Materials: AKURUM wall cabinets, pine boards, Kreg Jigg, self tapping screws, forstner bit, circular saw, cordless drill, assorted drill bits
Description: Hi! I’m Nikki. I recently installed some AKURUM cabinets in my studio to use as storage. Wanting to increase my work surface I mounted them lower so I could eventually top them with a counter top. One of the main problems that I encountered was that the wall I was installing my cabinets on was the same wall where our water shut off valve was located. Needing to keep the valve accessible at a moments notice I was forced to leave a large gap in my wall of cabinets.
The other problem I encountered with the cabinet doors was the price. Since this room is not essential my budget must be kept to a minimum, and well who wants to buy the cheapest doors available? No one, that’s who. So the only option that was left was to do something custom. I purchased pine boards and used my Kreg Jigg to create one giant slab of wood. Then I marked the widths I would need for each door and cut the slab.
Once I had my doors I used an Ikea cabinet door from our bar to make a template for the forstner bit. Using the template I drilled the openings for the hinges in the back of the doors.
To cover the gap that allows access to the water valve I made a door that would cover both the opening and the cabinet and mounted the door to the wall instead of the cabinet.
If you need a little more detail, or perhaps want to know how I finished my doors, come visit my blog, The Ambitious Procrastinator.
~ Nikki Kelly, Denver, CO
Jules is the author of IKEAHackers.net: 25 Biggest and Best Projects".
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