Backless Kitchen Cabinets

[OhGranny]

Hi
Posting here 'cos I can't see that it fits anywhere else!!
Don't know if anyone can help or has an opinion with this?
I have noticed that all the kitchen cabinets I have seen have service voids or some call them utility spaces and solid backs in the cabinets.
Most of the walls that I will be covering with units have no pipes or wires
and the walls have been replastered recently and are an excellent finish.

I would like to get cupboards and base units with no service voids or backs?

That way I can let the wall breathe (problems with damp and the walls will take months to dry out) and also gain 5 or 6 cm in cupboard depth - needed in a small kitchen.
I have been visited by 3 "kitchen suppliers" who not only tormented me for hours phoning their boss and pushing finance but seemed only interested in "box shifting" - supplying the units backless seemed like a big hassle.
I thought they would have been happy to save material and work as they supply built units.
Is this such an unusual request in the 'Kitchen World' ?

Thanks
G.

 

[JohnD]

The backs are usually just a bit of white-painted hardboard slid into grooves machined out of the sides (on very cheap units, stapled onto the back edge of the sides). So you can pull it out easily, for example if you are putting plumbing into the wall under a sink. Mine are like that that and they are fairly expensive Mobalpa rigid cabinets.

The gap between the backs and the wall is big enough to allow some air movement.

Have a look at some in MFI or the sheds.

Be aware that if you have no backs, you will be able to see the wavy gap where the square cabinet meets the unsquare wall, and mice will climb in and out.

 

[OhGranny]

Hi JD
Ain't got no mice !! Hopefully.
I can sort the backs butting up to the wall they have been replastered and are pretty good. The gap between the wall and the back and the bit of white hardboard that goes with it is what I have taken out - it smelt damp and musty and when the counter top is on there will be no air circulation.
Still can't get no backless cabinets.
G
"Lick o' Paint Mrs Fawlty !!"

 

[JohnD]

Buy cabinets with backs, pull the backs out and throw them away.

 

[OhGranny]

Then you're shelfs are too narrow and have to be cut to size.
If you have built units delivered you risk damaging the carcass when you break it apart to get the backs out and if there is a cornice try and get that back on?.
Flat pack maybe - but more work.
???

 

[Symo]

Ikea units don't have the "service voids" IIRC. Just don't fit the backboards when making the flat packs up - job done.

Symo

 

[JohnD]

I don't understand the idea of damaging the carcase or breaking it apart.

The backs just pull out.

They're only hardboard. If you wanted to, you could cut them to confetti with a breadknife and a big pair of scissors.

 

[OhGranny]

Hi
The 3 companies I have spoken to all fit 18mm backs with a 50mm service void.
g.

 

[sm1thson]

Ain't got no mice !!

mice pass through peoples properties more than you would realise. its when they find a source of food they frequently come back and you 'get mice', and if you leave it they set up home.

i dont think johnd was insinuating you 'had mice', but that if you dont have backs the chances of you 'getting mice' are drastically increased, so is the amount of food that would get contaminated.

 

[bernardgreen]

Buy cabinets with backs, pull the backs out and throw them away.

NO.... at least not until you test how rigid the box is without the back.

Some cabinets rely on the back to give rigidity to the cabinet. The panel acts like a diagonal brace. If you take the backs out then you should fit a corner bracket to the two joints top to sides ( where they cannot be seen ) to keep the top and sides at right angles to each other

 

[Jasonb]

Not having backs will mean the carcases are weaker and you will loose bits down the back of the units

Why not buy yourself a holesaw and a bunch of plastic soffit vents, drill one top & one bottom of each carcase back which will allow air movement and keep creapy crawlies out as well.

Jason

 

[Thermo]

besides the shelfs some units bases dont go all the way back either so youll have stuff dropping off the back.

 

[OhGranny]

Hi all
Good advice and some interesting ideas.
The wall looks flat and square until you put up a flat, square, rigid machine cut box against it and that really shows it up - lot of work to make the back fit the wall!
You lot have given me the creeps talking about mice and crawling things.
Jason like the idea of keeping the backs with some vents top and bottom of the backs - I am opening up an old inlet pipe hole in the "dead corner" to provide ventilation under the cabinets and it would fit in nicely with that.
Fixing and rigidity is a concern.
I think flat pack delivery is the only way without risking damage.
I was going to fix the cabinets to the wall with moulding or square section.
and a bead of sealant around the back corners.
But the kitchen is coming flat packed with backs so I have the option to leave them out if I want and extra lengths to make up the shelves if I need to.
We'll see how it goes.
Thanks all


g.

 

[OhGranny]

Hi All
Thanks for all the advice - helped me make a decision. Cabinets are here and getting fitted.
Ive decided to keep the backs in except for the nasty corner in the L from Hell!
I've opened up an old inlet hole with a vent, duct and airbrick in the dead corner.
Cabinets are on legs, Floor been damproofed, walls been sealed, 50mm gap between floor and wall full of old damp builders crap been cleaned out and made good.
Still looking out for mice - ain't seen none yet !!

G.