Remodeling a kitchen can be a daunting task. Especially when you’re trying to figure out whether you want to work on the floor first or the cabinets. In many scenarios, it’s a good option to go with flooring first but that may not always be the case.
Let’s take a deeper look into either option and help you figure out what will work best for your kitchen.
Installing Cabinets First
For many homeowners, this will be a controversial idea but let us clarify that installing cabinets before the floor covering, or finish flooring, can have a lot of benefits to it. Again, we’re not talking about the subfloor or underlayment as many call it, but what goes above it like wood and tile options.
So, when installing cabinets before the flooring, you can get a more stable base for the cabinets alongside minimizing the floor height and using less flooring material, which will further cut down on costs incurred. However, in some cases, going with this option may be a lot more time-consuming, and since you won’t be putting flooring in the places where the cabinets are present, your flooring will be limited to a certain area.
Types of Kitchen Flooring
Hardwood: This type of flooring looks the prettiest but it comes with its fair bit of drawbacks. For one, hardwood flooring can only be installed after cabinets. Not before them. And only if the cabinet height is met. Carpenters use the thicker flooring to install on top of the subfloor just so the requirements for the height can be met.
Tile: Tile flooring should be going under kitchen cabinets. These are to be treated the same as hardwood, meaning they can only be installed after cabinets and the tiles go underneath them.
Vinyl: Vinyl flooring can be installed after the cabinets, provided the subfloor, underlayment, and also cabinet height together achieve a total height of 34 to 36 inches. This is the standard and should be followed.
Laminate: This type of flooring pretty much follows the same rules as vinyl flooring meaning a total height of 34 to 36 inches is required for installation. Cabinets can be installed before these.
Installing Cabinets Before Flooring Saves You On Material
Installing cabinets before the finish flooring will help enable you to save money by leaving the area where the cabinets are installed. These areas will not need finish flooring and thus you can use the money elsewhere in building your kitchen.
Think about it, why would you pay top dollar to install premium finish flooring such as hardwood or vinyl on an area that won’t even be seen because there is a cabinet on top of it? You could instead save up on the cash to be spent there and buy yourself kitchen items that will be used on a daily basis.
But also, if you absolutely must, and consider cheap flooring a better option than no flooring at all then consider using an affordable alternative like plastic flooring or the like.
When To Install Flooring Before Kitchen Cabinets
Sometimes choosing flooring before the cabinets is the way to go. In cases where the elevation needs to be beefed up, you may want to have your flooring sorted out before you start placing your electrical appliances, counters, and cabinets.
Flooring thickness can go up to two inches, which is sometimes quite ideal for raising the level of a kitchen up to the required height. Another way to achieve this without wasting flooring is to add plywood risers underneath the cabinets and appliances.
Of course, there are pros and cons to this development as well. The pros are that having the flooring go first corrects any anomalies in the construction of the kitchen such as an uneven space. Once the flooring gets underway, the contractor can make sure that the entire area is even and no bit of the kitchen looks different from the other when considering the height.
Also, this ties into the next point as well- flooring achieves standard countertop height when its allowed to go first. And of course, once all two of these points are applied, they are bound to save you on money.
But the cons to consider here are that if flooring is allowed to go first, the contractor would not know how much thickness to consider once the counters and electrical appliances are added. So, if they weigh too much and the flooring is too thick, this could lead to the flooring being damaged and it could potentially create a depression in the floor.
Also, once the electrical appliances and heavy furniture are being placed on top the installed flooring, the added weight could shift around the flooring and this could also dislodge the cabinets from their initital position.
Flooring material would be wasted because if cabinets were to come first, they could take up space where the flooring would not be visible because of them. So, no flooring would have been a better option. A little too late to realise this once everything is done.
Note: Make sure to paint the kitchen before you install the cabinets or the flooring because dripping paint is super hard to remove from their surfaces. If it lands in the seam or if paint is splashed on hardwood, it would take a lot of effort (and money) to make it look brand new again.
Conclusion
Well folks, thats a wrap of our comparison on whether you should choose to install flooring first or cabinets. Kitchen remodeling is a prime area of interest for any household owner who is looking to add their unique spin on the look and feel of the house. So do your research, check what works best for your space and then select Social Renovations and switch up the look of your kitchen. Good luck!