Go ahead and install your kitchen cabinets directly on the cement subfloor.
Do kitchen cabinets go on top of flooring.
Installing kitchen base cabinets before flooring can be a money saving advantage.
Installing over glue down floors is not a concern.
But if you have to install the flooring first here s a method that will avoid some of the problems i just described.
Cabinets are not recommended to be installed over a floating floor especially cabinets that have a heavy granite counter top.
It is always recommended to install cabinets before floating flooring rather than installing cabinets on top of floating floors.
If you are going to put in a hardwood floor and it is a total of 1 1 2 and you want 4 toe kick then the kick should be 5 1 2 tall and the cabinets should be 37 1 2 tall from the concrete.
Put all the base cabinets in place then mark a line on the subfloor corresponding to the front edge of the toekick.
When installing cabinets first you need to tell your cabinet makers counter top installers of the clearance needed for the dishwasher with the extra added height of the floor.
To keep the floor flush consider installing a different cheaper type of flooring.
This lowers the risk of peaking in the future.
Those are all good reasons to lay a kitchen floor after the cabinets are in.
I predict that open frame kitchen cabinets will go back to being centrally display cabinets in due time.
Installing the cabinets on the flooring could bind the floor due to the weight of the cabinets.
The proper installation would be to install the cabinets and then install the flooring around the cabinets.
A floating floor goes in after the cabinets.
If installing a floating floor the answer is simple.
On new kitchen installs or where the cabinets are not yet installed or are being replaced i always install the flooring first then install the cabinets on top and trim out with quarter round or base shoe if needed to hide gaps due to un level floor conditions or make up a separate kick cut to fit and install when the cabinets are in place.
However when installing a wood flooring nail down or glue down there are more factors to consider.
Will the open frame kitchen cabinet trend last in 2020 and beyond.
Accommodate for the flooring thickness in your toekicks.
Kitchen base cabinet install on top of flooring decision flooring goes in last.
Open frame kitchen cabinets can look more modern or more traditional depending on the design of the kitchen and the hardware of the cabinets.
Laminate flooring is a floating floor so we do not recommend installing kitchen cabinets on top of laminate as they could pin the floor down and prevent it from expanding and contracting with temperature changes leading to buckling and separation at the joints.