I usually begin installation with the base cabinets. This way I can adjust the height of the base cabinets to my level line as inconsistencies in the floor present themselves. I know many carpenters that prefer to set the upper wall cabinets first because they can get to them easier without the base cabinets in the way. It can certainly be done both ways, but I find that if I set the upper cabinets first, then I not only have to keep them on my level line, which is harder to see when you are trying to hold the cabinet up and screw it in place, but I also have to keep the distance between the uppers and the base cabinets consistent all the way across. Setting the uppers first you also have to anticipate problems that will arrive when the base cabinets go in, like when there is a short wall next to a cabinet that is wrapped with drywall. In these instances the corner has a piece of corner bead added when they did the drywall and it was floated out with drywall mud to make it smooth. The problem with this is the wall will be thicker at the corner where the front of the base cabinet sits than it is back where the upper wall cabinet is. In that case I would actually have to plane the side of the base cabinet face frame off to move it over enough to line it up with the upper cabinet.

   With all this in mind I will just start with the base cabinets and save the brain damage.

  The next thing to do is determine a good starting point. This will depend on the layout. Usually if the cabinets will be set in an L shaped corner I will start from this corner. I like to start with apiece of cabinet filler to pull the cabinet away from the corner a little bit. This is an important step on cabinets with a full overlay door design as sometimes there is not much room between the drawer front and the adjacent wall and if there is a bowed stud in the wall the drawer front could rub the wall as you open it. Also if there is a door opening in the wall next to the cabinets I need to add enough filler to the cabinets for the drawer front to clear the door casing when it opens.

   If the cabinets will go between two walls the design should leave a couple inches of room to spare for the filler. In this case I will split the filler evenly between the two ends. One thing that will affect this is if there is a sink base in the section. The sink base is normally located beneath a window and needs to be centered under it to look right. In this case I will find the center of the window and mark it at the level line for the base cabinets. I will put the center of the sink base on this line and continue my layout from there. Hopefully the designer has done a good job and the rest of the cabinets will lay out right.