How to assemble a kitchen set with your own hands. Step-by-step instructions, useful tips and photos

You bought a new kitchen set and brought it home, but you don’t want to give the assemblers from the store ten percent of its cost? Installing a kitchen set with your own hands is not such a difficult process. Do it yourself if you have the necessary skills and you are not afraid of difficulties. Want to know how to assemble a kitchen set? Use our tips.

Design and construction are two sides of the same coin

Give preference to modular furniture, as well as designs that provide for simplified assembly of the kitchen set. Before buying, make a detailed plan of the room, on which you must indicate (preferably in millimeters):

• the height, width and length of the room in different parts of the kitchen - they will most likely differ;
• location and dimensions of the door;
• the exact location of electrical wiring, sewerage, water and gas pipelines;
• precise ventilation placement;
• the height of the window sill and the distance from the window opening to the corners of the kitchen.

Now feel free to go to a workshop or furniture store. Experienced specialists will use 3D modeling computer programs to select a suitable design and give advice on how to assemble a kitchen set. Follow the rules when choosing.

1. The kitchen is divided into cooking zones, food preparation zones with a sink, and food storage zones with a refrigerator. The transition between them occurs along the shortest path – the “golden triangle”.
2. The sink, hob and refrigerator should be located at least half a meter apart from each other - splashes of water can cause the hob to fail, and the refrigerator in the high-temperature zone will consume more electricity.
3. Place the washing machine and dishwasher closer to the water supply and sewerage system.

The design of the set depends on the size of the kitchen. The G-shaped and P-shaped arrangement of the set elements is used in small rooms. The island version is suitable for spacious rooms.

What you will need

Before you assemble your kitchen set, find in your toolbox or purchase:

• drill or hammer drill with a set of drill bits;
• hammer and chipping tool – for marking holes in concrete;
• screwdriver – for quickly tightening screws;
• jigsaw – for cutting holes;
• construction stapler.
• slotted key for screws with a hexagonal head.

During assembly you may need the following materials:

• furniture nails;
• furniture corners and borders, edging tape;
• inter-section ties;
• mounting and wooden slats of the same thickness;
• screws and dowels;
• silicone sealant or vapor barrier film;
• wood glue;
• acetone or white spirit.

You have to hang it straight

Start assembling the kitchen set with the wall cabinets. Before that, carefully select the parts for each element of the set.

Installation of fittings and fasteners

Install door hinges, shelf supports, and drawer guides.

Assembly of the supporting structure

For assembly accuracy, holes for cotter pins are provided at the points where the parts are joined. Connect the side and horizontal walls, make sure that the joining angle is 90 degrees.

Join the second pair as well. Assemble the box from the two halves and make sure there is no skew – measure the diagonals.

Box tie

For this purpose, you can use countersunk screws with an internal hexagon or furniture corners. Insert and loosely tighten all the fastening screws. Make sure there is no distortion and make the final tightening.

Installation of the rear wall

In the construction of wall cabinets, two methods of installation are used. The first is to attach fiberboard or hardboard from the outside using a construction stapler or small nails.

• Place the box face down on the assembly surface and place the hardboard on top so that the edges do not extend beyond the box.
• To avoid skewing, secure it first at the corners.
• Fix around the perimeter, keeping a 10 cm interval.

With the second method, the sheet is inserted into grooves machined along the rear edge of the posts.

Hang the cabinet correctly

"Well, that's really easy!" you might think. "I attached the canopies, installed the dowels in the wall and screwed them in." Don't rush! The obvious solution isn't always the best.

Prepare the wall

Remove any unevenness, paint or wallpaper – you won’t have this option after the installation is complete. Protect the space between the table and cabinets with an “apron” from splashes that occur when cooking and washing dishes. Read on to find out how to do this.

Make an "apron" from panels

An important advantage of such protection is quick installation and low cost. The panels are glued or attached to the frame (if the kitchen is large or the surface is uneven). If you choose the first method, pay attention to the details:

• level and prime the wall;
• use "liquid nails";
• Check the vertical tilt with a building level.

Choose a comfortable height and location

The installation height of wall cabinets is determined in accordance with the requirements:

• The space between the table and its lower edge should be at least 0.50 m and provide a good view.
• The bottom shelf should be at your eye level, and the top one should be within reach of your hand.
• If communications are laid along the wall, it is necessary to cut out cutouts in the back of the box.

Make the correct markings

Use a spirit level (bubble or laser) to draw an accurate horizontal line marking the holes for the fasteners.

Use "crabs" and mounting rails (rails)

Eye-shaped canopies are not the best method of fastening. Its disadvantages:

• rigid fixation – it is no longer possible to move the fastener to the side or up after installation;
• inaccuracy – deviations from the horizontal line are possible when drilling;
• the walls must be perfectly flat and thick;
• Fastening directly to the fiberboard leads to its breaking and deformation.

