sorry for the drought, but we were on vaca & i never seem to get back into the groove quickly. so another IKEA Hack brings us my next kitchen customization!
3 of 5: Microwave & Cutting Board Station
one of the early ideas i found when researching the kitchen redo was to place the microwave under the counter. most of the examples i saw had it positioned in the island. i have always hated any appliance that sits on the counter (with the possible exception of a Kitchen Aid Mixer cuz they are so stylish right?). of course, appliances on the counter take a way distant 2nd to the microwave above the stove. uggh! yuck! grosse! we lived with that beast for almost 10 years ourselves
yeah, sexy right? and yes that is a missing drawer front to the left of the stove. believe it or not it was the drawer front that broke the kitchen's back & kicked our redo into gear! sure glad i tore that off...uh, i mean too bad it fell off!
anywhose...the great thing about that microwave was, NOTHING! there was nothing great about it. the lighting was terrible and the venting went straight out the top and into the kitchen. i love when people do that, not properly venting a stove! right up there with eating their toe nails that one!
so i knew 6 years ago that the microwave was not going back UP into or onto anything. it would be hidden out of the way. and here we have it!
we started out with the
Akurum Base With 3 Drawers (18" wide i believe) in Nexus Black/Brown
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| Akurum Base w/ 3 Drawers |
oddly enough when i went to their US site today, i could not choose the Nexus Black/Brown option so that might now be discontinued.
moving on....the only drawer kit we bought was the bottom one. leaving the rest open, we simply used a piece of shelving, cut a piece of Black/Brown wall panel to size for the front, & attached the front panel to the shelf with the hinges to create this - some of these pieces you can't find online, so be sure to ask for extra shelving and panel pieces for custom stuff like this, you'll be glad you did.
put the shelf in the cabinet & slide the microwave in. to compensate for the extra depth, we just cut a scrap piece of OSB down to the correct width & dept & set it in the back so the microwave would not slide around.
now we were ready to dress it up. either we own a biscuit cutter or we borrowed one. i have no idea which, but Nacho cut slices in the cabinet frame & the panel pieces that would cover the white.
he then wood glued/snapped those pieces together to give it a finished look.
and here's what it looks like in use
we have since changed the panel to pull down instead of flip up. it's a toss up really, but bending over to see what i needed to grab was cumbersome so we are using the flip down for now. and since it's so narrow, it makes for a great place to store cutting boards. i corralled that with a hand tray from Target.
nicely done i think! and here is a more complete finished view
yes, i know you can still see the white inside of the cabinet, but i just can't bring myself to line that with anything just yet. perhaps a future project. thinking either cork or metal panel.....but we will call it finished for now.
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