The “WAF friendly gaming center”

Today, I’d like to share with you my solution to make a clean looking media center unit from wall mounted METOD kitchen cabinets. I was looking to house my AV receiver, and everything video game related, for “cheap”, but I wanted something with a nice sleek look. I do not own a TV, and I use a videoprojector (power and hdmi cables go in the cable duct in the corner of the room on the picture), so traditional TV stands were not an answer. I previously used a KALLAX 2×2 with added wheels, but it was beginning to be a bit crowded, and dust was an issue.

First, I’ve laid out all the possibilities using Sketchup and the vast library of free 3d models of IKEA furniture available online.

Sketchup plan of a WAF friendly gaming center

I went for the bigger one thanks to a sound advice from my wife “You always buy new stuff,  you should make sure you could house ’em all.” She’s right, I do, so I listened to her.

My WAF friendly gaming center made from IKEA METOD kitchen cabinets

The unit is basically two wall mounted 80x37x60cm METOD kitchen cabinets stuck on top of each other using 6 screws. I bought 3 40x60cm EKESTAD doors and used one as the top for a more coherent finish. It was screwed from underneath.

I was relieved to see that even by sticking two Metod units together, the hinge for the doors (which are taller than one Metod unit, they overlap to the middle of the top unit) still lined up perfectly from one unit to the other. So no tinkering with additional holes here. I used UTRUSTA hinge damper for ease of use.

I made a hole for cable between the two units by using a FIXA hole set, and two additional holes so I could add fans at the back (the closed doors make the temperature inside rise quickly when playing video games). I plugged them on the usb port of the game console so they start when I turn it on, and when the door are closed they are dead silent.

WAF friendly gaming center

The finishing touch was to secure it to the wall and add a set of 15 cm chrome legs, so I could use the space to hide my robot vacuum cleaner underneath (you can see it in the picture)

The hole on the back for fixing it to the wall are especially useful for cables management (I used a power strip that I put on the lower bottom shelf, so there’s only one power cable sticking out of the unit).

Using the Fixa hole saw, I cut 3 half circles holes (as seen on top of the fan picture) on each shelf for added cables-related versatility.

Overall it took me less than a day to put the whole thing together, trip to Ikea included.

Hope you like it !

~ Yann BOYER
a.k.a. “Icha”