Kitchen End Panels & Corner Posts

Once your walls have been painted, your appliances installed, and your cabinets hung there is one final job to complete your kitchen. Kitchen end panels and corner posts need to be fit around the bottom of your cupboards and edging around your counters. While small jobs, they make a big difference and, when done right, can make your kitchen come to life.

The first thing to do when fitting your edging, as with all finishing jobs, is to make sure your strips perfectly match your counters. Buying from the same brand is the best way to guarantee this. That is, of course, if your worktops don’t come with edging strips included.

Next, consider how much you actually need. Even if you’re worktops do have edging included depending on the design, for example, a breakfast bar, you may find that you need to purchase more.

Edging can be applied either before or after the worktops, though it is generally advised to do it after the counters have been measured, cut and fit. This is just to avoid any accidental damage which would need you to re-apply the edging.

With all this done, you now follow these steps:

1. Clean tape of any dust or debris
2. Cover your whole work surface in masking tape (or over suitable covering) to keep it protected from adhesive
3. Apply suitable adhesive (PVA or similar) along the edge of your exposed worktops
4. Hold your edging strip in place and clamp it whilst the adhesive dries
5. Ensure that the strip is firmly secured and then cut to size
6. File the edge of the strip so that is flush with your worktop being careful not to expose any of the worktops
7. Once the adhesive is dry, remove the clamps

Replacing your end panels is an easy way to quickly spruce up your kitchen. In fact, many clad-on panels can be simply fixed using clamps. The only ‘difficult’ part of this job is measuring your panels and making sure they are trimmed to size. Remember to account for any cornices or pelmets below your cabinets when doing this.

You should also take care to include the thickness of the cabinet door when closed to ensure that your panel can finish flush. Be generous with your measuring, if needs be you can always trim the panel further once it is in place. You may also need to do this where it meets with your countertop and cover it with matching edging tape.

Once your panel has been trimmed and lines up with all the edges of your cabinets, you can then secure it using the manufacturer’s recommended type and quantity of screws.

Considering they are one of the final jobs in a kitchen refurb, fitting plinths is, thankfully, a very straightforward job. After cleaning the floor around the bottom of your cupboards and measuring and cutting your plinth to size (if needed) simply lay it on the floor parallel to your cupboards. 

Mark on the plinth where your cupboard legs are and then fix your clips to those spots. Two screws will typically be enough to ensure the fixing is secure. Finally, line up your plinth and clip it into place.