How would you (or would you) raise your countertop height without rebuilding?

[Brent Taylor]

I agree with all who say pull the cabinet and do it right, It cost a lot less to do it right once, than to cobble it up that fix it again latter when the new tops are installed or the dishwashers have issues. B

 

[Grasshopper]

Good advice all around.  Majority comments indicate doing it right the first time with 3/4 ply underneath.  ;D

After doing all that work, I have always been tempted by trying to build a drain pan similar to what washer sit on for the dishwashers to rest on (only much more inconspicuous).  I've always thought that would be a smart move to protect your floors if the dishwasher leaked (and fridge for that matter).  Oh well, that can wait.

Back to the base cabinets….my better judgement says to pull everything out and throw some 3/4 ply underneath.

Now how to do this Faster, Easier, Smarter…... ;D

 

[Grasshopper]

Ewils91,

Any chance you have a picture of this modification?

I'd love to show my wife a photo and let her choose which way I go.

pugilato,

We have done it this way in the past and turned the modification into a design element. It was so successful that we had people request this detail in cabinets that never had an issue to begin with...lol  [big grin]

 

[Godfather]

Imo going into the project making compromises like this will drive you crazy.  With the countertop coming off now is the time to toss down some 3/4.  If you decide to push on I'd suggest making the island short to make it similar...

 

[Grasshopper]

I'm not sure I have the appetite to remove all base cabinets. I was planning to do so until I realized I'd also need to remove the double ovens, which connect to a row of uppers in order to do this so they line up.

A piece of filler is beginning to look better and better.

Imo going into the project making compromises like this will drive you crazy.  With the countertop coming off now is the time to toss down some 3/4.  If you decide to push on I'd suggest making the island short to make it similar...

 

[Landmade]

I have done this exact thing twice in my career and have done both methods, raising the bases and padding out the top.  Recently The latter on a customers house by adding pieces of 5/4 maple I had scraps of, to the tops of the existing cabinets when they were changing out the counter material.  There were a few full height cabinets that had drawers lining up with lower cabinet drawers so pulling the bases out and building up was out of the question.  It would have made far too many other complications to do so. 
To all of you who say it's an easy thing to do, clearly didn't do so on an occupied kitchen, and if it was, you were getting paid by the hour by customers with money to burn.   
    Adding the molding detail to the fronts is a fun idea and it would help hide the joint, but you then run into the risk of deeper overhangs on the stone and the possibility of it interfering with other fixtures,  Does your double oven cabinet start flush with the end of your current countertops or does the Formica run beyond a little?  The additional molding might push it out beyond and suddenly look funny.  In my opinion, save your sanity and time and just set in strips to the tops of the cabinets and call it a day.  Domino the face frames to help align it and just shoot the rest in with a nail gun and glue.  The whole task will take you just two hours start to finish, including cleanup verses two days doing he other method.  Think about all that goes into it.  Two days of emptying the cabinets, finding a place to put all the crap, removing the base cabinets,(good luck if theirs a one piece toe kick installed and save plenty of time to curse out the jerk who installed them using three different types of screws, torq bit screws? Seriously, who uses these things?) finding a place to store the cabinets while you put down the plywood, installing said new plywood, then reinstalling the cabinets including new shims, cutting the plumbing openings again, fighting with removing and installing the two dishwashers I recall you mentioning, and then filling the cabinets again.    Just go the easy path and lie to the naysayers here by telling everyone you did it the hard way.  Can't see it from their houses right? 
  I forgot to add that you should at least slide a few strips of flooring under the dishwashers to help allow you to roll them out easy enough if you need to service them or replace them.  Just lift them gently and slide the strips under, don't bother removing the whole thing. 

 

[Grasshopper]

Landmade,

Excuse my delayed response.  Thanks for your feedback!

I am just now getting ready for granite to come (installation is in a couple of weeks).  I find myself scrambling a little to figure out what I am going to do.  I am concerned that raising the bases from the bottom may open up a can of worms that I don't have time for now (in hindsight, I should have rebuilt all my bases, but that time has now passed).

