Hi Everyone! My first post, hoping to get some advice, I’m fitting my new kitchen shortly, I’m only fitting the cabinets and will get someone to fit the worktop. I’m getting a 650mm worktop and I am planning on offsetting the base cabinets from the wall 50mm using a batten screwed to the wall, my question is does this batten need to be exactly level with the base cabinet top or as I am planning having it a 6-10mm below, it seems more straight forward to do this when lining up the first base unit against the bottom of the tall unit in the corner, I just don’t want the worktop fitter to say it should be level to add extra support but I can’t see how 50mm unsupported worktop at the back would matter. The worktop is a 20mm solid laminate. Any advice would be grateful.
Are you using end/decor panels as they will need to be deeper to accommodate the offset (if visible of course). As far as your batten goes it shouldn't really matter but why wouldn't you have it level with the carcasses?
Thanks. There will be one end panel and one tall end panel but these are both 650mm. My only concern was I have to level the first base unit with the bottom of the tall unit next to it, and to level against a top (the batten) and the bottom seemed like it could go wrong as I thought it would be safer to just have the batten slightly lower
Start from the lowest point of your floor, and depending on floor thickness finish set your cabinets height off the depth of the plinth you have chosen plus 10mm or so, offer up the first cabinet to the wall plumb and level, mark the wall then remove cabinet and fix the batten from that point all the way around the kitchen spot on level. Use this as your datum for the tops of all the base units and indeed the rest of the kitchen.
Spot on, no point at all in setting the batten lower than the top of the cabs, unless it's as bent and twisted as a very old Alsations legs
20mm tops need lots of support so best set the batton level to avoid sagging if the cabinets don’t have a solid top.
20mm tops need supporting with steel braces front and back between cabs, but the gable ends of each cab is fine otherwise.
Use a laser level. If you haven't got one i can recommend this one https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-quigo-self-levelling-cross-line-red-beam-laser/4708x. When levelling cabinets I use 4 little "bricks" with a line marked part way up - set them on the top of the cabs and use the laser level to level up the cab tops to the lines marked on the little bricks - the bricks make the laser line dead easy to see. You could even use little stacks of lego bricks if you have kidlets.