Wood Shop Cabinet Levelers

The wood shop cabinets you just built may be perfectly square and level, but the shop floor you sit them on is probably not. So to save yourself a lot of agony over trying to keep your cabinets and shop furniture from shaking and wobbling, the smart solution is to install cabinet levelers - and include them in part of your shop cabinet design. Cabinet levelers come in all styles and shapes. However, for a wood shop, try to avoid using the less-expensive plastic variety. Instead, go for a nice heavy-duty leveler made of metal. You'll need the extra strength for most furniture you might build for shop.

Aside from keeping your cabinets level and steady, cabinet levelers have a few other benefits as well:

Moisture Busters

Keeping cabinets up of the floor - even if it's only an inch - will go a long way to protect the wood. A concrete floor (in both basements and garages) is not far removed from the damp soil directly underneath it. Any kind of wood that comes in direct contact with the floor will act sort of like sponge - and slowly soak up whatever moisture the floor can give it. And this is especially true for particle board and MDF. Cabinet levelers keep thirsty wood fibers just far enough away from the floor to save your shop cabinets from moisture.

Mini Movers

What I like best about cabinet levelers is how easy you can move your cabinets and furniture around in the shop - without tearing up the bottom edges. Plywood is especially vulnerable. Without casters, nudging a heavy plywood cabinet just an inch or two can easily tear the fragile layers of veneer. Cabinet levelers are the perfect solution for moving heavy shop furniture.

How a Cabinet Leveler Works

The basic construction of a cabinet leveler is fairly simple. Most include a sturdy, round pad (that touches the floor) attached to a threaded rod - which screws into a bracket mounted to the cabinet itself. As you might guess, the threads on the rod make the height adjustment possible - using a standard screwdriver or a hex key wrench.

Side Mount - Outside Cabinet

This is probably the easiest cabinet leveler to mount. Using four small woodwscrews for each leveler, you can attach these to the outside of the cabinet at each of the four corners. They're easy to adjust, too. mostly because the threaded rod is simply easier to get at. The only drawback is that the leveler sticks out from the side of the cabinet, which creates a little bit of a hazard for getting tripped over or snagging up electrical cords stretched across your shop floor.

Side Mount - Inside Cabinet

This is a little tidier of an arrangement - with the leveler completely concealed inside the bottom area of the cabinet. However, keep in mind that you'l need to drill an access hole of some sort to let you get at the threaded rod for adjustment. Aside from that small inconvenience, the inside-style leveler is my choice overall for the way it neatly tucks away inside the cabinet.

Corner-Mount

By far, the sturdiest cabinet leveler is the type that mounts on the inside corners of your cabinet. Being in the corner means we can attach the bracket on two different sides of the cabinet - which essentally doubles the strength and durability. If you expect your cabinet to hold a lot of weight, a corner-mount leveler is your best choice.

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