I have had a STENSTORP freestanding kitchen island in black for years.
And then …
… when the 2019 IKEA catalog came out with the new VADHOLMA kitchen island with rack I was immediately smitten.
I trawled Google looking for someone that had managed to fit the new rack on the old bench.
But I only read people saying that the new kitchen island was different and that it wouldn’t be possible.
For $100 I thought it would probably be worth a try so picked one up.
IKEA items used:
- STENSTORP Freestanding Kitchen Island
- VADHOLMA rack
Other materials and tools:
- Drill + 9mm drill bit
How to add rack to freestanding kitchen island
Items needed are the STENSTORP freestanding kitchen island (the big one). I had it in black which looks great, not sure how the white will look though you could easily paint the rack to match.
The process I followed was below and then what I would do if I needed to do it again is below that.
Step 1) Pull the existing island into pieces and determine where to attach the rack.
Related: How to add shelves to the STENSTORP kitchen island on the seating side
Step 2) Drill the 2 holes on both sides ensuring that they will line up.
Step 3) Reassemble and attach the rack
If I was going to do it all again I would measure the whole thing up and drill the sides without disassembling it. That would be faster and it didn’t make a difference in the end.
It did make it easier when working out where to attach the rack initially.
I went immediately next to the vertical beam for strength because this was the middle of the island so I thought it looks the best. But you could go anywhere along the horizontal bar.
~ by Daniel
You may also like these IKEA STENSTORP kitchen island hacks
#1 Adding shelves to the STENSTORP
Kerstin doesn’t like sitting on barstools and needed storage in her kitchen. So she installed shelves on the the seating side of the IKEA STENSTORP kitchen island.
See the tutorial for additional shelves on the IKEA STENSTORP.
#2 Coastal makeover for the STENSTORP
Lisa loved the STENSTORP island, but there was one thing that really bugged her. Anyone walking by the kitchen could see all the junk she had crammed on the shelves.
She wanted to hide the mess and make the island fit more with the coastal decor of her beach house and look more permanent and custom. Here’s her coastal kitchen island.
#3 Freestanding kitchen island on wheels
A couple of years ago Hilde bought a STENSTORP kitchen island. Because of space limitations, she wanted to put the kitchen island on wheels for more flexibility. They finally did it and their kitchen island on wheels works so well!