The dilemma of tiling a kitchen
We’ve renovating our new apartmen, and it’s taking longer than expected. We need to move in ASAP, and one of the things holding us back is the kitchen. We’re waiting for the cabinets and after that, it needs to be tiled. Our contractor says to save time, they can tile the kitchen beforehand, and install…
We’ve renovating our new apartmen, and it’s taking longer than expected. We need to move in ASAP, and one of the things holding us back is the kitchen. We’re waiting for the cabinets and after that, it needs to be tiled. Our contractor says to save time, they can tile the kitchen beforehand, and install the cabinets on top of the tile. I don’t know much about kitchens, but I don’t know if we should agree to this. Are cabinets usually installed on top of tiles? Are there any drawbacks to this? Would the job look more professional if we waited and they tiled around them?
Thanks for welcoming a newbie, advice appreciated.
Had the same exact scenario 3 months ago…
It really doesn’t matter which you do first. Everyone has offered great advice. As somebody already mentioned, you are spending a little more $ on tile (that you are not going to see) if you tile first. However, if the tile comes in before the cabinets & the kitchen is small (as in my case) – why not get going on the tile.
this may seem like a small point, but if you put the cabinets in and then tile, the height of your counter will be off. you probably won’t notice that, but if something like your stove is on tile, but counter next to it isn’t, it might look strange.
reasons to tile floor afterward:
save money on tile you won’t see
installing intricate tile design based on cabinet layout
if these don’t matter to you then don’t worry
I always tile the floor first – the whole room – and then install cabinets and appliances. There is no reason for floor tile to crack from the weight of any of that unless it’s improperly installed. Backsplash after of course.
If you tile the floor after the cabinets are in, you have to be careful about the dishwasher. You’d be surprised how often people goof and lock their dishwasher in under the cabinet with a barrier of tile.
By all means, tile the floor before the cabinets arrive, and get them to level the tiles so the cabinets don’t need any shims, which slows the installation down.
Backsplash tiles go in fast so no need to do those before cabinets and you could create all kinds of problems anyway. Leave your GC a nice clean wall to work with for the cabinets. We did the backsplash months after we moved in. It’s no big deal.
Issues: will tiles crack because of weight of cabinets? (probably not). Increased cost of tiling larger area versus ease of installation. Allows you to reconfigure cabinets later without changing tile (altho probably if you were to do that you would be changing tile as well).
I think tile first is actually more desirable.
Wall Tile goes in after the cabinets. Floor tile goes in before the cabinets.
I would prefer tile first