Built-in IKEA BESTÅ Entertainment Center hack

We had a built-in nook for the TV which wasn’t really working for us. It had open glass shelves and very little by way of closed storage. It was in dire need of a makeover.

Our plan was to build an entertainment center within the space with IKEA BESTÅ components, matched with IKEA AKURUM sliding door kitchen cabinets. It turned out well and works every better.

We wanted more storage with drawers and cabinets for toy storage as well. With our IKEA hack, I think we achieved all that.

Here’s the before and after.

Built-in Entertainment Center
before
Built-in Entertainment Center
after

Here’s What I Used:

2 BESTÅ Frames
8 drawers (INREDA drawers, BESTÅ drawer fronts)
8 drawer pulls (STRECKET Handles)
4 AKURUM doors
2 INTEGRAL sliding door rails
Wood from Home Depot**
Accessories–mirrors, candles, globes, baskets (IKEA BYHOLMA)

Built-in Entertainment Center

Here’s what I did to hack a built-in IKEA BESTÅ entertainment center

I measured all the built-in spaces first so that I knew the correct measurements and which IKEA frames would work.

Built-in Entertainment Center

I took a BESTÅ drawer front to Home Depot and tried to match the color for the wall paint

Tape off surrounding area, spackle, sand and paint the built-in area.

Assemble and install the BESTÅ frames and drawers.

Built-in Entertainment Center

For the INTEGRAL rail and AKURUM door slides, I had to do some math and figure out what kind of wood I would need in order to get the rail to attach to the wall (because they are meant to work with the IKEA kitchen cabinets).

Once I got the wood, I cut it to size, pre-drilled some holes and attached it to the wall. After that, I could then install the railing system without any issues. The bottom doors on the built in are still AKURUM doors, but I had to turn them sideways and mark new railing placements on them so that they would work for that opening.

(Ed note: IKEA no longer offers sliding door cabinets for their kitchen range. The hack should still work with regular hinge doors. Or if you really want sliding doors, you can hack the BESTÅ to support a pair of sliding doors.)

~ by Loi, Orlando, FL


The making of a BESTÅ media wall unit

Materials: 

BESTÅ TV unit with glass doors
BESTÅ doors (white)

This hack was in response to the undesirable look of the BESTÅ TV cabinets. (See the two frames behind glass doors)

First, I built a frame out of 1×4 pine and painted it to match the brown BESTÅ units. I placed the frame on top of the TV unit and secured it to the TV stand as well as the wall behind. Then I mounted BESTÅ doors as cover panels on top of the frame. The doors are installed using regular BESTÅ door hinges and can be opened up to access the cables inside, behind the TV.

Even though my current TV would have fit in the normal BESTÅ cabinet (40″ Samsung), I like the look of this a whole lot more. If I had wanted a larger TV, I could have done 3 doors as panels instead.

My TV unit now matches the rest of the BESTÅ units for a polished finish.

~ by Derek, St Louis, MO