Additional floor height, plinth and legs

[Gooman]

I'm due to start fitting my kitchen next week. Done this a few times, so no biggie ... except for one thing.

 

I'll be putting in a high quality laminate flooring, on underlay, over a concrete sub-base (which I've also done a few times, but not in a kitchen). Most people recommend NOT putting the flooring under the cabinets - it's meant to float, and if it's held down by the weight of cabinets it could buckle when dealing with natural expansion and shrinkage. The manufacturer specifically says to avoid putting it under cabinets too, and it would invalidate the warranty if I ignore that.

 

But the additional height of the underlay and floor is 12mm. My cabinet legs are adustable up to 170mm. I'd like to avoid having to cut down the plinth too much - we have warm air heating so there are plinth grilles to be fitted which need enough space top and bottom to avoid the plinth becoming too weak. But that 12mm means I only have 8mm of height adjustment, which might be tight ...

 

So I wondered if it would be wise (or not) to chock up the cabinets by around 12mm with some spare ply I have knocking around. I was thinking of making some square plates, larger than a cabinet foot, and gluing these to the floor at the locations where the cabinet feet will go.

 

This seems a sensible move to me, but what's worrying me is I can't find any hits on Google or on here of anyone doing the same thing. On the basis that it's unlikely I'm a pioneering genius, what pitfalls might await me if I go down this road?

[markc]

No problem adding packs under cabinet legs, much better than taking flooring under the cabinets.

If you need piece of mind, stick a small screw through the foot into the ply.

Also go a bit over on ply thickness to give yourself a bit extra adjustment.

[nod]

I’ve just finished framing and plastering a site and they did exactly that 

Plastering finished Mist coat 

Laminate Kitchen on top 

Apartments starting at 250k for one bed Not something I’ve ever done 

Builder reckons they have done it for years 

[Mr Punter]

Yes to the packers and it may be worth running flooring under washing machine, dishwasher and other floor standing appliances so you do not get a 12mm lip when removing them.

 

We always floor throughout and have never had an issue.  Mainly use engineered wood glued down.  I have seen a floating floor lift where it is fitted without a perimeter expansion gap.

[Gooman]

Yep, was planning to have a similar depth board under the American fridge/freezer as it needs to slide out for access to the water supply and filter. I'll have an expansion gap between the flooring and the board (hidden under the fridge/freezer removable threshold) that I'll plug with something just for rolling it out and back again.

 

Washing machine is under the utility, so that's not a problem. But yes, I should do the same with the dishwasher.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Gooman

[Mr Punter]

With the fridge freezers I like to have a socket on flex under the adjacent plinth and the water supply at the back under the same adjacent unit.  It means you can handle the pipe and wires, knowing they won't get snagged.  I also run a "dam" of mastic on the floor around the back and towards the front so that any leak will become visible at the front of the appliance.  Not pretty but not visible when the fridge is in.