How to Install a Kitchen Island on a Tiled Floor

We had grand ideas for a kitchen island but then realized we had to figure out how to install a kitchen island on a tiled floor. With a bit of YouTubing and a lot of figuring it out ourselves, our new island isn’t going anywhere (we know because we went full Dwight Schrute and tested it).

When we were planning our kitchen remodel in our last house, Alex was obsessed with having an island. It was a tiny room and very square and an island wouldn’t have worked unless it was just one of those dinky cart ones, but Alex was relentless and polled all our visitors about whether they preferred peninsulas or islands in kitchens. Eventually we went with a peninsula because it worked best in that space and gave us the most storage possible, but I promised him that in our next house he would get his island.

Luckily for us both, our Florida home has a surprisingly large, open kitchen for a 1,000 square foot house and an island is a natural addition. Cue good wife points.
Instead of giving each other Christmas gifts this year, we decided to buy the cabinets and get started on Phase 1 of the kitchen and honestly, What. A. Glowup.

The design

The idea behind the island is pretty simple – we wanted cabinets to add storage, but wanted to build around them so it would look a little more custom. We had the vision of deep navy cabinets to match our DIY breakfast nook with butcher block countertops, and seeing it come to life changes the wholeeee look of our kitchen.

We decided on three cabinets – one deep drawer cabinets for pots and pans, one middle cabinet for appliances and a third for a pull-out trash can – and a built-in bookshelf to beef out the ends and add a little support.

Once we had the cabinets home, though, we had to figure out how they’d stay secured to the ground.

How to install a kitchen island on a tiled floor

While this might seem intimidating, these steps really aren’t all that difficult. Like everything else in DIY, we just took it one step at a time and figured it out.

To do this yourself, first you’ll need to turn your cabinets on their back and measure the inner dimensions of the cabinet base, so take your measuring tape and measure along the front panel from the insides of the side panels.

Next, cut pieces of 2×4 a little bit less than that length (maybe an inch shorter) so you’ve got two pieces of 2×4 for each cabinet you’re securing. These 2×4 pieces are called cleats, and the basic idea is that those pieces will be secured to the ground, then the cabinets will be secured to them.

Line up your cabinets

This is probably the most tedious part, but you’ve really got to get your measurements right the first time or your whole island will be crooked and the cabinets won’t align.

We found it easiest to put the cabinets side-by-side in place, put painters tape around the perimeter at the bottom, and then remove the cabinets to leave just the tape on the tiled floor.

Line up your cleats on the floor

By now, your painters tape is likely in a rectangle that represents the outside of your island, but you want to line up the cleats so they’ll sit on the inside of the bottom of the cabinets. To do that, you’ll need to line up your cleats on what would be the front and back of the cabinet space on the inside of the painters tape, but don’t forget to set them back by the thickness of the bottom piece of your cabinet.

So, for example, if the bottom of your cabinet is ¼” thick, place your cleat on the inside of your painters tape and set it back by ¼” so once it’s attached to the floor, the cabinets will slide over tightly.

Attach the cleat to the floor

Holding the cleat in its position, drill through the wood on one end until you hit the tile and push down a little bit so you make a divot in the tile enough to tell where you’re drilling. Repeat again on the other end of the wood so you’ve got two holes in the cleat.

Next, pick up the cleat and switch to a tile drill bit in your drill. Keep drilling through that little divot in the floor until you’re the full way through the tile and you reach the subfloor underneath (note: this could take a while, tile drilling is slooooooow).

Switch back to your regular drill bit and keep going through the subfloor as far as you’ll need to for your screws (we used 3” screws).

Put your wood cleat back in place and attach your screws to the floor. Regular screws should work fine because the screw will basically go through the cleat (the 2×4), then the tile, then the subfloor, so it’s kind of like a lumber sandwich with the tile in the middle.

Repeat as many times as needed

Repeat these steps again on the back of your first cabinet, then slide the cabinet over the top to check it’s a good fit. We found it easiest to keep that first cabinet in place as we did the second one, and then the third. This is also why I said to cut your cleat a little bit shorter than the length of the inside of your cabinet, so you’d have a little literal wiggle room to slide your cabinet to line up with the one beside it.

Connect your cabinets together

Hopefully you’ve done your measurements right and your cabinets line up perfectly side by side. Using a couple of clamps (or a strong and patient assistant), hold one of the cabinets flush at the front with the one beside it and add a few screws on the inside panel by the doors going from one cabinet into the next. On our unfinished Home Depot cabinets, there were already pilot holes drilled to be able to do this which made it easy, but if yours don’t have those, we suggest pre-drilling your holes then adding the screws rather than just driving the screw in so you can avoid cracking your cabinet wood.

Attach your cabinets to your cleat

At this point you should have a cleat attached to your tile floor at the front and back of each of your cabinets, and your cabinets are connected to each other. Now, grab a couple more screws and drive them through the front and back of your cabinets into the cleat behind that panel (and don’t worry about the screw showing because if you’ve used unfinished cabinets like we did you’ll be adding some baseboard or trim over the top anyway).

Check your handiwork

Give your whole island a bit of a wiggle and see how it feels, making sure it’s secure and doesn’t shuffle at all. If you’re good to go then great, but if not, go back and add a couple more screws going from the cabinet into the cleat if needed, but that’s the basics on how to install a kitchen island on a tiled floor.

And now you’ve got a full attached DIY kitchen island! Make sure to sign up to our newsletter for DIY updates, and if you’re impatient, follow along on Instagram to keep up in real-time.