# Forum Home Renovation Kitchens  Ikea Headache

## gregt

I have spent a heap on a new Ikea kitchen only to overlook one simple point, how to hang the overhead cupboards. :Frown:   I found a previous thread on the topic but unsure how to link it. Any helpers on this one?
The overheads are only backed by 3mm board and have a metal hanger in each top corner to fix with. Fine if it's a solid wall but not to good on gyprock unless it is into a stud. The other thread suggests cutting the new wall and installing a noggin at the right height. This will work but is quite labour intensive and will take a while. My suggestion is to get some edged melamine cut the internal width of the cabinets, about 80mm wide and screw then from the sides to the inside back of the cabinets, top and bottom. Then i will have the whole width of the cabinet to locate a stud and secure it in two spots. The cabinets bolt to each other on the sides so the load is also spread to the opposite cabinet. Maybe also a small moulding under the back edge would be insurance.  
Make any sense?
Greg

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## jags

Hi greg 
I'm no expert . 
But i think you are on the right track as the bracket they give you only connect to each side wall of each cabnet so by screwing all the cabnets together and then a sheets of melimine internally or one large sheet across the back of all the cabnets you are dispersing the weight evenly .  
But this has no bearing on what you are going to screw the cabnets to .So if you remove the gyprock and install a new nogign you can be sure that the internal structure of the wall will hold the cabnets and with some luck the cabnets may even cover the area where the gyprock was removed . 
I suppose it all depends on what you are going to put in then ? 
good luck 
rob 
P.s what bench tops are you using i'm about to do my second ikea kitchen reno useing essa stone . looks great and not that pricey if you take into consideration what you save useing ikea cabnets .

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## gregt

We were going to just use the Ikea tops, Pragel Stone Effect with the joining strip in the corners. Only thing is they have changed styles (widths of tops are now wider) and did not have any in stock. Another wasted 400km round trip with a phone call to customer service on return home. I also had trouble with a couple of the corner pins snapping off and one of the base cabinet side was cracked when I opened the box. They said they would replace it but it means another trip and man that store is crazy with people :Annoyed:

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## SilentButDeadly

> My suggestion is to get some edged melamine cut the internal width of the cabinets, about 80mm wide and screw then from the sides to the inside back of the cabinets, top and bottom. Then i will have the whole width of the cabinet to locate a stud and secure it in two spots. The cabinets bolt to each other on the sides so the load is also spread to the opposite cabinet. Maybe also a small moulding under the back edge would be insurance.

  Plain old steel L brackets will work quite nicely too.  Take up less space than another sheet of chipboard..... 
Bear in mind that a hollow wall anchor can manage up to 20Kg each so they should suit your existing fitment points then double that up using L brackets on the top of the cabinets (where they can't be seen) in line with the studs.....

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## Iain

> Bear in mind that a hollow wall anchor can manage up to 20Kg

  But will Gyprock stand a 20kg load?
I am always dubious about these claims of load bearing, and gyprock is not that solid after all, I think I would lay awake at night waiting for the crash.
It may well work but for peace of mind I think the noggin would save a lot of heartache.
I just re read and saw the 'L' brackets, but still stand by my point of view.

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## les88

I would find and mark the stud positions on the wall. If the top cupboards allow install a 
75 mm X 19 mm under the top of the cupboard the hold them in place.

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## arms

> I have spent a heap on a new Ikea kitchen only to overlook one simple point, how to hang the overhead cupboards. I found a previous thread on the topic but unsure how to link it. Any helpers on this one?
> The overheads are only backed by 3mm board and have a metal hanger in each top corner to fix with. Fine if it's a solid wall but not to good on gyprock unless it is into a stud. The other thread suggests cutting the new wall and installing a noggin at the right height. This will work but is quite labour intensive and will take a while. My suggestion is to get some edged melamine cut the internal width of the cabinets, about 80mm wide and screw then from the sides to the inside back of the cabinets, top and bottom. Then i will have the whole width of the cabinet to locate a stud and secure it in two spots. The cabinets bolt to each other on the sides so the load is also spread to the opposite cabinet. Maybe also a small moulding under the back edge would be insurance.  
> Make any sense?
> Greg

  
gotta love those ikea kitchens ,they give me heaps of work from this very problem ,keep buying them guys  :2thumbsup:

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## renomart

Don't you have to install a metal wall strip? Screw it into the studs and hang your wall cabinets off the strip.

