Author Topic: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets  (Read 3101 times)

mozar

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How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« on: July 27, 2019, 09:24:44 AM »
I know what you are thinking: it's screwed to the wall mozar. I haven't been able to find screws anywhere. They might just be sitting there. My plan was to pry them off the wall with a crowbar  but I scuffed up my wall pretty badly. It seems silly to pay someone to remove a cabinet. They are regular kitchen cabinets. Any suggestions?

Khaetra

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2019, 10:26:55 AM »
Try looking up at an angle for screws.  It took us forever to find ours and they were at a weird angle. 

Have you taken the countertop off yet?  They could be attached up around that area too.

Papa bear

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2019, 11:16:55 AM »
Look for trim that is holding them back.
Make sure you cut any caulk on the corners with a knife.
The screws are normally near the top back. 
The front faces/stiles are probably screwed together.
The countertop is either glued or caulked, depending on the surface.
If they are older, they may be attached with large finish nails.
If they are more than 70 years old, they might be stick built and cannot be removed individually. 
If it’s an island or peninsula, it’s probably screwed through the toe kick area, and may have trim covering it up.
Once you get a cabinet loose, make sure you remove all the plumbing and electrical that may be running through them near the sink/dishwasher.

That’s a start.


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mozar

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2019, 01:38:33 PM »
@PapaBear what does "look for trim that is holding them back" mean? Do you have a link? And do you have suggestions for cutting the caulk. My exacto knife seems kind of flimsy for the job.
They were probably put in in the 80's.

Goldielocks

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2019, 04:04:04 PM »
Can you post a photo of the cabinets (with the doors off)?   Face frame and old cabinets are different from 1990's and newer cabinet "frameless boxes" .  The newer ones  are like self-supporting furniture with the occassional anchor to the side  (kept tight to the one beside it) and to the back/top attached to the wall.   The counter top would hide that and the counter top may be blocked in by wall tile.   

Some cabinets (ususally wall) are "hung" on a strip behind the box, with minimal screws to secure them.

Papa bear

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2019, 06:59:27 PM »
@PapaBear what does "look for trim that is holding them back" mean? Do you have a link? And do you have suggestions for cutting the caulk. My exacto knife seems kind of flimsy for the job.
They were probably put in in the 80's.

There might be trim or molding around the outsides that cover over 2 or more cabinets.  You would have to remove those.  There may also be trim or molding that is hiding where screws are.   

Get yourself a utility knife that uses the standard blades.  I prefer these below. They will have no problem scoring the caulk line.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/205074559


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mozar

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2019, 07:19:36 PM »
I'm not ready to take off the doors but here are some pics. Once I am able to get off the bullnose piece i'll be able to lift up the counters and see if they are screwed in from the top.

https://imgur.com/3vD3Mzy

mozar

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2019, 07:21:28 PM »
I'm not sure if the link works but i couldn't upload attachments.

BudgetSlasher

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #8 on: July 28, 2019, 11:08:36 AM »
I'm not ready to take off the doors but here are some pics. Once I am able to get off the bullnose piece i'll be able to lift up the counters and see if they are screwed in from the top.

https://imgur.com/3vD3Mzy

From that photo I can only see that there is a screw in the face frame holding the two adjacent cabinets together (when I remodeled my kitchen those were behind the door hinges).

I've taken or helped take out cabinet or heard of cabinets that were attached in odd ways, here are a few examples:

Pocket screws from the top (under the counter) that had been filled adhesive from the counter installation;
Straight up construction adhesive attached to the wall (nice evenly troweled too);
Pocket screwed to the floor from the front of the toe kick;
Screwed to the studs though the back of the toe kick area (among other places);
Using the screws holding drawer slides on to connect cabinets;
Had screws placed such that they were concealed behind the shelf;
Pocket screw from the side of the cabinet into the wall (inaccessible until the adjacent cabinet was removed and on and on, until the last one had accessible screws); or
Just built in place with an eye toward having no visible fasteners.

My tip would be to remove the screws that connect the cabinets to each other and see if you can figure out where the bind by wiggling each carcass on its own.
 


habanero

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #9 on: July 28, 2019, 11:20:33 AM »
I had to use a crowbar to remove mine after getting rid of all screws. They were just hanging - surprisingly firm- on decades of painting, old grease etc. It took me quite a while to realize that all screws were actually out. Cuting around with an utility knife made it much simple to take them down.

Goldielocks

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2019, 10:30:28 AM »
Hi, you have face frame cabinets.  Most likely, the open boxes for the cabinets are installed screwing to the toe kick / base (if the base is not constructed as part of the box) and a couple of screws to the back, from inside, and then you can see the odd screw to the cabinets to the side.  Then the face frame is usually glued on the front, clamped, sometimes held with pocket screws from the back of the face frame, where you can't see it, or the occassional nail from the front, but the main frame support is actually wood glue... assuming 1980's cabinets, not 1940's.

The box cabinets sit on a base on the floor, (gravity) so don't need much anchoring except for tiltiing to the front and side to side levelling.  They could also have glue and the occassional screw to the back wall if you are not seeing much.  Stick built vanities will use a lot of glue on the wall, I know. One option is if the counter is off, at the back the boxes could have a support / spacer bar along the back top edge that is screwed through from above, at an angle into the studs, then the counter is put on to hide them.  That longer bar / spacer spans multiple cabinets and helps to keep them lined up when the walls are unevern and offers a lot of rigidity.

It seems like the divider between two cabinet sections is fairly thin partition, and that your base cabinet is actually a double wide, with a thin divider and face frame front designed to make it look like two cabinets (or to hold the hinges for standard size doors).  There would not be screws in this area.

mozar

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #11 on: August 08, 2019, 10:46:09 AM »
Thanks @Goldielocks

bacchi

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #12 on: August 08, 2019, 12:12:30 PM »
If all else fails, there's always a reciprocating saw.

Goldielocks

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Re: How to remove lower kitchen cabinets
« Reply #13 on: August 08, 2019, 03:45:24 PM »
^^  yeah.... I was thinking about how I have done it before, and you know what, when it wasn't totally obvious, I just demolished one section so that could take a look to figure it out....   Resulting in needing to redo all the drywall behind that area, of course, and a bit more work, but it always helped.    I have a nice heavy framing hammer and a small sledge hammer that I enjoy using a bit too much.