Installing Vinyl Flooring Around Cabinets

The short answer is always install around.

Installing vinyl flooring around cabinets.

In your first question on your original post you asked if you install the allure vinyl tile flooring underneath or around the cabinets. And the newer vinyl planks are having issues with this reduced expansion gap. Put all the base cabinets in place then mark a line on the subfloor corresponding to the front edge of the toekick. Since your floor will be floating on the subfloor and connected solely by the locking system it needs space to expand and contract with temperature changes.

But if you have to install the flooring first here s a method that will avoid some of the problems i just described. Install tile under cabinets and floor based appliances with a 2 inset this allows you to move the pattern and grout lines where needed. Mark the layout of the cabinets and all floor based appliances. I have been installing laminate flooring since the product first became popular.

It may be tempting to just work around your stove or refrigerator since the floor under these never sees the light of day anyway but doing so can cause problems down the road when you cannot move the appliance over the hardwood lip install an appliance with different dimensions. Install plywood in remaining area to exact height of tile floor to finish cabinet install. If you are installing click lock vinyl plank flooring you should not install under cabinets. In most cases given standard flooring heights you will install the cabinets before the floor covering.

For installations that go over existing flooring in kitchens where cabinets are already installed i leave a 1 4 gap for expansion and trim out around the cabinets with matching quarter round from the flooring supplier. Typically cabinets come before flooring. To start you ll need to expose as much of the kitchen floor as possible by moving the appliances to another room. Floor covering or finish flooring is the surface that you see and walk on not the subfloor under the underlayment or underlayment between subfloor and finished layer.