Avoid Mistakes: Ikea Cabinet Depth Reduction. Full Tutorial

[@norgiter]

Thank you. Your advises are always useful and practical.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

My pleasure 😊

[@jamijp10]

This is a great video! I put off doing this to my cabinet for years. I've been living with mismatched cabinets in my kitchen because I didn't think I could do this. Thanks for the step by step.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Glad I could help you tackle that project! 🙂

[@jamijp10]

@@kitchensbyrannes I'm modified the depth of my Ikea kitchen cabinet today. It looks great! I wish I would have done this years ago. Thanks so much!

[@kitchensbyrannes]

@jamijp10 Thanks 🙏

[@mithrandir0704]

I just completed this on 2 24"x30" wall cabinets. I used a table saw to add the groove for the back panel.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Excellent. Did you have to cut more than once, or was your blade wide enough?

[@thezfunk]

I did this trick too! I was taking 24" base cabinet down to 22" base. My table saw blade was just wide enough. The back panel was snug in the groove but it worked perfect.

[@mithrandir0704]

@@kitchensbyrannes My blade was wide enough, but it was a snug fit, not a forced fit, but snug.

[@carolgiffen8203]

Great channel! Thank you😊

[@kitchensbyrannes]

You're very welcome.

[@vonis22]

Hi Rannes! Do you have any videos on installing countertops? And if not, what is your recommendation about connecting two countertop parts?

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thank you for your question. No, no countertop videos. My advice on laminate countertops which needs to be joined is to leave it to professionals ☺️

[@WoodyandKaren]

Thank you for your videos, so unbelievably helpful. I want to route the slots for the back panel, can you please tell me what is the router bit you have used? I have watched soooo many videos and no one mentions the kind of bit for this Ikea material. Thank you Karen ☺️❤️

[@kitchensbyrannes]

You're welcome! I'm sure it's ⅛" or 3 mm.

[@WoodyandKaren]

@@kitchensbyrannesThank you, I understand the size, but I mean what actual kind of bit do you use so it won’t chip the panel. Is it just a straight cut bit or a more fancy type of bit. In appreciation Karen ☺️❤️

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Ah.... sorry, my bad. Nothing fancy. Just a regular one.. long... Thin. Not sure what it is called 🤗

[@WoodyandKaren]

@@kitchensbyrannes Thank you for your quick response. I’m using a Makita trimmer/router with the edge guide, a straight cut bit, size 3 mm x 6.4 mm shank size, with a 10 mm depth. An older carpenter’s son told me, he was told by his Dad, to make cutting knife cuts the length I want to route to avoid chipping, and to go slow with several deeper cuts. Like the V cuts you make for the new shelf holes to get a good finish I guess. Any other advice would be much appreciated. Karen ☺️❤️

[@amikaikian7042]

Hi Lars. Great video. Greetings from Jakarta! Btw do you have video on reducing the depth of the lower cabinet? Ikea's lower cabinet depth is at least 60cm but my kitchen depth is only 50cm. Wonder if I cut it and it will be issue in installing drawer rails.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Hello Jakarta 👋 Reducing the depth of base cabinets is done in the same way. Only difference is you have 1 side less to cut. The rail at the back is just pushed forward.

[@j.mcinen4587]

Great videos! I noticed you measured the new depth of the cabinet from the back of the panels (groove side), because the top and bottom panels are inset a hair, so measuring from the front would end up with top and bottom panels ~1mm too long, and nasty gaps on the rear panel if nailed on without correcting for that.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thanks. Yes, when I i modify cabinets I try to focus on how much I must cut off instead of the measurements Ivwant to achieve. Less calculations, fewer mistakes. So if I reduce a 12" wide cabinet to 10" in the width, I cut of 2" of the top, bottom and back. Much easier. And the same when reducing depth and height.

[@granvillestbartender]

Hi Lars, We would like to add a pantry next to our current kitchen using Ikea's 18" wide x 24" deep x 80" tall cabinet to allow for drawers. Problem is it needs to go under a soffit which is 23 inch deep. Would I be able to shorten the depth by an inch using the first method and still be able to use drawers? I'd be using cover panels to on each side to hide the gap.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Yes, if it's only 2" you're safe. No problem as the drawer leaves 2 ½x or so of clearance at the back.

