How to Get Kitchen Kickboards Off

Whether you are doing a kitchen reno, installing a new appliance, giving beneath your cupboards a good clean, or accessing wiring and pipes, removal of your kitchen kickboards is one of those random tasks you probably don't have any idea how to do.

If the original fitter did a good job with fitting the kickboards, they are well secured, making them a nightmare to pry out of their position.

Kickboards and kitchen plinths are meant to be a real hassle to get off

After all, there is nothing more frustrating than loosely or poorly fitted kickboards that fall on your toes every time your washer goes into a high spin. These MDF boards have the unglamorous role of filling in the gap between your lower cupboards and the floor. They're hiding the ugly stuff like pipes, wiring, and perhaps even dead rats, which means that to get to the guts of your kitchen quickly for any reason, you'll have to get them right off.

But before you get out a crowbar to settle things, read on for damage-free techniques for getting the kitchen kickboards off. Here’s how …If your kickboards are only secured with clips, then getting a bent screwdriver around the end and gently pull, is one way to remove a kitchen plinth.

Most kitchen plinths are secured with a seamless finish using kickboard clips

The kickboard clips are the source of your kitchen nightmares when you're trying to get your kickboards off. These plinth clips are only plastic but clip tightly onto your cabinet legs holing the kickboards upright and securely against the cabinet base. Once in place, they are very difficult to remove because you have no spaces or seams and a smooth surface you cant hold onto.

Here’s how not to remove your kickboards

Though it’s tempting, there are a few methods that you shouldn’t use to remove your baseboards. You’ll wreck the baseboard clip or damage the baseboard, but at worst you could injure yourself. Skip these kickboard removal fails:

• attempting to pry the kickboard with your fingers
• hacking the kickboard with a flathead screwdriver
• taking a crowbar to the plinth

Getting the kickboards off is easier than you think!

Unless these boards are hermetically sealed in place. Some of these surprisingly simple techniques should get you out of a tight spot when you have to get kickboards off:

Are your kickboards screwed in place from your cupboard?

If yes, you can unscrew the screws that run down into the kickboards and then attempt to flip the kickboard out.

Screwing a handle onto the kickboard is another strategy, but it will leave holes

When you’re desperate to get the baseboard off this drastic method is worth a try. Get an old handle or scrap wood and screw it into the plinth to give you the grip to pull the kickboard clear of its clips.

If damage is an absolute no-no, a twin suction cup handle is an ingenious idea

Did you know that those suction cup handles that attach to windscreens and showers can be easily used on a kickboard to yank it out? These powerful suction cups have the grip needed to apply force to glossy melamine kickboards and haul the clear, damage-free.

Rounding up

Getting kitchen kickboards off is one of those annoying tasks that should be quick but can send you round in circles. We hope that these quick and simple methods of removing kickboards work out for you.