How to Install Kitchen Cabinets Yourself: A Builder's Step-by-Step Guide

If you want to know how to install kitchen cabinets yourself, the short version is this: find the highest point of the floor, snap level lines off it at 34½ inches for the bases and 54 inches for the bottoms of the uppers, mark every stud, then start in a corner and work outward, clamping each cabinet to the last one and screwing it to the studs only once it is level and plumb. Fillers, end panels and trim come after the boxes, and the countertop templater comes last.

We sell cabinets for a living, and we build and remodel kitchens ourselves, so this comes from setting boxes, not from a brochure. To be clear up front: we ship nationwide and do not install the cabinets you buy from us. Where a manufacturer publishes a number, we quote it, and two brands we carry, Diamond and Mantra, publish unusually detailed instructions: Diamond's installation and care guide and Mantra's installation instructions for framed and full-access cabinetry.

Key Takeaways

• Every height comes from one point: the highest spot of the finished floor along each run. Base tops at 34½″ above it, upper bottoms at 54″, upper tops at 84″, 90″ or 96″ for 30″, 36″ or 42″ wall cabinets.
• Screws, never nails or drywall screws: #10 × 2½″ washer-head screws through the hanging rails into studs, and #8 × 2½″ pan- or trim-head screws to join face frames, per Diamond's guide. Mantra's instructions say nails void the warranty.
• Uppers first is Diamond's default because nothing is in the way. Bases first makes sense when a tall cabinet sets the reference height.
• The corner cabinet sets the whole kitchen. Diamond warns that an ⅛″ error in the first box puts you ½″ off eight feet down the wall.
• Plan the fillers before you drive a screw. Cabinets come in 3″ steps and walls do not; a door beside a wall needs clearance, and a blind corner needs a filler and a set pull from the wall.
• Stone templating needs finished boxes: level, flat, screwed off, with the sink and cooktop on site.

Table of Contents

• Before You Start: Is This a DIY Job?
• Receive, Inspect and Stage the Cabinets
• Prepare the Room: Utilities, Paint and Flooring
• Lay Out the Walls: High Point, Level Lines and a Stud Map
• Tools and Screws for Cabinet Installation
• Uppers First or Bases First?
• Start With the Corner Cabinet
• Fastening Cabinets to Each Other and to the Wall
• Hanging the Wall Cabinets: The Short Version
• Setting and Leveling the Bases: The Short Version
• Fillers and Scribing to the Wall
• End Panels and Finished Sides
• Appliance Openings
• Crown, Light Rail and Toe Kick
• Doors, Drawers and Hardware Go Back On
• Getting Ready for the Countertop Template
• Frequently Asked Questions

Before You Start: Is This a DIY Job?

Setting cabinets is carpentry, not assembly. Each step is simple; what makes the job hard is that mistakes compound. A base a little out of level pushes the next one out, the countertop exposes it, and the dishwasher opening ends up a quarter inch tight. If you can hang a heavy mirror on studs, read a long level and cut trim to length, you can do this.

For professionals, Fixr's cost guide gives 1–3 days to install cabinets in most mid-size kitchens, and Taskrabbit's gives 2–4 days for a standard kitchen. Plan on roughly double as a first-timer, because layout and double-checking take longer than driving screws, and crooked walls, an island or heavy trim add more. Our guide to kitchen cabinet installation cost and labor covers what installers charge if you would rather hire it out.

Some work is not DIY regardless of skill: moving gas lines, adding circuits, relocating a drain, and anything that opens a structural wall belong to licensed trades under local code. Diamond's guide notes that most states require electrical and plumbing to be brought up to current code in any opened wall, and Mantra's instructions open with a warning about utilities behind the walls you are about to drill.

Receive, Inspect and Stage the Cabinets

Open every box before anything goes on a wall, check each cabinet against the order, and look for crushed corners, split face frames and chipped paint. The claim policies are the reason. US Cabinet Depot's spec book says damage must be documented and reported on opening the boxes, missing items within two weeks of delivery, and that items that have been assembled and installed cannot be claimed as damaged. Our shipping FAQ asks you to inspect within 48 hours and let the cabinets acclimate in the room for 48 hours before installing; our pre-assembled cabinet buying guide has a delivery-day checklist.

