How To Install Wood Flooring After Cabinets

Why it s better to install the hardwood floors before the cabinets.

How to install wood flooring after cabinets.

I would also consider what you would do in the event you had a leak and needed to replace flooring you d have to either remove your cabinets or cut around your cabinets. The potential of mismatched flooring one downside of installing risers or different flooring is that you add a complication if you wish to change the kitchen footprint in the future. To keep the floor flush consider installing a different cheaper type of flooring underneath cabinets and appliances or even plywood risers. My worry about doing that would be if your floor isn t 100 level and flat the cabinets will still need to be shimmed and it will show.

Traditionally hardwood flooring is more commonly installed prior to the cabinets and sanded and finished as one of the last steps but with the increasing popularity of prefinished hardwood flooring the risks of damage during installation becomes greater. The most difficult part of forming this type of installation is being able to cut close to the toe kick of the base cabinets without damaging the cabin. I would install flooring after cabinets. Put all the base cabinets in place then mark a line on the subfloor corresponding to the front edge of the toekick.

First it s important that the cabinets are the standard 36 inches above the floor and it s important that the appliances are at this same height so that there aren t issues later if when you want to change the appliances e g. You would not want your dishwasher to be trapped underneath the floor and. Those are all good reasons to lay a kitchen floor after the cabinets are in.