Wall mounting cabinet hardware, question? To cleat or not to?
 

I'm almost all done making my kitchen cabinets. I was going to just screw
'em on. Until I saw wall cleats? They look OK! but I didn't resess the rear
panel (flush) and the 7/16's sticking out kinda bothers me (not a real great
issue concerning that one, but....)

What else can anyone recommend?

TIA Joe

Cleats are just for ease of installation. However, if you wanted to use
them you could always trim out the gap. In most cases the cabinets
won't match the wall exactly anyway and you scribe a piece of trim to
the wall to cover the gap anyway.

Thanks! I still consider that the gap would allow trim and "possibly" make
it "fancier" looking or may not. I'm more of a nut's and bolts type and the
cleats, well for no real reason seem like "possibly more work I assume
though the Cleats must be flush, level straight and true to the Wall and
Cabinet. before mounting the cabinets. The one problem I see right now is
that I can only get 18 inch length's of metal cleats. Having 5 or 10'
lengths for the Wall would save me a great deal of work making sure it's
true. I saw an episode on Bob Villa's a while back where his cabinets had
what looked to be two long cleats running across the length of the wall
making it just like racking the cabinets in... Instead of having to do every
18 inches or so.....

Thanks again! Joe


"SonomaProducts.com" wrote in message
oups.com...
Cleats are just for ease of installation. However, if you wanted to use
them you could always trim out the gap. In most cases the cabinets
won't match the wall exactly anyway and you scribe a piece of trim to
the wall to cover the gap anyway.

I installed uppers a couple of months ago. I ran cleats on the two
walls that took the cabs using strips of baltic birch. I did this
because it made installation much easier and ensured that they would
all be on the same plane.

My uppers have 1/2" plywood backs and are screwed directly into 2x4
blocking in the wall. I had this room down to the studs, so I took the
opportunity to run blocking between each stud. I used 3" drywall
screws to attach them, but since the screws will be visible when the
doors are open, I'm going to find some decorative screws to replace
them with. Shims were used to make everything plumb before driving the
screws home.

My cabs have cherry face frames. Before I install the base cabs, I
will remove the baltic birch cleats and replace them with strips of
cherry to match the look of the face frame. I feel comfortable with
the cabs screwed to the wall, but I tend to over engineer everything.
The cherry cleats will provide additional support and will actually
improve the look - IMHO.



..HMFIC@1369 wrote:
I'm almost all done making my kitchen cabinets. I was going to just
screw
'em on. Until I saw wall cleats? They look OK! but I didn't resess
the rear
panel (flush) and the 7/16's sticking out kinda bothers me (not a
real great
issue concerning that one, but....)

What else can anyone recommend?

TIA Joe

Hi, Joe.

Use french cleats. They can be as long as you want. Easy to make and
install.

Have a look at http://benchmark.20m.com/plans/FrenchCleat.pdf

HTH

Frank

".HMFIC@1369" My wrote in message
news:2pMbe.5875$Sk6.1518@trndny08...
I'm almost all done making my kitchen cabinets. I was going to just screw
'em on. Until I saw wall cleats? They look OK! but I didn't resess the
rear
panel (flush) and the 7/16's sticking out kinda bothers me (not a real
great
issue concerning that one, but....)

What else can anyone recommend?

TIA Joe

Better to over-engineer then under!

I was looking at metal (over engineering) cleats (my uppers are also
5/8th's"). The only real problem I see without cleats is the struggle to
hold and screw and align the cabinet. With just more pre-prep., the metal
cleats interlock so without any screwing they'll be very secure to the wall.
The current dilemma is the Metal cleats come in 18" length which your wood
design eliminates! If I can find 5' or 10' lengths of the steel cleats, I'll
probably go that way if not, I'll look at using wood as you have and save a
bundle.

Thanks, Joe



"Wyatt" wrote in message
oups.com...
I installed uppers a couple of months ago. I ran cleats on the two
walls that took the cabs using strips of baltic birch. I did this
because it made installation much easier and ensured that they would
all be on the same plane.

My uppers have 1/2" plywood backs and are screwed directly into 2x4
blocking in the wall. I had this room down to the studs, so I took the
opportunity to run blocking between each stud. I used 3" drywall
screws to attach them, but since the screws will be visible when the
doors are open, I'm going to find some decorative screws to replace
them with. Shims were used to make everything plumb before driving the
screws home.

My cabs have cherry face frames. Before I install the base cabs, I
will remove the baltic birch cleats and replace them with strips of
cherry to match the look of the face frame. I feel comfortable with
the cabs screwed to the wall, but I tend to over engineer everything.
The cherry cleats will provide additional support and will actually
improve the look - IMHO.