In your suggestion to set in strips, attaching to the face frames using dominos seems pretty straightforward.  I'd go with 3/4x 3/4" stock and alignment would be a piece of cake with the domino (and I'd sand flush).

My question is, how would you attach the sides with this method?  The base cabs have crappy 3/8" veneered particle board sides and backs.  To install 3/4" strips with glue and nails seems like it would run a high risk of blowing nails out through the sides.

Also, if you didn't add the trim to cover up the seam, what did you do to not have the seam stand out?

Thanks in advance.

I have done this exact thing twice in my career and have done both methods, raising the bases and padding out the top.  Recently The latter on a customers house by adding pieces of 5/4 maple I had scraps of, to the tops of the existing cabinets when they were changing out the counter material.  There were a few full height cabinets that had drawers lining up with lower cabinet drawers so pulling the bases out and building up was out of the question.  It would have made far too many other complications to do so. 
To all of you who say it's an easy thing to do, clearly didn't do so on an occupied kitchen, and if it was, you were getting paid by the hour by customers with money to burn.   
    Adding the molding detail to the fronts is a fun idea and it would help hide the joint, but you then run into the risk of deeper overhangs on the stone and the possibility of it interfering with other fixtures,  Does your double oven cabinet start flush with the end of your current countertops or does the Formica run beyond a little?  The additional molding might push it out beyond and suddenly look funny.  In my opinion, save your sanity and time and just set in strips to the tops of the cabinets and call it a day.  Domino the face frames to help align it and just shoot the rest in with a nail gun and glue.  The whole task will take you just two hours start to finish, including cleanup verses two days doing he other method.  Think about all that goes into it.  Two days of emptying the cabinets, finding a place to put all the crap, removing the base cabinets,(good luck if theirs a one piece toe kick installed and save plenty of time to curse out the jerk who installed them using three different types of screws, torq bit screws? Seriously, who uses these things?) finding a place to store the cabinets while you put down the plywood, installing said new plywood, then reinstalling the cabinets including new shims, cutting the plumbing openings again, fighting with removing and installing the two dishwashers I recall you mentioning, and then filling the cabinets again.    Just go the easy path and lie to the naysayers here by telling everyone you did it the hard way.  Can't see it from their houses right? 
  I forgot to add that you should at least slide a few strips of flooring under the dishwashers to help allow you to roll them out easy enough if you need to service them or replace them.  Just lift them gently and slide the strips under, don't bother removing the whole thing.

 

[shaun.mcc]

Nice. I think the granite built up is a good solution.

 

[foolforspeed]

Landmade,

Excuse my delayed response.  Thanks for your feedback!

I am just now getting ready for granite to come (installation is in a couple of weeks).  I find myself scrambling a little to figure out what I am going to do.  I am concerned that raising the bases from the bottom may open up a can of worms that I don't have time for now (in hindsight, I should have rebuilt all my bases, but that time has now passed).

In your suggestion to set in strips, attaching to the face frames using dominos seems pretty straightforward.  I'd go with 3/4x 3/4" stock and alignment would be a piece of cake with the domino (and I'd sand flush).

My question is, how would you attach the sides with this method?  The base cabs have crappy 3/8" veneered particle board sides and backs.  To install 3/4" strips with glue and nails seems like it would run a high risk of blowing nails out through the sides.

Also, if you didn't add the trim to cover up the seam, what did you do to not have the seam stand out?

Thanks in advance.

