How to Install Wainscotting onto Cabinets

Wainscoting is a decorative wood panel wall covering that interlocks. It is generally nailed or glued over drywall. Wainscoting typically rises about 3 feet from the floor, and the top is finished with cap molding. The combination of grooved panels and molding adds to a room's decor. Wainscoting can also be used to reface cabinets, giving them a custom look.

Screw gun
Tape measure
Pencil
Eye protection
Circular saw
100-grit sandpaper
Compressed air
Panel adhesive
Caulk gun
Nail gun
Paneling nails
Cap molding
Screws
Pliers

Instructions

- 1
  Take the knobs and/or handles off the cabinets, using a screw gun.
- 2
  Measure the cabinets with a tape measure and transfer those measurements to panels of wainscoting, using a pencil to draw cut lines.
- 3
  Put on eye protection and cut the wainscoting along the drawn cut lines with a circular saw. Cut the wainscoting a few inches shorter than the vertical cabinet measurements to accommodate the cap molding.
- 4
  Sand the edges smooth with 100-grit sandpaper, then blow off the wainscoting with compressed air to remove the sawdust.
- 5
  Open a tube of panel adhesive and spread the adhesive across the back of the wainscoting with a caulk gun in a zig-zag fashion.
- 6
  Fit the wainscoting over the cabinet and fasten it in place with a nail gun, using paneling nails. Measure and cut some cap molding to fit over the top of the wainscoting, and fasten it to the cabinet with adhesive and nails.
- 7
  Reattach the cabinet hardware: fasten the knobs by hand or with pliers; fasten handles over the wainscoting with screws and a screw gun.

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