Stage the cabinets in another room in install order, labeled with the SKU from your drawing. Both Diamond and Mantra tell you to remove doors, drawers and shelves first: the box is lighter, nothing swings open while you level it, and the doors stay out of the dust. Clip-on concealed hinges come off without losing their adjustment. RTA cabinets, such as J&K, which we sell RTA only, get assembled first on a flat floor; our guide to RTA cabinets for a full kitchen covers the extra hours.

Mind the conditions, too. Fabuwood's limited warranty does not apply where year-round environmental controls are not maintained, and it excludes damage from moisture, humidity and excessive heat or cold. If the drywall mud is wet or the HVAC is off, wait.

Prepare the Room: Utilities, Paint and Flooring

With the old kitchen out, get the rough-in done: outlet and light boxes, water and drain at the sink base, gas or 240 volts at the range, and wiring for under-cabinet lights. Diamond suggests bringing that lighting wire out ½ inch above the line for the bottom of the wall cabinets. Photograph every open wall with a tape measure in the frame before the drywall goes back. Then prime and put the first coat of paint on, which Diamond also recommends, leaving the second coat for after the cabinets.

Flooring is the decision people get wrong most often. There are two workable approaches:

• Floor first, cabinets on top. Tile and nail-down hardwood can run wall to wall, so a future cabinet change leaves no hole, and Diamond notes new flooring is easier to install while the room is empty. Protect it with hardboard.
• Cabinets first, floor butted to them. This saves material, but Diamond tells you to add the future floor's thickness to all of the horizontal lines. Forget it and the dishwasher will not come out once the floor goes in.

Floating floors are the exception, because they have to move. Pergo's Pergo Extreme installation guide says kitchen cabinets must be installed before the floor and never on top of it, and other floating lines generally say the same, so read the guide for your floor. The floor then runs up to the cabinets with its expansion gap, and the toe kick covers the gap.

Lay Out the Walls: High Point, Level Lines and a Stud Map

This step decides whether the rest goes smoothly. Every vertical measurement comes off one reference: the highest point of the finished floor along the walls that get cabinets, including inside appliance openings. A cabinet can always be shimmed up at a low spot; it cannot be shimmed down at a high one.

Set a laser level in the middle of the room and measure from the beam down to the floor every couple of feet along each wall, where the cabinet fronts will sit. The smallest reading is the high point; the spread between smallest and largest is how much shimming the low end needs. Then mark these lines, from Diamond's guide (Mantra's illustration shows the same 34½, 54 and 84 inches):

Carry the lines around every wall so runs meeting at a corner share one reference. As Diamond points out, they set height, not level; you still check each cabinet with a level.

Next, map the studs. Confirm each with a finish nail where a cabinet will hide the hole and draw a line through its center from floor to above the top line. Expect 16 inches on center, but not around windows and old doorways. Diamond's rule is at least one stud behind each cabinet in the middle of a run and at least two behind each cabinet at the end. A narrow cabinet that falls between studs needs blocking now, not on install day.

Finally, draw every box, filler, appliance opening and the hood on the wall; Mantra recommends it too, including molding that projects past the boxes. A full-size drawing catches the window casing that hits a wall cabinet or the outlet behind a filler. If the plan is not finished, our kitchen measuring guide covers what a designer needs.

Worked example: a 10-foot wall that drops 5/8 inch

The laser reads 40 inches to the floor at the left corner and 40⅝ inches at the right end. The left corner is the high point, so the base line goes 34½ inches above the floor there. The right-end cabinet needs about ⅝ inch of shims to reach the same line, and the toe kick is ⅝ inch taller at that end. That is ordinary, but note it on the drawing: a dishwasher at the low end gains the same ⅝ inch of opening height.

