Laminate Flooring Before Cabinets?

jimmyofc

anyone installed laminate flooring before installing kitchen cabinets? pro's and con's?

oldtiman

to save a buck you can mark your cabinet layout, lay flooring and inch or so past and install flooring where the dishwasher will be then use osb or plywood to fill in the area... total time for the job will be less since you don't have to be so precise for your cut off since it will be under the cabinets. also you won't have to trim to get a dishwasher to slide under the countertop stile... we lay under cabinets for tile , real 3/4 wood and particle board for a vinyl floor. If you have other sub's coming in you have to make sure to protect the new flooring and back charge anyone who damages it.

TimelessQuality

Pro's ...no

Con's... probably

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jaros bros.

Depending on the layout of the room, setting the cabinets down on it is going to prohibit contraction and expansion and could create buckling in the floor.

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Mike Costello

I have never loved the idea of laminate under cabs.

Lots of weight, lots of plumbing and potential to come in contact with moisture, much harder to fix the floor (disassemble for plank replacement) and of course the potential to pinch the floor somewhere and have expansion issues.

It is easier to install though.

DavidC

Excellent answer!

The floor is supposed to float, pinning it down with cabinets is not a good idea in my book. I would maybe try Oldtinman's idea at least once to see if it saved any time but would layout carefully so the flooring does not go under the cabs.

Good Luck
Dave

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Greg Di

Counterpoint:

Yes, cabinets are heavy on top of the floor, but how heavy is big armoire full of clothes, or a piano, or a big bookcase? All of those items are heavy too and no one gives a second thought about putting them over laminate, right?

Food for thought....

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DavidC

I'll give you that, and throw in the sub zero fridge to boot. Sometimes you can't avoid a pinch point, as in the piano. But the real problem will be what happens between two of them, say the sub zero and the cabs.

I think the best real answer is to try and talk them out it when they want laminate in kitchens and baths, have a waiver ready for the ones that won't listen.

Good Luck
Dave

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PrecisionFloors

Understand your thought Greg, but....armoires, pianos, and bookcases are not screwed to the wall either. That is what stops the ability of expansion/contraction. That is where the difference lies, and is why cabinets will void a warranty whereas a piano won't.

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Rkeister

Laminate under Cabinets.....NO

TopFloor

...what about caminate over labinates?

Seriously, though, PrecisionFloors said it perfectly (again):

Home Work Pro

In new construcion homes we used to install the floor first for speed in application.

When we set the cabinets, we would just mark the floor around the base cabinets and cut the floor in place leaving the under cabinet flooring in place.

Works like a charm and most times the toe kick covers the cut. Scribe works as a shoe on the exposed ends

jimmyofc

thanks for the advice will stick with my gut and layout cabinets and install 3/8 ply where cabinets go thus cabinets will be above flooring and let the floor do what it's suppose to do float. thanks for the input guys

Floordude

It is when you have very heavy stuff opposite each other across the room.

A wall of loaded bookshelves and across from it, a piano. Or in a kitchen, you have loaded cabinets, and across from it, sits the fridge, or more loaded cabinets.

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mrwoodman

Floating floor means exactly that! leave an expansion space all around it and do not fasten anything solid to it.

Ron