How To Remove Bottom Kitchen Cabinets

How to Remove Kitchen Cabinets

Stride 1: Prep Your Kitchen for Cabinet Removal
- Tools to Remove the Kitchen Cabinets
Step 2: Remove Upper Kitchen Cabinets
Pace 3: Removing Lower Kitchen Cabinets
Cabinets Removal Tips

Changing out your kitchen cabinets, whether every bit role of a full kitchen demolition, kitchen remodel, or simply a chiffonier update, can improve the look of your whole kitchen. Even if you are looking to just revitalize your existing cabinets and not replace them completely, it is easier and results in a better end product if you completely remove your cabinets from the walls before painting or refinishing them.

Taking downwards all your kitchen cabinetry can seem like a daunting project, but it is achievable by the average homeowner DIY enthusiast. When we were designing our kitchen remodel, we realized that taking out the cabinets ourselves would save united states a lot of money, hundreds of dollars in fact. Kitchen chiffonier and countertop demo can toll from $150 to $600, depending on the size of the kitchen, with very big kitchens running closer to $1,000. This frees up more money in your budget to spend on the rest of your kitchen remodel.

Before starting the tear-out, decide on whether you want to relieve your cabinets or not. You tin can save your cabinets to refinish them, reuse them in another office of your home like a laundry room or garage, or y'all can donate them if they are in skilful condition. If you want to keep or donate them, you will need to take intendance during the removal process to non harm them.

Proceed reading our blog on removing kitchen cabinets.

Step i: Prep Your Kitchen for Chiffonier Removal

Remove everything from your cabinets.
Plough off the water supply. You don't have to shut off the whole firm water supply, but be certain the line to the kitchen sink, your dishwasher, and your fridge's ice maker are off.
Disconnect the electricity, especially if you have a garbage disposal, built-in dishwasher, electric stove, and outlets in the backsplash. Turn the electricity to the kitchen off at the breaker box.
Comprehend all electric outlets.
Close off your gas line using an adaptable wrench if you take a gas oven/stove.
Remove the appliances from your kitchen.
Remove toe-kicks and any molding around the wall and base cabinets.
Lay protective covers over your flooring to protect it.
Remove any small fixtures, such every bit a newspaper towel holder, a spice rack, or under-counter inset lights from your cabinets.
Remove the range hood or the over-the-range microwave.
Rent a dumpster and have it scheduled for commitment to your home before you offset demo work.
Gather your tools and supplies.

Tools to Remove the Kitchen Cabinets

Pry bar
Screwdriver
Putty knife
Utility knife
Hammer
Drill
Blankets or furniture pads
Scrap wood (2x4s)
Work gloves
Eye protection

Step 2: Remove Upper Kitchen Cabinets

Remove the upper cabinets in your kitchen offset. Y'all should start with the uppers so that you can use the kitchen counter equally a support while you unscrew the upper kitchen cabinets. This step is best done with an assistant to provide additional support to the upper cabinets as you unscrew them.

Remove doors by unscrewing the hinge screws on the cabinet's side, leaving the hinge attached to the door. Tape the screws to the door most the swivel. Label the back of them if you are planning on reusing your cabinets.
If the cabinets take cove molding forth the soffit, remove that with a small pry bar.
Cover the countertop with a coating or furniture pad.
Cut scrap wood 2x4s to fit the gap between the lesser of the upper kitchen cabinets and the countertop. Identify these boards at each corner and in the middle of the cabinet span.
Insert several of the cut boards into the gap to back up the upper cabinets.
Use a utility knife to cut through any caulking between the sides and bottom of the cabinets where they meet a wall. Don't skip this step, as pulling the cabinets or countertop abroad from the wall could damage the wall if not cut through with the utility knife.
Unscrew the screws from the cabinets back. Continue to unscrew each cabinet unit of measurement wherever it is attached to the wall. Typical installation is a screw every sixteen inches. Also remove the screws that connect each cabinet unit to its next unit.
With aid from your assistant, lower the cabinet unit first to the countertop and then to the floor.

Step 3: Removing Lower Kitchen Cabinets

Once the upper cabinets are all removed, yous can tackle the low cabinets. You lot will start with countertop removal and so move to the lower cabinet units.

Remove the cabinet doors and drawers, again saving the cabinet hardware if yous plan on reusing or donating the cabinets.
Remove the faucet and sink. If you are going to reuse the faucet, remove it from the sink base of operations. If y'all are discarding both the faucet and sink, yous can remove them as 1 unit of measurement for disposal.
To safely remove the sink, cut through the caulking along the exterior of the sink. Use a putty knife to dissever the sink from the countertop, unscrew the sink, then lift the sink upward and out.
Cut through the entire length of the caulking between the counter's backsplash and the wall every bit you did with the upper kitchen cabinets.
Unscrew all the screws from the countertop from the bottom chiffonier units. Cabinets screws are usually located in the front end and rear corners on the underside of the counter.
If brackets or nails were used to adhere the countertop, unscrew the brackets and the utilize a pry bar to lift the countertops abroad from the cabinets.
Unscrew the cabinets units from the wall. Sometimes lower cabinets are installed using nails. Utilize a pry bar to pull the cabinet units slowly away from the wall.

Cabinets Removal Tips

Sometimes cabinets are fastened to the wall with gum and nails rather than screws. If this is the case in your kitchen, you volition use the same techniques to remove glued kitchen cabinets, simply instead of unscrewing the cabinets, you lot will use a pry bar to disassemble the cabinets from the wall. Use a hammer to tap the pry bar in the space between the wall and cabinet and then gently pull away. Utilise a wooden cake between the pry bar and the wall to forbid wall damage. In this example, you will probably non exist able to reuse or donate the cabinets, equally you tin expect some damage from the removal process.

A rental dumpster makes it easy to discard your cabinets later on removal. A standard-sized kitchen demo will have about a 10-yard dumpster, just you can go upward a size if y'all are discarding other trash or remodeling debris from other areas of your home.

If you don't have any 2x4 scrap wood pieces to support the upper kitchen cabinets, y'all can apply other objects as back up. A large utility saucepan will sit several inches below the bottom of the upper cabinets. As you unscrew the cabinets, they can be lowered to rest on the bucket. In one case completely lowered, you can lift the older cabinets out to safely remove them.

If your old cabinets were built in identify, you probably cannot donate them. Prefabricated cabinets accept their own dorsum, simply those that are built in are missing this slice. You usually find prefabricated cabinets in older homes or when the kitchen cabinets were completely custom built.

If your one-time cabinets are even so in good shape, consider donating them instead of discarding them. Some cabinets recycling companies volition even come pick them up for yous. When donating, don't forget to include the cabinet hardware, such as drawer pulls, hinges, and screws.

Clean the surface area and brand any needed repairs to the walls. This is besides a skilful time to brand floor repairs. Once your cabinets are removed, and you have cleaned and repaired the space, you accept a bare slate to create the kitchen of your dreams. New cabinets are a great style to showtime.