Mounting rails and adjustable canopies (“crabs”) will give you the necessary freedom of action and the following advantages:

• loads up to 100 kg do not destroy the rear wall;
• easy installation on clapboard, plasterboard and wall panels;
• insensitivity to wall unevenness;
• fine adjustment of the cabinet position in the horizontal plane;
• the ability to align it when overhanging the “apron”.

Fix the rail with dowels and screws. Note that the distance from the rail groove to the top wall should be at least 40 mm.

Install adjustable awnings on the inside of the uprights, close to the top corners of the wall cabinet. Pre-cut holes for the hooks in the back wall.

After hanging the cabinet on the rail, fine-tune the hinges using two screws located on the outer end. The upper screw adjusts the height of the cabinet above the floor, and the lower one adjusts its forward or backward tilt relative to the wall.

Earlier we described two ways of fixing the back wall. In the first case, the mounting strip pushes the top of the cabinet forward and creates a skew that can lead to a fall. To eliminate this, fix a strip of the same thickness under the bottom edge (or use a tiled "apron"). The option with inserting the wall into the groove is preferable, since it does not require a second strip.

Install inter-section ties

The tie screw is screwed into the sleeve, and the heads with wide caps provide fixation. Installation consists of a few simple steps.

Hang the facade elements

Install doors and borders last - this will speed up the installation process and reduce the risk of them breaking.

Coming down to earth

After admiring the creation of your own hands, majestically hanging on the walls of the kitchen, begin assembling the floor elements of the set.

We start dancing from the corner

And there is a corner cabinet with a sink. Usually this is a structure with a bottom consisting of two parts, a horizontal tsarga, replacing the second back wall to provide access to plumbing, and two perpendicular to each other (large and small) under the countertop. Assemble it according to the following plan:

• screw the composite bottom to the rear post and secure one of the ends of the rear frame;
• screw the side posts and tighten them with the tsars;
• tighten them together with screws;
• install the legs to the bottom of the cabinet according to the markings;
• Hang and adjust the doors.

Insert the sink

The sink is often sold separately from the set. Consider several important points when installing.

1. The hole for it is cut out before assembly from the base side.
2. The edge of the sink has two perimeters. The outer one corresponds to its edge, and the inner one corresponds to special loops for fastening.
3. When marking the hole, step back from the edge of the workpiece at least 10 cm. Outline the outer edges of the sink with a pencil.
4. Use a ruler to measure the distance from the edge to the mounting loop.
5. Put marks inside the outline at this distance. Draw a line through them, delimiting the inner perimeter.
6. Drill a few holes through it for the jigsaw;
7. Apply several strips of tape to the backing side, covering the outlined area - this will prevent damage to the front surface when the piece being cut sags.
8. Use a jigsaw to cut a hole for the sink.
9. Apply the sealant to the space between the inner and outer perimeters and wait until it thickens.
10. Insert and secure the sink with special clamps.

Assemble floor cabinets

Floor cabinets are assembled using the same principle. But first, adjustable legs are attached to the bottom of the cabinet according to the holes made in it. After assembling the bodies, be sure to carefully align the upper edge and tighten the inter-sectional ties.

Start assembling the drawers by installing the guides on the sides. Fit them to the back wall, insert the bottom, install the front cover, check the diagonals for skew, tighten the fasteners, screw on the handles.

Install the countertop

Most often it is made of laminated fiberboard. It is quickly assembled, has a small weight and is easy to process. Assembly consists of the following stages.

• Mark the fiberboard with an allowance of at least 1 cm on all sides, taking into account a gap of up to 5 mm for the “apron” and the thickness of the metal strip placed on the ends.
• Cut out the blank using a jigsaw or furniture saw.
• Apply sealant to the ends, press the strip tightly with screws, remove excess silicone with acetone.
• Place the countertop on the base cabinet posts and secure with screws.
• Fill the gap between the edges adjacent to the apron with sealant and cover with furniture border.

The corner tabletop consists of two or more parts connected with special ties. Assemble it according to the following scheme:

• Apply a special adhesive, which is included in the kit and has high adhesive properties, to the upper edge of the joint;
• carefully coat the rest of the joint with regular wood glue;
• insert the slats into a special slot cut along both sides of the joint;
• install the ties from the backing side into mirror-matching grooves made perpendicular to the joint surface, tighten them using a wrench;
• Remove any glue that has come out onto the front surface using white spirit or acetone.

Congratulations! You have managed to assemble and install a kitchen set with your own hands, which will serve for many years and will be a source of pride for you.

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