Question regarding flooring cutouts for old cabinets in kitchen renovation

Marshall

I'm currently in the process of doing a kitchen renovation on a very old and dated kitchen. I am planning to use Kaboodle kitchen cabinets and hoping to do most of the install myself with only limited trades for electrical / gas and potentially stone benchtop installation. 

The kitchen has a floating wooden floor setup, I've started the process of pulling the old cabinets out and the floating floor was only installed up to the old cabinets and then there is a cutout and the raw structural particle board is then exposed below where the cabinets were. The floating floor is 16mm higher then the base particle boards. See image below. 

Wanted to check what would be the best approach for the flooring and installation of the new Cabinets ? I think its often recommend to not install directly on top of floating floor due to expansion / contraction but looking at the Kaboodle cabinets we are looking to use - Corner Pantry, Oven tower etc - it seems like it would potentially require extensive cuts to the floating floor to install which I was hoping to avoid.( EG: The Corner Pantry does not come with adjustable feet and the base board sits directly on the floor and overlays both cutout and floating floor)

All the Kaboodle cabinetry is deeper then the old cabinets so would come out further then the existing cutout in the floor. As such for simplicity I was looking at potentially partially filling the 16mm deep cutouts gap with a particle board where for example the Corner Pantry would go so the cabinets are actually sitting flush with the floating floor.

 Is this an acceptable best way forward ? Also any recommendations on the specific partical board to use to fill the gap ? I had looked at the Structuflor particle boards but they seem to only come in 19mm so was looking at something like this :

https://www.bunnings.com.au/2400-x-1200mm-16mm-particleboard-panel-standard_p0447549

Thanks in advance for any help and advice 🙂

EricL

Hello @Marshall

Thank you so much for sharing the photos of your kitchen area. Personally, I've installed kitchens with uneven flooring by filling in the gaps. It's much easier and there is less chance of you damaging the floor. The other school of thought is to cut the flooring to provide space for the plastic foot of the Kaboodle cabinet. As I've mentioned there is a greater chance of you damaging the floor while cutting it.

Not only is this time consuming, but you spend more time adjusting the height of the legs. Whereas if you had a flat surface the legs can be pre-positioned before being drilled into the cabinet making it a lot quicker for you to adjust the height of the cabinetry. The 2400 x 1200mm 16mm Particleboard Panel Standard is perfect for the spot. I suggest fixing it to the floor with a couple of screws to prevent it from shifting.

Here are a few tips while assembling your kitchen cabinets:

• Always start with the corner cabinets. They are not the heaviest but they are the bulkiest and occupy a lot of space.
• Follow your floor plan, changing your mind mid assembly is a recipe for trouble. Everything has been calculated to fit into the space that's there. You don't want any surprises while putting your kitchen together.
• Triple check and then check again when cutting holes in the cabinet for power points and plumbing fixtures.
• Use a level that will cross the width of your cabinets. Check left to right and front to back as well.
• Locate the studs in your wall and mark the wall at 900mm in height so that you can see its location even if the cabinet is against the wall.
• Don't install your doors until all the electrical and plumbing work has been done. The doors are always the last to go on. This is to prevent it from getting accidentally damaged during the installation phase.

Please keep us updated with your progress, Any photos you can provide while the cabinets are being assembled would be much appreciated.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric