Leveling Cabinets like a Pro

The secret to quality cabinet installation is to keep everything nice and level. After all if your cabinets aren’t level, you’re drawers and doors won't work right. Many kitchen floors are not perfectly leveled even a new construction. Still, it's very easy to level out your base cabinets despite your floor. Simply set your cabinet in place against the wall and set your level right on top. Then, begin placing shims under either side of the cabinet base until it appears steady. Keep an eye on that bubble though because you’ll want to keep adding in some tracking shims until your cabinet is leveled as well as steady.

Repeat this process for all your base cabinets. Dry putting them in place before you secure them with screws, that way, if you need to make any changes or move some cabinets around, it won't be too difficult.

The next step is to mark level lines for positioning the upper cabinets. Use your tape measure to figure out where the bottom of your new cabinets will be and make a mark on the wall. Then extend a level line from this mark around the walls. Anywhere, you’ll be placing upper cabinets. A great way to keep your upper cabinets leveled as you drive fit and eventually place them is to use a ledger board. Just take a small piece of lumber and attach it to the wall along your level line. Now, you can rest your cabinet against the board keeping it leveled and saving your back as well.

As you dry fit your upper cabinets, you may notice that your wall isn’t plumb, but don’t worry, you can bring your cabinet to plumb by adding shims. Just slide them in behind your cabinet and keep checking your level. An easy way to tell of your wall as plumb or not in advance is to run your level up and down the wall looking for any irregularities.

That’s it, you’re ready to go. Sure it took a little time, but now you can hang your cabinets assured that they’ll look straight and space secure for a lifetime.