How do I install flooring around kitchen cabinets and islands in my NB home?

The correct approach depends on whether the flooring is going in before or after the cabinets, and whether you are using a floating floor (laminate, LVP, click-lock engineered) or a fastened floor (nail-down hardwood, glue-down vinyl, tile). Getting this wrong in a New Brunswick kitchen can lead to buckling floors, trapped cabinets, or expensive rework — especially given NB's significant seasonal humidity swings that cause flooring to expand and contract more than in drier provinces.

For floating floors (laminate, LVP, floating engineered hardwood) in an existing kitchen with cabinets already installed, the flooring must stop short of the cabinets with a proper expansion gap of 10–12mm. This gap is concealed by the toe-kick panel at the base of the cabinet. Slide the flooring up to the cabinet face, maintaining your gap, and reinstall the toe-kick over the flooring edge. If the cabinets do not have removable toe-kicks, use quarter-round moulding or shoe moulding along the base to cover the expansion gap. The critical rule: never slide floating flooring underneath fixed cabinets or islands. A floating floor must be free to expand and contract in all directions. Pinning it under a heavy cabinet prevents movement and causes buckling — a problem that is amplified in NB because our Maritime humidity swings create more expansion and contraction than most other provinces.

For a kitchen island, the same principle applies. Run the floating flooring around the island with a 10–12mm expansion gap on all four sides, then cover the gap with shoe moulding or the island's trim panel. Some installers in NB use silicone caulk (colour-matched) instead of moulding for a cleaner look — the flexible silicone compresses and stretches with seasonal movement.

For nail-down hardwood or glue-down flooring with cabinets already installed, you have more flexibility because fastened floors are mechanically secured to the subfloor and do not rely on free movement. You can run hardwood right up to the cabinet face with a minimal gap (3–5mm for nail-down solid hardwood) covered by shoe moulding. The expansion and contraction in a fastened floor is managed by the cumulative small movements across the entire field rather than at the perimeter.

If you are renovating and cabinets are being removed and reinstalled, the ideal approach is to install the flooring first across the entire kitchen floor, then set the cabinets on top. This method works beautifully for tile and fastened hardwood because the flooring is secured to the subfloor and can bear the weight of cabinets without movement issues. It also makes future cabinet replacement or modification much simpler — you do not have to match flooring under and around updated cabinets.

However, never install cabinets on top of a floating floor. The weight of loaded upper and lower cabinets — which can easily exceed 1,000 lbs for a full kitchen — pins the floating floor and prevents the expansion and contraction it needs. In New Brunswick specifically, a floating floor pinned under kitchen cabinets is almost guaranteed to buckle during the humid summer months when the floor expands and has nowhere to go.

For tile around existing cabinets, use a multi-tool (oscillating cutter) to undercut the toe-kick by the thickness of the tile plus thin-set (typically 12–15mm). Slide the tile under the toe-kick for a clean, professional finish. Tile does not require an expansion gap in the same way floating floors do — the grout joints provide sufficient accommodation for tile's minimal movement.

Practical NB kitchen flooring tips. Measure around islands and cabinet runs carefully before ordering materials — kitchens have the most cutting waste of any room due to all the obstacles, so add 12–15% waste factor to your material order rather than the standard 10%. Protect finished cabinet faces during installation with painter's tape and cardboard. And for NB homes where the kitchen opens into a dining or living area, plan your transition strips at the kitchen boundary during the design phase, not as an afterthought. Getting matched with an experienced flooring installer through New Brunswick Flooring can help ensure these kitchen-specific details are handled properly from the start.

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Looking for experienced contractors? The New Brunswick Construction Network connects homeowners with qualified professionals:

• First united design & construction inc.
• Arctic Fox Construction Inc.
• M&L Commercial and residential services
• Gionetterenovations
• FRS Flooring Solutions