Reconfigering an IKEA Cabinet
We had IKEA (adel birch) kitchen cabinets installed seven years ago, and need to have the cabinet above our fridge ‘shortened’ because we need to replace our fridge w/ a taller one. The style and color of ‘adel birch’ has recently changed. Does anyone know of a carpenter that could work with the existing cabinet…
We had IKEA (adel birch) kitchen cabinets installed seven years ago, and need to have the cabinet above our fridge ‘shortened’ because we need to replace our fridge w/ a taller one. The style and color of ‘adel birch’ has recently changed.
Does anyone know of a carpenter that could work with the existing cabinet and reconfigure the height? IKEA installers are telling me that the existing cabinet doors cannot be altered. I have a feeling they can, but maybe I’m just being hopeful? I’d love the cabinet doors to match! Thanks for any feedback….
if you’re thinking of boxing in a new fridge like that with no ventilation make sure the models you’re looking at were designed for that scenatio
your fridge is already too large. Organize it better or get rid of half the stuff in there you need to throw out anyway.
Sorry, must have not read your post properly! See you did go to Ikea…
Another suggestion would be to custom fit stainless door “covers” over the modified height of the doors. I agree it would be much better to match the existing doors though.
Whatever you decide to do I would suggest to leave a 4″ space above the refrigerator to allow the air coils in the back to “breathe”. This will also allow it to run more efficiently, saving you more $ and your appliance will last much longer.
I think that Ikea’s designers are correct in that the door can’t be shortened b/c it is glued, and the thin center panel might not respond well to the disassembly.
I like the glass-door suggestion, but I don’t like ppl seeing what’s in my cabinets. Another alternative would be to sew a cute set of curtains to hang in front of the cabinet. Not doors, but will hide what’s inside.
My suggestion would be to scrap the idea of matching this and get a glass-doored Ikea cabinet to go up here, and maybe you could swap in another set of glass doors elsewhere in the kitchen to make it look like part of a grand plan!
I would take off the doors, shorten the cabinet box to the size you need, and fill the inside with a a wine rack (off the shelf or built in). It will look good and it’s pretty easy.
Changing the cabinet is the easy part. The cabinets are made in 3 inch increments. From your picture it looks as though youve got a 24 inch wide cabinet by 24″ high. you could get a cabinet either 15×24 or 18×24 hopefully that will match your new fridge. With respect to the doors you would then have two options. Either a single 24×15 or 24×18 door to be refinished by a millwork shop to match the old Adel finish or you could leave it open and use that space for display or a bookshelf for cookbooks. you could also custom fit a wine rack, but above the fridge is not the best place for storing fine wine (might be ok for everyday consumption).
you should definitely post this on ikeafans.com. tons of people on there asking the same kinds of questions and lots of good ideas and knowledge about hacks.