Post

IKEA Kallax Bar

As the old bar in the basement surely lost its charm and therefore fell victim to time, there was a need for a replacement.

The decision was made and a replacement for the old bar had to be built. After an evening of scrolling through the internet a great idea popped up on the screen. Someone had built a bar using an IKEA KALLAX shelf. After measuring and taking stock of the unused shelves, the Click and Collect order was placed. The next day the short do-it-yourself project started.

The base of the bar consists of:

  • 1x KALLAX 5x5 white stained oak effect
  • 1x KALLAX 4x2 black-brown
  • 2x CAPITA stainless steel 16cm
  • die schrägen (Name raussuchen!)
  • 1x Oak Countertop from the hardware store

Additional utilities:

  • Wax for wood (lightly staining)

The 5x5 KALLAX is being used to display bottles or (in my case) souvenirs from holidays. The two 4x2 KALLAX are being used as the work top. Below both of the 4x2 KALLAX a total of 8 CAPITA legs are used to raise the shelf to a suitable height. On top of the work top there are the beautiful angled legs holding the bar counter (the Oak Countertop).

Everything started with assembling the 5x5 and screwing it to the wall. After that the 4x2 was ready to be assembled with the legs underneath. As both of them loose in the room would probably go horribly wrong, they are being screwed in an L-shape to allow for the bartender area. The construction was then screwed to the wall to ensure it staying in place. Finally the countertop was ready to placed on top of the bar, by first drilling in the necessary holes in the KALLAX for the legs and then screwing the countertop on.

And that’s it. The final product cost about 800€ and looked fresh and elegant. This setup allows a lot of gimmicks, which will be discussed in a future blogpost.

In the long run, the countertop proved to be quite heavy for the KALLAX, as the wood began to warp around the screw holes for the legs. Unfortunately, larger washers were only a short-term solution, as the deformation soon became visible again. If someone wants to rebuild this bar I would recommend either to screw the countertop to the wall to support the legs or to put an extra worktop on top of the KALLAX or underneath it to increase the strength of the KALLAX wood.

This post is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 by the author.

Trending Tags