Casework Before Or After Flooring

Commercial or residential be extra careful on the new strip flooring that looks like wood but is more like linoleum.

Casework before or after flooring.

Sometimes the decision of whether to install the cabinets or the floors first depends on other factors. All in all it really doesn t make much difference. Laminate floors should be installed after the cabinetry because the material needs to be able to expand and contract depending on humidity levels. Those are all good reasons to lay a kitchen floor after the cabinets are in.

Tile or linoleum on the other hand can run all the way to the wall with no problems. Install cabinets first to try waiting to install flooring before appliances and cabinets because it could. Now in the day of pre fab cabinets built in a shop and simply installed on site it is often the case that the cabinets go in last after the flooring has been installed. But if you have to install the flooring first here s a method that will avoid some of the problems i just described.

Floor covering or finish flooring is the surface that you see and walk on not the subfloor under the underlayment or underlayment between subfloor and finished layer. I have yet to have a problem with the laminate flooring because of cabinets being installed over it. This makes for a costly renovation down the road for you or future homeowners. It is much quicker installing the flooring without having to cut pieces to fit around the cabinets although a bit more flooring is required this way.

When i remodeled my own kitchen four years ago i used wilsonart classic laminate flooring tiles and installed the flooring before the cabinets. Finally the material you choose may also affect the order of your installation. Flooring always first and then casework. The answer can vary depending on a few variables but for the most part we advise you install cabinets first.

Typically cabinets come before flooring in most cases given standard flooring heights you will install the cabinets before the floor covering. Even when the check writer wants the floor last we insist the floor first for dishwasher and range and all the other nightmares sake. One of the most common queries we get is whether cabinets or flooring should be installed first. Check out our list to find out why and to see which method is better for you.