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How We Installed Our Laundry Cabinets

When we last left off with the laundry room cabinets, we had just finished building them – fresh from their flat-packed boxes! – and we laid them in place until we were ready to install. Aside from the hanging rail system that we’ve used in the past for our fauxdenzas, we had yet to hang cabinets in the traditional sense, that is, until now! Turns out, it doesn’t need to be as complicated as some of the tutorials we read online. Truth be told, I began to feel intimidated about the process after falling down the proverbial tutorial rabbit hole. Together, we watched a few videos, read some step-by-steps, inspected our own kitchen cabinets, and when we were tired of reading and watching, we said, let’s not overthink this. We weren’t fast, but we did get them hung in a (long) afternoon! As a quick reminder, we’ve partnered with TheRTAStore.com, and we chose their Aspen White Shaker ready-to-assemble cabinets. Here’s how we made it work for us!

After emptying the room of our cabinet piles, we marked all the studs with blue tape. We worked our way around the room, taping around the area where we thought the cabinets would hang. (This is our favorite stud finder, by the way!)

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In our case, the cabinet above the washer and dryer was the most crucial piece for all the dominoes, so to speak, to fall into place. You can see in our laundry room plans that just to the left of this cabinet will be a side panel that rests on our countertop – so like I said, dominoes! A few quick measurements had us realizing that we would like 1.5″ fillers on each side of this cabinet, which is the exact depth of a standard pine 2″ x 4.” We attached two 2x4s plus a thin piece of plywood (to account for the inset lip on the side of each cabinet) directly into the studs…

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… and we used 2.5″ wood screws to go through the side of our cabinet, into the 2x4s and into the studs. We attached another pair of 2x4s on the exposed side of this cabinet, which the side panel will eventually attach to and fillers will conceal. Below, you can see that the cabinet is currently resting on a stack of scrap 2x4s; this is to keep the weight of the cabinet evenly distributed until the side panel is place. At this point, we didn’t want all the weight being supported by screws on only one side of the cabinet. Update: We’ve since added a box support behind this cabinet. The 2×4 box frame goes into the studs of the wall on the back end, and through the back of the cabinet on the front end. Extra security!

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With the trickiest cabinet complete, we could move on to the rest of the uppers. Taking into account the width of fillers + the distance from the far wall to the first stud, I made small marks on the back of the cabinet to show where the studs would be (behind the cabinet, once the cabinet is in place; make sense?). A small pilot hole through the cabinet would allow us to see where to attach the cabinet to the wall:

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We used a leftover piece of 2×4 to act as a level ledger board, and while I propped up the cabinet, Scott used my pilot holes as a guide to, again, use 2.5″ wood screws to go through the cabinet and directly into the studs behind the drywall. This was done from the inside, at the top and bottom of the cabinet. If needed, this is the point where shims could be added behind the cabinet to keep it straight against uneven drywall.

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The second cabinet was much easier since the top cabinet was good to go! While I held up the next cabinet, Scott clamped them together, triple-checked that all was level, and screwed through the back into the studs once again. While they were still clamped, three more (much shorter) wood screws were added along the front lip to keep this duo seamless.

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We opted to leave a 4″ drop from the ceiling, which we felt looked the best while still allowing breathing room above the stacked washer and dryer. This drop will be completely concealed with simple crown molding soon enough!

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Finally, we were able to get the base sink cabinet into place. Scott constructed a small box frame on legs (to account for the toe kick) that would push our base cabinet far enough out to become flush with the side of the washing machine. This will give us a 32″ deep working surface for our countertop. With the frame screwed into the wall, we pushed the base cabinet flush against it, added a few thin shims underneath the right side to keep it level, and we screwed the cabinet directly into the box frame:

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We still need to add an access panel for the water shut off, and we’ll of course need to cut out a hole for the plumbing, but the cabinets are in place! In the meantime, we’ve laid out all of our filler pieces, and now we just need to cut them down and rip them to the exact widths. The fillers are in the same finish and color as our cabinets, and they’ll – get this – fill all the gaps for a seamless finish overall. I have a feeling this will be the most tedious part of the cabinet install, but just the thing to make all the difference!

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The next time we share the cabinets, fingers crossed, they’ll be crossed off the list completely! In other (very, very exciting) news, a sweet vintage rug was delivered this week, we have these brass knobs in waiting and I’m working on a quick and simple laundry bag DIY. This room is chugging along!

TheRTAStore.com provided us with cabinets for the laundry room, and all opinions belong to these two. Thank you for supporting the brands that support us, and most importantly, we hope this gives you another budget-friendly option for all the flat-packed cabinetry out there!

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  • Kari7.8.16 - 8:09 AM

    Two posts in three days? It’s Christmas over here! But really, your laundry room is coming together so nicely. I’m excited to see how you fill all of those gaps. I’m sure it’ll be so, so worth the tedious work. Bravo!ReplyCancel

    • Kim7.8.16 - 9:29 AM

      Haha, I wish I could find the time between projects to write even more. Thanks, Kari!ReplyCancel

  • Kelly7.8.16 - 9:07 AM

    looks great! what happens to the top cabinet if you need to pull the washer or the dryer out to fix something or for maintenance?ReplyCancel

    • Kim7.8.16 - 9:30 AM

      That cabinet will be floating independently of the washer and dryer! Those 2x4s it’s being stacked on is just there for support until we can add the side panel.ReplyCancel

  • Carol7.8.16 - 9:08 AM

    Looking goooood! Confession – at first I didn’t love that ostrich wallpaper (what? blasphemy!) and now that the room is coming together I love it!ReplyCancel

    • Kim7.8.16 - 9:31 AM

      Ha, that’s okay! Wallpaper is such a personal choice. :)ReplyCancel

  • Colleen Sante7.9.16 - 8:17 AM

    Will there be an under-cabinet light over the sink? I’m afraid the sink will be in shadow when you stand there to do hand washing.ReplyCancel

    • Kim7.9.16 - 8:52 PM

      I don’t think so, but we could certainly add LED strips down the road. Along those lines, we installed 2 recessed cans closer to the cabinets for that reason in addition to the ceiling light. There will be 3 lights in a small room!ReplyCancel

  • kathy7.9.16 - 10:37 AM

    Holy muscles! Did you do all that cabinet lifting without even a Jack or CC to help?! ;) This little room is looking awesome!ReplyCancel

    • Kim7.9.16 - 8:53 PM

      Can you believe it?! They just sat and watched us, thinking, ‘suckers.’ We DID take the doors off when hanging to lighten the load though. That helps tremendously!ReplyCancel

  • Steph M.7.11.16 - 10:58 AM

    So good! Is it weird I’m looking forward to see how you create Libby’s personal suite? I’m totally trying to figure out a way to conceal the boxes, but still make the boys happy in the new house. I’m thinking hanging curtains from the ceiling and creating their own little room in the basement…aka-spoiled, haha!ReplyCancel

    • Kim7.11.16 - 11:12 AM

      Not weird at all! Our pets don’t know what spoiled is… HA!ReplyCancel

  • Dakwerken7.12.16 - 2:36 AM

    Looking good. Even I’m trying to do something just like you. Your blog is inspiring me to start the work soon :)ReplyCancel

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