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Moving up bottom of top cabinet to accommodate taller refrigerator

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31K views 23 replies 11 participants last post by  FrankWC  
J
#1 · (Edited)
Hi,

Looking to get a new refrig. The existing refrigerator is 66 1/4" tall. The new refrig is 68 5/8" tall. There's a top cabinet above the refrig. The kitchen cabinet pieces are nailed together. There's a side wall on the left side of the current refrig.

I did a measurement, and I think I need to move up the bottom of the cabinet for about an inch at least to accommodate the new refrig..

I wonder how to go about doing this, since the cabinet pieces were nailed together (although screwed to the back wall), and I can't cut from either side of the cabinet.

Would I need to cut the bottom piece in half from its bottom, trim the left side cabinet wall panel shorter, and get a piece of hardwood cut to the same size of the bottom and install/nail it in (cabinet doors would need to be trimmed shorter)?

Thanks.
 
Discussion starter · #4 · (Edited)
Here are some photos of the top cabinet.

It's a fairly basic plywood cabinet done in 1999. I believe the cabinet sections were screwed to the back wall but the sections were joined together using finished nails (see door hinge and under bottom piece) as I found out when needing to open up one bottom panel to install a dishwasher years ago.

I cannot really 'remove' the top cabinet as this section shares the same wall as the panel to the right, and the bottom piece of this top cabinet was finish-nailed to that shared wall to the right I believe.


Top Cabinet:

Door hinge:

Top cabinet bottom:



Interior:



Far view:
 
Discussion starter · #12 · (Edited)
See if this view of the upper cabinet helps better.

The new refrig needs 2 3/8" more space upward compared to the old refrig.

There's about 1/2" space between the bottom face frame and top of the old refrig, There's about 1 1/4" between bottom of face frame and the bottom (floor) of base panel, so I have to cut and move the bottom of the base panel up by 1 1/8" at the very least.

To remove the upper cabinet from the wall will have to remove the whole upper cabinet. All the panel sections are finished-nailed together into one piece I think... .

I'm wondering how to cut out the bottom of the base panel without damaging the panel walls on both sides.
 
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