Help! Does Your Kitchen Cabinet Have Such Gaps? Pls Advise!

[Honeygal 1]

the above 2 pics show my kitchen cabinet base. questions:

1)is it normal to have such a huge gap between the base & cabinet?

2)are cabinets only supported by the small pieces of crude plywood at the corners, as shown?

3)are there suppose to be any gaps at all?

i was very shocked to see the gap, where cockcroaches are hiding! i thought the cabinets should be sitting FLAT on the base, and not have any gaps!

pls pls help compare to yours and let me know asap! thanks all.

[neubie 2]

the above 2 pics show my kitchen cabinet base. questions:

1)is it normal to have such a huge gap between the base & cabinet?

2)are cabinets only supported by the small pieces of crude plywood at the corners, as shown?

3)are there suppose to be any gaps at all?

i was very shocked to see the gap, where cockcroaches are hiding! i thought the cabinets should be sitting FLAT on the base, and not have any gaps!

pls pls help compare to yours and let me know asap! thanks all.

this can happen if the tiler overfill the concrete base with too much cement in the centre, making it convex in the centre. fill too little cement makes it concave.... either way should not be acceptable at all as the loading and weight distribution of the cabinet is not uniform across the entire surface area.

think nothing much can be done (since the cabinet is done up) but to stuff some wooden strips inside and seal off with silicone.

[Honeygal 1]

this can happen if the tiler overfill the concrete base with too much cement in the centre, making it convex in the centre. fill too little cement makes it concave.... either way should not be acceptable at all as the loading and weight distribution of the cabinet is not uniform across the entire surface area.

think nothing much can be done (since the cabinet is done up) but to stuff some wooden strips inside and seal off with silicone.

thanks for your feedback. this is happening across the entire stretch of cabinet, not just one portion. very shocking.

[edenstrauss 3]

Oops there's a tendency to trap dirt & dust later on.

And r the kitchen cabinets sturdy with such a gap issue?

[neubie 2]

Oops there's a tendency to trap dirt & dust later on.

And r the kitchen cabinets sturdy with such a gap issue?

it's the lizards that love such places...

[Eurypylus 0]

Looks to me that the flooring was done badly.

[martin1023 0]

I know there is a stuff call 白灰, which is a white powder to mix with water then the paste is used to fill up cracks in the walls, corner of kitchen sink and so on. It is hardened and sort of waterproof after it is dry completely and it should be available in neibourhood 五金店 and cost no more than $50 for a plastic bag full. Have to confirm with my mum for that as she bought it for me a few years back. I used it to cover the holes that I drilled wrongly on the white wall for my LCD wall mount bracket. It blend in quite well even I did not us a flat piece of plastic card to level it perfectly.

Edited December 21, 2010 by martin1023

[Spades 0]

just get the carpenter back to fill them up with white colour silicon. if not you can go hardware shop to buy and diy, yourself.

Silicon is better and other materials, its water resistance.

Edited December 23, 2010 by Spades

[edenstrauss 3]

I've checked with an expert and it's indicated that the gaps should be about 5mm & the norm is to seal up the gaps with silicon.

If the wall is very crooked, then there r chances that the gaps b/w kitchen & wall would be more than the norm.

Maybe U could call up ur contractor or ID to get them to seal up those gaps with silicon?

After u paid them $$ for the reno, so U've got every right to demand for aftersales service since they didn't seal up those gaps with silicon - No cutting of corners ya?

p/s: My preference is to get the ID to finish up whatever touchups he had not done becox for a woman, attempting such a stunt like applying silicon glue might ruin your cabinets... not sure...

Edited December 23, 2010 by edenstrauss

[Eurypylus 0]

Silicon glue will patch up all the gap and will look nice for the start. 1-2 years you will regret using it. I much prefer to use plaster and if they crack I'll dit patch them up. Silicon glue is the most easy way to fill gaps, at the same time most problematic later on.

[marshmallow 0]

Silicon glue will patch up all the gap and will look nice for the start. 1-2 years you will regret using it. I much prefer to use plaster and if they crack I'll dit patch them up. Silicon glue is the most easy way to fill gaps, at the same time most problematic later on.

why is it that silicon will be more problematic later on?

[Eurypylus 0]

why is it that silicon will be more problematic later on?

In dry area, it'll collect dust, turn dirty colour and I've yet to find a solvent that can clean them away.

In wet area, fungus will grow between the silicon glue and tiles.

[Honeygal 1]

thanks all for the feedback. i got the contractor to seal the gaps. i opted for plaster but was advised silicon is better. after all the rectification, realised the floor tiles have been permenantly stained somehow in the process. they were probably not careful and the silicon may have dripped, causing all the blotchy patches. can't remove despite mopping 4x immediately after the repair work. sigh.

will call them up again.

[Honeygal 1]

I've checked with an expert and it's indicated that the gaps should be about 5mm & the norm is to seal up the gaps with silicon.

If the wall is very crooked, then there r chances that the gaps b/w kitchen & wall would be more than the norm.

Maybe U could call up ur contractor or ID to get them to seal up those gaps with silicon?

After u paid them $$ for the reno, so U've got every right to demand for aftersales service since they didn't seal up those gaps with silicon - No cutting of corners ya?

p/s: My preference is to get the ID to finish up whatever touchups he had not done becox for a woman, attempting such a stunt like applying silicon glue might ruin your cabinets... not sure...

thanks so much for helping to check, appreciate it!!

[marshmallow 0]

thanks all for the feedback. i got the contractor to seal the gaps. i opted for plaster but was advised silicon is better. after all the rectification, realised the floor tiles have been permenantly stained somehow in the process. they were probably not careful and the silicon may have dripped, causing all the blotchy patches. can't remove despite mopping 4x immediately after the repair work. sigh.

will call them up again.

for silicon, don't think can get rid of it by mopping... you've gotta scrape it... but i chose to leave it alone cos was scared of damaging the floor/cabinet surface due to scraping...