Mounting heavy cabinet

[Alwayslearning22]

I have to mount a heavy cabinet onto my bathroom wall. It’s a finished wall and not going to hit any studs. 

it’s an Ikea Hemmes bathroom cabinet. 
 

Ive attached a picture of my wall make up. 
It’s an exterior wall in a timber frame house with 35x45 service battens on the studs. 
 

im considering cutting open the wall and adding plywood not sure how I would secure it to 35mm battens though. 
 

any help would be much appreciated 

 

[Russell griffiths]

How heavy ?

some of the metal toggle fixings can take a large amount of weight now. 
you might need to chuck the original fixings away and add more to the cabinet to spread the load. 
 

show us what you have, opening up the wall would be the last resort sort of situation. 

[garrymartin]

The biggest IKEA Hemmes bathroom cabinet I can find still weighs less than 40KG. Even when loaded up, there are plenty of fixings that will work without you having to cut out plasterboard.

 

As @Russell griffiths suggests, toggle fixings would work, but I prefer to use GripIt Plasterboard Fixings. They're available at places like Toolstation or Amazon, and come in varying sizes depending on the load you're fixing. The 25mm versions can handle 113KG - see https://www.gripitfixings.co.uk/

[ProDave]

Find the location of the studs.  Unless it is a very small cabinet, it is very likely at least one stud will be behind the cabinet.

 

So I would fix the cabinet with plasterboard fixings, AND one or 2 screws directly through the cabinet (additional holes drilled for this) straight into a stud.

 

I have done this for kitchen cabinets and they have not fallen down yet.

[Alwayslearning22]

5 hours ago, ProDave said:

Find the location of the studs.  Unless it is a very small cabinet, it is very likely at least one stud will be behind the cabinet.

 

So I would fix the cabinet with plasterboard fixings, AND one or 2 screws directly through the cabinet (additional holes drilled for this) straight into a stud.

 

I have done this for kitchen cabinets and they have not fallen down yet.

I was just thinking this but it has a flimsy back. The stud is right in the middle too 

[Alwayslearning22]

Thanks I’ve just had bad experiences with plasterboard fixings failing 

I’ve a few monkeys at home 

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, Alwayslearning22 said:

I was just thinking this but it has a flimsy back. The stud is right in the middle too 

If the flimsy back it recessed a bit as is often the case, fix a more substantial backing board behind it.

[Alwayslearning22]

17 minutes ago, ProDave said:

If the flimsy back it recessed a bit as is often the case, fix a more substantial backing board behind it.

I’ve about 10mm at the back. 
 

I was thinking of just fixing a batten on the inside and fixing through that?

 

or would 10mm plywood be enough to use at the back 

Edited Thursday at 16:23 by Alwayslearning22

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, Alwayslearning22 said:

I’ve about 10mm at the back. 
 

I was thinking of just fixing a batten on the inside and fixing through that?

 

or would 10mm plywood be enough to use at the back 

I would cut a sheet of 10mm ply to be a snug fit in the recess behind the cabinet, fixed there with your favourite gap filling adhesive.  Fix the cabinet with the official fixings into plasterboard fixings, then two screws through into the studs one top one bottom, going through the flimsy back and your 10mm ply

[Alwayslearning22]

Thanks Dave, 

 

so I’m basically gluing the plywood onto the flimsy hardboard then screwing through both into stud? Never even thought of that to be honest. Much better than seeing a batten inside cabinet 

[Spinny]

Now, had you used habito plasterboard...

 

 

[Alwayslearning22]

On 02/04/2026 at 19:00, ProDave said:

I would cut a sheet of 10mm ply to be a snug fit in the recess behind the cabinet, fixed there with your favourite gap filling adhesive.  Fix the cabinet with the official fixings into plasterboard fixings, then two screws through into the studs one top one bottom, going through the flimsy back and your 10mm ply

Im just about to use your method but has me wondering. The fibre board back is slid into a Channel. So if I glue plywood onto this, the fibeboard holds the weight in the channel? 

[ProDave]

2 hours ago, Alwayslearning22 said:

Im just about to use your method but has me wondering. The fibre board back is slid into a Channel. So if I glue plywood onto this, the fibeboard holds the weight in the channel? 

Make the plywood a very snug fit and glue the edges to the walls of the cabinet frame as well.