ordering RTA cabinets. ? about cabinets between two walls.

12 years ago

I'm getting ready to order Conestoga cabinets and I'm so scared to place the order because several of the cabinets go between two walls (butler pantry for example). I'm afraid that I'll order them too wide (no matter how many times I measure) and they won't go in the space. Then I worry that if I get them with too much space on the sides, I won't know how to fill the gaps. I'm ordering for a whole house (new build) so I have 6 cabinets like this. Any advice? can they be trimmed a little if the walls aren't exactly straight? Are there acceptable ways to fill the gaps if I order them with a little room on the sides? For the full overlay, I guess I need to order them with extended stiles anyway so those wouldn't matter but what about the inset?

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Comments (6)

mrsmortarmixer
12 years ago
Definitely leave yourself some wiggle room. I don't know what Conestoga's specs are, but I can assume that cabinets may be off by 1/16 or so. Walls are also not always perfectly straight either. I think my cabinets were ordered about 1" shy of the actual measurement. Maybe a bit more, but we had brick which is not even and not perfectly straight, the wall without brick was not perfect either. I have a filler piece on each side of the sink and range. You could easily scribe a piece of filler wherever there was a gap along the wall.
angie_diy
12 years ago
I think you want to have a filler piece, perhaps 1" wide, and then order the cabinets about 3/4" too narrow for the space. Scribe the filler to the wall.
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User
12 years ago
You need to collaborate with your installer here. It won't do any good to order an extended stile if your installer is incapable of scribing that to the wall. Call up your installer and have them go over the plan and the measurements BEFORE you install. You can still fix the issues when everything is still on paper. Not so when it's sitting in your living room.

And be VERY VERY sure that you understand the nomenclature and the option codes that you are ordering. It can be easy to get it wrong and end up with entirely the wrong cabinet.
Linda
12 years ago
Not real knowledgeable in this area, but if your cabinets are frameless or full-overlay, do they need to have a spacer, or room to open without rubbing the wall?
User
12 years ago
All cabinets will need a bit of a filler or an extended stile against the wall(s)(3/4" minimum for an extended stile 1" for a filler, simply because it's difficult to cut a filler smaller). Walls are never straight. I usually use a standard 3" filler split in half if that works for the math. If it needs to be larger, then you'll need two fillers. The filler can have some scribe molding to hide the out of squareness of the wall, or, if you have a good installer that really knows what he's doing, he can scribe an extended stile. Sadly, there aren't that many "cabinet guys" out there that have the patience or skill to really do that well. You're in upper end territory with that choice. Both in cabinets and in installation labor.
clg7067
12 years ago
I have frameless cabinets and made it easy on myself by leaving space for a 1/2" spacer on each end.