Replacing Kitchen Cabinets in Existing Construction

By Mark Clement

EHT shows how to hang cabinets plumb, level and square in rooms that aren’t.

Installing new kitchen cabinets is a snap, right? Blow out the old ones, pop a few level lines and screw new ones to the wall. Bang. Weekend. Done.

The truth is, that’s wishful thinking. Real kitchens—especially old ones that seem to have been built before the invention of the straight line—take more design skill and organization than it might appear. The good news is that it’s possible, if you take the right steps. So whether you’re managing a contractor or doing it yourself, here’s my approach.

Before we jump into it, however, I have one principle that I consider the key to the kitchen castle: organization.

Even simple kitchens have lots of pieces, parts and procedures—and they all build on one another. Being organized with tools, materials and process frees up my few extra brain cells to focus on the important stuff: Plumb, level and square.

Detailing the Design

All kitchen renovations start with a detailed design, usually in partnership with your cabinet supplier who should talk you through things like egress, moulding, code issues, finishes and the famous work triangle—and more. The cabinets shown in this article have a Butterscotch glaze, which took someone (my wife and remodeling partner) who can see the nuance of color to integrate it seamlessly with other finishes.

All kitchen renovations cause headaches. The older your house, the more you can expect. Few new kitchens replicate originals in old homes. So as true to originality as some want to be, there are certain design realities that should be addressed to even fit a modern, code-compliant kitchen in an old space. In our case, we had to remove and replace a window, shifting what I consider to be a kitchen’s prime focal point—the sink centered under a window.

To get this all started you need detailed measurements of the space for your designer. The basics are room height and width, door locations, window locations, width and thickness of trim (i.e. how far the trim projects from the wall; the difference between a 5/8 thick door/window casing and 1-1/4-inch trim can impact cabinet size, a drawer’s ability to open, etc., especially in tight spaces like galley kitchens).

With this information the designer specs and orders the boxes, mouldings and filler pieces, and together you’ll determine door style, species and finish.