apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My immediate thought would be to use a finishing or end panel in the same width and finish as the cabinet. I'm not sure what length they come in but they should be long enough to cover a few cabinets. Just a guess though.

One more thought. It looks like books have been placed where the seams would be.

Yes, they've strategically placed books over the seams.

However for a more finished look, one could easily go to the glass store and have a piece of glass cut to fit, then backpaint with the matching color as the cabinet - or use another color for contrast.

the books are definitely placed where seams would be.

i am interested in doing the same thing in a bedroom and i went to ikea last weekend to get advice. the cabinets come in two doors 30 or 36 inches. if i wanted wooden doors i could get wood paneling (im guessing similar to a wall paper) to cover the sides.

two sets of 36in cabinets with dark oak and paneling (to cover the white) would only be about 160$ not bad.

so my suggestion would be to get the panels to hide seams.

We did the same thing in our Dining Room and our Bedroom. In the DR, we bought the laquered siding from IKEA to match the cabinets and cut it down to size. In the BR, we used left over honed marble tile from our bathroom, I think they measured 12" x 18" each. I looks like a million bucks an no one can belive that its from IKEA.

if you zoom in a little on the photo and look the large black book is resting, it looks like there is a strip of something white that is probably covering the seam between the cabinets and the screws...not sure what that strip could be made of, as it looks pretty thin. there is a similar shadow line below the middle stack of books too.

also, it looks like the top edge of the cabinet doors are pretty much flush to the top surface of the cabinet. if something had been added over the whole length, the top surface would be higher than the tops of the doors (not so nice). so i think the surface you see in the photo is just the top of the cabinet.

"if you zoom in a little on the photo and look the large black book is resting, it looks like there is a strip of something white that is probably covering the seam between the cabinets and the screws...not sure what that strip could be made of, as it looks pretty thin. there is a similar shadow line below the middle stack of books too."

That's the edgebanding on the cabinet panels - not anything the owner applied.

tagging on what bepsf wrote- you can get two pieces of backpainted glass and only have one seam in the center..or a color acrylic 3/4" thick same cut and fit might be fun. Be sure to block your wall for support.

we did the same thing in our kitchen and had a formica countertop made for the top (our budget was pretty tight!). You could do the same with any kind of counter material, though it could get pricey, depending on the size. If you don't put anything on top, the bolt things that hold the cabinet together will show.

Thishref> is a photo of our buffet.

That piece is also lovely. I think I'll be doing something like this for a client soon. It's tough though because I want something of a slightly higher quality, but don't have the budget to get a lot of custom work done. I think I could allot up to 2500 to the piece, but I want it to be 120" long and I want the fronts to be done in something great, maybe reclaimed wood? Any very reasonable custom cabinet maker recommendations?

Oh, and as far as the tops go. The office I work in has 3 filing cabinets combined to look like a sideboard and then has like a 3/4" piece of acrylic on top. Very effective look, but not sure if it would be too heavy? Could obviously do a much thinner piece, and I believe it comes up to 96" long.

-Garrett
www.garrettantin.com

Alison, I'm planning a similar setup for my living room, and I'm thinking of having a piece of cork cut for the countertop, although I'm not totally decided yet. I'll let you know how it turns out.

DITTO what SSR wrote: You can buy "side panels" from IKEA to match any of their cabinets. They make colors in every type of finish that their kitchen cabinets come in.
There is a white lacquered panel (the biggest panel is 4' x 8') that you then cut down to size to "wrap" around the cabinet.

Ask in the kitchen department of your local IKEA, the folks there will order it for you, and can help you figure out which panel sizes you need to order to get the job done.

Hope this helps.

Did any of you reinforce your walls before you hung these cabinets?
We have flimsy drywall with steel studs in our condo, and I really don't feel like reinforcing the walls with wood planks under the drywall....
Thanks for any help you can provide..

Deb, there's no need to reinforce the wall if you're using Ikea wall cabinets. The cabinets are mounted on a horizontal steel rail that you attach to the studs in the wall. Once the rail is mounted, you bolt the cabinets onto the rail. It is very quick and easy to do. I haven't ever worked with steel studs though, so I'm not sure how it works to attach things to them. But if you can screw into them, you'll be fine.

Typically, when wall hung cabinets are installed on a steel stud wall, a panel is attached to the studs and drywall goes over the panel. That panel could be anything from flimsy sheet metal to 3/4" plywood.

Since a credenza is not an overhead application and assuming there will not be a lot of weight put on it, you probably wouldn't have to put any reinforcement behind it.