What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Installing the Flooring First?
- Advantages
One of the main advantages is that it ensures that you do not tamper with the material around the cabinets and other kitchen appliances. Installing flooring first also avoids rigidity since you will not be confined to using the old footprint that you had from the outset. It is relatively easy to switch the cabinets when you install the flooring first. However, you should also remember that you are not likely to alter your kitchen style any time soon after finally deciding to renovate it. More so, laying down the wood floor first gives a very fresh and neat outlook. This is crucial because it implies that you do not have to use any quarter rounds that would otherwise increase the costs unnecessarily. Further, you can use toe kicks, which can match the cabinets hence making the wood floor seamlessly flow with the specific cabinets in place. It is also very safe and eliminates any possibility of stains that could happen in the installation process as this normally necessitates the replacement of the cabinets or just arriving at the bad decision of living with this damage forever.
- Disadvantages
This installation often culminates in excessive wastage of the flooring materials. The flooring installed beneath the cabinets is not usually visible, meaning any payment for the installation is self-defeating. Sometimes circumstances may dictate that you replace the flooring at a future date but there would be major impediments because you would be required to remove the cabinets too. This is a very expensive affair hence ample caution has to be exercised before making this delicate decision. Wood floors to be precise require very close attention since they expand and contract in conformity to any temperature variations. Moisture also affects the wood flooring a lot thus deciding to install these floors just beneath the cabinets would be very risky. This is because the wood will expand and clasp due to the aforementioned temperature changes hence consequently ruining your floor. This is why many experts have been stipulating that laying the wood floor after completing everything related to the cabinets is very important.
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Installing the Cabinets First?
- Advantages
All the aforementioned problems relating to installing the wood flooring first can be avoided by doing the complete opposite and starting with the cabinets first. There is reduced wastage of money on some flooring, which will not be visible. When you begin with the cabinets, you barely ruin the wood floors hence any destruction is completely minimal. This is because they cannot be subject to any possible abrasion during the installation process.
- Disadvantages
As mentioned earlier, there are footprints in the renovation process. By starting with the cabinets, you come up with a clearly defined footprint that you essentially have to follow and abide by in case of any possible remodeling. It is also obvious that it will be very pricey because manipulating the wood floors to match and fit the cabinets when installing results in very high and escalating costs. This ends up confining all appliances because they end up being pinned down by the wood flooring. However, this can be remedied by the purchase or acquisition of appliances that are not of a built-in nature. Doing the cabinets before the floors reduces many viable options because of possible height problems. This is most common when dealing with appliances.
It is therefore very clear that both options have several pros and cons. It is quite prudent to go through both these options with the cabinet and flooring professional installers because if you do not do this, the outcome might be fatal. This article has exhaustively discussed this question and you, therefore, stand to be properly guided by making the necessary considerations before arriving at a concrete decision.