Tools and Screws for Cabinet Installation

This list starts from the tools Diamond and Mantra name. Nothing on it is specialized except a way to hold a wall cabinet while you drive the screws.

Screws matter more than any tool, and both manufacturers specify them:

A washer head spreads the load over the hanging rail instead of pulling through it, which a drywall screw's tapered head can do. On length: ½-inch drywall plus a ½- to ¾-inch rail leaves roughly 1¼ to 1½ inches of thread in the stud, solid holding for a loaded wall cabinet. GRK's Low Profile Cabinet screw comes in #8 lengths up to 3⅛ inches and a #10 × 2½-inch size. Over thick plaster or doubled drywall, go longer so at least an inch of thread bites wood.

Uppers First or Bases First?

Diamond's guide says that in most kitchens it is best to begin with the wall cabinets, so there are no bases to work around and the ladder goes right against the wall. Mantra describes bases first but says you can do the uppers first and come back.

Our habit is uppers first, off a ledger. We go bases first when a tall pantry or oven cabinet is in the run, so the tall unit is set first and the wall cabinet tops are hung level with it for a straight crown, or when the floor is bad enough that we want to see how the bases land. If you rest uppers on a spacer, measure it: an 18-inch spacer on the bases puts the underside at 52½ inches, not 54, because it ignores the 1½-inch countertop.

Start With the Corner Cabinet

In an L- or U-shaped kitchen, both manufacturers start at the corner and work outward, because every other box aligns to it. Diamond puts the stakes plainly: an ⅛-inch error there puts you ½ inch off eight feet down the wall. Level the first box front, side and top, and check with a framing square that it is square to both walls.

Corner cabinets also need clearance, and the spec books are specific:

• Blind corner bases are pulled out from the return wall so the door and its pull clear the other run. KCD's spec book says to position the blind side of its BB36 and BB42 6 to 9 inches from the adjacent wall (0 to 3 inches for the BB48) and place at least a 3-inch filler next to the adjacent cabinet, filler not included. J&K's spec book calls for a minimum 3-inch pull from the wall for its 42-inch blind base. Fabuwood writes the allowance into the SKU: a BLB36/39 is planned to take 36 to 39 inches of wall along its run.
• Blind wall cabinets work the same way. KCD's instruction for its blind walls is 1 to 3 inches from the adjacent wall, again with at least a 3-inch filler.
• Lazy Susan corner bases sit tight in the corner. Diamond says a barrel lazy Susan needs a 1×2 wood strip at the 34½-inch line to support the countertop, and Mantra recommends strapping or blocks to support the top in corners.

Our guide to lazy Susan sizes and alternatives compares corner options, and our Fabuwood accessories guide covers blind-corner pull-outs. On a straight wall, start at the fixed end, usually a wall or tall cabinet, or at a sink base that must center on a window.

Fastening Cabinets to Each Other and to the Wall

Cabinets are joined to each other first and then to the wall. Screw each one tight to the wall first and you can no longer pull the face frames flush, so the wall's bumps show in the cabinet line. The sequence: set the next cabinet, level it, clamp it to the last one, join the two, and only then drive the wall screws home.

Framed cabinets: through the face frames

Most of what we sell is framed, including Fabuwood Allure, KCD, J&K, Diamond, Mantra and most US Cabinet Depot lines. Clamp the face frames flush at the front, top and bottom. Diamond's method is worth copying: drill through the first face frame with a 9/64-inch bit, then continue into the second with a 1/8-inch bit in the same hole. The screw slides through the first frame and bites only the second, so tightening pulls the frames together instead of jacking them apart. Diamond uses #8 × 2½-inch screws, two on 30-inch wall cabinets and three on 36- and 42-inch wall cabinets and on bases. We place them where the hinges will hide them.

Frameless cabinets: through the box sides

Frameless lines, including Fabuwood Illume and Ovela, USCD Palermo and Torino, and St. Martin Vista, have no face frame. Mantra's instructions for full-access cabinets call for joining through the box with 1⅛-inch wood screws or connector bolts. With no frame to hide a small misalignment, frameless is less forgiving; our framed vs frameless comparison covers what else changes.

