Hanging Cabinets - Part 3: Measuring & Bracing

Our neighbor, having hung cabinets himself many times before, recommended we mount a 2x4 on the wall to use as a brace for the cabinets. The 2x4 will then bear most of the weight of the cabinet, making it easier to then drill the screws in.

First, you have to measure and mark where you want the bottom of the cabinets to go. We wanted to leave a 1' space between the top of each cabinet and the ceiling. This would allow us space to store additional items above the cabinets. Each cabinet was 30" high, so we measured 42" down from the ceiling and marked the wall. We measured and marked at short intervals along the wall so that we could then line up the 2x4 appropriately. *Important Note: Always measure down from the ceiling and NOT up from the floor. The foundation is floated by human hands and subject to imperfections in height (i.e. - it's not level, or true). The ceiling on the other hand, is designed to be pretty even, so it should be true.

Next we placed the 2x4 along the wall, aligning it with the marks we'd made and then propped the level on top to make sure it was level all the way across. Then we used some really long screws (5 or 6 inches long I think) and mounted the 2x4 to the wall. We used 3 screws and put each into a stud. *Another Important Note: ALWAYS make sure you're screwing into the stud and NOT just into sheetrock. Sheetrock can't really bear any kind of load at all.