Materials: Expedit Shelf, Vika Amon Table Top, Capita Legs
Description: So my wife and I were setting up our first home, and it's a small but beautiful white box of a place with a minimalist excuse of a kitchen along one wall of the living room.
We figured we needed some sort of dining table, plus more kitchen counter space, space to work at our laptops, plus general storage... all without taking up precious living room space. What better solution than to use the Expedit bookcase on its side as a storage base for a kitchen/dining counter!
Sure, we've seen lots of hacks with Expedit shelves, Capita legs and various table tops, but I thought I'd just share the little touches that made this project extra special.
1) Ingredients: One Expedit Shelf, assembled. Check!
2) The underbelly of my Vika Amon table top. Note the asymmetrical positioning of the Capita legs, cuz of my cantilevered design!
3) Since I knew the cantilevered top would have to take a lot of stress, I figured that I had to secure the Capita Legs to the Expedit with more than just double sided foam tape. This is a closeup of how each Capita leg base was screwed into the Expedit. I had to chisel away bits of plastic to fit the screw heads. (The bits of 3M tape were just there to help me position the legs accurately.)
4) The metal cap hides the screws completely!
5) The penultimate step... just before popping the table top onto the plastic feet.
6)The gap under the table top is perfect for keeping our 2 laptops and with mice and cables away for mealtimes!
7) The table top floats away from the wall for more comfortable seating (no one likes to be squeezed against the wall). The resultant gap is perfect for keeping table-top accessories like utensils and tissues. Our Nespresso machine lives there now.
8) The finished Kitchen-counter/Dining-Table/Work-Station. 3-in-1! Completed with a few Kassett boxes and Stig stools. The open shelving lets light through to our kitchen, with space to display our books and knick-knacks.
Enjoy!
P.S. The curvy wooden thing is an stool I made as a freshman design+build project in architecture school. Cost me a bomb to fly that back home to Singapore from Pittsburgh, but it is so happy to have the place of honour at our dining table! (And it's way more comfortable than the Stig stools!!)
~ ucn, Singapore
That looks great!
ReplyDeleteI suggest to glue a thin layer of felt under the boxes for two reasons:
- It lets them slide more comfotably
- It prevents that the colour of the black boxes rubs off on the shelf.
Wow! I just found your crazy blog and it's amazing! I've always had a love/hate relationship with Ikea. I love how clever their stuff is, but I hate that I love it! I've always been more of a vintage/antique/thrift furniture person. But you've absolutely given me a new respect for personalized Ikea!! Thanks!
ReplyDeletePS. I loooove your stool!!
ReplyDeleteVery professional, love it.
ReplyDeleteWayyyyy cool! I hope to use this idea someday. :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Great job!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteNicely done...GORGEOUS stool!!
ReplyDeleteYeow! That is a nice stool!
ReplyDeleteThe black pieces that secure the legs to the expedit — are they included with the capita legs?
ReplyDeleteGreat project!! Question -- What was the size of the Vika Amon tabletop that you used?
ReplyDeleteHi all, thanks for the comments! we're looking back at those photos in amazement at how CLEAN it was when we first put it together.
ReplyDelete@Vanessa - Yes, the black pieces are included in the capita legs.
@BBlairBerry - the Vika Amon top was 75cm x 150cm. BUT it is warping already cuz it's made of such cheap material. I don't think it's meant to be cantilevered like that.
I love this design! I have such a small place and this functional. I noticed that you posted this in march so since then, how has this table been?Is the expedit bookshelf holding up? Would you change anything or recommend using something else?
ReplyDeleteHi LuvTima,
ReplyDeleteWe've been using this since the New Year, so about 3.5 months now. The Expedit is holding up perfectly well. In fact, we've just added one more Expedit shelf (2x2 squares) at right angles to this one, on the kitchen side, to hold more kitchen appliances.
The Vika Amon table top is beginning to warp since it is just hollow particle-board! I think it isn't meant to be cantilevered this much. I would recommend a more solid table-top surface if you want to try this!
Bonjour UCN,
ReplyDeletec'est pile poil le genre de meuble qu'il me fallait dans ma petite cuisine, j'ai l'expedit et la vika amon, il me reste qu'a acheter des capita legs, je compte y mettre des roulettes et une poignee , pour le tirer a moi. Je teste et je viendrais rendre compte ici,
merci
Very nice. Good idea for small space! Love your stool as well! would you consider posting instructions on how you made it?
ReplyDeleteWe think this design is great. Where did you get the black plastic caps to place the Capita legs into (the ones in photos 3 & 4)?
ReplyDeleteThanks...
This bar looks really great!
ReplyDeleteI want to try this ikeahacking, but like it says, the vika amon shelve combine with the asymetrical positioning and cantilevered, all of this seems to be not durbale with time.
So, I've this idea:
Replace the vika amon top (75cm x 150cm),by a worktop Numerär ( 126cm x 62cm ). The worktop is heavier than vika amon, so I want add 4 more capita legs ( 8 capita legs in all).
And I think, angle bracket to enhance the shelf expedit.
Did you think it's a crazy stuff? The Expedit never will support numerär weight?
That sounds like a great idea, Leiji. Did you ever build it? If so, I would love to know how it worked out. Maybe you could post a photo?
Delete