A long time cabinet builder made a suggestion on lower cabinets that he builds. if you cut the end panels on 35 inch cabinets you can only get 4 pcs out of a sheet of plywood. But if you cut the panels at 31 inches you get 6 pcs then make a separate toe kick pedestal of 4 inches giving you 35 inches. When I make a tall cabinet I do make a separate pedestal and slide the cabinet on it. but I never thought of doing all of the bottom cabinets that way .What do you think?

It's done all the time. They usually call the base section a ladder.

It has its pros and cons. I've never done it so I can't really list the validity of either.

On the front it sounds like a good thing to be able to get 6 sides out of a sheet. But with plywood the way it is sometimes it's nice to be able to have areas you can delegate to hidden areas. If you're using melamine then this isn't likely a concern.

If you do it strictly this way you'll be making separate end panels or the ends will have to be full height to hide the ladder section, unless you want to have a toekick at the end of the run of cabinets.

Installation would seem to be easier because you build and level the ladder and then the cabinets just lay on top of it and you don't have to level anything else. You'll have to put screws in the deck, which may not look pretty but most probably wouldn't even notice if you do it nicely.

We do the majority of builtins with ladder bases.Those do not have toe kicks. Kitchen cabinets are often small units separated by appliances. You would end up with several small ladders.

People used to use ladders before euro adjustable feet came into use in the 1980's.

My favourite method of kitchens is to use a ledger on the wall and adjustable feet on the front. It's a hybrid of all of the methods.

It's one of the reasons the European designed cabinets sit on metal legs. You get easy adjustability, but you also get 6 pcs to a sheet. Claimed to have been put into use right after WWII.

We are a commercial only shop so if you are a kitchen builder take our method with the required grain of salt. 90% of our work uses ladder kicks and wall nailers. No need to fasten the kick to the cabinet with other than a blob of PL400 once in a while. Same method can be used to fasten kick to floor or wall. Shims are place from inside the kick frames so no trimming of them is required. Job site labor is expensive, keep it to a minimum. Make it as simple as possible for the installers.

We build frameless Euro Cabinets andvhave been using the euro legs fir 20 years. 6 sides to a sheet, easy registration for double line boring and way faster to install than ladder. Toekick gets clipped into legs or screwed from inside drawer cabinets and seperate endcpanels so no Cabinets go to Finisher, just doors, drawer fronts , endpanels and fillers, we use Blum inserts hinges that are snapped into door on site to minimize transport and damages.

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