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## barbz

Im in the same situation but my walls are cement sheeting. 
dont mean to "hijack" the thread but whats the best way to find studs through the cement sheeting? the ole tap trick doesnt work too well. 
cheers
Paul

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## renomart

Electronic stud finder or 
Measure 450 / 600mm from the wall corner (that's where the studs should be  :Wink: ) and drill thru wall until you hit a stud. Make sure your holes will be concealed by the new cabinetry.  :Doh:

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## Just George

Ikea make some nice stuff to look at. 
A guy I used to work with had a saying for "chicks", it went something like this "Nice from far and far from nice. 
The term Ikea automatically brings on a headache when I'm asked to assemble it.

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## ian

I'd screw a steel or timber batten the length of the wall and attach the cabinets to it.
No one will see it unless they stand on a ladder 
ian

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## dazzler

> A guy I used to work with had a saying for "chicks", it went something like this "Nice from far and far from nice.

  Whats he say about blokes.........cute n cuddly  :Confused:

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## arms

> Whats he say about blokes.........cute n cuddly

  
ii think nice from far and far from nice  would be the hetrosexual way to go but then again , im an old fart :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):   apparently (or so my kids say)

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## totoblue

> I have spent a heap on a new Ikea kitchen only to overlook one simple point, how to hang the overhead cupboards....My suggestion is to get some edged melamine cut the internal width of the cabinets, about 80mm wide and screw then from the sides to the inside back of the cabinets, top and bottom. Then i will have the whole width of the cabinet to locate a stud and secure it in two spots.

  Why not just replace the whole back panel with solid melamine-covered 18mm board? 
You can also get melamine wrapped pine 42x19 e.g. http://www.armstrongs.com.au/ under other products / board pricing. 
I have hung a single cupboard using a hardwood batten with a 45 degree chamfer screwed to the studs, and a matching one screwed to the back of the cabinet.  You need a matching thickness spacer at the bottom. You will end up with a gap behind the cupboard but that can be covered with an end-panel.  In my experience the wall is not completely straight so the battens won't lock together 100% and that may affect the way it all hangs.  You could shim the batten screwed to the wall to make it straight to avoid that.

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## woodbe

> The term Ikea automatically brings on a headache when I'm asked to assemble it.

  I've never built an Ikea kitchen (best left to the experts IMHO) but never had any problem with any of the tables, bookcases and stuff people have given me the job of assembling. 
Sometimes the instructions are a bit cryptic, but slow and easy does it. I especially like that some of their stuff uses solid timber instead of plastic veneered cardboard like most of the other local kit furniture hawkers (are you listening Freedom furniture?..) It's plantation birch or something like that, but I'm most unlikely to walk out with anything that isn't solid. I must be woodist  :Smilie:  
woodbe.

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## zathras

How about using a french cleat arrangement?

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## TrevorOwen

> gotta love those ikea kitchens ,they give me heaps of work from this very problem ,keep buying them guys

  Arms 
Given the nature of this forum, I would think that if you know the solution to this problem then you might choose to be helpful. 
Regards from Adelaide
Trevor

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## casman

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_CA/complet...llation_1.html 
Hi guys, I'm in Scotland and have just bought the Pax bedroom range including some carcasses that double up as either chest of drawers or wall mounted overbed cupboards - same problem - how on earth do you hang onto plasterboard. (And our wall is a double thickness plasterboard - its the dividing wall between our neighbours!) Ikea website and customer care is less than helpful! 
However, thanks to Google, I have found the solution on the Ikea Canada website - click on the link above. Presumably an Ikea wall cupboard in kitchen is hung the same way as in the bedroom? 
Now, next challenge - translate "suspension rail" into Ikea-speak and find out if they stock it in the UK? 
PS Seems like IKEA cannot agree themselves - depends on which country you live in is seems: 
For the UK, USA, Australia, there is a different suggested method -  click here http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/complet...llation_1.html

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## jow104

Welcome casman to the forum. 
You have replied to thread which was posted nearly nine months ago
Perhaps you might get a higher response if you were to start a new thread.

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## woodbe

Hey woody, 
Can you let us know who wins the world cup next time you come back in that time machine? 
The original thread is getting a bit old, but it isn't even a year yet  :Biggrin:  
woodbe.

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## jow104

(I must have been thinking about my last pay rise) :Blush7:

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