IKEA IVAR pantry with DIY wooden wine glass rack

Take 3!

IVAR is the hack you can keep on hacking. Jo previously played around with the IVAR shelves like this, turning it into a pantry and drinks shelving: 

Then, she added more doors and a wooden wine glass rack. (Tap the link for the tutorial on the wooden wine glass holders.)

Recently, she decided to upgrade her IKEA IVAR again.  

“I wanted my very functional multipurpose pantry, storage and bar shelving to look a bit more sophisticated. So I added some eggshell French Green Porter’s Paint, which is an amazing neutral grey-green that blends with a lot of different tones. Then folded some IKEA’s Marit runners around the sides, in beige and navy.” And now we have this: 

To minimise the “storage unit” vibe, she filled in the visible dowel holes along the IVAR posts with timber putty. She tried beeswax in some to see which worked better and is happy to report that “both work great, and wall putty will also do the job.”

The MARIT runners close up the sides of the IVAR posts and reduce visual clutter.

Her advice is to use the best quality paint you can find. “A matte paint will cover any little imperfections. You should also seal the paint with water based polycrylic or chalk paint sealing wax.”

As for the MARIT runners, she trimmed and hot glued any cluttered and frayed sides to keep them neat.

You may have noticed a strip of wood between the IVAR doors. Jo explains that she attached different hinges on the doors so they are set wider, screwing the hinges into the IVAR posts instead of inside the cabinet as per IKEA assembly instructions. (See photo above for hinge detail) And she used a piece of wood plank to close the IVAR gap.

Super easy and effective.

DIY wooden wine glass rack to fit the IKEA IVAR

While the IKEA IVAR range offers a bottle rack for wine bottles, it offers nothing close to a stemware rack. The chrome FINMALD glass rack will work but I decided to build a wooden wine glass rack for a more seamless fit onto my IKEA IVAR shelves

I had a couple of IVAR cabinet doors left over from a bookcase I made. So I used the strips of wood from the back of the cabinet doors, and a spare piece of 12x140mm pine. 

IVAR door

Related: IVAR goes from Scandi to Chinoiserie Bar Cabinet

How to make wine glass holders for IVAR shelf

First, I cut the 12x140mm pine into three to make five 29 cm lengths.

Next, I cut the ends off the IVAR support pieces. Then attached all the IVAR ends to the pine lengths. Sand and wipe off dust from all the wood pieces.

DIY wooden wine glass rack

The last step is to screw the pieces onto the underside of an IVAR shelf. You could also do this using T-molding, if you have that lying around. 

attach to shelf

Related: Hack an eco-friendly trolley from old wine crates trolley

I admit I am not the most accurate of hackers. So I placed the wine glasses onto the underside of the shelf to work out how to measure the distance between the lengths.

I just happen to have a few smaller Champagne flute bases than the standard 7cm wine glass bases. So I made one of my rows thinner to accommodate them.

But you can adjust the slots to whatever glasses you have. Just be aware to leave space for the IVAR supports that the shelves rest on, and give the width between rows a few extra mm.

Some of my rows ended up just a little tight, probably because I cut the pine lengths with a jigsaw and they were not dead straight. If you have a circular saw, you will end up with a better end result.

But my IVAR glass hanging rack turned out pretty functional in the end. 

DIY wooden wine glass rack on IKEA IVAR shelving unit

Now to stock up the bar shelves. 🙂 

~ by Jo S 

IVAR Freestanding Wine Rack and Cabinet

My mom is an IKEA hacker with woodworking skills. Here’s one of her creations.

Freestanding IVAR bar cabinet

This freestanding kitchen unit is made with an IKEA IVAR cabinet. The sides and body of it are wood salvaged from one of IKEA’s futons, not sure which.

It is solid pine and stained a light blue/green.

There is a wine storage rack at the bottom, and on the top is a DIY wine glass rack for hanging wine glasses. Plus there’s storage in the IVAR cabinet for your favorite bottles of wine.

My mother continues to make IKEA hacks in her garage/studio in Los Angeles. In general, she keeps some of her DIY projects and sells the rest of them.

~ by Christine