tile first or after kitchen cabinets Advice and information on tiling and fixing tiles to a variety of surfaces

[MsP]

I am about to install a new kitchen. I usually tile after installing the cabinets but I have a friend who insists I should tile first. Should I tile before the cabinets or after they's been fitted?

Also, I will have one side of kitchen cabinet visible and am thinking about tiling this also. Is it ok to tile directly onto kitchen cabinet??

thanks
MsP

[thedoctor]

For floor (base) units its easier to tile before fitting them and mark their position on the wall first. Then lay the tiles but starting at the second course after marking the top of the first course on the wall. The first course should never me marked as a whole tile and the mark you put on the wall should be about 12mm short of a full tile. This allows you to lay the rest of the tiles absolutely level and square and when the units are fitted the last thing you do is cut the bottom course down to them in their finished position. The reason for this is that with the best will in the world its impossible to get the top of the base units 100% level and if you lay the first course directly onto an slightly unlevel surface, by the time you have laid about 2 or 3 courses it starts getting out of square and can begin to look really untidy with irregular joints. Its usual to tile the walls befor fitting the wall units as it saves a great deal of time making silly cuts around them. If time is not a prioblem then fit the units first, there are no rules.