Discover the Unknown Power of IKEA's Cabinet Legs PLUS Complete Installation Guide

[@timroscoe4519]

Great video and clever idea to put the front legs on first and the rear legs last. Always enjoy your videos!

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thanks, Tim. I appreciate your feedback.

[@bobjones1620]

Thanks so much for this video! It has eased my concerns regarding the leg strength. Just finishing up my installation and all went well. Had been concerned about the weight of the oven microwave combo. Could not have done it without your videos. I greatly appreciate your channel.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thanks. I'm glad that you find my videos helpful 😊

[@julietacarreon7634]

I did the install myself of a kitchen island, and I was so worried that it might break down on someone's foot after doing the quartz installation but your video clarified my doubts about these legs, I used 4 legs per cabinet as you suggested, and I also put studs underneath for extra support

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thank you for your comment. Legs are perfect for an island too as long as you secure the cabinets into the Island support brackets, which are screwed into the floor. This will prevent the cabinets to move sideways and break off the legs.

[@NOELTM]

Thank you. I have read a lot of reviews about the legs breaking, and wondered if they were poor quality, but on the other hand I couldn't imagine IKEA making such a bad product for something as important as load support. Your explanation and testing make it clear the legs do their job - if used correctly. Finally I really like the tips at the end - it all makes sense but it's not something i would have thought of doing! I'm putting this one in my favourites to remember for when I get to my installation!

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thanks Noel. Yeah, I was pretty surprised myself ☺️

[@salmothymus]

hah, legs ! I totally dig the issue (only vertical pressure allowed) and I was fully aware of the risks (hence the IKEA illustrated warnings) BUT in a wrong way. The cabinets I have (W=60cm) I could easily lift vertically and move around...but I got the WRONG impression legs would stick due to the snug fit in the 4 holes - they don't really ! Small lateral bump is enough to kick them out of their seating....which brings us to the possible solutions. If rail mounting is used, your's approach looks really neat and logical. I have a concrete wall and thought I might skip the rail mount and fasten them directly to the wall (good support). But, after watching your other videos, and now this one, where railing totally corelates with other installation steps (even legs, like in this vide) - this is exactly I am going to follow ! Another brilliant way to make a neat job......you made me enjoy my IKEA DIY kitchen project so much that I cannot wait for the weekends to come and get to work 🤩

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thanks, Boris. Good call about using the rail. It also makes leveling a lot easier as half the leveling of base cabinets is literally done when you make sure the rail is horizontal and flat. Good luck with the project, it'll be a lot of fun 👍

[@salmothymus]

@@kitchensbyranneshey Rannes, one leg related question (when you find a minute or so): there's that tiny "protruding plastic limiter" on the body of the leg itself that one can easily break (by screwing in)..I am guessing it is there to define the minimum height for the original IKEA toe kick ? However, there is no information on the maximum extension of the IKEA leg....which in my case would need to be close to 11 cm (8,5 cm high 10mm thick edge tiling on the bottom of the walls) in order for cabinets to "sit" above this lip. So, in your experience how high (extended) you may have installed them in your practice ? Off course, that would mean the original toe kick (8 cm wide) has to sit on the floor (bottom) but have a few mm gap on its upper edge (below the cabinet bottom front)....not visible due to the depth of the Metod's front legs watched from few meters away (steep angle)....I guess it might also add some additional ventilation pathway ?

[@kitchensbyrannes]

The little thing, which easily breaks off, is to give you a starting point of the length. If your floor is fairly horizontal, having the same initial length of all the legs, makes leveling faster. In regards to how much the leg can be extended. As you know already, the longer it gets, the less threads between the two parts are engaged and the weaker it becomes. When I have too big of a difference between finished floor and subfloor (where the leg will rest, I often use a piece of scrap wood below the legs. A gap between the top of the toekick and the cabinets is normal, since most floors aren't level.

[@salmothymus]

@@kitchensbyrannes ...huh, again, such an obvious solution (now that you offered one 😅)...for whatever reason my brain was "stuck" into thinking how not to loose enough support (thread engaged) and still have it "visually correct" - that is original IKEA leg pressed to the floor surface....forgetting stupidly that the toe kick anyhow masks the leg's "foot" (at least in my case where floor is level no ugly "wavy" gaps between the two....🥰)...thanks a million, will not pester you any more, I am enjoying my evenings watching systematically your videos, one after another.......simply great 🤩

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Haha, don't worry, you're not pestering me at all! I'm here to help. And I'm glad you're enjoying my videos. Keep watching and learning those IKEA hacks!

[@cpm5303]

So the grey lock were to prevent the cabinet lift up. I thought it was for the sides. I should have known why I had hard time leveling back then. Thanks for the impressive pressure test how one leg can stand.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thanks. I'm glad you liked the video. The grey lock is primarily to ensure that the cabinet stays in place in any direction, but especially staying on the rail in vertical direction.

