Discuss Toe Kick Questions on IKEAFANS.com. We're Personalizing the IKEA Experience. Toe Kick Questions - Please limit the posts in this section to questions and answers about assembly and installation issues only..
I don't think I understand the toe kicks. We see the rubber dealy in the package and the apparently filler piece of pressboard (MDF?) to fill up the box.
Questions:
1. Seriously with that rubber strip thingy? That should go on the FLOOR??? I swear that's what they're showing on the instructions but that will look horrible! I see that it might catch spills, water, etc. but it would look terrible - it's really obvious with our dark brown toe kicks and Brazilan Cherry floor. I imagine that might look fine with white or some of the light cabinets. What's the deal? Please tell me that I'm reading the instructions wrong and that it really goes on top to help fill the gap between the toe kick and the cabinet when all of the legs are set to the "tab" on the screw area of the legs.
2. What's that pressboard doing in there? It appears to be just packaging to me as it's never discussed in the instructions but DH and I cannot believe they'd stuff packaging with something so heavy (and therefore costly to ship.)
I'll bet there are obvious answers to both of these questions and I'm just not thinking straight! (Also - if the rubber strip thingy really does go on the floor, has anyone ever just used it on top instead?) Thanks for all your help!
The rubber strip is used on the bottom of the toe kick. Yes, with some color combinations it is ugly. On my sister's Adel Birch kitchen I did not use this strip. Made the joint look "dirty". It helps to seal the edge of the toe kicks (plinths) against moisture. In my case there are laminate floors so if there is a big spill or leak, the toe kick is the least of the worries. After all the toe kick is only 15 bucks. You could always brush on some type of sealer on the edge that meets the floor.
The extra board in the box is to be used as a ledger to support the back (wall side) of the base cabinets and then use legs on the front facing side. Most of the people on this site that have lots of experience don't use it. Instead they just use legs only to support the cabinets. I used the ledger system, but bought a piece of 1x3 to use instead. The furnished piece is just too thin.
Ah - thanks for your response! I knew there were good answers!
I didn't know that the ledger came in the toe kick package - my IKEAN told us not to bother with it because it was too flimsy and it was easier to adjust legs in the back if needed so I never bothered to figure our where it was or if she even ordered it for us!
As for the rubber strip - I think that we'll take our chances, as you did with your sister's kitchen. Maybe it wouldn't be so obvious to others but I keep staring at it and can't get over it. I can see that it's a good idea but it's just too obvious to me. As you mentioned, it's not expensive - maybe we'll just grab a couple of extra pieces for a rainy day in case they discontinue the dark brown. Also - the cabinets we took out had nothing like that so this is really no different (other than the fact that it's press board, which I suppose will soak up water and blow up like a ballon if it gets REALLY wet!)
Yeah, it isn't exactly clear that it's the ledger board, is it? We were confused for a bit, too.
We did use the ledger board. We saw it as a similar ease-of-use component to the wall rails--it it one part of your cabinet which will be level from the get-go. The thought of trying to crawl around under the cabinet runs, leveling the back legs (especially the ones which would be in the back corner on a side butt-up against a neighboring cabinet), didn't appeal to us. In retrospect, I think I might have done both if I did it again. Just to use the ledger board as a level, but have the additional support of the legs if needed.
Before seeing it on, I was very concerned about the look of that rubber lip too (NBB toekick). I could definitely see where it was needed though... the press board being unfinished on the edge and all.
I did eventually end up using it (tile is cream colored so it actually isn't bad) but I had come up with an alternate plan just in case. You might try it out on a small piece to see if it works well enough.
In the toekick instructions it also talks about sealing the edges between boards with silicone caulk. I figured if I put a thin coat of caulk on the bottom of each one (a good use for all those laminate samples I'd collected) it would accomplish the same thing without being visible. I used "matching" (i.e. dark brown) caulk but it might be just as good with the clear stuff.
Just an alternative if you don't want to store lots of spare toekick.
Good idea for the leveling, Tribal - that would have been handy but we were too lazy to do both! Luckily our house isn't very old and we just did the floors so the cabinets actually came out reasonably level right away - just a few adjustments will be needed.
hrhokie - I can see where it'd be no problem with either a lighter cabinet or a lighter floor. Your idea to seal is a good one - I wonder if I just slather a bunch of poly along the bottoms to seal them up. (Probably a lot of poly - I'll bet those babies could soak it up as long as I could layer it on!) The caulking is probably the easiest/best idea. Thanks for the tip!
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