apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Genius!
Looks very crisp, and gives you a lot of storage/work area in a small footprint.
Nice job.

That looks RAD.
Given the notorious unsturdiness of cheapo Ikea items, however, I'd be kind of wary of using them for something that would take so much weight / traffic. But if she keeps holding, you will have proven me wrong.

Good hack! You can also use dowels if you're not sure about the adhesive squares.

I would put it on casters and attach a long handle to one side of the butcher block, for moving and for towels.

Genius!
I love the color - something that is hard to find in kitchen islands (but easy to find at IKEA!).

I wish I had thought of this several months ago. It looks great, provides a working surface and storage and sounds easy to put together.

Yay for the Ikea hack!

This is totally adorable! It's really making me want to paint the bases of the two Bekvam carts that came with my new rental kitchen red!

this is darned clever, though real kitchen carts/islands aren't that pricey.

looks sweet, but man talk about trying to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear!!! those tables will not take much moving or bumping as described before they start to get all loose in the joints like an overcooked turkey!

However, this is a pretty snappy looking hack and if you brace the legs to the lack table top with angle brackets, and use dowels (should even be free in the parts drawers at ikea) to connect the tables together. yes it requires a little drilling and careful measuring, it'd be worth doing.

The other thing is that i cant help but think that you can go less costly on the block top. this 23"X23" one from the container store is closer in size to the lack dimensions (21 5/8"X21 5/8") leaving less overhang to potentially break off during an overzealous calamari tenderizing session! http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?searchId=22067333&itemIndex=7&CATID=13366&PRODID=60707

This is awesome!

We have a similarly hacked setup, only it's a red microwave cart from Target with an Aneboda end table from Ikea backed up to one end of it. That way we have open shelving and drawers!

I've had several Lack side tables for about 10 years and they are extremely sturdy, so I think this would be a great solution.

I wonder if the 19.99 Large square cutting board that Ikea sells would be the right fit for this Hack?

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/30087148

Love it!

VintageOttawa - I just had the SAME thought you did about the chopping board. It's not square, and the widest edge is a tiny bit smaller than the table's top. I'd probably go with something from the Container Store.

All and all is great and I love the creativity. But, if I want to spend more than $120 on the butcher block top alone, I might as well just buy a complete one from Ikea....

Too much work! Why not just get the Bekvam cart from Ikea?
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70011793

You can omit the wheels and use a chop saw to have all the legs be the same length.

It definitely looks cool, but you can buy a wood island of that size, unfinished, for less than the butcher block top was and paint it.

Like others have mentioned, why not just buy the Bekvam? It's cheaper and is made of solid wood, plus it has wheels. Moreover, it's easier to put together. I'm all for creative and unique ways to repurpose, but this seems more hassle than it's worth. Just my $0.02.

I guarantee that thing wobbles like a MOFO. But it looks cool, so who cares?!?

These tables are actually pretty sturdy. We had done the exact same thing a few years back with three black LACK tables, and used it for a display unit in our living room corner a few years back. (small lamp, books, plants...) It was great!

Maybe it was my assembly but my Bekvam wobbled from the start

Yeah, this thing is probably a lot more steady than you think. It's super cheap material, but the extra blocky legs give it surprising sturdiness.

I've got two extra Lack tables hanging around since we changed up the living room so that they don't fit anymore, and I temporarily stuck them on top of each other in the dining room to keep them out of the way. They make a surprisingly good place to stack stuff without even being glued, so well stuck together they probably work well.

The Beckvam is only cheaper if they didn't buy the super amazing chopping block - which let's be honest, is a very nice piece of kitchen equipment, and will be eventually pulled off the Lacks and used for years and years on its own. You could use the lamplig chopping board for a very similar effect and have it all cost $36. Throw in a couple dowels on the sides and you'd have added hanging space and structural support too.

I actually own a Bekvam and love it, but hey, if you've got the Lack tables and the time... it's a fun little project, and sometimes a hack you made yourself is more satisfying than made by the kit.

You know, my grandmother's been wanting an outdoor kitchen for a while now. Nothing fancy, a sink and a place to put a table top stove on that she can remove in bad weather.

So I'm searching for DIY summer kitchens and voila, your LACK-hack is JUST what I needed. I'd go for the one twice the size of the small one, maybe put two next to eachother and 1.2.3 -we have a summer kitchen for an extremely small amount of money.

THANK YOU for sharing this!! =)

I'm trying to figure out why you'd go with 8 dollar Lack Tables and then a $130 top that is just two feet by two feet, but it looks good.