Espresso bar: IKEA Sektion cabinet hacking.
Now that we've finished fixing the drywall, completed the framing, and installed the plumbing and electrical, it's time to turn our attention to the cabinets for our espresso bar. There are only two of them, but the work involved to get them to fit our precise and wholly random 27-11/16" rough opening has been pretty time-consuming.
Because of that I'm going to break up the cabinetry work into three sections:
- IKEA Sektion cabinet hacking
- IKEA Maximera drawer hacking
- IKEA Torhamn (being phased out) cabinet door and drawer front hacking
I've mentioned how we have some experience hacking IKEA Sektion cabinets from when we built our Sprinter campervan in 2020. As K put it, this kind of project basically boils down to IKEA providing all the raw materials and hardware. We then customize it to fit our very specific needs.
In the case of our built-in espresso bar, we wanted both the base and wall cabinets to be less deep than they're designed. Also, we of course had to make the factory 36-inch-wide cabinets fit our opening. With that experience and an eye for perfection (thanks Mom!), the cabinets came together nicely.
This kind of project (specifically, hacking IKEA cabinetry) goes much smoother with a few tools. On our van build, we learned this as we went.
- A table saw
- A crosscut sled for a table saw
- A drill guide
- A combination square
There were of course a smorgasbord of other tools I used, but those were the key ones that made precision more possible. Some other things I consider when doing fine carpentry where I'm working with fractions of an inch down to a sixteenth:
- The same tape measure throughout the project (or I check that all tapes measure exactly the same lengths)
- A finely-sharpened pencil so there's no slop when transferring measurements
- An 80-tooth fine finish blade for my table saw
With that out of the way, I started by doing a lot of measuring. Then remeasuring. Then remeasuring again. I'm probably a little OCD. I also didn't want to mess anything up because IKEA is a hundred-and-fifty miles away and their supply chain sucks. We only got the cabinets we did because the store had them on hand after someone returned them unused from their remodel project.
Finally, it was time to whip out my table saw and really get to work.
After cutting all the boards for both cabinets, I had a pretty good-sized pile of what looked like IKEA scraps.
That was the easy part. The much more meticulous part was next: drilling all the holes I had cut off so I'd be able to assemble the cabinets with the IKEA hardware as if they came from the factory at our custom sizes.
For the Sektion base cabinets, they have a bottom and two sides. The top is held together with two metal brackets. It's very important those metal brackets are cut down to the exact dimension because they serve the purpose of holding the cabinet square. In my case, I had to cut them to brace the cabinet opening of 25-3/16". Then drill a new hole to attach them to the sides of the cabinet.
After tracing the various drill holes we needed to recreate for our van's cabinets on kraft paper, I learned it would be easier approaching this two different ways:
- For the face holes, using the cut off scraps as both template and drill guide
- For the edge holes, using a separate drill guide to ensure they were centered and straight
Both of those processes actually worked really well. After determining the depth of the holes, I marked all of the drill bits with either tape or a stop. Quickly, the bits needed to recreate the IKEA drill holes are:
- 3/16" (mounting brackets and cam screws)
- 5/16" (wooden dowels)
- 3/8" (Sektion cabinet feet plugs)
- 5/8" Forstner (metal cams)
For boring the face holes, I clamped the scrap precisely in place (made simple because they all aligned on corners and edges).
For the edge holes, I had to locate the center of at least one existing drill hole to align the others. This is where a sharp pencil, a good combination square, and a drill guide are all helpful.
There was a lot of transferring the factory holes to the cut boards. Again, a combination square and sharp pencil made the work straightforward.
Eventually, the bottom of the base cabinet was done.
Then it was on to the two sides which were mirror images of one another. Another detail I had to recreate was the blind insert for the 1/8" backing. An easy job because the kerf of my table saw blade is an eighth of an inch. I simply had to set the depth the same as the factory cut and remove the guard assembly.
At last, when all the details were finished I could assemble the two cabinets. I used my multi-tool to cutout the holes on the backing for the electrical outlet and flexible drain line.
To finally install the cabinets, I cut the Sektion rail into two pieces, one for each. It was critical the wall cabinet fit squarely up against the top of the rough opening. I didn't want a gap. That required me to precisely measure where the rail would go (although there is some play up and down in the design). K and I then dry fit the cabinet, quickly screwed in a scrap 2x6 cleat to help support it, and fastened the two mounting brackets.
It worked perfectly.
Worth noting: I cut and screwed on the Torhamn panels before hanging the wall cabinet. With the base cabinet, I used scrap panels to position it on the rail. Then I cut and installed those panels. Using two clamps and squeezing them between the cabinet and the rough opening, I was able to easily drive the 1" screws that fasten them from the inside.
The last detail was cutting and quickly installing the Torhamn kick plate.
Phwew. Yes, hacking IKEA cabinets is a time-consuming process. We only have these two and the work spanned evenings for the better part of a week. Still, I'm really happy with the end result. We got the exact-sized cabinets we needed and they fit perfectly into the space I had ripped open with a sawzall last month.
That said, there is a fair amount of more meticulous work ahead hacking two drawers and six fronts. I have a plan for both and will post those projects once they're complete.
