IKEA Malm Kitchen Cabinets Hack
In this project I’ll show you how we optimized our floor space in the bedroom by hacking IKEA Metod (Sektion) kitchen cabinets into a storage headboard solution.
01. Intro
Hey folks! Today I’m going to show you how I hacked my MALM Bed from IKEA (I have the lower version, which was sold until late 2016, I think). Due to space issues I decided to get rid of my old nightstands and search for something more convenient instead. I came up with the idea of a headboard with storage. I even think IKEA is offering something like this, but I wanted to keep my old bed and figured it wouldn’t fit, so I went with a DIY project.
02. How to
Basically all you need to recreate this project are kitchen cabinets, a big wooden panel as a topping and two smaller ones, some squared timbers and stain of your choice.
Assembling the cabinets & preparing the cut-outs
I went for two IKEA METOD kitchen cabinets (20 cm width), two plywood panels fitting right under the cabinets (to allow the doors without handles to work properly), a birch wood panel with oak wood stain and squared timbers painted white (1 x 196,5 cm x 5,4 cm x 3,4 cm & 2 x 90 cm x 5,4 cm x 3,4 cm). I used two smaller ones in order to fit some wires through the gap in between of them. I started out with putting the IKEA cabinets together and placed them on the plywood panels behind my bed (I also cut out some holes for the wall sockets).
Preparing the countertop
I stained the birch wood panel in an oak color and the squared timbers in a white and after they dried down completely I put everything together.
Assembling, tipps & tricks
I decided to add some doors to it as well (IKEA Häggeby doors with push-to-open did the trick for me).
Good to know: Screw the hinges in place before you actually attach the side panels. It's much easier because you can't fit a regular screw driver inside the small kitchen cabinet afterwards.
Sarah Paul
Hi Jacky! Your bed looks amaizing! Can i ask you what cabins are hanging above? Thank you!!
Jackie
Hey Sarah! It’s the IKEA Besta cabinets 🙂
Marta
How many cabinets you used?? I need to create one of 160cm but the cabinets are just 31xm deep so I have to put something between the 2 cabinets. What did you use?
Jackie
Hey Marta, I used two cabinets that were 63cm deep in order to maximize storage. I didn’t put anything in between as I wouldn’t be able to reach it anyways. I just topped the cabinets with a wood board and left it like that. Hope that helps 🙂
Pini
Love this as a space saving alternative to side tables!
Sara Peeters
Hello,
Could you tell me which cabinets you used behind the headblard please? Thank you
Sara
Jackie
Hey There!
Those are the regular kitchen cabinets from IKEA’s main range. In Europe they’re called METOD (I used the 20cm wide ones). I believe in the U.S. they’re called SEKTION. Hope that helps 🙂
Valentina
Hey Jackie,
what a great idea!
Can you tell me if the wood panel is from Ikea as well, I am struggling bit to find something similar 🙂
Thanks!
Jackie
Hey Valentina,
Thank you so much! The top board is a regular piece of beech wood I picked up at the hardware store. They also cut it to size for me. I only did two coats of a darker stain. But I think oak or walnut will also look stunning on top! 🙂
Tamara
Hey Jacky das sieht ja richtig genial aus… Klasse!
Darf ich fragen wie du die Halzplatte befestigt hast? Oder liegt die einfach oben drauf?
Jackie
Hey Tamara,
danke dir! Bei mir liegt die Platte einfach nur oben auf, allerdings könnte man die auch ganz leicht festmachen, wenn man die Arbeitsplattenbefestigung der Küchenschränke dafür nutzt (Diese Aluschiene hinten im Schrank). Liebe Grüße!