The house was built in the early '90's. I purchased it last year. It is anybody's guess how they were secured. I took the screws out of the back of one of the cabinets and it did not budge. It is a mystery.

Cabinets glued to plaster wall

Glue exists: therefore someone has used it to secure anything to anything. Glue would explain the firm attachment in the absence of apparent hardware. If someone was crazy enough to use glue to secure the cabinets, they surely used LOTS of glue. Removing the cabinets may not turn out well.

I finally got around to pulling trim, kick plate facings, and stuff. The base cabinets appear to be toe-nailed in place with large finishing nails or those very small headed drywall screws. There is one in each of the bottom corners.

Nails and/or screws to the floor. A most inventive way to attach cabinets. Sounds like the gentlemen doing this work were well qualified, in something, not carpentry or cabinetry.

Wonder what were they thinking?

Izzy wins btw.

JBMat, they were also secured to the wall with a couple of screws. At least I can remove the nails/screws without destroying the cabinets if I want to repaint them.