If you are updating your old kitchen, you have some exciting possibilities ahead. You’ll also get some important logistical questions coming up, like, “Should you install tile after or before kitchen cabinets?”
The layout, your design preferences, and a few other aspects will shift the order in which you complete the remodeling project. As an expert installer for cabinets in Baltimore, MD, Current Cabinetry can give you great advice about the best timeline for your unique setup.
For now, here are the pros and cons of a classic installation sequence – cabinets before tiles – or the other way around.
The Top Reasons To Install Cabinets Before Tiles (or Switch It Up)
Deciding to install the kitchen cabinets before securing the tiles to the floors or walls can be a useful option. Here are a few scenarios that might warrant cabinets before tiles.
You’re Installing Custom-Built Cabinets
When choosing kitchen cabinets, you might select custom-made models. That way, you can trust the cabinets arrive with the highest quality materials and craftsmanship. There’s only one snag – you need exact measurements for custom-built cabinets built to fit the space.
Let’s say you install the tile floor first. Might the thickness of the flooring affect the sleek fit of those very precisely fitted cabinets you’ve ordered? You should always install custom-built cabinets before you do the flooring.
The Subfloor Is Not Perfectly Level
Should you install tile after or before kitchen cabinets? Well, does the project need significant subfloor preparation to make the layout suitable for tiles and tile underlayment? If so, why spend time and money leveling sections of the subfloor that are going to be under the cabinets anyway?
Just install the cabinets first and let the cabinet installers make some slight adjustments during installation to ensure cabinet stability. You can then focus on only leveling the section of the floor where the tiles will go.
The Tile You’re Installing Is Expensive
Some kinds of tiles are extremely expensive, so why hide them underneath your cabinetry? Install the cabinets first.
You might even save money by only ordering and installing the number of tiles you need to go around the front of the cabinets.
Your Service Professionals Need to Drill for Electrical and Plumbing
Should you install tile after or before kitchen cabinets that need electrical conduit and plumbing pipes inside them?
If you need to drill holes in the floor to run electrical or plumbing lines that will go inside the cabinets, you don’t want to lay the tile floor first! Drilling through a tile surface could ruin it.
You’re Worried About the Expansion Gap for the Tile
When installing tile or another kind of flooring, don’t forget about the flooring alignment and the expansion gap. All kinds of flooring, including tiles, need a fraction of an inch for a safe expansion gap at the edges.
This gap allows for contraction and expansion in different temperatures and humidity levels. However, if you install the tile first, you risk the weight of the cabinets on top of the tiles preventing their ability to expand and contract as needed – especially with natural stone countertops! Installing cabinetry first preserves the tile gap.
You Expect To Replace the Tiling Before Replacing the Cabinets
If you lay the tile floor first and then place cabinets over the top of it, you’ll struggle to tear out the tile if you decide to put in a new floor later.
It’s much easier to replace the flooring when you install the cabinets first because the flooring doesn’t go under them.
The Weight of the Cabinets and Countertop May Break the Tiles
Should you install tile after or before kitchen cabinets? Are the tiles you picked fragile enough to crack under the weight of cabinets and countertops?
It’s safer to install delicate tiles after you’ve put in the heavy cabinets.
The Cabinet Installation Could Scratch or Damage the Tiles
If you lay out the tiles first and then place the cabinets over the top of them, there’s a good chance you’ll scratch or damage the tiles.
With all the other things to line up, tile damage prevention can be a challenge for installers. Unburden your installer and just install the cabinets before the tile flooring.
The Tiles’ Thickness Can Affect Cabinet Height
Are you still wondering, “Should you install tile after or before kitchen cabinets?” When those cabinets are nearly as tall as your kitchen ceiling, one final consideration here is that tile is quite a bit thicker than vinyl planks or laminate flooring. Even a fraction of an inch more height could then affect the fit of the cabinets.
Some tile flooring installations even require you to lay down backer boards, especially in a kitchen with potential moisture infiltration. Add backer boards to the tile thickness and your tallest cabinets might not even fit in the room.
Reasons To Install Tiles Before Cabinets
Tiles can successfully go in after cabinets, but there are situations where the opposite approach works better. Read on for the best reasons to install your tile flooring first and only then tackle the kitchen cabinets.
You Don’t Want To Have To Cut Tiles To Fit Around Cabinets
When installing tiles to fit after installing cabinets, installers will likely need a tile saw on hand to cut the tiles around the perimeter to fit inside the edges by the cabinets.
If you install the tiles first, you might skip having to cut tiles – and that saves a lot of effort. That way, you could just lay out full tiles and let the edges of the cabinets achieve the same visual effect.
You Want a Seamless Look
Installing kitchen tiles before cabinets may create a more seamless aesthetic. For example, you don’t need a visible expansion gap when the tiles go underneath the cabinets.
Everything will also be at a similar height when the cabinets are on top of the tiles. Many people appreciate that design uniformity.
It’s Easier to Replace Built-in Appliances
Should you install tile after or before kitchen cabinets when you have a lot of built-in appliances? Ovens and refrigerators happily sit atop a tile floor and between the cabinets.
When it’s time to replace those appliances, you also don’t have to worry about trying to lift the appliance over the lip of the tile when moving it, which could damage the floor. If the floor is down first, your built-in appliance can just slide out.
A Future Kitchen Remodel — Where You Leave the Tile in Place — Becomes Easier
Committing to a kitchen renovation is a long-term investment. You will likely expect the look and feel of the kitchen to remain in place for a long time to come. Still, if you think you’ll ever want to tear out the cabinets, you’ll want to put the flooring down first.
If you do it this way, you’ll have more freedom to select different cabinet sizes or layouts during that next renovation. If you install the cabinets first, your tile floor may have gaps and imbalances. It’s rare to tear out cabinets and leave the floor, so this scenario is unlikely.
Trust Current Cabinetry for Custom Cabinets That Make Gorgeous Kitchen Remodeling a Breeze
Should you install tile after or before kitchen cabinets for the greatest renovation durability? Advice from your kitchen remodeling contractor and cabinet manufacturer will be invaluable as you weigh these types of aspects in your investment decision.
Let Current Cabinetry’s experts answer all your questions about the best cabinet types and more! Call us today at (410) 609-7077.