.
Step 4
Fillers, panels, crown, light rail and toe kick are cut and fitted, then doors, drawers and hardware are adjusted.
Step 5
The countertop fabricator makes the template, and we return for anything that had to wait for the countertop.

Yours to decide

Decide these first.

Who checks the order. Count the boxes and open them when they arrive. Damage found halfway through installation costs time.
What happens to the old kitchen. Removal, wall repair and any plumbing or electrical changes come before the cabinets.
Flooring first or cabinets first. It depends on the floor. A floating floor usually goes in after, so it can still move.
Crown to the ceiling or a gap above. Ceilings are not level either, so crown that touches the ceiling has to be scribed.
Handle positions. Holes in a finished door cannot be moved, so we mark them and you approve before we drill.

How to tell good work

A level laid on the base cabinets reads true along the whole run, front to back and end to end.
Cabinet faces are flush with their neighbors. You cannot feel a step with a fingertip.
Gaps between doors are even, and doors line up top and bottom.
Fillers follow the wall, with no gap packed with caulk.
Drawers close without rubbing, and nothing shifts when you lean on a cabinet.

What moves the price

The number of cabinets, and whether they arrive assembled or flat.
The room. Floors and walls far out of level and plumb mean more shimming and scribing.
Trim. Crown, light rail, end panels, appliance panels and tall pantry units add fitting time.
Wall work, such as adding blocking or repairing what removal of the old kitchen left behind.

Prices vary with the materials and the hours a job takes. Each job is custom and unique, so we price it once we have seen the room.

Seen in our building projects

The same work, inside whole houses.

The kitchen: a concrete-finish waterfall island with oak stools, oak drawer fronts in gray-green frames, a white paneled range hood over handmade tile, and the glass wall slid open to the garden — The kitchen, with the glass wall open to the garden · Loureyro

A kitchen with dark green cabinets and a paneled refrigerator, a veined stone backsplash with open shelves, a stainless range, and a rounded island with a white stone top and a copper-clad base, under pendant lights and a skylight — The kitchen: dark green cabinets, veined stone backsplash, rounded island · Palo Alto

A kitchen range under a curved hand-finished plaster hood, with a full-height veined stone slab backsplash and ledge, cream Shaker cabinets, a black steel window, and walnut panel cabinetry with brass pulls — A hand-troweled plaster hood over a slab backsplash, beside walnut panels · San Roque

Questions

Kitchen cabinet installation: what owners ask.

Will a contractor install cabinets I bought myself?

Yes. We install cabinets the owner has bought, whether stock, semi-custom or flat-pack. Send us the order and the layout before delivery if you can. We check it against the room and can catch a missing filler or panel while it is still easy to order.

Do kitchen cabinets go in before or after the flooring?

It depends on the floor. Tile and nailed or glued hardwood often run under the cabinets. A floating floor, which is not fastened down, usually goes in after, so heavy cabinets do not pin it. Either way, appliance openings have to allow for the finished floor height.

Why do cabinets need to be level if my floor is not?

Because the countertop does. Stone will not bend to follow a rolling run of cabinets, and doors on a twisted box will not line up. We find the highest point of the floor, start there, and shim every other cabinet up to that line. The toe kick hides the difference.

How are wall cabinets attached in a Goleta or Santa Barbara house?

With screws through the cabinet’s back rail into the wall studs. Where no stud falls where the cabinet needs one, we add blocking, a piece of lumber fixed between studs. Drywall alone will not hold a loaded cabinet. In earthquake country, that is not a detail to skip.

Where we do this

Built in our small boutique shop in Carpinteria where the piece is custom, and fitted on site in:

Carpinteria Summerland Montecito Santa Barbara Hope Ranch Goleta

All finish carpentry · see the projects

Inquiries

Have a room in mind? Send us the photographs.

Email photographs of the room and rough measurements to purchasing@amnbuild.com. Matt reads it himself. No forms.

Email Matt the photographs Or call Matt · 805 886 0988