It always amazes me how much work there is to install ‘just four cabinets’. Of course, there were LED lights to plan for, networking cables to run, and electrical outlets to install. And this is definitely the largest scale I’ve tackled so far.
I needed to secure the bottoms of the bookcases and the cabinet, since the sides sit directly on the slab with no bottom to keep the fronts from warping or being moved if someone or something falls against them. I opted for dowels installed into the bottom of the bookcase sides and inserted into a matching hole drilled into the slab.
To ensure the two holes lined up I first drilled a hole in the bottom of a side.
Then, while installing the case, I used a small dowel center.
The center inserts into the hole (here in a test piece).
When carefully lowered onto the slab, the point made a precise dent exactly where I needed to drill. I then used a Spofford style brace and bit to drill most of the holes. They give me greater control and have less risk of a mishap than a power drill.
When it came time to drill on the left and right, there wasn’t room for a cordless drill, or a spofford brace. So I switched to my eggbeater drill. The right side was so close to the wall I had to remove both the side knob and the flared top.
It took rather longer than I expected, but the second tier is in place.
