Framing for Kitchen Cabinets

[Electrician Wannabe]

I live in a 100 year old row house with a very small kitchen that I am in the process of totally remodeling. The main wall in the kitchen where the kitchen wall cabinets will be hung from is my shared wall with my neighbor's row house. The wall is made of brick and is four courses thick. I was going to originally fur-out the wall using typical 2x4 stud wall construction, however, it turns out that is not going to work due to space issues (it will both cover up part of a door and window). Based on the constraints I have to work with, I anticipate furing-out the wall using 2x4's on-face (so depth is 1.5 inches) and secure each of them using 1/4" inch tapcons. This will of course only give me 2 inches of material (1.5" from the stud plus 1/2" drywall) in whcih to secure my kitchen wall cabinets. I plan on using square drive cabinet screws and have found some with intigrated washers that are 2", but want to get everyone's opinon on whether you think I will picking up broken plates off the floor or whether my cabinets will hold using this method. Also, any suggestions on the number of screws (per cabinet) to put in would be greatly appreciated.

The wall of which I speak consists of two rows of wall cabinets, one on top of the other. The top row consists of two cabinets that are 12" tall by 36" wide. The row of wall cabinets immediately below those consists of two cabinets that are 30" tall by 36" wide. FYI - the cabinet boxes are all made out of 1/2 inch ply (no MDF).

Thanks in advance.

[Bismarck Jack]

My opinion is that the size of the screws is fine. Even if you have 3/4" of cabinet to go through, you should still have enough bite. Most folks counter sink these a bit. I used a bit with a countersink end so the screw fit in nicely and looked professional.

the number of screws? There is a "laws of physics" answer to this i am sure, but i will give you Bis Jacks rendition. Considering you are mounting 36" tall uppers and 36" wide lowers and and that someone down the road might expect them to be sturdy and load them with stone pottery..."more is more" in this case.

You may want to map out your studs so you have two solid runners to screw into (ie. adding more verticals) or perhaps you want to use some horizontal studs between your 16" on center behind where your cabinets will go. That way you know you will have some solid pieces to screw into. Up to you.

Bottom line is that even though *you* will know how much weight you can place in the cabinet because you built it doesn't mean the lil' ol' lady 25 years down the line will know. Build it right, build it strong.:shakehands:

**disclaimer** just a fellow DIYer.

[pushkins]

As your new studs will be on 16" centers and you want 2 screws in the top and 2 screws in the bottom of each cabinet (the 12" tall cabinets only need 2 screws in the top), all the cabinets should be screwed to eachother.

As you are starting with new studs tapconed to the wall and then new drywall over that, to make life MUCH easier before you drywall add horizontal pieces of 2x4 between the studs fasten these to the wall or nail them to the vertical studs at the height of the top and bottom nailing plates on the cabinet, this way there is no guessing where the stud is or worse only getting one screw into a stud.

[Electrician Wannabe]

Thanks for the advice and some piece of mind on the holding power of screws. I will add blocking as necessary.

[mike4230]

I did the same thing in my kitchen, studded the wall out in a full 2x4. If you are forced to use the 1.5" dimension I see no problem. I might add to use some construction adhesive between the new studs and the old wall. I never trust tapcons, only about 50% of the time do they actually work in brick or older houses (at least this is what I have found). Go to your hardware store and get the lead anchors that use lag screws. These work much much better, and allow me to sleep at night knowing that the wall is not going to fall down. I would also say to make sure the top plate gets nailed into the joists of the floor above it. Do all that and the wall will never move.

As for the cabinets...put in the bracing blocks at the appropriate height for your cabinets. It makes putting in cabinets so much easier that I dont know how you could hang them without doing this. I used 2x6's so I had lots of room to find the stud. Good luck.

[scuba_dave]

Might consider using 2x3's turned flat as long as you are blocking. That is still wider then the edge of a 2x4