Office storage from kitchen and bath units

This is great use of a space with a sloping ceiling. Jay turns it into a fabulous work station with ample book storage.

"I wanted a solid built-in office solution with heavy duty wall-mounted bookshelves above a long (12') counter top/desk/workspace with ample storage that would fit into an 18" deep nook under a sloped ceiling.  Ikea doesn't really have anything purpose-made for this situation. Most of the bookshelves are either free-standing units or rather weak decorative wall shelves. So for the upper shelves I found that horizontal Akurum kitchen cabinets (30"x15"x12") were good for heavy books and inexpensive without the doors/hardware.



For the work surface/drawers, I found that none of the kitchen or office products were exactly the right depth/height.  The solution: Godmorgon bathroom sink cabinets (without sinks; on 4 inch legs).  Pricey, but well made with solid wood drawer interiors.  Three units fit perfectly in 12' of space, but the units are conveniently (intentionally?) designed so that they can be assembed as a 23.5" wide two-drawer half-unit.  So I did this with one of them leaving a sitting/desk space.  I ripped 96" and 49" Numerar kitchen countertops (metal edges and matching wood grain surface) down to the right depth and combined they are the perfect length.  Draw bolts and black automotive silicone adhesive made the seam practically disappear (it looks worse in the pictures than it really is). I finished off with minimal Grip drawer pulls instead instead of the large handles that were included."



10 comments:

Karin said...

Wow, I've never though of that before! A really great hack!

Anonymous said...

very nice - and good inspiration for a project I am planning next year!

Anonymous said...

Great hack!

Anonymous said...

What is the height of the work surface? Is it too tall to use as a desk?

Anonymous said...

are the drawers file drawers? i couldn't tell from the dimensions and description.

Alice said...

Gosh... the bookshelve is an idea that TOTALLY made my day!!! :D

Anonymous said...

The work surface is about 27 inches high--typical of desks. You could make it higher or lower depending on what legs you use. The drawers are not designed for files, and I'm not sure I'd they could be made to work for that purpose. I try to run a paperless office anyway...

Jay

Heart of David said...

How did you mount the bookshelves to the wall?

Anonymous said...

The bookshelves (Akurum kitchen cabinets) are mounted on rails. One long rail for each row of cabinets is mounted directly to the wall studs. Then the cabinets are hung on the rails. So it doesn't matter where the studs are located, as long as you can find a few the cabinets (bookshelves) hold A LOT of weight.

Jay

Mike said...

That is an AWESOME hack! Congratulations, you must be very satisfied.

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