Using IKEA Cabinet Solutions in Your Home Office

How to Plan Your Home Office with Versatile IKEA Cabinets

As we transition toward what we hope is a more routine back-to-school/back-to-work scenario this fall, there’s no denying the last year and a half has changed a lot about the way we live – including where and how we work. While not everyone has a spare room or existing home office to transform into a more permanent work space, when you work with Inspired Kitchen Design’s IKEA design experts, we can help you create a home office solution just about anywhere.

In this article, an IKEA design expert introduces favorite IKEA cabinets tips and hacks to make your home office work for you.

Tips and Hacks for Using IKEA Cabinets in Your Office

IKEA SEKTION Cabinets Add Style and Efficiency

IKEA’s SEKTION cabinets framework works with custom options, such as fronts from third-party custom cabinet manufacturers like drawer boxes from Semihandmade, Kokeena, Scherrs, Reform or even Rev-A-Shelf.

Try using Rev-A-Shelf in unexpected ways, such as the Heavy Duty Mixer Lift with Shelf as a printer lifter. This is an excellent IKEA hack to conceal a bulkier item in your IKEA home office! And, incidentally, that is an example of why The New York Times recommends us as a design resource for customers considering custom doors for their cabinets.

IKEA BESTA adds Modular Storage Combinations

Whether you are carving out an unused corner of your living room or transforming part of your kitchen to make your workstation, you need cabinet systems that are modular and adaptable for your needs.

The aforementioned SEKTION system is a great choice because it works well for anything from cupboards to stow your electronics, to drawers both visible and hidden. SEKTION cabinets can be tailored with interior organizers such as pull-outs and adjustable shelves, all of which will make a difference when you are corralling paperwork.

You can also consider the IKEA BESTA storage combination system with doors and the black-brown IKEA BESTA RIKSVIKEN/STUBBARP in light bronze effect, which would be ideal to store yoga mats (for those calming work breaks) or art supplies for the kids.

A Home Designer’s Favorite IKEA Office Hacks

As professional designers, we’ve seen and tried just about everything with IKEA’s products. Our top office hacks include:

• Skip the hanging files: We use a 15″(H) drawer with file boxes instead of hanging files. This keeps your files neatly organized, plus you can add an interior 5″(H) drawer to really maximize the interior space.
• Conceal your electronics and cords – but make sure they have room to breathe: If you use a desktop and want to conceal your UPS and CPU, you can use a SEKTION base cabinet and hack it to be well ventilated. You can use the IKEA UTRUSTA reinforced ventilated shelf (which holds a max of 331 pounds!) and add the IKEA METOD ventilation grill to the side of the cabinet.
• Get familiar with internal organizing systems to really trick out your space: You can use third-party organizers, like the Rev-A-Shelf mixer lifter for your printer or scanner, or the Rev-A-Shelf universal pull-down to organize those small items and correspondence.

Case Study: Making an Office Nook With IKEA Cabinets

Even if it’s a small nook that you had to adapt, using IKEA cabinets will definitely allow it to fit in with other rooms in the home and get you and your family organized. This was the case for IKD customer Meredith from Seattle, WA, who worked with IKD to design a tidy office nook in a space adjacent to her bedroom.

“I wanted a space to do some writing or even to do bills, plus have decorative space available,” Meredith says.

To accomplish this, the space features IKEA’s SEKTION cabinets with VEDDINGE doors. Cabinets were cut to desk height with drawers on either side for paperwork or those pesky bills. Open shelving provides a display area for picture frames and some flowers and plants as well (in a perfect spot that also takes advantage of the room’s natural lighting).

Office Nooks to Office Spaces are Possible with IKEA

If you have even the smallest bit of unused space in your home, you can make a space to work, oversee schoolwork or get organized. At IKD, we can help you determine the best way to use your space and the right IKEA cabinetry system to fit your needs.

Get custom design plans for (almost) every room in your home, starting at $399. Click here to get started.