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Design Dilemma Kitchens

Uneven kitchen cabinet drawers

4 years ago

Base cabinets were recently installed. I am concerned with the drawers. They are very uneven. Installer says he is going to to come out and adjust the drawers. Is this possible? Seems like it's going to be very difficult. All the drawers look like this. I'm sure the doors are uneven as well, but there are so few that it's not noticable.
The base cabinets were shimmed.

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Sativa McGee Designs

4 years ago

Yes as the installer said he will be out to adjust them.

Hardware has adjustment on it to move faces in all directions.

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Comments (9)

Eli Mo
Original Author
4 years ago
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I would try tl determine the height difference in the room end to end. probably laser level. the cab on the left you provided a pic of will need to be shimmed on the right to flush it with the wall, and then ALL other cabs will need to be shimmed up to match, and who knows how high the last one will need to be shimmed? Are the cabs level now? If so, then shimming flush to the wall will throw off level. The pic you have shows all cabs already installed, so I'm unsure if you have any slack to increase the gap on the left and then use a heftier filler strip. If I had done all this installation and every cabinet was plumb and level, I would likely scribe a really thin filler strip for the left gap. Not ideal but better than leaving the gap or having to redo the entire thing.
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PRO
Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
4 years ago
...and if the installer cannot adjust them to a reasonable place, get with the manufacturer, dealer, builder, etc. until resolved.
PRO
Lampsusa
4 years ago
Yes, the installer can adjust the drawers-it's just to bad he didn't do it on the initial install.
PRO
Sativa McGee Designs
4 years ago
It is very common to wait until the end of a project to adjust drawers. They have to be pulled out for countertop to install, other trades are a real mess.

It isn't worth their time to align it all knowing it will be messed up when they return.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago
I agree the adjustments are usually made at the end of the project just before the handles are being installed
cpartist
4 years ago
Very normal to be adjusted once counters are on, etc.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
4 years ago
I don't understand why some contractors let customers see this kind of stuff. It's gotta get done anyway; why not sooner than later and avoid the customer worry? And now what could have been a passable adjustment just went under the micrometer.
pippabean_5b
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
What Joseph said above.

We installed our own Ikea kitchen and oddly enough, almost none of the drawers needed adjusting. At all. They just all lined up perfectly. That said, we made the necessary adjustments for the couple that needed it right after hanging the cabs and bolting them together, before appliances and counters were installed. None of our drawers have needed re-adjusting after the counters were installed, nor for the last one and a half year since..

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