Into the studs

Drive the wall screws through the hanging rails, never through the thin back panel alone. Mantra recommends at least four screws per wall cabinet, two upper and two lower. Diamond goes further: mark a line on the cabinet back for each stud and drill three holes along that line on 30-inch-high wall cabinets and four on 36- and 42-inch ones, 1¾ inches from the top and bottom and no closer than 2 inches to any vertical edge. The right tightness, in Diamond's words, is drawing the screw down until it just touches the back of the cabinet. Shim any gap first; cranking a screw into a gap twists the box.

When there is no stud where you need one

• Open walls: add 2×6 or 2×8 blocking at the rail heights before drywall. It is the best fix and cheap while the wall is open.
• Metal studs: light-gauge steel holds a wood screw poorly. Add backing during framing, or use fasteners rated for steel studs and the load.
• Masonry, block or tile: Mantra says these need anchors, purchased separately. Never hang a loaded cabinet on plastic drywall anchors.

If a pipe or duct is in the way, do not cut the cabinet. Mantra warns that modifying a wall cabinet, such as cutting the back to clear an obstruction, can significantly weaken it and is not recommended, and Fabuwood's warranty is void if cabinets are modified or improperly installed. Move the obstruction or change the box.

Hanging the Wall Cabinets: The Short Version

Wall cabinets get their own step-by-step guide, so here is the outline. Screw a straight ledger to the studs with its top edge on the 54-inch line, or set up a jack. Transfer the corner-to-first-stud measurement to the back of the cabinet and pre-drill the hanging rails with a 1/8-inch or smaller bit, as Diamond specifies. Lift the corner cabinet onto the ledger and snug the screws without fully tightening. Level it, shim behind where the wall dips, then bring up the next cabinet, clamp, join and screw it to the wall. Once a neighbor is attached, fully tighten the first cabinet. The ledger comes off at the end, and the backsplash hides its holes.

Center a hood cabinet on the range, not the wall, and take the hood's clearance above the cooktop from its manual. Our guide to wall and tall cabinet sizes explains the 54-inch mounting height, and our range hood guide covers hood types.

Setting and Leveling the Bases: The Short Version

Leveling and shimming also get their own article; this is the outline. Cut the plumbing and electrical openings in the sink base before it goes in, as Diamond insists. Shim the corner base until its top meets the 34½-inch line and reads level both ways, and square it to both walls. Slide in the next base, shim it to the same height, clamp and join the face frames, and only then screw both to the studs. Keep a 48- or 60-inch level across the face frames; Diamond notes it shows where shims are needed and keeps the run straight.

Shims go under the cabinet at the floor, where the toe kick hides them, and behind the back where the wall dips. Snap them off flush once the screws are tight. Fabuwood Illume replaces floor shims with plastic furniture feet its spec book lists as adjustable from 3¾ to 5⅜ inches, with clip-on toe kick brackets; its listed cabinet heights are before the feet. Our guides to types of base cabinets and sink base cabinets cover which box goes where.

An island is a base run with no wall: fix 2×4 cleats to the floor inside its footprint, level the cabinets over them, and screw through the cabinets into the cleats. Check aisle widths in our island clearance guide first.

Fillers and Scribing to the Wall

Cabinets come in 3-inch width steps; walls come in whatever size the framer left. Fillers take up the difference and hold a door or drawer far enough from a wall, or a deeper neighbor, to open fully and clear its pull. Fabuwood's Allure spec book says a cabinet installed next to a wall or a deeper cabinet requires a ¼-inch filler for full door opening. Mantra adds that fillers can be scribed to the wall and used to center cabinets under a window or size an appliance opening, and that an extended stile can sometimes replace one on framed cabinets.

Fillers go on before the cabinet is fixed. Mantra's illustration shows the filler pre-drilled and attached to the cabinet first, then the pair set in place. Forcing a filler into the gap between a fixed cabinet and a wall is how face frames split.

