A common defect I see in homes, especially newer homes, is the wrong fastener being used to secure kitchen cabinets to walls. I commonly see drywall screws used rather than proper cabinet screws. What’s the difference between the two and why is it an issue? Let’s dive in!
Drywall screws are made to serve one purpose and that is to secure full sheets or partial sheets of drywall to either wood or metal studs. Unfortunately though over the years DIYers have turned drywall screws into the “universal fastener”, using them to fasten anything imaginable to anything else imaginable, almost using the screws like duct tape.
Cabinet screws, which can go by different names like washer-head screws, or button-head screws, are made for the purpose of securing kitchen wall cabinets to the wall. The larger head on a cabinet screw bears down on the cabinet’s hanging strip/rail which ensures a sturdy installation.
Things You Didn't Realize About Ikea Kitchen Cabinets
How can you tell the difference between drywall screws and proper cabinet screws without backing the screw out of my cabinet? Simple! The head of the screw can tell you a lot (see the image below). The drywall screw has a flat head, no washer, and is usually black or gray in color. The drywall screw also has a phillips head. The cabinet screws will have a round or domed head with an integrated washer or separate washer installed. The cabinet screw will usually be gold or silver in color (they typically aren’t black or gray) and will be a star style head (torx), not a phillips, to reduce the chance of stripping the head while screwing the screw in.
Why can’t drywall screws be used to secure kitchen cabinets? The problem is that drywall screws are not made to secure wood to wood, they are meant to secure drywall to wood. They’re not meant for concentrated loads either and are meant to be used with dozens of other drywall screws to secure a sheet of drywall. Drywall screws also have a weak head that has a tendency to snap off. Once the head snaps off the screw is useless in it’s ability to hold a cabinet securely to a wall.
Another drawback of using drywall screws for hanging wall cabinets is the bugle-shaped head. The head makes them a poor choice for hanging cabinets due to the tapered shape and its tendency to bury itself in any material it’s screwed into. It’s shape is not good at drawing a cabinet to the wall and keeping it there, where as cabinet screws have the washer head on screws that’s designed specifically for attaching cabinets and holding them securely.Many of you have asked for tips and tricks to make installing Ikea kitchen cabinets go more smoothly. And the good news is that after installing three of them in a little over a year and a half (!!!), we have learned A TON about how to make things a little easier and help you end up with a better result. So settle in, I’ve got twenty tools & tips that can make all the difference.
The Friendly Survival Guide To Installing Ikea Sektion Kitchen Cabinets
First off, we like Ikea cabinets and have personally installed them in five rooms: our laundry room & bonus room at home, our beach house kitchen, and now these two duplex kitchens. They are smartly made, very durable, and they have a great 25-year warranty and a great price tag (often thousands cheaper than other options). They also come with many thoughtful features like soft close drawers that come standard and tons of customization options. So yeah, some Ikea furniture is known for feeling a little cheap and wobbly, but that has not been our experience with their cabinets AT ALL.
Ok, but back to the point of this post – tips and tools to make your Ikea cabinet install easier. Some of the tools I’m listing here are absolutely necessary and some are optional (they’ll just make the process easier, faster, and less frustrating). And as you read through this list, I think you’ll also get a pretty good sense of the steps (and curveballs) involved too, which I hope will help as well.
I’ll include a short bulleted list of everything at the end of the post too, that way you can use it as a tool checklist. But let’s just get right into it.
X Ikea Screws Trx Chipboard Flat 15 Mm Length Steel Part # 109049
Before you build anything, you’ll want to take time to inventory and organize all of your boxes. We had over 200 boxes (!!!) delivered for our two duplex kitchens, so it helped to sort everything into piles beforehand.
Boxes over here, Maximera drawers over there, all of our cabinet fronts somewhere else, etc.) but you may find it helpful to sort yours by cabinet instead (ex: the box, drawer, hinges, and front for one cabinet all together in one pile – this is how Ikea breaks them up your order form). Either way you do it, this sorting process will help you identify any missing pieces and also make it faster once you start building.
This combo gets a lot of use in this install (especially the power driver/drill) – but they’re needed first to construct your cabinet boxes (
Screws And Anchor To Install Leaning Ikea Cabinet Into Wall
Wrenches, you don’t use them AT ALL during a typical kitchen installation! So don’t worry about having lots of specialty drill bits. You just need a normal Phillips head to screw these puppies together.
You’ll also need a hammer handy to nail the MDF backings onto the cabinet backs. It may also be useful if you need to tap any anchors into your drywall when it comes time to hang your cabinets.
Having one of these on your drill can save you a lot of frustration while building your cabinets and drawers. You can buy one separately for about $2 or it often comes included in drill/driver sets like ours. It’ll magnetize your drill bits, meaning many of the screws that Ikea provides will stick to your drill handsfree (thanks to the magic of magnets). We found this VERY helpful when trying to screw into small spots that were too tight for our fingertips (we couldn’t reach in and hold the screw steady, so having a magnetized drill bit that held it for us was key).
Ikea Installing New Kitchen Installation Guide
The next several tools are needed for attaching your cabinets to the wall. Whether you’re doing upper or lower cabinets, Ikea’s system uses a metal track (called the Sektion suspension rail) that you attach to your wall and then the cabinet boxes hang from these. The rail system is extremely handy because if you make sure the rail is level, your cabinets all hang from that and are guaranteed to be level! I know, it’s GREAT. The only time I
For now, just know the measuring tape will be useful in determining exactly where in your kitchen you’re placing your cabinets – both side-to-side on each wall, and how high the rails need to be hung (Ikea provides guides for this in
Once you know where each run of cabinets is going, you’ll need to cut your metal suspension rails to size. The rails are sold in 7 foot lengths, but if you only have 4 feet of cabinetry in one area – you only want 4 feet of rail.
Ikea Sektion Cabinet Install: Day 1
You can cut these by hand with a hacksaw, but we find it much faster to use our Dremel Multi-Max with a metal cutting blade.
I typically mark my cut on a piece of painters tape and cut across the open top of one of our cabinet boxes (with a piece of cardboard to protect the cabinet underneath).
You want to screw the rail into at least a few studs in your wall for maximum hold. So it’s smart to use a stud finder to locate and mark the studs that fall within the area you’re hanging the rail – that way you can be sure to go into them and get a nice firm hold. Since studs are typically 1.5″ thick, I like to mark the full width that my stud finder indicates, since you may not know exactly where the holes on the
Types Of Wall Anchors And Other Fixings For Mounting Stuff On Walls
Once I know where my studs are, I hold my cut-to-size metal rail and, with a medium sized level (like this 24″ level) held against it, I mark the top line of my rail AND where the holes line up with my studs. I suggest amedium sized level for this just because they’re easier to wrangle during this step.
I also mark a few additional holes where I’ll use screws paired with anchors. I believe Ikea suggests at least having a screw every 12″ inches – but for short sections like this, I like to make sure I hit at least 2 studs and then have a screw at either end of the rail that goes into an anchor.
Into studs. They’re easy to drive, they hold really tight, and they include the star-head bit you need for them. We have tried other, cheaper “cabinet screws” and the heads kept breaking off. It was MADDENING.
Installing A Godmorgon Ikea Bathroom Cabinet
We also like to have some anchors on hand too, like these E-Z Ancor packs that come
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