# Kitchen Installation Guide Install one wall of a flat\-pack kitchen, from empty room to finished kitchen By Frankie Kam Topic: Home & DIY [Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/8jWKxKLyNrI4) ## Guide ### 1. Before You Get Started Here is one wall of a new kitchen, still in pieces: cabinets, rails, worktop, sink, hob, hood, drawers and doors\. Check every part against your order before the old kitchen comes out\. Lay the cabinets out in the order you will fit them\. Tap any part to see its name\. A qualified person must turn off and reconnect the electricity, water and gas\. ### 2. 1 · Prepare the Space With the old kitchen gone, check the floor and walls with a spirit level, a tool whose bubble sits in the middle when something is perfectly flat\. Mark the outline of the new kitchen on the wall\. Note the highest point of the floor: every height is measured from there\. Walls are not all alike, so cabinets come without wall screws\. Ask a hardware shop which ones suit your wall\. ### 3. 2 · Fix the Base Rail A suspension rail is a metal strip screwed to the wall that the cabinets hang on\. Fix the rail for the base cabinets first, with its underside 82 cm above the floor’s highest point\. Check it is perfectly level\. If the wall is uneven, slip thin packing pieces behind the rail so it sits flat\. ### 4. 3 · Fix the Wall Rail Fix the rail for the wall cabinets 120 cm above the base rail\. That spacing suits a kitchen 208 cm high\. Level it too, then put the level away\. For a 228 cm or 248 cm kitchen, leave 140 cm or 160 cm instead\. ### 5. 4 · Hang the Corner Wall Cabinet Wall cabinets go up first, so the base cabinets are not in your way\. Start in the corner: hang the cabinet on its rail and tighten its screws firmly\. Leave doors, drawers and shelves off for now\. ### 6. 5 · Hang the Next Wall Cabinets Hang the other wall cabinets beside it the same way, including the short one above the hob\. Leave their screws loose, so everything can be lined up once the base cabinets are in\. ### 7. 6 · Fit the Corner Base Cabinet Now the base cabinets, again from the corner\. Attach its legs, then hang it on the lower rail\. Here it is the sink cabinet, so line it up with the water pipes\. Cut any openings for pipes before the cabinet goes on the wall\. ### 8. 7 · Fit the Other Base Cabinets Fit the rest the same way\. Two cabinets side by side can rest on the same legs\. Turn the legs to raise or lower each cabinet until they all line up\. ### 9. 8 · Fit a Filler Piece A filler piece closes the gap between a cabinet and the wall, and leaves room for doors and drawers to open\. If the wall is wavy, trace its shape onto the filler with a pencil and a small block of wood, then saw along the line\. Seal its edges with silicone, a watertight paste, once it is in place\. ### 10. 9 · Lay the Worktop Check the worktop’s size and cut it to length\. Seal every sawn edge with silicone, a rubbery paste that sets watertight, so water cannot soak in\. Then lay it on the cabinets and fix it as its own instructions show\. Saw the sink and hob holes now, while the worktop is easy to turn over\. ### 11. 10 · Fit the Sink Mark the sink’s outline on masking tape on the worktop\. Drill a hole in each corner, then cut the opening with a jigsaw, a power saw with a thin blade that can follow a line\. Lower the sink into the hole\. ### 12. 11 · Fit the Hob The hob is the flat cooktop where pans heat up\. Cut a hole for it the same way as for the sink, and lower it in\. A qualified electrician makes the connection\. ### 13. 12 · Hang the Extractor Hood The hood hangs under the cabinet above the hob and pulls away cooking steam\. It can blow the air outside, or clean it with a charcoal filter, which traps smells, and send it back into the room\. Stick closely to its measurements, for safety\. Fitting an island? Anchor it firmly to the floor, and watch out for underfloor pipes and heating\. ### 14. 13 · Fit the Drawer Runners Runners are the rails a drawer slides on\. Screw them into the rows of holes inside the cabinet: outer drawers use the outer row, inner drawers the inner row\. ### 15. 14 · Slide in the Drawers Slide the drawers onto their runners, the lower one first\. Drawers go in before the doors and shelves\. ### 16. 15 · Hang the Base Cabinet Doors Clip the doors onto their hinges\. A hinge hides inside the cabinet, so you will not see it once the door is shut\. ### 17. 15 · Hang the Wall Cabinet Doors Fit the wall cabinet doors the same way\. Small screws in each hinge nudge a door up, down or sideways until the gaps between doors are even\. ### 18. 16 · Fit the Plinth The plinth is the strip along the bottom that hides the legs\. It clips onto the legs\. A plinth with a vent grille goes between two plain pieces, where an appliance needs air\. Last of all, add handles and any baskets inside\. ### 19. All Done\! Congratulations on your new kitchen\. Wipe doors and worktops with a soft damp cloth and dry them\. Mop up spills straight away and it will look good for years\. Never clean it with bleach, ammonia, alcohol or scouring powder\.