Worked example: a sink wall that comes up 1½ inches long

A wall measures 121½ inches between two side walls. The plan: an 18-inch base, a 36-inch sink base (SB36), a 24-inch dishwasher opening, a 30-inch base and a 12-inch base, so 18 + 36 + 24 + 30 + 12 = 120 inches. That leaves 1½ inches. Instead of one fat filler, rip a ¾-inch strip from a 3-inch base filler for each wall and scribe it, so both end cabinets get door clearance and each strip keeps a factory-finished edge against its cabinet. In the twelve standard-priced Fabuwood Galaxy finishes a BF3 base filler is $26.00 at our store price as we write this, so the fix costs $52. Had the wall been exactly 120 inches, the answer is to shrink the plan, not jam boxes in: swap the 12-inch base for a 9-inch one and put a 1½-inch filler at each wall.

Walls are rarely plumb or flat, so the filler's edge is shaped to the wall. That is scribing, covered step by step in our guide to scribe molding for cabinets; our guide to end panels, scribe molding and fillers shows how a designer places each piece.

End Panels and Finished Sides

Wherever a cabinet side shows, it needs a finished surface. On Fabuwood Allure you select exposed sides when you order, and a ¼-inch MDF panel is applied at the factory so the side is near-flush finished. The alternative is a separate panel, such as the Galaxy BEP base end panel, ¾ inch thick and 24 by 34½ inches in the spec book, $149.50 in the standard finishes at our store price as we write this. It is sturdier and runs to the floor at an exposed end.

A separate panel goes on before the countertop, usually before the cabinet is screwed to the wall, while you can reach inside. Scribe its back edge to the wall, then fix it from inside with panel adhesive and screws ⅛ to ¼ inch shorter than the side and panel combined. A dishwasher at the end of a run needs a panel on its open side to finish the run and carry the countertop. Our guide to cabinet skin panels and gables explains the options.

Appliance Openings

Appliance openings are where a small layout error costs the most, because the appliance does not flex. Build each one to the appliance's installation guide, with the model number in hand before the cabinets are set. These are common starting points only:

Measure every opening front and back, top and bottom, because a bowed wall makes it narrower at the back. Check dishwasher height from the floor that will actually be there. And a refrigerator beside a wall usually needs a filler or panel so its door swings past 90 degrees and the crisper drawers come out.

Crown, Light Rail and Toe Kick

Crown molding attaches to the cabinets, not the ceiling; ceilings move, and crown nailed to one opens a gap. On full-overlay cabinets the door covers the face frame, so there is little for crown to sit on. Fabuwood's Allure spec book says crown on its full-overlay wall cabinets should be installed using STRM-8 starter molding or similar molding bracing. In the standard Galaxy finishes STRM-8 is $133.25 and the simplest crown, CM-1, is $117.00 at our store price as we write this. Diamond's method: cut through the face of the molding toward the back, color the miters with a touch-up marker, glue them, then brad-nail through the molding into the cabinet. Our cabinet molding types guide covers profiles.

Light rail runs under the wall cabinets and hides the light fixtures from someone sitting at the table. Galaxy LRM is $149.50 in the standard finishes at our store price as we write this. Pick fixtures first; our under-cabinet task lighting guide covers them.

Toe kick goes on last so it sits on the finished floor and hides the shims. Fabuwood Allure cabinets come with a ¾ × 4½-inch unfinished plywood toe kick attached, and the matching ¼-inch cover is ordered separately; an eight-foot TK8 is $55.90 in the standard Galaxy finishes at our store price as we write this. Mantra says to attach toe kick skins with finishing nails or panel adhesive and run silicone caulk where the bases meet the walls and floor. On a floating floor, keep the kick just clear so the floor can move.

