 Most medicine cabinets are mounted on the wall surface or in a recess. Installing a surface-mount medicine cabinet is about as simple as hanging a picture.
Even if your existing cabinet is mounted in a recess, you can upgrade to a larger surface-mounted type.
Medicine cabinets come with sliding, hinged, or pivoting doors, in one, two, or three sections, and a vast number of materials and styles to match almost any decor.
You can also update an outmoded built-in medicine cabinet by simply removing it from the wall, packing the empty cavity with insulation, and covering the hole with a larger surface-mounted medicine cabinet.
The most important thing to keep in mind when installing a surface-mount medicine cabinet is that it can become quite heavy when full so it must be attached securely to the wall studs.
| 1. Hold the medicine cabinet in place, level and centered over the sink, and trace around it lightly with a pencil. If necessary, have someone help you with this step. |  | | 2. Using a stud finder, locate and then mark the positions of the studs within the marked area, and transfer these to the inside of the cabinet. | 
| | 3. Drill four 1/8-inch-diameter holes through the back panel of the cabinet at the marked locations. Most cabinets have a cleat or hanging rail at the top of the back to help support the cabinet's weight; make sure the top two holes are drilled through this cleat. | 
| | 4. Secure the cabinet to the wall studs with the screws provided. If you can't hit the wall studs at each location, use hollow wall fasteners. |  | Copyright Sunset Publishing Corporation
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