Materials: Ikea Rationell drawer kit, Strecket pull
Description: I'm about as puffed up as a peacock at my recent Ikea hack. A broken oven the week before Christmas snowballed into a complete kitchen remodel, and we considered Ikea kitchen cabinets. We ultimately went with another vendor, but I couldn't get those Ikea drawers out of my mind. So nice and sturdy. Such a lovely soft close. I coveted.
And then I stumbled across the idea of a toekick drawer. You know toekicks--the recessed bit of wood under your cabinets, just covering up dead space. Why? Why should those just be dead space? When they could be transformed into a drawer?
Enter Rationell, the drawer kit from Ikea. All the innards for a nice drawer, conveniently packaged and available for separate sale and ready for me to re-purpose to my own ends.
I go into more detail on my blog, but essentially, I used a Rationell kit one size smaller than my base cabinet, then cut 2x4s down to size to fill in the dead space, and mounted the Rationell drawer below the normal cabinet, in the toekick area.
The toekick board became the front panel of the drawer, and the sleek design of the Strecket pull was the perfect finishing touch--it made opening the drawer easy, but its top-mount design meant that you couldn't see it unless you were flat on my kitchen floor. I'm not saying that doesn't happen on occasion, but it's rare. ;-)
Ikea made it possible! For an extra $30ish dollars, I added an entire extra drawer to my base cabinet. I shudder to imagine what it would have cost had I been working with a custom cabinet-maker.
See more of the secret cabinet.
~ Nicole Wills, United States
looks great but it's hardly secret if it has a handle on it LOLOL .. :)
ReplyDeleteOf course the handle is not visible!! it's under the upper drawer. Don't you see?
ReplyDeleteIKEA used to do specific kits for this very thing (I used a couple in a kitchen I fitted years ago) ... although of course they were designed to fit to the IKEA base cabinet legs.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember seeing them when I did my current kitchen last year though, so well done for your ingenuity.
Wow! Great idea for using otherwise wasted space. I just wish I'd seen this before we installed our cabinets!
ReplyDeletegreat one! Especially in small kitchens this should be of great use. I wish I had this in my appartement when I was studying...
ReplyDeleteNice. Way to use every single inch of space!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea. I just hope you don't stub a toe on the metal edged handle. It's called a toekick plate for a reason. :)
ReplyDeleteHey - cool! Simple, effective, and USEFUL.
ReplyDelete@IT_Guy, lol! ouch!
You may covet my newly installed Ikea cabinets, but I envy your secret drawer. Well done!
ReplyDeleteSo cool! I wish I had seen this before my recent remodel. Can't imagine how I could retrofit this into existing cabinets. :/
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty awesome for storing docs you want to keep hidden! Oh, it's always a shame to create something awesome that is supposed to be kept a secret, huh? ;)
ReplyDelete_jenny
If this is the type of hacks you guys like. There's a show on HGTV called "Wasted Spaces" that has lots of ideas on how to reclaim unused space. This toekick drawer was one of them. Of course they were not using ikea materials.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! Thanks for sharing :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://craftrunwag.blogspot.com/
I love secret storage!
ReplyDeleteuc
Brilliant! I will be using this idea when I remodel my kitchen.
ReplyDelete