Doors, Drawers and Hardware Go Back On

With the boxes fixed, Diamond suggests one last level check on every cabinet, while it is still easy to loosen and re-shim. Then re-hang the doors, slide the drawers in and set the shelves. The Blum concealed hinges on Fabuwood adjust side to side, up and down, and in and out with screws on the hinge, and drawer fronts adjust at their fixing screws or at the slides. Mantra says to finish every adjustment before decorative hardware goes on.

Drill for knobs and pulls last, with a jig so every hole lands at the same height. Diamond recommends drilling from the front into a tightly clamped scrap block with a 3/16-inch bit, which stops the back of a hardwood door from splintering. Our cabinet hardware guide covers pull sizes and placement.

Getting Ready for the Countertop Template

For stone, quartz and solid surface, the fabricator templates the installed cabinets, cuts the top in the shop and comes back to install it. The template is only as good as the boxes under it, so treat templating day as the final inspection:

• All base cabinets are fixed, screwed to the studs and each other, with end and dishwasher panels in place. Nothing moves after this day.
• The tops are flat and level. Stone makers specify it: Cambria's countertop installation technical guideline allows no more than ⅛ inch out of plane for every 8 feet, and Caesarstone's guide specification asks for supports level and flat within 1/16 inch in ten feet. Check with your fabricator which number they work to, and run a long straightedge across every run.
• Corner and wall supports are in, including the lazy Susan strip and any support the fabricator wants under an overhang.
• The sink, faucet and cooktop are on site with spec sheets. An apron-front sink usually has to be set in its cabinet before templating.
• Someone who can decide seams, overhangs and edge profiles is there.

Our guide to countertop types, heights and depths explains how the top's thickness and overhang affect the cabinet order.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it hard to install kitchen cabinets yourself?

It is manageable with basic carpentry skills, patience and a helper. The hard part is accuracy: the true high point, a square first cabinet and fillers planned in advance. If unsure, hire out the boxes and do the trim and hardware yourself.

How long does cabinet installation take?

Fixr's cost guide gives professionals 1–3 days for most mid-size kitchens, and Taskrabbit's gives 2–4 days for a standard one. A first-timer should plan on about twice that, plus assembly for RTA cabinets.

Do you install upper or lower cabinets first?

Diamond says wall cabinets first in most kitchens, because nothing is in the way; Mantra allows either. Go bases first when a tall pantry or oven cabinet sets the height for the uppers.

Do kitchen cabinets have to be screwed into studs?

Yes, through the hanging rails, as Diamond and Mantra both require. Where a stud is missing, add blocking while the wall is open, or use proper anchors in masonry, never plastic drywall anchors.

What screws should I use to hang kitchen cabinets?

#10 × 2½-inch washer-head cabinet screws into the studs and #8 × 2½-inch pan- or trim-head screws between face frames, per Diamond. Frameless boxes join with 1⅛-inch screws or connector bolts, per Mantra. Never drywall screws or nails.

Should cabinets go on top of the flooring?

Tile and nail-down hardwood can run under them. Floating floors cannot: Pergo, for one, says to install cabinets before its floating floor, never on top. If the floor goes in afterward, add its thickness to every level line.

Can one person hang wall cabinets?

Yes, with a ledger at the 54-inch line or a cabinet jack or support stand. Tall pantry and oven cabinets need two people.

How much gap should I leave between a cabinet and the wall?

Enough for the door or drawer to open fully and clear its pull. Fabuwood's Allure spec book calls for a ¼-inch filler next to a wall or a deeper cabinet, and blind corners need a 3-inch filler plus the pull their spec book gives. Close gaps with a scribed filler, not caulk.

Get a Layout That Installs Cleanly

Most of the problems in this guide are solved on paper before the cabinets ship: the fillers at each wall, the blind-corner pull, the end panels and the crown build-up. Send us your measurements through our free design service and a designer will return a 3D layout and an itemized quote within 24–48 hours, with every filler and panel on the list. We do not install, but a clean drawing and a complete order are what make an installation go well, whoever does it.

Questions about a specific line or its installation hardware? Reach us through our contact page or call 609-900-3358. Contractors buying for their own installs can look at Captivating Pro for trade pricing.