Raising cabinets with man-power is really hard, especially if you have one long cabinet that spans the whole wall. Even with a person on each end, those are really hard to lift.
I found a way to raise my own kitchen cabinets by myself, with absolutely NO help from anyone else, using tools that any gal should have around!
Here's my cabinets to start:
You will need:
- Two benches
- Blocks of wood or big thick books like dictionaries (regular books will do too)
- A car jack from your car's emergency tire kit. Every car has one of these.
First, unscrew your cabinets from the walls. You will absolutely need to prop them up before you unscrew. I used the two benches, with as many books/blocks as necessary to meet the bottom of the cabinets.
It also helps if you take off the doors, and anything attached to the cabinets (like a hood vent or microwave).
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| The left side is propped up too, it's just hard to see the stool. |
Place your carjack on the cabinet, and use a piece of wood to pad it from punching holes your cabinets.
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| As you raise your cabinets higher, you'll need to raise your carjack. I put blocks under the carjack to raise it. |
This part is important: raise ONE side of the cabinet several inches (5 or 6), brace it with blocks on top of your stool, and then raise the other side the same way. If you raise one side all the way up, you will gouge your drywall - there is not a lot of room to raise it all in one fell swoop.
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| I just raised the right side, and braced it with the blocks on top of the books. |
This process took me hours, but it really works! There was no way I could have lifted the cabinets with my own strength. Make sure that your bracing materials are toward the front of your cabinets - you don't want them falling forward. however, most cabinets are fitted with each other in such a way that they can't really fall forward.
Just be really careful. cabinets are so heavy, and if something terrible happened, you don't want them toppling off of the wall and hurting you too.
Do not raise your cabinets all the way to the ceiling, unless you left the moulding on. I took mine off, so I needed to leave at least 3" between the tops of the cabinets and the ceiling.
If you kept your moulding on, just have a little space, maybe one inch, from the ceiling.
Once you've got them at what seems a good height, use a long level to make sure you don't have crooked cabinets:
Screw your cabinets back in. If you raised them straight up, then the existing screw holes will still be along the studs, so you can put the screws back where they belong. They absolutely must be back in the studs.
Here's my cabinets after I raised them!
Usually, the builder will texture the wall before the cabinets are installed, so all you would have to do is either backsplash the vacant area, or paint it.
(It is easy to buy a texture spray to texture under there yourself, if it hasn't been done by the builder. )
I am currently doing more to my kitchen - installing open shelves underneath the cabinets and painting them.
I'll post those tutorials next!
