Materials: Faktum/Akurum kitchen cabinets, 16mm MDF, 8 8mm bolts and nuts and the Kreg joinery system.
Description: I wanted a minimalistic media unit with enough room for big receivers and amplifiers, but the ones I could find were either too small or too expensive for me so I decided to build my own using Ikea kitchen cabinets. I went for Faktum/Akurum cabinets and white Applad doors.
- The cabinets were assembled according to the instructions and bolted together with 8mm bolts and nuts.
- The base was constructed using 6cm wide "planks" of MDF and joined using pocket-holes. Beware that MDF easily splits if you torque the screws too hard, so be careful and use a low setting on your drill.
- A 16mm MDF-board was cut to size.
- For a professional finish I got the sides, base and top spray-painted at a paint shop using the same color as the Applad fronts.
- Finally the base and top was attached to the three connected cabinets.
The media unit sits approximately 1 cm away from the wall, and with the door open even my PS3 is nice and cool. If one wants to operate home-cinema equipment with the doors closed air-holes can be drilled in the base of the cabinet just in front of de base. With a remote running on RF I can watch movies, play PS3 or listen to music with the doors shut.
~ Jens, Oslo, Norway
wow. love the minimalistic design.
ReplyDeleteWhat i don't like of closed tv furniture, that you have to have the doors open for the remote to work (av-receiver)
ever heard of ir repeater? works great and you can leave your doors closed
ReplyDeleteThe minimalistic approach never fails to impress. Your media furniture is simply beautiful. The pop of color in the accents is very clever.
ReplyDeletewow, you can do your kreg drilling in the kitchen :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks great, I was thinking about doing the same, but using a Numerar countertop. What size cabinets did you use? DxWxH?
ReplyDeleteYes please tell us the dimensions of the units & doors, looks exactly what I'm looking for!
DeleteFantastic!
ReplyDeleteThanks everybody!
ReplyDeleteI am really happy with the hack. With a RF-remote or a repeater the devices are easy to operate, but after a few months of use I have realized that I need ventilation(or the doors open) for gaming as the PS3 gets quite hot.
The individual cabinets are 60cm wide, 60cm deep and 35cm tall and the entire rack is 180wx60dx41h if I remember correctly. This can be done to virtually any IKEA cabinet, so it should be easy to find cabinets suiting your needs.
Have you considered inserting computer fans inside the unit to pass air through without having to leave the doors open?
DeleteLooking through the US catalog and they don't seem to sell that size wall cabinet (equivalent to 24" wide). We only seem to have 30" and 36" wide ones, I'm going tomorrow to see if they carry it as an unlisted item.
DeleteAs another option to prevent heat buildup, what about cutting holes in doors and then covering them with speaker cloth? That would also allow IR transmissions through.
Everything seems to be bigger in the US, even kitchen cabinets ;)
DeleteMy idea for ventilation is to drill holes in the bottom of the cabinet just in front of the base. The holes will not be visible unless you're 2" tall :D To get the air to circulate I am thinking of mounting large computer fans at the back of the cabinets to push the air out of the gap between the wall and the cabinet. My only concern is that this system will draw a lot of dust into the cabinets. Maybe speaker cloth will help?