Preparing Your Room - IKEA ENHET kitchen Installation Manual

Preparing your room

Whether you're replacing an old kitchen or starting
from scratch, it's key to understand that the proper-
ties of the room dictate how complex or smooth your
installation process will be. With this in mind it's impor-
tant that you spend sufficient time assessing walls and
floors before you start the installation. Now is also the
time to prime and paint your walls and change your
flooring. Don't apply the final coating of paint at this
point since you will need to make markings and drill
holes in the walls. If you plan to have tiles or similar,
it's best to install these after the cabinets and worktop
have been installed.
Check that your walls are strong enough to hold the
cabinets. Depending on your wall material, it's best
to install your cabinet onto a stud or support beam.
Use a stud finder to locate the studs.
If you have a light wall construction with gypsum
(drywall) wall panels supported by studs, it's not
enough to fix your cabinets onto the thin gypsum
board alone (not even using drywall anchors).
In order to provide proper support for the cabinets,
you need to add horizontal structural support
between the studs. As this requires the proper skills,
be sure to contact a professional for help.
4
Assess your walls
Since your walls will hold the weight of your kitchen
cabinets and frames, start by evaluating the quality
and construction of your walls.
Marking cabinet positions
Draw a layout of your new kitchen directly on the wall.
Check that everything fits with the measurements
from your plan and that your electricity, water, gas and
ventilation connections are where you want them to
be.
What you are looking for is a fixed structure inside
the wall that is strong enough to carry the load of
your cabinets. Keep in mind that this fixed structure
needs to align with the fixation points of your
cabinets.
Instead, you need to locate the studs inside the wall
using a stud finder. Studs are mostly vertical posts
made of wood, but can also be thin metal profiles,
and run from the floor all the way to the ceiling.
Note that even if your new cabinets will be located at
the same position as the cabinets of the old kitchen,
it is important to secure that the walls have been
properly reinforced.
Find out what type of wall you'll be working with. For
solid core materials like masonry that are hard to
penetrate and can support great loads, you need
special anchors and screws.
The wall studs, normally located 30, 45 or even 60 cm
apart, can carry the load of your wall cabinets.
However, as the cabinets come in different widths it
is highly likely that the fixation points of the cabinets
and position of the studs won't align.
It's important that you use the proper type and
size of fixing devices to attach your cabinets. The
minimum screw thickness is 4.6 mm and the screw
needs to penetrate at least 38 mm into the wall stud
or solid core material. For advice, contact your local
specialised dealer.