It depends on the floor. Tile and nail-down or glue-down hardwood usually go in first, and the cabinets sit on top. Floating floors, like luxury vinyl plank and laminate, usually go in after the cabinets, so the planks can move freely. On Parker kitchen jobs we plan the floor and the cabinets as one schedule, so neither one boxes the other in.
Most homes in Parker went up after 2000 (the median build year is 2004, per the Census numbers on our Denver-area homes and flooring facts page). That means a lot of Parker kitchens still have the cabinets and the floor that came with the house, and owners are deciding whether to replace one, the other, or both. The order matters more than most people expect.
Why floating floors go in after the cabinets
Luxury vinyl plank and laminate are floating floors. The planks click together and rest on the subfloor without being fastened down, and they need room to expand and shrink with the seasons. Colorado’s dry winter air makes that movement worse. If you set a run of base cabinets and a stone countertop on top of a floating floor, the weight pins it in place. The rest of the room still wants to move, so you can end up with gaps, peaking at the seams, or planks that pull apart.
Most floating-floor makers say in their installation instructions not to install cabinets on top of the floor. So on these jobs the cabinets go in first, and the flooring runs up to them, with the expansion gap hidden under the toe kick or a strip of shoe molding. If you want to understand the material itself, our guide to luxury vinyl flooring in Denver homes and our laminate flooring guide go into more detail.
When the floor should go in first
Tile and fastened hardwood don’t float, so they can go under the cabinets. In a full kitchen gut, putting the floor down first has real advantages: there are no cut lines along the cabinet bases, and if you ever change the layout or swap an island, there’s finished floor underneath instead of a bare patch.
The trade-off is that you buy and install more material, much of it hidden. The cabinets also sit higher by the thickness of the floor, so the countertop height and the dishwasher opening have to be planned around it. Neither choice is wrong; it comes down to the floor you pick and how much of the kitchen is being redone.
Don’t forget the dishwasher, range and fridge
A common mistake is a new floor that ends at the front of the dishwasher. The new floor raises the room, the dishwasher is stuck at the old height, and the next time it needs to come out it is wedged under the countertop. The fix is easy if it’s planned: run the flooring into the dishwasher opening, or shim the opening to the same height.
The range and refrigerator usually slide out so the floor can go underneath, then go back in. Over the past year this came up a lot: appliances were pulled and reset on 8 of our 49 invoices from September 2025 to October 2026, and kitchen cabinets were on 7 of them.
Can kitchen cabinets be removed and reinstalled during a flooring job?
Sometimes, but it’s rarely the plan we’d start with. Base cabinets are screwed to each other and to the wall, and the countertop sits on top. A stone countertop has to come off first, and it can crack when it’s moved. We don’t do countertops ourselves; we refer customers to the countertop company we work with. Older particleboard cabinets can also come apart when they’re unscrewed.
If the cabinets are staying, the usual approach is to leave them in place and run the new floor up to them. If you were already thinking about new cabinets, doing both at once is the cleanest result. We carry Highland Cabinetry and J&K Cabinetry, which are usually available in Denver within 24 to 48 hours, so the cabinet delivery and the flooring schedule can line up. See our kitchen cabinetry page for the lines on display, or read more about replacing kitchen cabinets and when it’s worth it.
Which flooring is best for a kitchen?
For most families, luxury vinyl plank. It handles spills and dropped pans, it’s comfortable to stand on, and it goes in quickly around existing cabinets. It’s also what our customers choose most: LVP was on 27 of our 49 invoices last year. Porcelain tile is one of the most durable options if you don’t mind a harder surface, and engineered hardwood works in a kitchen if you wipe up water right away. Our post on how to choose flooring for a kitchen remodel compares them side by side.
How we plan a kitchen floor and cabinet job
On a kitchen remodel, we start with a free measurement and talk through which floor you want, whether the cabinets are staying, and what happens with each appliance. Then you get a written, itemized quote with the order of work spelled out. Our own crew does the install, we protect the rest of the house and clean up dust every day, and you get an update from us each day the job is running.
Common questions
Can I install new cabinets on top of my existing luxury vinyl floor?
Usually not. Most luxury vinyl and laminate makers say cabinets shouldn’t sit on a floating floor, because the weight pins the planks, and doing it anyway may void the floor’s warranty. Check the instructions for your product. The safer route is to cut the floor back where the cabinets will go, set the cabinets on the subfloor, and finish the edge with the toe kick.
Does new flooring go under the refrigerator?
Yes, in most kitchens. The fridge and range slide out, the floor goes in underneath, and they slide back. That way the whole floor is the same height and the appliances can come out later for cleaning or repairs.
Do the baseboards come off when the kitchen floor is replaced?
Usually they do, because the expansion gap along the walls needs to be covered by the baseboard or shoe molding. Many people put in new trim at the same time: new baseboards were on 27 of our 49 invoices last year.
Get a free estimate in Parker or anywhere in the Denver Metro
Floor & More installs kitchen flooring and cabinets for homeowners in Parker, Centennial, Aurora and across the Denver Metro. Call 303-993-6479, request a free estimate online, or visit our showroom at 16728 E Smoky Hill Rd, Unit 10-A, Centennial, CO 80015 to see floors and cabinet samples side by side.