help me with the removal of cabinets

[gator75]

For anyone that has remodeled their kitchen can you please tell me how do i take my kitchen cabinets out? we are remodiling our kitchen ,and the cabinet company that is doing the work will install them, but told us the other day that we have to remove them ourselves We have the usuall appliances dishwasher and drop in stove. so can someone giude me in the right direction on what to do and where to start? Also how far in advace would you start? they say that the job wo't start until sometime around christmas. any help would be great.

 

[dawson5]

Have you ever watched a home improvement show? I've never replaced (hubby has, but he's not here) but I seem to remember them screwing them to the wall. I would look in the back of the cabinet and around the sides I would guess you would see a few screws.

As for how long in advance, not sure. I think it would depend on how many are in there, the age (might be nailed and not screwed) and if they were ever painted.

I found this on youtube;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1z_wO0kK20

 

[deegack]

unscrew what you can then pry them off the wall (if needed). As a last resort, use a sledge hammer.

 

[Sorsha]

Okey-dokey...*rolling up theoretical sleeves*... my hubby is a cabinet maker/installer, and we have remodelled 2 kitchens together... THAt was loads of fun, let me tell you LOL.

First, do you want to save your present cabinets? Are you going to re-use them? Donate them to somewhere? Or are they going on the junk pile?

In any case, for upper cabinets, the first step will be to remove the doors. Open them, and look to the hinges. You should be able to find the screws within the hinges to remove the doors.

Next step, somewhere near the hinges there should be small screws that are holding each cabinet to its neighbor at the front face. Remove those. Now examine each cabinet top and bottom just to be sure you don't see any other random screws holding the cabinet to its neighbor... there shouldn't be any, but if the installer was having trouble getting it to stay level or flush he might have added them.

At this point, examine the back wall of the cabinet. You should be able to see the screws holding the cabinet to the wall. They may be covered with a small removable plug or a sticker to disguise them. When you take these screws out, have a couple of other people be holding the cabinet, it will be coming down and heavy.

For lower cabinets (those covered with countertop) the procedure is a wee bit trickier. The first thing you have to do is identify how your countertop is attached to the cabinets, and remove it. There are many ways for that to be done. Remove drawers and doors and look up underneath, you may be able to see how it is attached.

After removing countertops and doorfronts, you will proceed as above. The only other thing you will have to do is account for plumbing and wiring. The easiest way to do this is use a small electric saw and just cut the cabinet away from them and discard it. Lower cabinets are much more difficult to save and reuse, but it can be done if you are careful.

Taking out cabinets is not too difficult, and can usually be done in a day or two, especially if you have some friends to help with the lifting and carrying bits.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

We went after ours with a sledgehammer It was AWESOME!

That being said, we were doing a complete gut job. I wasn't worried about messing up the walls or floors. We ripped everything down to the studs and started new.

Took less than an 1 1/2 hrs to rip everything out and haul to the dumpster outside.

 

[deegack]

OH I also recommend, going shopping and have DH take care of it. It worked really well for us