# Fred # wrote:
I did the cabinets first too but wonder if it was better the other around
considering all the time taken to trim all the floor tile pieces around the
cabinets and island. Didn't have to fill in all the tiles under the
cabinets, just under the edges so there wouldn't be much tile wasted but
would save a lot of time.

Time isn't the issue, the issue is what is right to do.

If you do the cabinets first, don't you need to know how thick the
flooring
is going to and shim up the base cabinets accordantly?

The original poster said the subfloor is installed and he's
ready for tile, so the floor shouldn't be raised more than
the thickness of a tile.

Otherwise, you could
possibly end up with the finished floor 1" higher than the subfloor and the
dishwasher won't fit under the cabinet or the slide in range too high? Just
a question.

The adjustment feet of the dishwasher and range and precalculated
height of a standard cabinet should make it all work out- never had
a problem in my experience with the exception of very thick Mexican
tiles, which can be over an inch thick. In the rare cases of Mexican
tile going in, we'd have the cabinet people set the cabinets up on
3/4" plywood strips to compensate for the thick tiles.

Here's why you do the cabinets first......
First, so the cabinet people don't work over top of a brand
new tile floor. Grout can get dirty, and tiles shouldn't be worked
on for several days after installation. Cabinets get dragged around
and any sand on the floor can scratch tile as a cabinet drags over
it. Cabinet people will lay their tools and equipment all over the
new tile.
Secondly is the floor level. The cabinets presumedly will be
leveled with shims. This will leave varied gaps under the finished
cabinets. The tile butting up-to the cabinets will hide these
uneven gaps because the gaps will most likely be smaller than
the tile height.

It's not against the law to do the tile first, but in all the
new construction jobs I've done, it was 'cabinets first' for the
above reasons.

thetiler