How to Drywall a Kitchen

Choose 12-foot-long sheets of drywall rather than 8-foot-long sheets, as these require less work in the long run in addition to reducing the amount of drywall tape you have to use. Remove the paper film covering your kitchen’s new drywall sheets, and lean the sheets up against the walls on which you plan to hang them.

Measure the distance between the end of a wall and any ceiling fixtures, windows or doorways present in your kitchen before hanging drywall sheets on the ceiling or walls. Mark these fixture or wall opening areas on the drywall sheets, and trim these areas out with a drywall saw.

Hang the ceiling drywall sheet first, before hanging the drywall on your kitchen’s walls. Position your ceiling drywall sheet on a drywall lift, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Make sure the part of the sheet that is supposed to face out into the kitchen rests directly against the lift.

Raise the drywall to the ceiling using the lift, and climb a ladder to the ceiling to secure the sheet in place by putting at least eight screws in the ceiling joists. Do not place screws 1/2 inch from the edge of the drywall sheets, which provides little stability. Ensure that one end of the drywall sheet is firm against a wall, and check to make sure you cut the ceiling fixture openings correctly in the ceiling drywall panels.

Make a mark on the wall drywall sheets that are laying against the walls to indicate where the studs in the walls are located. Screw the first drywall sheet into the studs, starting near the center of the panel and moving toward the panel’s ends. Make sure the end of the first drywall sheet you hang ends up in the center of a stud.

Check to see that the areas you trimmed out for wall openings, such as windows, line up accurately with these openings. Continue to hang the wall drywall sheets in this fashion, cutting out smaller pieces of drywall when necessary to fit in tight areas underneath or above existing kitchen cabinets.

Apply a joint compound on the seams of your kitchen drywall sheets. Cover the joint compound with drywall tape. Finish the kitchen drywall by applying drywall mud to the panel surfaces, following the product manufacturer label directions. Paint over the finished drywall with a high-gloss paint that is resistant to grease and water.