it wouldn't be acceptable to me at all. i think you need to show this to whoever was responsible for the walls. i'm really sorry you're having this problem, and i hope you can resolve it soon.

The walls were existing but there was a lot of construction in the room. What is normally done to make sure this doesn't happen?

Having problems positing pictures directly from Photobucket.

I want to make sure I understand, because I'm not exactly sure just from the closeup photos...The gaps are between the cabinets and the wall and the contractor is tipping the cabinets to reduce the gaps? My dh always has a scribe piece (about 1/2") on the side of a cabinet that is shaped to fit the wall angle. The cabinet should be level.

That tipped back one is nutty! The cabinets should be plumb. But--and I'm hardly an expert, I just live in crooked homes--my experience is that gaps along the wall of painted cabinets can be easily caulked and painted to match. I've got gaps every which way in my sagging old house, and we'll caulk and paint them. But my cabinets are both level and plumb.

Good luck! Keep us posted!

Francy

rhome is correct - the scribe piece is basically a filler that should go between cabinet and wall to mitigate just this very sort of thing. I'm going to guess here that the cabinet is level & vertical (2 dims) and it is the wall is wonky - it is possible that both are crooked (shame on the installer), but the other guess here would make this one for the record books because it would mean that the wall is perfectly plumb straight and vertical (serious shocker!) and that the cabinet is installed crooked (doubly horrific with this 1-in-a-million perfect wall situation).

Anyhow, walls are usually crooked, cabinets usually straight and while the gaps can be filled with epoxy, it is for this very situation that a scribed filler piece is usually recommended - put it in there now and you'll be able to see plain as day that the upper part of the cabinet is 1/8" off compared to the lower. However, with a 1/2" or 1" piece there, the fact that the upper or lower part "drifts" 1/8" or so will not be nearly as discernible. Does the door operate okay or does it scrape the wall?

The smaller/easier fix is probably just epoxy or something to fill in the gap. But this really ought to be taken up with the designer - whoever that was.

But that just sums up pics 005 and 001. I don't even know what to make of 003 - the one that tips off of the countertop! Bizarre. But you should figure out what it is that is wonky - is the countertop level? It ought to be! In which case, why in the blue blazes is the cabinet not?!
Is the cabinet installed level? After that, confront the installer and the designer.

It is the back wall that is not level. Although the cabinet really needs to sit on the counter because 'stuff' is getting under there. I got out the level and it does seem as if the cabinet is a tad out of level (because it is tipped back) and I'm sure this was done to sort of even out the gap.

So many things have gone wrong. We just cannot get this job finished.

It is unacceptable. I believe the word they use is shimming to get the cabinets plumb and still not have a gap between the walls.

In old homes, no walls were straight, so when we did the demo, we took off all sheetrock (it was in such a bad shape anyway) and stapled this felt-like paper onto the studs to have the new drywall sit straight without any gaps. I suspect, we will still need to shim the cabinets.

Quick question: are your bottom cabinets level at least?

Pinar

This is not complicated. The cabinets should absolutely be plumb; tipping the one back to reduce the gap is ridiculous and wrong. It is normal for walls to be a little wonky; cabinets will almost never fit tightly against them AND be oriented correctly, so gaps are inevitable unless the cabinets are specially ordered with extra-deep sides that can be scribed and trimmed to fit the walls during installation. The gaps are typically hidden by a small molding that gets tacked over the joint with tiny nails. Mindstorm's epoxy idea is not feasible.

For this to go the way it's supposed to go, two semi-obvious conditions have to be met. First, the walls have to be plumb enough that the gaps, when the cabinets are plumb, are small enough for the molding to cover them. If the gaps are really big, that's something that should've been addressed by shimming the wonky studs before the drywall was even hung or by ordering cabinets with scribe stock as I mentioned above. Second, you have to actually possess the appropriate molding, finished to match the cabinets. With stained cabinets the contractor can sometimes buy common stock molding and a can of stain and do a decent job of matching it to the cabinets, but you've got a painted and glazed finish that isn't easy to replicate on a building site. In other words, appropriate molding should've been ordered with the cabinets. Either way, doing it right requires some foresight that it seems your contractor might not have had.

I wanted to see the picture but the link just takes me to photobucket without going to the pictures. How do I get to the pictures?

The cabinets were painted and glazed locally so I'll see if they can do moldings to match. That seems like the best solution at present.

The counters are level. The cabinet is a degree or two off due to installation of tipping it back a bit.

ctkathy - make sure they level the cabinets and no tipping of cabinets and then use molding to cover the gaps.

Your links are not taking me to your pics. How is everyone else seeing them?

debi, the links kathy put in her post aren't clickable. You need to copy and paste them into your browser's address bar.

To imbed pics from Photobucket, just copy the code labeled HTML and paste it into your message. The photos will show up as follows:

No, I don't think the leaning cabinet is acceptable. The gaps may be because of a wonky wall, but they should be covered with a thin strip of molding or something.

Well, I don't know what jon is talking about re: molding - that plan doesn't have room to accommodate any. At least, not in any clean way.

Scribe molding resembles an elongated quarter round molding, or "squished" quarter round molding. It's about 3/8" thin and flexible and the longer thinner edge is to the cabinet side, and the shorter blunter edge to the wall. It covers the gaps between the walls and the cabinets that may exist because of needing to be shimmed to be level. It's a standard to order a couple of sticks of it in any kitchen design--as well as a touch up kit in case the cut edges have to be colored. Any KD worth calling a KD will include this in any order, and any installer should be well experienced in it's use. Doesn't sound as though either one's the case here.

Scribe molding is very narrow; mine is flat and about 3/4" wide. It gets attached to cover the gap between wonky walls and LEVEL cabinets. Get the installers back to level the cabinets (the tipped one), and attach some scribe molding. It will solve your problem. As Jon stated, this is standard operating procedure. I wouldn't be surprized if there's a stack of scribe molding that came with your cabinet order somewhere b/c the installers didn't use it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's ctkathy's album

Any custom cabinet maker worth his salt should build a scribe edge into the cabinets. Any installer who knows anything knows that you hang cabinets plumb, true, square, scribed to the wall or with scribe molding. Higher end custom cabs should be scribed to the wall directly, no scribe mold unless it adds to the design. I have only installed cabinets once, in my DIY kitchen, and if I can manage to scribe to the walls in my old farmhouse with funky walls, your installers have no excuse.

these are full-overlay doors.

Therefore you CANNOT attach molding to the surface of the cabinet. You will need to slip a piece of wood BETWEEN the side of the cabinet and the wall.

If there are frameless cabinets, then you can't do a scribe edge all that easily either. But you can use filler, and he should have.

Partial overlay doors, yes, you can do that.

Tally Sue: I think these are all sides of cabs that we are viewing. Therefore, molding would work.

Am I wrong? We aren't looking at any front doors, are we???

Francy

I would invite the cabinetmaker for a walk through or just send your pics. Ask them to speak to your installers. Make it very clear that if they can't straighten out the yahoos that installed the cabs, you will be sure to tell everyone who made the cabs.

Confirming that it is the side panels that show the gaps between them and the wall.

What's the best they can do now that the cabinets are in?

I will make them level the one cabinet that is tipping back. How ridiculous is that??

The cabinets were finished locally, so I don't think there is any matching molding anywhere. FYI, they have not had great luck with matching the color on pieces that were done after the cabinets.

Thank you all for your input. Much appreciated.

I'm aware these are not clickable links, and have tried copying and pasting to no avail.

Thanks alku for the quick link. Appreciated.

Deb

Could be poor design, ever thought of that?????? If installer is set up to fail none of his skill will bail you both out..