[@navk9725]

Legend.. you eased my concerns.. just finished ikea kitchen, was about to install the countertop .. this helps.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Glad to hear it 🙏

[@ChristianWagner888]

The legs do have the specified compressive strength of 125 kg, but the shear strength for any force applied sideways is absolutely abysmal and a real design failure. I did not even put weight on the leg while cracking it. I was removing the leg from its base by hand and wiggled it sideways with my fingers using a force of less than 1 kg. The base of the leg cracked in my hand, just because I wiggled it in an unfavorable manner. I since figured out a way to wiggle the legs out safely, but this experience shows that the plastic used is much too brittle. The material base is not as brittle as the material of the legs. The material's brittleness reminds me of the brittle brown plastic used for electric outlets decades ago, and the IKEA legs are even worse. I suspect a production or engineering defect where good material was replaced by more brittle material due to cost or compressive strength. They could have doubled the thickness to make it much better, but they save cents on the bill of materials ending up with a shear strength that is less than 1% of the compressive strength. There is no excuse for such money pinching poor design. For the same price I can get stainless steel legs, but they are not integrated with IKEA holes, so I am stuck with the plastic parts. Here is an article from a production perspective: Brittle Parts - Causes and Solutions By Douglas M. Bryce As commented below by the OP: "the legs are made from polyamide, Nylon (PA), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene PE. My guess, based on modules I took to become a mechanical engineer 35 years ago and some googling (mostly the latter) is that the base is made from PA, the leg from PE and the ring from PS. The internet says that "Polypropylene has a stronger compressive strength than polystyrene. It is a more stiff and long-lasting material that can handle larger compression loads." The legs are not made from Polypropylene (which is not brittle!) IMHO, and even the other plastics should not be that brittle.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

@@ChristianWagner888 I hear you. However, it doesn't change the fact that the legs are holding up perfectly when used as intended. One can then argue if Ikea shouldn't expect people to wiggle the legs during installation. I've installed more than 260 Ikea kitchens, broke dozens of legs during wiggling, zero when used per design. I noticed yesterday, that the clip which sits on the toekicks, are made from PP. Didn't check the other parts but I guess their type of plastic is written on them too.

[@edwardmichaels3388]

happy to have found you! we are about to install ikea kitchen cabinets & you have made the process something i Now look forward to 🍻

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Awesome! Thank you! Good luck with your project 🙂

[@VVMVVMVVM]

Nice test! Would love to see more tests like how much weight a wall cabinet will hold

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thanks. Okay, I did the legs, you test the cabinet 😊 I'm not sure how I would test it, because tests like this is normally to failure 😮

[@edgar9651]

Thanks for the testing. If people don't like these legs, IKEA also has a couple of alternatives. But I have no idea if they are better or worse.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

The other options from Ikea are not to be used with the toekicks . As you can see on the video, they can't be better 😉

[@keska01]

the best ikea built video on youtube! what type of laser are you using in all of your videos?

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thanks 🙏 For laser, I'm using the one shown at the bottom of this page: kitchensbyrannes.com/ikea-kitchen-suspension-rails/ Thanks again 👍

[@petertyrrell6690]

Oops, I have installed my corner cabinets, with legs at the front, but there is no way I can now reach to install the rear legs in the corner. The cabinets are hanging from a very secure rail, won't that be strong enough? Great video, thanks for sharing.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

I'm glad you liked it. If the rail is firmly secured I don't see a problem 👍

[@integralsun]

The legs are cheap; that said, you need to use the tip given by Rannes to avoid cracking them. (HINT: don't put the post of the legs on until the cabinet is hanging on the rail.)

[@kitchensbyrannes]

I agree to everything 🙂 Except to "cheap." $20 (CAD) is not cheap 😂

[@chrishargraves3004]

Are the legs safe to use for leveling? My cabinets are on the rail but i have to make some very minor adjistments to level 1 or 2 boxes. This likely means the legs are taking a bit more load, and not just snug for stability.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Absolutely. That's one of the main purpose of the legs, leveling. As long as you only put load on the vertical direction of the legs, you cannot break them.

[@TheObserver567]

Still wonder about long life. Will the plastic deteriorate and suddenly give way?

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Good question. I'm sure Ikea have done thorough testing so I'm not worried. I can read that the legs are made from polyamide, Nylon (PA), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene PE. My guess, based on modules I took to become a mechanical engineer 35 years ago and some googling (mostly the latter) is that the base is made from PA, the leg from PE and the ring from PS. The internet says that "Polypropylene has a stronger compressive strength than polystyrene. It is a more stiff and long-lasting material that can handle larger compression loads." And since it's sitting in a nondestructive environment, I'm certain that the legs will outlast everything else.

[@kevinhayden1623]

I never use the back legs. There is no need. The rail is doing all the work. Just use the front legs to level. If the wall is so out of plumb that the back of the cabinet is too high, I just remove the wall spacer and then level with the front legs.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

I see no valid reason not to add all four legs. Quartz counters are quite heavy and letting the two brackets hold a part of that, no thanks.

[@7_of_9]

All about the installation. They break easily if they are not installed correctly.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Indeed. They break if the installer expects them to do something they aren't designed to do.

[@jlaage1]

How do you get to the back legs of the centrally located cabinets?

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Hey there! To reach the back legs of centrally located cabinets, you have to get yourself down on the floor and reach in under the cabinets.

[@jlaage1]

@@kitchensbyrannes Yup guess that's obvious looked like you were going from the side. I'd need a more flexible helper to do that. Any ideas what to do when cabinets go to the ceiling but can't be flush since they need to clear the lip of the rail, perhaps quarter round but looking for more ideas. I wish I'd found your videos before I put most of my cabinets up.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Sorry for taking so long. Quarter round. ....did you say quarter round? 🤣 We don't do that. Leave it open 🙏

[@jackskeleton733]

Those legs are so fragile. Moved the cabinent a couple inches and they snapped.

[@thezfunk]

That's because you put a shear load on them. They aren't designed for that.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Yes, they come off easy, and may even break, if you slide the cabinets sideways without lifting. I'm actually surprised that Ikea doesn't put in the instructions that the beds shouldn't be put on before the cabinets are hanging on the rail. I'm doubtful if they (Ikea product developers) have installed a kitchen at all.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

​@@thezfunk Yes. Absolutely correct. Shear forces are a no go.