.HMFIC@1369 wrote:
I'm almost all done making my kitchen cabinets. I was going to just
screw
'em on. Until I saw wall cleats? They look OK! but I didn't resess
the rear
panel (flush) and the 7/16's sticking out kinda bothers me (not a
real great
issue concerning that one, but....)

What else can anyone recommend?

TIA Joe

French cleats are great if the wall is perfectly flat. I use them in
the shop. In my case, the wall is far from true enough to use french
cleats and get a run of four cabinets to line up flush and plumb.

Actually I can make almost everyone happy (still working on the wife) I did
a google on french cleats!

OU****ER ITEM #: CON-111
ALUMINUM "Z" HANGING STRIPS: 2 Sizes
Master Catalog "Volume 50" - Page # : 730

Price: $9.09 (10 Feet)

The only real reason was that the cabinet rear was flush so I was concerned
with a using wood simply with the width.

This looks good and the price is cheap....

Thanks for your input! Joe



"Frank McVey" wrote in message
...
Hi, Joe.

Use french cleats. They can be as long as you want. Easy to make and
install.

Have a look at http://benchmark.20m.com/plans/FrenchCleat.pdf

HTH

Frank

".HMFIC@1369" My wrote in message
news:2pMbe.5875$Sk6.1518@trndny08...
I'm almost all done making my kitchen cabinets. I was going to just
screw
'em on. Until I saw wall cleats? They look OK! but I didn't resess the
rear
panel (flush) and the 7/16's sticking out kinda bothers me (not a real
great
issue concerning that one, but....)

What else can anyone recommend?

TIA Joe

".HMFIC@1369" My wrote in message
news:0tUbe.6800$RD.4488@trndny02...
Actually I can make almost everyone happy (still working on the wife) I
did
a google on french cleats!

OU****ER ITEM #: CON-111
ALUMINUM "Z" HANGING STRIPS: 2 Sizes
Master Catalog "Volume 50" - Page # : 730

Price: $9.09 (10 Feet)

For this information to be useful, we need a URL. Could you post one?

Bob

Sure thing.... I just have no experience with them yet!

http://ou****erhardware.com/catalog/...U=Y&pn=CON-111




"BillyBob" wrote in message
k.net...

".HMFIC@1369" My wrote in message
news:0tUbe.6800$RD.4488@trndny02...
Actually I can make almost everyone happy (still working on the wife) I
did
a google on french cleats!

OU****ER ITEM #: CON-111
ALUMINUM "Z" HANGING STRIPS: 2 Sizes
Master Catalog "Volume 50" - Page # : 730

Price: $9.09 (10 Feet)

For this information to be useful, we need a URL. Could you post one?

Bob

On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 17:56:31 GMT, ".HMFIC@1369" My
wrote:

Thanks! I still consider that the gap would allow trim and "possibly" make
it "fancier" looking or may not. I'm more of a nut's and bolts type and the
cleats, well for no real reason seem like "possibly more work I assume
though the Cleats must be flush, level straight and true to the Wall and
Cabinet. before mounting the cabinets. The one problem I see right now is
that I can only get 18 inch length's of metal cleats. Having 5 or 10'
lengths for the Wall would save me a great deal of work making sure it's
true. I saw an episode on Bob Villa's a while back where his cabinets had
what looked to be two long cleats running across the length of the wall
making it just like racking the cabinets in... Instead of having to do every
18 inches or so.....

Not sure what kind of woodworking equipment you've got, but you can
make your own cleats out of hardwood but cutting a mitered corner
along the edge of a piece of timber on your table saw... Then you
don't have to worry about what lengths are sold commerically. My only
caveat here is that I've always felt that the main value of cleats is
that they will support a heavy object in a wall with too few studs by
evenly distributing the wieght over several points, thereby reducing
the wieght that each screw is required to support. If you have the
option to attach your cabinets to directly to the studs, I can't see a
compelling reason to use cleats.

If you're considering just using the commerically available cleats for
convieniance's sake, there are several models of laser levels on the
market, and some of them are pretty inexpensive, though you can expect
to do a little work getting them set up. I've got a $20 version for
hanging pictures, and it actually works ok, provided you take the time
to make sure it is adjusted properly. While it isn't very classy, it
would work just fine for installing cleats.





Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

..HMFIC@1369 wrote:

I'm almost all done making my kitchen cabinets. I was going to just screw
'em on. Until I saw wall cleats? They look OK! but I didn't resess the rear
panel (flush) and the 7/16's sticking out kinda bothers me (not a real great
issue concerning that one, but....)

What else can anyone recommend?

TIA Joe

Why not "face frame" the back edges of the cabinets to get your
7/16ths? Go with 3/4" face frame and biscuit them on if
your want to get really anal about it.

charlie b