It has always bothered me that if you wanted to do a built-in at a custom size you can’t use the BESTÅ products which have the best finishes.
After some inspecting of the way the BESTÅ units were put together I figured out that you could hack it so it would look finished and still be able to fit perfect into.
Materials:
BESTÅ cabinets
NUMERAR countertops
How to hack an IKEA floating desk
To use the BESTÅ cabinets like a built in across my 112″ long wall, I took two standard 47 inch cabinets and placed them in the center of each row.
That left a 9″ gap on each side. To fill the space, I cut two 9 inch cabinets for each row. You will also need to cut the hanging track to fit the new size of the end cabinets. Not forgetting the doors, that will need to be resized to the custom cabinet. For the unfinished door edge, use iron-on melamine edge strips to cover it up.
The raw edge of the cabinet does not need to be covered up, in my case, as it will be butted against the wall. If your situation is different, you can use the same melamine strips to finish the edges.
Hang the custom BESTÅ cabinets using the hanging corners that come with it. Be sure to cut the hanging track (suspension rail as IKEA calls it) to fit the inside of the new custom cabinet. In the picture below, note “A” and “C” where the custom cut BESTÅ cabinets go. The cabinet can be installed to the track like standard cabinets.
With the custom cabinets and rough ends against the walls you can have a perfect built-in look.
Hacking the IKEA floating desk
The floating desk is two IKEA kitchen countertop mounted to the wall using wall brackets. We used the old NUMERAR but it’s no longer available. The IKEA KARLBY or the oak effect SÄLJAN are good substitutes.
As they were longer than the space, I need to cut the counter tops to size. I did not finish the raw edges as they are hidden against the walls. To wall mount them, I used Rakks counter support brackets. The brackets will make your desk strong enough if you mount them to studs or use Hilti Toggler Bolts.
The last bit was to use the SIGNUM cable management to keep all cords organized under the desk.
FYI, the large painting is an original acrylic on canvas by Anton Stankowski. Smaller one is by Julije Knifer.
~ by Gene, Brooklyn