AboutVan Wilson Expertise I can answer questions to installing and repairing kitchen and bathroom wall and vanity cabinets including installing cabinet hardware. and Including building and installing laminated countertops and installing plumbing fixtures into cabinet tops.
Experience 30 years on the job experience.
Education/Credentials Have taught installation classes for local homecare centers 2 years
Expert: Van Wilson Date: 5/27/2008 Subject: Kitchen cabinets on brick and plaster
Question Hi Van,
I have started renovations on my home by tearing out the kitchen intending to install a new one. The house was built in 1929 and it is brick. When we took down the cabinets on the exterior wall, we lost some pretty big chunks of plaster, so we have been debating the best way to install the new cabinets. Here is our dilemma:
The door to the outside is only 25 inches out from the wall where we are putting the cabinets so we do not want to frame out a new wall.
We considered exposing the brick, even though it is exterior, but further exploration revealed that the "brick behind" the plaster is some kind of strange material that is very rough and hollow in places. It looks, from the hole where the oven hood was that it might have originally been behind some sort of wood or coal stove, so maybe it is some kind of special fire resistant brick or block.
We thought maybe we would try to bolt supports for the cabinets to the brick and then plaster around those, but we are worried about the brick seeming hollow in some places.
Someone on another site mentioned building down from the ceiling for the hanging cabinets and then securing base cabinets and appliances to the floor.
So my question is, what do think my options are, and what are the most inexpensive options?
Thank you for your time,
Jason
Answer Hi Jason,
I have read both of your posts to this subject. I have never tried to hang cabinets on a wall made of this material. A wall of the material you have described will be very soft in density and may or may not hold the weight of a wall cabinet and its contents.
In your place I would think along these lines. The possibility of the use of toggle bolts to attach the cabinets with to the existing wall, is one option.
Option two could be to build a stud wall to place over the existing wall attached to the floor joists and the ceiling joists plumb and level to attach the cabinets too. This works best if there are no windows on the walls that cabinets will hang on in this case, and if there are windows you can have a wide sill to set plants on.
These are two options to consider how ever building a stud wall over your existing interior wall seems to me to be a better solution for greater stability in the long run.
If either one of these options will not work for you I would look into getting your cabinets installed as free standing units not attached to the walls at all.