[@granvillestbartender]

@@kitchensbyrannes That's great info thank you. Are there any other videos of yours that could help with this project?

[@kitchensbyrannes]

You're welcome. 🤔.....not sure. Check the playlists.

[@r11h57]

Thanks for this video! Did you treat the cut to make them waterproof in any way? I am asking as the protective plastic cover was sawed off.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

You're welcome. No I didn't, because it's not necessary. Hopefully, there's no water present behind the cabinet.

[@HeidiLong-1975]

Am I right to think that this is really only for units with stationary shelves and not IKEA's pull out drawers? Otherwise you'd need to shorten drawers and create new guide holes for the slider units to hang on, right? We need to shorten the 24" depth cabinets to 20" or build from scratch then assemble with IKEA doors to match. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience in your videos! We're going to use your modifying the width of a cabinet video.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Thanks for commenting. Yes, if you cut too much off in the depth, you might not have room for the standard drawers. If you, as in your case, cut from 24 to 20", you only have room for the shallow Maximera drawers, normally used for 15" deep cabinets. If your cabinet width is 24, 30 or 36", and it's a 10 or 15" high, you can use the hardware normally used for the sink cabinet too. www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/maximera-drawer-high-white-40276695/#content

[@lauriekellum6425]

@@kitchensbyrannes I am looking to do the same as Heidi above to use the sektion cabinets in the bathroom. Do you happen to know what the maximum about you can trim and have the regular depth drawers work? The website says the drawer is actually 21 3/8 and a cabinet is actually only 23 5/8. If I am calculating correctly I can only trim 2 inches which would leave the vanity 5/8 deeper than a standard cabinet. I don't plan to hang them, will add a brace at the top to anchor and build a base for them. thoughts? have you done something similar?

[@kitchensbyrannes]

I don't have the exact measurements, since I don't have a drawer cabinet to measure at. But....I am certain it's about 2½"....but... guess that isn't helping since I cannot confirm 😕 However, depending on the width, Ikea Maximera for sink cabinets comes in a 17¾" depth too, but only for 24, 30 and 36" width.

[@terezadepaula4179]

Can you tell us what do we do with a shelf with three inlays on it?

[@kitchensbyrannes]

I am not sure what you mean with inlays?

[@summerz744]

can you hang the cabinets without the back panel alltogether?

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Yes, in theory, but the back panel is making sure that the cabinet is rigid so I cannot recommend to omit it.

[@trinaroe5132]

Why didn’t you just use the cut off as a template for shelf holes? Especially in a cabinet this tall.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

😮 I've been asking myself that all day too?😅 I honestly didn't think about it before someone else pointed it out earlier today. Learning every day. If I should guess why I hadn't thought about it before, I'm absolutely speechless....😊 But I'll do that next time.

[@RobBurress]

@@kitchensbyrannes always happy to learn from someone elses mistak---- sorry ---- experience :)

[@kitchensbyrannes]

Not really a mistake, just a less efficient way of reaching the same output

[@N0N5T0P]

Do you know of a method to reduce the depth of the cabinet only on one side, and keep the normal length at the other? That is, I have a 60cm wide cabinet, and I want the leftmost 50cm of it to have full depth and the rightmost 10cm to have a smaller depth.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

I've done that but it's not easy to describe. I cut away what's needed at the back and use some of the cutoff to fill in the opening. I don't have a video showing this though but I might have some pictures..if I find them, I'll make a post in the community on my channel. If you subscribe, and check of notifications, I guess you'll get notified.

[@N0N5T0P]

@@kitchensbyrannes Thanks so much for getting back to me :) I'm now subscribed and I turned on notifications. I'm probably going to have to do it this way, because I have a small corner sticking out in the corner, and I don't want a smaller cabinet. It's nice to hear that you have done it before at least, that gives me hope that I can do it too.

[@kitchensbyrannes]

@N0N5T0P still looking for the pictures.....will find them later