Kitchen island that hides away a secret compartment

Hidden storage in the kitchen island for, not one, but two foldable tables.

We built the house and used IKEA cabinets in the entire house — kitchen, baths, laundry.  We liked that we could install them ourselves.

Because we have an open format kitchen, we have no formal dining room.

So, we decided to make hidden storage in the IKEA kitchen island to store two 5-foot tables to use when we have large number of guests.

This whole kitchen is IKEA kitchen cabinets. For the island, we used metal brackets to extend the island for seating and cover up the box with IKEA cover panels. We used a small piano hinge for the door to the hidden storage area.

Once the cabinets for the kitchen island were installed, it didn’t take long to build the “hidden storage area”.  It was really pretty simple.

FINISHED KITCHEN
ikea kitchen island
ikea kitchen
THE DESIGN

This is a typical Island made from IKEA kitchen base cabinets.  The Hide-A-Way is added along the back of the base cabinets. We used metal brackets to extend the counter for seating at the Island.

plan
plan
plan
BUILDING

It’s basically a box built from 2x4s. 

A piano hinge and a standard IKEA door was used for the opening.

hidden storage compartment in kitchen island

A small magnet type door closer was added.

hidden storage compartment in kitchen island
FINISHED ISLAND “HIDE – A – WAY”  with folding tables inside
hidden storage compartment in kitchen island

I used white “Auto Wrap”  to cover the 2x4s that you see when you open the door.

hidden storage compartment in kitchen island
hidden storage compartment in kitchen island

There are two 5-foot tables inside. The one that is pushed in the farthest has paracord tied on the leg, and is easy to slide out. The other end of the paracord is on a hook at the opening for easy reach.

hidden storage compartment in kitchen island

When we have a large number of guests, we slide the two tables out and set them up. Instant dining room!

To complete the IKEA vibe, we also hacked the ORDNING utensil holder into pendant lights over the island.

~ by Tracey