How to remove old flooring stuck under kitchen cabinets
Getting old flooring out seems impossible when kitchen cabinets sit directly on top of the tile or linoleum, preventing you from replacing cracked walkways without a costly complete kitchen gut. Instead of removing the cabinets, you can cut the exposed flooring flush up to the cabinet toe kicks. This allows you to clear the floor and safely install new materials up to the kickplates.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Cutting the old flooring back flush to the toe kick and spacing the new flooring out to cover with quarter round.Did this help you?
- 2Putting throw rugs down over the cracked tilesDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“there is old linoleum flooring stuck under the cabinets, should I just cut it flush with the kickplate then space the pergo out 1/4in from that and cover with quarter round? getting the old flooring out seems impossible”source ↗
“Within the first year, the tiles started cracking along the main walkway.”source ↗
“The cabinets sit on top of the tile, and I can't afford a complete kitchen gut right now.”source ↗
“I need to make the floor safe and easy to clean until I can afford a proper renovation.”source ↗
“Can I remove the exposed tile up to the cabinet toe kicks without removing the cabinets?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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