I have done this exact thing twice in my career and have done both methods, raising the bases and padding out the top.  Recently The latter on a customers house by adding pieces of 5/4 maple I had scraps of, to the tops of the existing cabinets when they were changing out the counter material.  There were a few full height cabinets that had drawers lining up with lower cabinet drawers so pulling the bases out and building up was out of the question.  It would have made far too many other complications to do so. 
To all of you who say it's an easy thing to do, clearly didn't do so on an occupied kitchen, and if it was, you were getting paid by the hour by customers with money to burn.   
    Adding the molding detail to the fronts is a fun idea and it would help hide the joint, but you then run into the risk of deeper overhangs on the stone and the possibility of it interfering with other fixtures,  Does your double oven cabinet start flush with the end of your current countertops or does the Formica run beyond a little?  The additional molding might push it out beyond and suddenly look funny.  In my opinion, save your sanity and time and just set in strips to the tops of the cabinets and call it a day.  Domino the face frames to help align it and just shoot the rest in with a nail gun and glue.  The whole task will take you just two hours start to finish, including cleanup verses two days doing he other method.  Think about all that goes into it.  Two days of emptying the cabinets, finding a place to put all the crap, removing the base cabinets,(good luck if theirs a one piece toe kick installed and save plenty of time to curse out the jerk who installed them using three different types of screws, torq bit screws? Seriously, who uses these things?) finding a place to store the cabinets while you put down the plywood, installing said new plywood, then reinstalling the cabinets including new shims, cutting the plumbing openings again, fighting with removing and installing the two dishwashers I recall you mentioning, and then filling the cabinets again.    Just go the easy path and lie to the naysayers here by telling everyone you did it the hard way.  Can't see it from their houses right? 
  I forgot to add that you should at least slide a few strips of flooring under the dishwashers to help allow you to roll them out easy enough if you need to service them or replace them.  Just lift them gently and slide the strips under, don't bother removing the whole thing.

I agree with Landmade. No point in turning this into a major eat out of the microwave for too long project. If you turn 1x2 flat on the surface then you can pocket screw it together around the ends and you can just put some glue on the 3/8" sides. That should suffice. You could even run a profile on the bottom edge of the 1x2 and let it stand a little proud of the faceframe. That will allow you to skip the step of adding a trim.
If 1x2 is not thick enough then mill something to the desired thickness x 2" and run a profile on it.

 

[Sparktrician]

Landmade,

Excuse my delayed response.  Thanks for your feedback!

I am just now getting ready for granite to come (installation is in a couple of weeks).  I find myself scrambling a little to figure out what I am going to do.  I am concerned that raising the bases from the bottom may open up a can of worms that I don't have time for now (in hindsight, I should have rebuilt all my bases, but that time has now passed).

In your suggestion to set in strips, attaching to the face frames using dominos seems pretty straightforward.  I'd go with 3/4x 3/4" stock and alignment would be a piece of cake with the domino (and I'd sand flush).

My question is, how would you attach the sides with this method?  The base cabs have crappy 3/8" veneered particle board sides and backs.  To install 3/4" strips with glue and nails seems like it would run a high risk of blowing nails out through the sides.

Also, if you didn't add the trim to cover up the seam, what did you do to not have the seam stand out?

Thanks in advance.

Hey, Grasshopper,
    You might want to consider making a framework using the 3/4" x 3/4" stock and dominoes.  Make it a monolithic unit the exact size as the top of the cabinets, then domino it to the face frames in front and use brackets in the rear to align things.  Once the granite has arrived, you can apply the scotia molding to cover the framework.  You won't have to worry about trying to set dominoes into 3/8" particle board.  Just a thought... 

 

[Grasshopper]

You guys are awesome!  The light bulb clicked and I am hoping to make a framework as suggested.  I got some red oak  1x2 which I will lay down and domino to the face frame (matching the oak face frame below).  I will domino the upper to the face frame for all face frame "frontage", then glue some 1x2 poplar along the sides and back (pocket screwing where the poplar meets the red oak, and pocket screwing the back into the a few studs in the wall).

The scotia molding was throwing me, so I rebuilt the end cap cabinet from scratch (since it is the only exposed box in my U-shaped kitchen), and will raise that one from the bottom.  Doing this will hide all the sides, so I will plan to domino all "frontage" flush with the face frame, sand and fill the seam, and not do any scotia molding at all.

I'll take some photos to share.