It’s Ikea kitchen season. Ikea is winding down its annual kitchen sale and folks are now faced with installing their new kitchen cabinets. I, for one, am an enormous fan of Ikea cabinets. I have installed cabinets in two kitchens, a mudhall, a laundry room, and two bathrooms. And when I say that I installed them…I mean that installed them.

The only cabinet that baffled me and even kept me up at night worrying about it, was the large over the fridge cabinet. I wanted it to look like the fridge was built in (of sorts) but the fridge is deeper than the cabinet. I knew there were ways to bump the cabinet out, but I was worried that there would not be enough support for the weight of the cabinet. I envisioned a loud crash, broken dishes everywhere, and gaping holes left in the wall. But never fear…I managed to figure it out.

Although there are several ways to accomplish this mission, here is what I did…

The refrigerator sits in a small nook between a door and the new laundry closet made during my kitchen renovation. (see New Ikea Kitchen for the whole story)

A corner between the doorway and utility closet formed the fridge nook.

Build a box beam

In order to bump the over the fridge cabinet out, I built a box beam. I secured the beam to the wall studs and then hung the Ikea suspension rail onto the box beam. Then I built an L shaped structure that the lower part of the cabinet would rest against.

A boxbeam bumps out the cabinet.

Add support to the right side

Even though I was planning to use a side panel to the left of the fridge to create the built-in look (and knowing it provided key support), I still wanted to secure the cabinet on the right side as well. I attached some boards to a stud on the right side and then attached the cabinet to that.

Additional support to the right side of the cabinet.

Fill the gap with a toe kick

Finally, in order to fill the gap, I used a toe kick to cover the space between the wall and the right side of the cabinet and refrigerator. The toe kick was attached to the cabinet and then to the wall using L brackets. Finally, at the floor I sandwiched the piece of toe kick between two pieces of baseboard to prevent any wobble.

Use a piece of the Ikea toe kick to fill the gap.

The finished look is neat and clean, and the cabinet is very secure. No more crashing cabinet nightmares!

Built-in look with the Ikea over the fridge cabinet.

Just a little tip for handling that behemoth of a cabinet. Put the cabinet on top of your refrigerator. You may need to put a book or two under the cabinet so the holes in the top are at the same level as the suspension rail. Then you can roll your refrigerator back with the cabinet on it and secure it to the rail without having to  hold that big daddy up. Worked like a charm!

Are you installing a new Ikea kitchen? Please share your pics! Got a question? Just ask…