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When I bought my house, it came with nice custom cabinets that I like. Sadly, between those cabinets was an old freestanding electric range that I hated. I tossed that and bought a nice new wall oven and electric cooktop. I'm in the process of installing then, but I need some advice on how to do it as cheaply as possible. I plan to do a complete remodel of my kitchen next year to add an island, move the sink, etc. so I don't want to put too much into this installation.

Typically, I see people build cabinets with 3/4" plywood, but that stuff is expensive for temporary work. The only thing that will ever be seen is the front face, which I have already gotten good quality wood to match the other cabinets. I just need to build the structural part that will hold the countertop with the cooktop installed. I have a bunch of spare 1x4 offcuts that should be enough. I just want to know how many I should use for the vertical supports or if this is a bad idea.

The plan is to build the base to support the oven out of 2x4s based on the oven's installation instructions. Then, I will use three vertical 1x4 boards on each side (back, front, and middle depth-wise) to support one 1x5 (to make sure I save 5" height for the cook top) on each side that will hold up the counter. There will be an additional 1x4 at the top back along with the front face boards that will help support the counter. I'm basically just leaving voids in what would normally be plywood sheets. These boards will also be screwed to the surrounding cabinets. I've made sure the screws won't stick out into those or interfere with any drawers.

From the front, all you will see is the appearance grade boards stained to match the surrounding cabinets. Does the internal structure matter that much?

This will all eventually be replaced with new cabinets with quartz counter tops, so am I ok doing this to get by for now?

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    The only worry I would have is in driving the screws into the 3/4 inch edge. Pilot holes and driving them straight becomes much more important to prevent splitting the wood. Commented 2 days ago
  • Wouldn't that be the same with 3/4" plywood that is typically used for cabinets? Commented 2 days ago
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    1x4s are slightly worst. 3/4 plywood cabinets usually use more angle/corner brackets for connections. Commented 2 days ago
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    Cabinets aren't typically screwed into the edge. They're assembled with pocket screws, so all threads grip cross-grain. Commented 2 days ago
  • @John nope. because plywood end grain is only 50% end grain, because it is made of alternating sheets of wood with perpendicular grains. Commented 6 hours ago

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These boards will also be screwed to the surrounding cabinets.

Then the rest is moot. You can hold a truck with screws in shear, if done well (and optionally glued), and probably don't even need the support underneath you describe. If you do add it as posts or legs, it barely needs to be fastened itself. Screws into the neighboring cabinet to hold position are plenty.

As has been mentioned in comments, how you fasten the components together is key. I can't offer much more in the way of detail without a sketch of your intentions. It's a bit too fuzzy a concept as it is.

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If the gap between the cabinets is close to the width of the cooktop, I'd just attach two boards to the cabinets (one on either side, parallel to the floor), screws should be plenty. Pick the thickness of the boards to give you a ledge to set the cooktop on. If the difference in the width of the old range and the new cooktop is too great to allow the boards to directly support the cooktop, use the 1x4s as ledges and then span them with material to hold the front and back edges of the cooktop. On the sides add some filler to close the gap there. I'd probably join them from below with pocket screws, but pretty much any method of joinery would work.

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  • I have a piece of matching laminate countertop that perfectly fills the gap. That will have a hole cut in it per the cooktop manual's specification. The countertop will be supported by the boards screwed to the neighboring cabinets, and that will support the cooktop. The oven cavity below is built to the oven's specs from the manual. Commented yesterday
  • Sounds like that will work perfectly. All you'll need is the 1x4s on the sides of the adjacent cabinets to hold the laminate. Commented yesterday

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