Kitchen cabinets - access behind rear

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18 Nov 2007
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Location
Gloucestershire
Country
United Kingdom
High-quality kitchen cabinets were fitted to my kitchen about 12 years ago. The rear of each cabinet consists of a thin hardboard sheet that appears to fit into slots at each side and one at the bottom (just like the rear of flat-pack bookcases). How can these rear boards be removed? There isn’t enough clearance at either the top or bottom of the cabinets for the boards to be slid out so can they be removed to gain access behind the cabinets by bending them out?
 
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If you put a chisel in the bottom slot, and manoeuvre the board gently upwards, you can then push it backwards, and it'll spring out - possibly with one either side. Getting it back in can be trickier though, because you can't push it back into the channel with the support bar being in the way.

I wish you the best of luck with this one.
 
I had a feeling thatvthat might be the answer! What puzzls me is that there are no visible signs of where or how the cabinets are fastened to the wall. I surmise that the fixing brackets or screws are behind the rear panels which, if so, must mean that the panels were fitted after the cabinets were fixed to the wall.
 
Why do you want to remove,? the cup'ds are secured to wall via brackets top left and right of each unit and to each other.
 
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might be cleats.

how_to_cut_a_french_cleat.jpg
using_a_french_cleat_to_hang_upper_cabinets.jpg
 
There are downlighters on the under-surface on the units and the wires from these run behind the rear panels. I need to replace some of the downlighters and want to run the wires in the same way. The only way that I can see this being done is to remove the rear panels so as to be able to thread the wires so that they are behind the panels once they are (hopefully!!!) re-fitted.
 
Can you drill a hole in the back of the units at the top, drop them down the back, and then run them under the units.
 
I might have to do something like that. For the life of me, though, I can’t see how the original lights were installed.
 
Yes, I understabd that there are brackets but they cannot be seen at all because they are presumably being hidden by the rear panel. No fastening brackets or any other means of fastening to the wall that can be seen.
 
What I have done in the past where I couldn't get the back out was to cut a massive square hole in the back

After access, fit a new piece of white faced hardboard/mdf that fits exactly into the cupboard, using the remaining section of the original back as support

Most cupboards these days are on adjustable legs - can't you get access by removing the kick panel?
 

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