20 IKEA Kitchen Island Hacks To Transform Your Space
A kitchen island is one of the most requested piece in any kitchen, as it provides extra space to cook, dine, entertain, or just to get some extra storage.
However, in some kitchens especially in a rental unit, islands are a luxury as they can be expensive to set up and they tend to require a lot of space.
But with a bit of IKEA hacking, it’s possible to build an affordable kitchen island, suited to the dimensions of your kitchen.
You can even make it a portable kitchen island so you can use it in more ways than one.
The key is to use your IKEA kitchen island to its full potential! We’ve collected 20+ amazing IKEA kitchen island hacks that will show you exactly how to do that.
Kat’s Kallax Kitchen Island
Ikea items used: Kallax 2×4 shelf 202.758.85, Oppeby tabletop 802.815.05, Kallax casters (x3) 002.886.57, Gerton adjustable leg (x2) 602.616.26, #10×3/4″ panhead sheetmetal screw from Home Depot (x18) I first laid the tabletop on the cardboard on the floor facing down. I measured the Kallax shelf to see where I would…
An alternative kitchen island
IKEA items used: 2 x Finnvard desk legs My new apartment has a fairly big kitchen, plenty of space for a kitchen island, but I couldn’t afford to splash out on one. I had an IKEA Finnvard desk and after a little brainstorm, figured that the legs could be used as…
Mosaic Kitchen Island
Materials: IKEA Groland birch kitchen island (item# 401.574.85) Here’s a stone mosaic hack I performed on an IKEA kitchen island back in 2008. I started with the Groland birch kitchen island (item# 401.574.85), which is a very sturdy and admirable solid wood kitchen island. It isn’t particle board, plywood, or…
Adding shelves to the Stenstorp kitchen island
IKEA item used: Large Stenstorp kitchen island 2 large Ekby Hemnes shelves This hack installs shelves on the seating side of the island. Why? I don’t like sitting on barstools and I need storage. (BTW – it looks like IKEA may be planning to discontinue the Stenstorp soon.) The Ekby…
Cheap, Stylish IKEA designed Kitchen Island Bench for under $300!
I used to live in a very new and stylish apartment that had a massive island bench (220cm x 90cm), but then I moved to one which had the same layout but not the bench. Both me and my housemate prepare a lot of meals throughout the week and required…
Another Expedit or Kallax Kitchen Island
After years of thinking of doing it, I’ve finally posted one of my IKEA hacks to this site! I’ve been through hundreds of pieces of IKEA furniture in my lifetime, and the pattern is always the same: Buy item, bring it home, assemble it, it looks awesome. Yay. Get a…
Slähult table top + Expedit shelf unit = Oval Kitchen island
We bought a Slähult table top from the as-is department. Then, fastened it to the top of our existing Expedit shelf unit to make an oval kitchen island. (We plan to re-do the kitchen in Grimslöv in our new-to-us home. But in the mean time we needed more counter space!)…
Small Kitchen Counter and Storage
Ikea Items: Omar Shelving Unit and Lämplig Chopping Board We needed a small counter space along the side of the stove but it couldn’t be too deep or it would block the doorway. So we purchased the smallest Omar shelving unit. The open wire top of the Omar…
Coastal IKEA kitchen island from BJÖRKUDDEN table
Materials: BJÖRKUDDEN table, Fence Post toppers, high end plywood, white furniture paint and 8 “L” Bracket from Home Depot. 1. I purchased the BJÖRKUDDEN table at IKEA. Fence Post toppers, high end plywood, white furniture paint and 8 “L” Bracket from Home Depot. 2. The legs and under table top…
High-top Gerton Slab Kitchen Island
Materials: Bestå Castors, Gerton Table Top, Lack TV Unit After looking all over the place for a kitchen island that would meet the needs of our new, open (but smaller) kitchen, we decided to hack it with Ikea. We wanted something multi-functional that could operate as a dining table, prep…
She Built a Custom Kitchen Island From IKEA Cabinets — and It Still Looks Amazing Years Later
My kitchen needed extra counter space, but custom kitchen islands were way out of budget. So, I turned to IKEA and used six kitchen cabinets (uppers) to build my very own island. It’s been years since I first put it together, and honestly? It’s still one of the best decisions…
Extendable Kitchen Island using Expedit and Linmon
Materials: Expedit, Linmon, OLOV, Rill We originally wanted a table at the end of our kitchen that could be easily moved out of the way. But we had no money left in the budget for one. So we added casters to our old Expedit, and used a no-longer-needed Linmon table…
Shiny Kitchen Island
Materials: METOD Kitchen Base units and Bredskar Sink 5 metod kitchen cabinets plus an integrated Dishwasher brought together to form a kitchen Island. 3 units were chopped into to allow for a bespoke Douglas fir box shelf to be inserted. Ikea sink unit welded into stainless steel worktop made at a…
Hack an affordable Stainless Steel Kitchen Island Countertop
Materials: Sanfrid Stainless Table Top 59″x29″ We wanted a stainless steel top for our kitchen island. We also purchased a new gas range that would be the centerpiece of this island. Custom fabricating this top with a local metal shop would have cost $1,000. We were able to accomplish this with…
Island with dishwasher and water chiller
Materials: Akurum wall and base cabinett, butcher block top, Orsa doors and door fronts We needed an island at work to house a dishwasher, a water chiller, and provide storage for utensils and extra glasses. We also wanted a working surface and a place for a cooktop. After measuring the clearance required for…
Small Kitchen Island/Workplace
Materials: FAKTUM Wall cabinet, LÄMPLIG chopping board, BRANÄS Basket, VARIERA box I need additional workspace for my kitchen, but couldn’t find an island/cart that was small enough. I used a FAKTUM Wall cabinet because it had just the right height, adding some feet from the DIY store. The LÄMPLIG chopping…
A butler’s pantry
Materials: 2 x 18″AKURUM cabinets, 2 x LEDBERG, 2 x Perfekt wine shelves I wanted to create a butler’s pantry, but the space I wanted to use was only 36 inches deep. I got the Perfekt wine shelves and they were perfect, however the cabinets were 24″ deep. Way too…
Kitchen Island with drawers: An IKEA HEMNES hack
It’s hard to find a kitchen island with drawers vs. some random wine rack and open shelves. So it was time to get creative and make my own. After digging around on Etsy for what seemed like a million years I still couldn’t find one that provided enough storage. And…
Easy renter-friendly DIY Kitchen Island Counter for $160
Moving is a big pain, especially when there is a weird space under your kitchen cabinets that have no storage, and you have more kitchen gadgets then you have clothing — the dilemma my roommate and I had in our new Apartment. The strange heater location was the reason this space…
IKEA BILLY Kitchen: The popular IKEA bookcase also works in the kitchen
We took down a wall between our kitchen and living room. We had to keep a support column, so we decided to build a room divider/kitchen island. What we’re proud of is our DIY kitchen island is an IKEA BILLY kitchen hack that saved us a lot of money in…
