Small kitchen? Try out this Kallax compact kitchen island IKEA hack

A kitchen island is one of the most coveted items in a kitchen, but unfortunately it does take up a lot of space. Or does it? If you have a relatively small kitchen, but would still love to add an island, Twitter user @yatt_azml has a great DIY project. Check out her Kallax IKEA hack to build your very own compact kitchen island.

Cheap and compact IKEA Hack

The Twitter user was also struggling with space issues in her kitchen and tweeted “Wanted a kitchen island but my kitchen is not big and I didn’t have a lot of budget for it. Nevermind. Just DIY”. So she came up with a plan that cost RM300, which is around 70 USD to make an island that measures about 86 (h) x 92 (l) x 53 (w) cm.

Some Kallax, Capita, Lämplig, and Skydd

To make her compact kitchen island @yatt_azml used a Kallax 2×2 shelf unit, 4 Capita legs, 2 Lämplig chopping boards (46 x 53 cm) and some Skydd wood treatment oil. As the treatment oil has been discontinued in some countries, you might have to find an alternative, but that shouldn’t be too hard. Apart from the Ikea gear you’ll also need 8 corner braces to make sure the chopping boards stay put and don’t fall off the Kallax unit.

Bringing it all together

So to get started you first need to assemble the Kallax unit. Just follow IKEA’s instructions and ignore the shade that the company throws at single people trying to assemble the thing by themselves ;).

After your Kallax is ready it’s time to attach the Capita legs and flip the whole thing, so the legs are at the bottom of your soon to be island. After that, grab the chopping boards and arrange them on top. Make sure you place them in a way that the boards overhang the cupboard equally on every side and attach them with the brackets.

The last step is to oil the boards and you’re ready to go. Instead of the Capita legs you could also go for wheels, if you want your island to be mobile.

Header image: @yatt_azml on Twitter

Translation source: ikeahackers