How We Turned Kitchen Cabinets Into a Custom Dresser

Our need for better organization turned into a rewarding DIY! This is how we turned IKEA kitchen cabinets into a slim, wide dresser for our home office / dining room.

Bringing Function to Our Home Office (aka Our Dining Room)

A few years ago, we nixed our home office in favor of a space that worked for our entire family. With this shift we moved our work days downstairs to the dining room. We’ve loved being on the first floor, closer to our renovated kitchen and all of the coffee and snacks that it holds. That said, the ‘fauxdenza‘ that had served us so well for strict dining room duty just wasn’t working for our workday necessities.

We needed more storage and we needed it to be functional. We knew that a piece with drawers was the ideal solution, so we searched… and searched… and searched for a dresser or credenza with the form factor and dimensions we needed. But the search proved fruitless. Everything was either too wide, too deep or too tal, so we decided to go back to our roots with a good old IKEA hack and build it ourselves!

Why DIY?

As we mentioned, our criteria for the credenza and the space was very specific. We didn’t want the depth to exceed 15″ because the dining room is a pass through space on all sides. We also only had 65″ of space between the millwork on the kitchen opening and the bathroom door. Soft close drawers were a non-negotiable and we also wanted to add some gentle curves and a fun pop of color to the overall neutral space.

Here’s What We Did

Note: Our credenza was constructed from two 30″w x 30″h x 15″d three drawer SEKTION cabinet boxes with VEDDINGE drawer fronts. With the addition of the plinth base and side panels, the overall size of our finished piece is 62 3/4″w x 15 1/4″d x 34 1/4″h. Since the entire point of this tutorial is to customize the unit for your own space, we won’t go into the exact details of our measurements.

1| Build the Kitchen Cabinets

The first, and arguably simplest, step in the process was to build the SEKTION cabinet boxes (we bought ours with VEDDINGE 30″ x 10″ drawer fronts) . They would go on to form the ‘guts’ of the piece, so we were extra careful to make sure they were perfectly square. If you’ve built IKEA cabinets before, this process will be a with-your-eyes-closed scenario. If you haven’t assembled them before, you’ll follow the little man’s cryptic thoughts and vague instructions and get the job done pretty quickly, we promise!

2| Assemble the Pedestal Base

Once the cabinets were built, we took some initial measurements, calculated material thicknesses and built our plinth base to allow for a few inches of reveal on the front and sides. It’s a simple ladder frame constructed of 1″ x 4″ select pine boards. We glued everything up and fastened it with our favorite battery powered nailer using 2″ nails.

The main uniqueness here is the added thickness of the double layer of 1″ x 4″s, which are 3/4″ thick, sandwiching a layer of 1/2″ plywood cut to size. This adds the necessary thickness to the sides of the base for the 1 1/4″ oak quarter round edge trim to have a place to fasten.

3| Attach Cabinets to the Base

Next, we attached the cabinets to each other. We clamped them together and used our impact driver and a handful of our favorite interior screws that we had on hand.

Once the cabinets were combined together, we took careful measurements (taking into account the thickness of drawer fronts) and fastened the cabinet unit to the plinth base. The key here is to ensure that all overhangs are consistent across the long 60 inch length. It’s official! We have a credenza skeleton.

4| Add Curved Edges to Each Side

In order to once again accommodate the 1 1/4″ quarter round pieces on both front corners, we needed to add thickness to the sides. We achieved this by adding another small ‘picture frame to each side as seen below.

One small word of caution here: We found it helpful to assemble one drawer box, install the front and add the small rubber bumpers so we could dry fit and ensure that the projection of the quarter round would leave us with a perfectly flush front. IKEA drawer fronts come in a couple of different thicknesses, so we highly advise you do the same!

All of these pieces were glued and nailed with 1 1/4″ nails for tight, secure construction. At this point, we were realy starting to see the shape come together! Next it was time to get to work on the top.

5| Make the Dresser Top

For the top of the dresser, we used the remaining sheet of 1/2″ 4′ x 8′ plywood (resulting in almost no waste!). We simply lined up one finished edge along the back of the dresser, since we had two crisp 90 degree angles wo work with. I then held the sheet in place while Kim carefully traced the outline. Next, we cut along the outline with a finish blade on our jigsaw.

Here’s how it looked once it was all cut out! The rounded front corner details look pretty miniscule below, but they’ll come along shortly.

With the top cut out, we were ready to attach it to the base! We used glue and nails through the top, and also added a couple of 3/8″ screws along the metal front suppor struts to really lock it into place. Next it was time for wood filler. And sanding. And more wood filler. And more sanding. Then finer sanding. And even finer sanding. We eventually worked our way up to a 400 grit on our random orbital sander for a buttery smooth finish. Now we were ready for paint!

6| Prime + Paint

Next it was time for the cardiac stress test that was painting! At this point, we’d been working on the credenza on and off for a week or two, so the thought of the finish going on perfectly really weighed on us. We set up a janky spray booth with a couple of drop cloths in our garage and got to work! For starters, we used a couple of rattle cans of grey primer to allow the Red Theatre color (SW 7548) to cover well and really pop. Once that was dried and cured, we were ready for finish coats!

For this project, our Wagner (updated version) paint sprayer was the perfect solution. Not too big, not too small with a quart-size tank that was perfect for a coat or two at a time. We did three thorough coats with Sherwin Williams Emerald Urethane trim enamel and we’re thrilled with the coverage and results.

Note: We used this trim enamel, which dries to a hard protective finish. For added durability, we recommend following up with 2 coats of Polycrylic.

6| Allow to Dry for a Full 48 Hours + Enjoy!

The hardest part of this project was allowing all of the paint to cure before we lugged it inside and filled it with all of our office supplies! Once all of the paint was dry enough to handle gently, we installed the drawer glides and boxes, installed the front panels and… waited. Once the paint had cured, we brought it inside, installed the stunning unlacquered brass hardware and put it to immediate use.

So, what do you think? This project was a huge investment in time, a moderate investment in money and we built something that doesn’t seem to actually exist! That said, we’re thrilled with how it turned out and wouldn’t change a thing if we did it again. Got any IKEA hacks up your sleeve? Let us know what you’re working on in the comments!

Looking for more how-tos? This is how to paint anything, how to install a bathroom vanity, how I organize my photos, and more!

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