I love IKEA products for their simplicity, clean lines, and suitability for endless creative uses. I particularly like the BILLY Series and the BESTÅ Series (especially frames) for creating custom combinations for storage and furniture.
Having used several iterations of BESTÅ media consoles for stereo systems, I have always been frustrated by the way a standard Vinyl LP Album “almost” fits in a standard BESTÅ 15” drawer or storage space.
You can put the albums on edge in a BESTÅ cabinet on a shelf, and they will fit front to back, and you can put a 15” door to cover the front of the space for esthetics; however, it’s hard to look through and select the records since you are looking at the stack from the side.
It would be nice to have a drawer to pull out, like a filing cabinet, where you could put the albums in it facing the front so you can flip through them like in a record store. You would think the 15” BESTÅ drawer would be suitable for this, but after the drawer slides and mounting considerations, it turns out to only be 10” deep.
The BESTÅ Storage For Vinyl Records
So … I came up with this hack in order to make the drawer deeper so it would hold an LP album. It turns out that fully 3” of a 15” drawer front extends below the bottom of the drawer box in order to cover the slides and to fulfill the 10/15 standard space of the 25×25 BESTÅ form factor. This IKEA hack uses a pan to extend the bottom of the drawer to utilize this space and be able to fit a 12×12 album in the drawer.
While the materials in this write-up are for my particular BESTÅ adaptation to create a turntable stand, the hack is really for modifying the 15” drawer to hold record albums. You can adapt this to your own creation using different drawer fronts, different colors, and different or multiple combinations of placement in a BESTÅ system. Also, you may be able to find a less expensive pan to use – the only critical thing about it is the dimensions and that it should have some sort of lip to support it in the opening you cut out.
This hack with the tray will not work if you want to install the drawer at the bottom of the cabinet. The bottom of the tray is just shy of the lower edge of the drawer front, so it will clear a drawer below it; however, since drawer fronts typically overlap the top and/or bottom edges of a BESTÅ frame, the tray will not clear if the drawer is on the bottom.
Vinyl Record Storage Cabinet Hack
Materials:
- Lasagna pan, deep dish, 16″L x 10.37″W x 3″H
- BESTÅ Frame, black-brown, 23 5/8×15 3/4×25 1/4″
- 2 STUBBARP Leg, black-brown, 2 per pack
- BESTÅ Drawer frame, black-brown, 23 5/8×5 7/8×15 3/4″
- BESTÅ Drawer frame, black-brown, 23 5/8×9 7/8×15 3/4″
- HANVIKEN Drawer front, black-brown, 23 5/8×10 1/4″
- HANVIKEN Drawer front, black-brown, 23 5/8×15″
- 2 x BESTÅ Drawer runner, soft-closing, 2 per pack
Step 1: Assemble the drawer
Assemble the drawer and the drawer front per the instructions. Although it would seem logical to cut the hole in the bottom before assembly, having the drawer fully put together provides stable support for the bottom as you cut the hole.
Step 2: Prepare the pan
Unwrap the baking pan and remove the sticky label at the bottom.
Step 3: Trace the size of the pan
Make a pattern for the opening that needs to be cut in the drawer bottom. You can’t just trace the bottom of the pan because the sides are sloped, and the hole would be too small. I used some scrap cardboard taped together under the lip of the pan.
Step 4: Transfer the dimensions
Transfer the pattern to the bottom of the drawer. It should be reasonably centered.
Step 5: Cut the base
Cut out the opening. I used a drill for pilot holes in the corners, a small skill saw for the long cuts where I could, and a jigsaw for cleanup (you can use whatever tools you have at hand that will do the job).
Tip: Do not try to cut the opening the EXACT size of the pan – either leave a little play in the pattern you make or cut to the outside of the line if your pattern is exact. Otherwise you will end up “adjusting” the opening in order for the pan to drop in.
Step 6: Sand the opening
Flip the drawer over and drop the pan in the opening. The pan should lie flush with the bottom of the drawer. If the opening is too tight, adjust it with a file, sandpaper, or saw (see Tip in Step 5). If the fit is reasonably snug, you are done. You can add a dab of glue or double-sided tape under the pan’s lips if you want, but I didn’t find it necessary. Assemble the drawer into the BESTÅ Frame as normal.
Step 7: Fill with LPs
Place your favorite LP Albums in the drawer and enjoy! If you fill it only about ¾ full, it’s easy to flip through the albums like you would at a record store to select the one you want.
Turntable Stand and Vinyl Record Storage Cabinet in One
Depending on how stable your cabinet sits on the floor, you might want to consider anchoring the back of the cabinet to the wall so it won’t tip when you open the drawer loaded with vinyl.
And yes, that is a BILLY Bookcase-based entertainment center in that rich, warm walnut finish, which is no longer available. On the turntable stand, the dark smoked glass BESTÅ Top Panel is also no longer available.
~ by Douglas Shaw