shelves

For a very long time I was irritated by my largest kitchen-cupboard. Why? Because it is a lower cupboard stuck against the wall which made it very difficult to see what was in it and to move things in and out of it. I also needed some kind of pantry as this flat doesn’t have one. I’ve so far used a low Billy shelf with doors as pantry. It’s been Ok, kind of, but it took up valuable floor space and it lately began to fall apart (the backside I nailed to the shelves from the back as it kept falling out).

The dining-table much needed to be moved closer to the right to get enough space to sit on the other side. Also, the space to open the door to the cupboard was not sufficient at all.

So I checked alternatives and came to the conclusion that drawers instead of shelves in that cupboard would be a good solution. I could then get rid of the Billy cupboard, move the table to the right, and get good overview in the drawers of the content. The drawers would act as pantry.

Unfortunately I could not use Ikea drawers in the cupboard as my cupboards are from Marbodal and the measures are not the same. That made it much more expensive. I ordered them a couple of weeks ago and got them last week.

Emptied the Billy cupboard, removed the doors, took out the shelves and put the Billy cupboard out into the bicycle shed… waiting for the spring-container for large stuff to throw it away.

All the pantry-content on the table and the floor…

Billy now gone from this spot. I then removed the door and the shelves of the cupboard that was to receive the drawers and cleaned the space.

The drawers came partly assembled so I only had to attach the front and to put up the rails for the drawers.

After some struggle with the drawers I got them in. The pictured description of how to do that was not all that clear, but after some testing and swearing I learned that the rails were to be inside all the way and not out to be able to attach the drawers. Success!

To get the drawers in the right way I also had to adjust the next two doors slightly to get it right.

Mission accomplished, except for the handles.

No, the broom is not standing there any more. It has moved to the walk in closet to be out of the way…

Dining-table was moved to the right and the ceiling-lamp too. It is no longer hard to get in behind the table at the left side.

I then put in Ikeas drawer mats in the drawers and filled them with all the pantry stuff (dry goods). I then created the templates for the holes for the handles and taped them to the drawers. It is a question of measuring carefully and finding the middle of the drawer and the distance from the top of the drawer-front and where the holes for the handles should go. It is somewhat scary to drill holes into the all new fronts…

Had to go out to buy an appropriate drill-head to be able to do the holes for the handles. Below the result after drilling the holes and attaching the handles.

I am happy with the result. I finally have drawers instead of shelves and useful drawers for all the dry stuff easily seen and reached. And I no longer have to crawl on the floor to be able to see what is in that cupboard… Neither do I have to remove half the content to get at what I need. This is how it ought to have been from the beginning. By the way, the drawers are self-closing and very silent too.

I still have to rearrange the decorations on the wall now that Billy is no longer there. It looks off as it is now.

The whole thing costed SEK 4215 for the parts from Marbodal. Delivery took about two weeks. The drawer mats from Ikea costed SEK 39 and the new drill head for wood with sharp tip SEK 28. The Marbodal fronts are 13 mm thick. Had I chosen the thicker ones – which they at first quoted to me – the whole thing would have costed another SEK 2000… so I chose the simpler ones, which are the same as the doors to all the other cupboards.

The doors to the Billy cupboard are for sale. Contact me if you are interested.