Espresso bar: IKEA Maximera drawer hacking.

After successfully hacking our two IKEA Sektion cabinets to fit our rough opening, that meant I also had to hack the drawers. It was the width we reduced, after all. One look at the Maximera drawers and I knew they could be hacked. Time to break out the (yep) hacksaw.

The process was actually pretty straightforward. I started by (of course) measuring and remeasuring. I didn't want to make any mistakes. The trick was taking the factory width (36") and subtracting that from our hacked cabinet width (26-11/16"). Then using that difference to subtract from the widths of the various drawer pieces (the metal backing bracket and wood bottom).

Once the measurements were dialed and I felt good about them, I started by cutting the metal backing bracket.

Then the wood bottom.

I then set the table saw blade to recreate the blind notch for the metal drawer side to slide into. Again, the 1/8" blade kerf was perfect so it only took one pass.

Then drilled holes in the backing bracket and screwed it tight to the wooden bottom.

Boom. Now the drawers fit our custom cabinets. They still needed fronts, though. 

The Torhamn style with which we had already updated some of our kitchen cabinets is solid wood. Shortening the drawer fronts was a pretty simple matter of determining the angle of the chamfered edge and literally ripping it quickly on the table saw. Turns out it was 20º.

Using my crosscut sled, I tested with a scrap piece of plywood to make sure the chamfer matched.

It did so I ripped away.

Like with the cabinets, I used the now scrap end to line up and recreate the two drill holes for attaching it to the drawers.

That was that. Compared to the cabinets, not surprisingly the drawers were much simpler. The door fronts, however, would not be as simple…