[eastside]

I have a L shape kitchen 6 ft on each leg using unfinished cabinets from Lowes. The high spot of the floor is on one end of the L about 3 inches.

What I would like to do is use 3/4" plywood cut the same depth as the base cabinets and level the plywood so the cabinets rest on a solid floor that is shimmed level as opposed to leveling the cabinets with shims on the existing floor.

The sides of the base cabinets are particle board and I am concerned that the sides will just compress down over time if they are only resting on shims.

Any problems with this? Thanks.

 

[Jackofall1]

Eastside, that is quite the differential, 3" out of level? I thought mine was bad at 3/4" of an inch.

I did do something similar when I did my kitchen, but my cabinets did not have the 3" kick plate on the bottom, I did build a level platform of 1 x 3's and 1/2" plywood to mount the cabinets on. This made a good base after which it also was easy to apply a kick plate moulding.

The brand "L" cabinets have the 3" kick plate on them so you will have to cautious of how tall your counter height ends up. Is there any chance of fixing the high spot?, as this will definately stick out like a sore thumb.

Mark

 

[Willie T]

Before you do anything................... Find out WHY your floor is out of level 3 full inches, and fix it. It is highly likely this situation is just going to keep getting worse.

Frankly it would be bordering on pure foolishness to put in cabinets with that much of a slope to the floor (3" in only 6' ?!?!?!) unless you 'stepped' them.

 

[hyunelan2]

With 3" out of level, what's going on with the floor? Are the joists sagging, or has the whole house settled? I'd be afraid to band-aid the cabinets to make them level, then have to later fix the floor resulting the the cabinets being unlevel, if that is the case.

 

[Willie T]

I believe from another of his posts that his whole house used to be 6" out of level from completely rotted out floor joists. He was advised by contractors to tear it all out, but chose to 'fix' it himself.

Well, it appears he at least got it halfway fixed.

 

[eastside]

The floor is out of level basically because it was built on cement piers or should I say large blocks of cement which didn't go below the frost line. The center is the high spot in the kitchen with the corner where I'm starting the kitchen at the high spot.

I won't be putting any wall cabinets up so this is one problem out of the way.

Which reminds me I forgot to add that on one end of the L, I need to put to the stove and thought I could extend the plywood floor beyond the cabinets so the counter hieghts would line up easier.

I really don't want to cut the bottom of the first base cabinet to compensate for the height.

I can live with the floor being out of level, it is what it is ya know.

 

[Ron6519]

The floor is out of level basically because it was built on cement piers or should I say large blocks of cement which didn't go below the frost line. The center is the high spot in the kitchen with the corner where I'm starting the kitchen at the high spot.

I won't be putting any wall cabinets up so this is one problem out of the way.

Which reminds me I forgot to add that on one end of the L, I need to put to the stove and thought I could extend the plywood floor beyond the cabinets so the counter hieghts would line up easier.

I really don't want to cut the bottom of the first base cabinet to compensate for the height.

I can live with the floor being out of level, it is what it is ya know.

And you don't think this, "sinking house thing" merits fixing?
Ron

 

[chrisBC]

3'' over six feet?

yeah dude your house has serious issues. Always put structural/exterior stuff over spending money on interior/cosmetic stuff.

You may want to consult a structural engineer. We were just working on a place where we leveled a floor in preparation for hardwood. We took up a bunch of plywood, and installed tapered shims on the joists to fix the problem. This seemed like a very big deal, and the low spot was less than an inch, from the rest of the floor.

3 inches is an indication of more going on, i'm not sure I would try and move ahead without fixing this first.

 

[tcleve4911]

.......sounds like camp.....

 

[eastside]

.......sounds like camp.....

Exactly. Here and there, some of the beams (4x6, etc) basically crushed over time. There was some water damaged that contributed also. I jacked up the floor to replace the beams but in some places nothing would budge much beyond the replacement beams. So now I'm back to a solid floor but unlevel.

I think I'm going to skip the plywood floor base, I'd read somewhere they have cabinet floor levelers, and it gave me an idea. I think I'll shim the cabinets then install like a running board along side the bottom of the cabinets base (3/4 pine or similiar) so the entire side of the base cabinet will be supported rather than just the width of a shim.

Once again thanks for the replies.

 

[sixeightten]

I would worry more about how the old house is going to be supported rather than the support of the new cabinets.