Are you looking for an easy way to build a modern sideboard, credenza or “fauxdenza” on a budget? I’ll share what I did to create this custom piece for our living room.
This large 94.5″ white unit is made from IKEA Besta cabinets in matte white with wood legs to make it look like a furniture piece. I often get asked where this piece is from and when I say it’s just IKEA cabinets, people are very surprised. Someday I’d love to add a quartz stone top on it or a nice piece of wood, but for now it’s good all white and simple.
We used two Besta cabinets and joined them together in the center by screwing them together (see instructions in the ikea package). Then we added solid oak wood legs, these legs are actually meant for IKEA beds, but the screw thread works for the Besta cabinets too. The wood legs add contrast and the shape of these legs helped to get that modern Scandinavian style we were looking for. The wood legs look more custom and add personality to the piece rather than using the white matching Besta legs.
The IKEA Besta series comes in so many different sizes and formats, doors, drawers, shelves. You can customize the size for your space. I love how versatile these cabinets are, we have them in several places throughout the loft, for simple modern storage solutions.
We also added two of these legs for support right in the centre of the unit. It would look too cluttered and awkward if we attached legs in every hole under the cabinet so we used 8 legs in total leaving a clean gap in the centre where this hidden leg sits for support. If you have small children I still highly recommend attaching the cabinet to the wall for added support.
Here’s a list of items purchased:
IKEA Besta cabinets in matte white – $145 x 2
IKEA Brynilen Wood legs 10cm size – $30 x 2
Hidden leg for support – $5 x 2
Total price – $355 (not including tax)
Not bad for the size of the piece, plus it’s custom sized to our space, you could go smaller and save even more money!
So nice! How did you mount the support leg at the junction between the two cabinets? I’m trying to figure out how to do this and it seems tricky since one side of the support leg only has a center hole for one screw. Do you find each of the two cabinets sturdy with the two legs at one side and the support leg at the edge the way it is?
Thank you!
Hi Alissa,
I made this so long ago I sadly can’t take a photo of how it’s attached on the bottom to show you. I don’t believe we had an issue though. We attached it to one of the cabinets, not in the center. But I’m not there with you so I recommend just trying to use your best judgement for best stability. We didn’t screw the cabinets together, because it makes it easier to get behind it or move it if needed. Hope that helps.
I just took another look, we actually used 2 support legs in the center. I will update my post for this note.