Hi everyone,
I like the idea of these leveler legs:
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?offerings_id=5217&filter=cabinet%20leveler
You can also have your toe kick snap on to the legs.
I also figured it would make it easier to build base cabinets. You don’t have to notch out for the toe kick on each base unit. Just make a plywood box. Saves you a couple of steps, and might save on plywood too.
Anybody out there ever use them?
Anybody ever make there own (faster, and cheaper than these)?
Thanks!
Replies
I've used them on one full kitchen of cabinets. They work fine. Leveling is easy. They seem like they would not withstand a large side load, but so long as the cabinets are fastened back to a wall it would not be a problem. I'd be leery of using them on an island.
Chills,
Our shop turns out about one kitchen every week. We tried these levelers, had mixed feelings about them, and eventually stopped using them except in special circumstances. They do make some things much easier as you said. But on the downside - 1) they break quite easily if hit from the side in transport 2) The clip that connects the toekick is the flimsiest thing you can imagine. You need to use a lot of these legs to get anything like a sturdy feeling from the toekick. 3) If you have an ouside corner, it is very difficult to get a perfect alignment from the 2 toekicks that need to meet. And the slightest blow (like from someone's foot) can move it.
All in all, we felt that the idea was good but the results obtained were not compatible with the quality product we are trying to make. If some manufacturer upgrades this idea a few notches I would be buying them by the 1000's.
DR
Ring,
Thanks, your hands on experience, on the negative side, is kinda what I was looking for.
I was leafing through some cabinetry making book, and I saw them in there. In that book, the author uses a jig or template to get all the holes for the legs to line up. He also used either 1/2" or 3/4" plywood for the toe kick. For where it had to turn a corner, he would miter the end, miter another piece of plywood, take a biscuit jointer to both pieces. Cut the mitered end off the one piece and glue the "return" on to the original front toe kick piece. Then the toe kick for the short side would just butt into that mitered return piece.
Wish I could find that book again. There were some neat tricks in it.
I too, think that plastic stuff just wouldn't hold up to being loaded on to a delivery truck, bounced around on the way to the house, unloaded and stockpiled, and then finally slid into place.
You could always attach the legs right before the cabinets get installed.
I was thinking a short piece of threaded black or galvanized gas pipe screwed into a floor flange. The floor flange screwed to the underisde of the cabinet's bottom. Then you would have to come up with a way to adjust them through a hole drilled in the bottom.
But time wise and price wise for those pieces, you wouldn't come out ahead.
You would only need two legs for the front. The back gets screwed to the wall, even with some level line you've already established around the room.
I posted the same question on Breaktime. I guy there uses a place that sells something similar for $1.45 each. He posted a link.
Here is what was posted in Breaktime:
56061.8 in reply to 56061.1
These are great to use. Very simple to adjust.
http://www.cshardware.com/legs_%26_feet.htm
part # 36.410 = $ 1.45 each at Custom Service Hardware
I am a cabinetmaker with 30 years experience. I will now only use leveler legs (Blum) even on islands. On island requires a block fastened to the floor and cabinet as part of the install. The beauty of the legs is they transfer the load down to the floor when properly installed more positivly than plywood frames and shims. I find them indispensable for long cabinet runs and faster (ie. cheaper) than any other method. I tap the leg into the base at the jobsite and move the cabinets with the stump installed. I use the 30mm press in stump which my Blum machine drills for me. Also, after cutting and fitting the toe kick I use small amounts of poly caulk to permanitize them to the floor and underside of the cab. Hope that helps.....
Chills
I had the same experience as ring. We laid a batten horizontally along the wall to locate the back of the cabinet & used the adjustable legs at the front. I was never really happy with them for the same reasons as ring & now will only use them when a floor is extremely out of whack. The version we used screw on from underneath & the stem is inserted on site. I have gone back to using a box kick which is levelled before dropping the cabs on top, the resulting structure is rock solid. Face frame cabs died out here about 20 years ago, so a box type kick works well with our frameless system. I know of only one cabinetmaker who still notches out for a kick & he contracts them out to a cnc shop.
Don
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