13 Brilliant IKEA Hacks To Streamline Your Kitchen

As wallet-friendly and convenient as it may be to furnish your entire apartment with IKEA goods, it's disheartening when you inevitably realize every one of your friends also has that bare wood STENSTORP island in their kitchen. So, to help the heart of your home stand out from the allen wrench-assembled furniture masses, we've rounded up 13 ingenious ways to hack IKEA furniture to create a one-of-a-kind kitchen. Conformity be damned!

1. Storage Wall With Drop-Down Countertop

Price: $320
Materials Needed:KALLAX shelving, Integral hinges, LANSA handles, wood and metal hardware
How It's Done: As you assemble the KALLAX, cut out two of the shelves in the spot where you'd like the table to pop up. Then you'll need to channel your inner woodworker: fashion the pop-up door by fastening it to a metal pole you'll need to install and attach a set of drop-down support legs on the underside. Once that's wrapped up, add hinged doors (which you've cut to size) to whichever cubes you'd like hidden from view. [See more...]

2. Replica $1,000 Williams-Sonoma Island

Price: $300
Materials Needed:BEKVAM kitchen cartpolyurethane adhesive, 2x2-foot marble top, metal towel rack, paint
How It's Done: Step 1: Give the entire island (including the wheels) two coats of the paint. Step 2: Attach the towel rack and carefully affix the marble slab to the top with a thin layer of the adhesive. Step 3: Get way pumped you just saved yourself 700 dollars. [See more...]

3. Hidden Cupboard Wall Storage

Price: $10
Materials Needed:KNUFF magazine file, glue or screws
How It's Done: This insanely simple trick involves securing one side of the wooden file to the inside of your cabinet. Just make sure you leave enough room that you can stash taller items without catching the top of the door. [See more...]

4. KALLAX Kitchen and Bar

Price: $120
Materials Needed:KALLAX shelf, set of 2 CAPITA brackets, LINNMON table top, MDF board (optional)
How It's Done: Assemble the KALLAX as usual, then mount the LINNMON on top using the brackets on either end. If you don't want to worry about knocking whatever you've stashed inside the KALLAX's shelves while you're furiously cooking, go ahead and add a piece of cut-to-size white MDF board to the other side. [See more...]

5. Hanging Nest Lights

Price: Under $100
Materials Needed:NYMÖ lamp shades, HEMMA pendant cords
How It's Done: To create a pair of these unique fixtures, you'll need to first shred a couple of smaller NYMÖ shades with scissors into long thin strips, then interweave those around a pair of larger NYMÖs. Once you're happy with the look, install the HEMMA pendants to the ceiling as you would normally, and light 'er up. [See more...]

6. Changing Table Countertop

Price: $80
Materials Needed:LÄMPLIG chopping boards, 2 SNIGLAR changing tables
How It's Done: Attach two (unused) changing tables together at their sides, top each with its own LÄMPLIG, and boom you've got a whole new spot to cry while you chop onions. [See more...]

7. Huge Island With Storage

Price: $300
Materials Needed: 2 31" BILLY bookcases, 1 15" BILLY bookcase, HAMMARP countertop, beadboard, screws and wood glue
How It's Done: Assemble all three of the BILLYs, then secure them to one another with screws. Next, cover the backside and edges with the beadboard to create a more interesting facade. Once you're happy with how it's looking, adhere the HAMMARP on top. [See more...]

8. GRUNDTAL Wine Rack

Price: $180
Materials Needed: 12 GRUNDTAL double towel rails, machine screws
How It's Done: Show off your premium vino bottles on an empty wall by mounting a series of tiered GRUNDTALs together in an area where they won't get too much sunlight or heat. [See more...]

9. Dining Table Window Bench

Price: $500
Materials Needed: 3 SEKTION wall cabinets, bench pad, paint
How It's Done: The cabinets shown in this photo are no longer carried by IKEA, but you can achieve the same effect with the SEKTION style. Once you've assembled each, secure them to one another and slightly raise the entire rig on a bed of scrap wood planks. Add a cushion and you've magically created some extra seats to the table and one more glorious napping spot. [See more...]

10. Oversized Utensil Drawer

Price: $470
Materials Needed:SEKTION base drawer unit, 8 ORDNING flatware caddies, plywood, paint (optional)
How It's Done: Once you've assembled the SEKTION, cut a piece of plywood to fit as a "lid" on the upper drawer's edges (but can still slide open and close without issues). Then, cut eight circles into the wood–sized just large enough to fit a single ORDNING caddie–paint it (if you feel like it), and secure the "lid" to the drawer edges. [See more...]

11. Fully Equipped Wine Bar

Price: $800
Materials Needed:30" SEKTION base cabinet, 118" SEKTION base cabinet, 1 HAMMARP counter top, and a wine fridge
How It's Done: The style of cabinets above is also no longer carried by IKEA, but you can easily duplicate it using the SEKTION series. First, assemble both base cabinets, then bookend your brand new wine fridge with them along an empty wall. Once you're pumped on how it looks, top all three with a HAMMARP counter top and secure it permanently to each of the cabinet tops. [See more...]

12. Indoor Herb Garden

Price: $38
Materials Needed: VURM wine rack, 4 pint glasses, chalkboard paint
How It's Done: Mount the VURM onto a wall that receives a healthy dose of sunlight during the day, then paint the bottom two inches of each pint glass with the chalkboard paint. Fill each one with a handful of rocks, soil, and the greenery of your choice, and voila! Fresh herbage. [See more...]

13. Taple Top Kitchen Island

Price: $100
Materials Needed: FÖRHÖJA kitchen cart, paint, and handles (both optional)
How It's Done: Perfect for tiny eat-in kitchens, all you need to do here is cut the legs of the FÖRHÖJA so that its large prep area rests at a comfortable height above your table. Then, it's up to you to add handles to the side (if you'll be moving it around much), and slap on a coat of paint. [See more...]


Joe McGauley is a senior editor at Supercompressor and bummed to hear IKEA's putting the kibosh on in-store hide-and-seekers.