ᐅ Installing a refrigerator and oven into an IKEA Metod tall cabinet
Created on: 28 Jul 2016 14:39
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fleptin
Hello!
I need to design a compact studio kitchen due to the limited space, planning a small L-shaped kitchen measuring 1.5 x 1.8 m (4 ft 11 in x 5 ft 11 in). Everything needs to fit in, including a domino cooktop, dishwasher, corner sink, oven, and so on. I want to place a tall cabinet unit at one end of the kitchen to house the refrigerator and oven, which I will need to customize somewhat. According to the online planner, there isn’t an option for this, but the manuals for the planned oven and refrigerator allow both appliances to be installed in the same cabinet. I have planned with white Veddinge units and intend to build the cabinet as follows (from bottom to top):
8 cm (3 in) plinth
1.8 cm (0.7 in) spacer panel
88 cm (34 5/8 in) niche for refrigerator (87.5 cm (34 1/2 in) built-in fridge with door-on-door mounting)
1.8 cm (0.7 in) spacer panel
10 cm (4 in) cutlery drawer
60 cm (23 5/8 in) oven
10 cm (4 in) panel
1.2 cm (0.5 in) upper side panel on top.
I want to use white Veddinge fronts for this and cover the refrigerator niche with a white 92 cm (36 in) Applad front from the Faktum after-sale service. This will cover the 88 cm (34 5/8 in) fridge niche as well as the shelf above and below it.
Of course, I am aware that I will need to cut down a 200 cm (6 ft 7 in) tall cabinet box in height and will have to drill new holes for shelves and drawer runners at different heights because the modified appliance heights will not align with the existing hole pattern.
Is this setup feasible? My main concern is the oven height, which is between 110 cm and 170 cm (43 in and 67 in). According to the official kitchen cabinets in the online planner, the oven is positioned between 88 cm and 148 cm (35 in and 58 in) in height.
I need to design a compact studio kitchen due to the limited space, planning a small L-shaped kitchen measuring 1.5 x 1.8 m (4 ft 11 in x 5 ft 11 in). Everything needs to fit in, including a domino cooktop, dishwasher, corner sink, oven, and so on. I want to place a tall cabinet unit at one end of the kitchen to house the refrigerator and oven, which I will need to customize somewhat. According to the online planner, there isn’t an option for this, but the manuals for the planned oven and refrigerator allow both appliances to be installed in the same cabinet. I have planned with white Veddinge units and intend to build the cabinet as follows (from bottom to top):
8 cm (3 in) plinth
1.8 cm (0.7 in) spacer panel
88 cm (34 5/8 in) niche for refrigerator (87.5 cm (34 1/2 in) built-in fridge with door-on-door mounting)
1.8 cm (0.7 in) spacer panel
10 cm (4 in) cutlery drawer
60 cm (23 5/8 in) oven
10 cm (4 in) panel
1.2 cm (0.5 in) upper side panel on top.
I want to use white Veddinge fronts for this and cover the refrigerator niche with a white 92 cm (36 in) Applad front from the Faktum after-sale service. This will cover the 88 cm (34 5/8 in) fridge niche as well as the shelf above and below it.
Of course, I am aware that I will need to cut down a 200 cm (6 ft 7 in) tall cabinet box in height and will have to drill new holes for shelves and drawer runners at different heights because the modified appliance heights will not align with the existing hole pattern.
Is this setup feasible? My main concern is the oven height, which is between 110 cm and 170 cm (43 in and 67 in). According to the official kitchen cabinets in the online planner, the oven is positioned between 88 cm and 148 cm (35 in and 58 in) in height.
@IKEA-Experte! Thanks for the tip about the different front widths! I checked again on the Faktum reordering service website. For Faktum, the Applad fronts are 59.6 mm (2.35 inches) wide, while for Metod, the Veddinge fronts are 59.7 mm (2.35 inches) wide. I’m very precise when adjusting the screws for drawers and hinges to achieve the best possible alignment and consistent gap spacing. Do you think it would be very noticeable if I had to tolerate half a millimeter (0.02 inches) per side?
Using an under-counter fridge instead of a built-in fridge would involve even more tinkering. I would need to either extend the countertop above it or use wall brackets at the back and sides to create a cabinet extension for the oven above the fridge. Of course, I looked at the option with the HUTTRA fridge, but I’m looking for an extremely quiet model where you can at least set compressor delay times so that it hardly ever runs during the night (it’s a studio apartment, so the kitchen is in the bedroom). Finding IKEA-compatible third-party under-counter refrigerators will probably be as difficult as with dishwashers. Also, I’m not a fan of appliances just being squeezed between kitchen cabinets, as in every other kitchen (IKEA or not) it’s usually the fully integrated dishwasher that is the weak point when striving for consistent alignment. Fronts mounted on Blum hinges can be adjusted more precisely than fixed-door fronts or dishwasher fronts (the only exception is BSH dishwashers, which have movable velcro fasteners before the final front is screwed on). That’s why I prefer a fridge for the 88 cm (34.6 inches) niche — in the future, I will have good options from many manufacturers.
What surprises me in general: IKEA switched from Faktum to Metod even though there are no refrigerators or fridge-freezer combos available with Metod front dimensions without having to use extra storage buffers in the niche. With dishwashers, IKEA accepted that the manufacturer Electrolux had to adapt to Metod. As a result, there have been suitable dishwashers from AEG right from the start, and the BSH Group followed with Vario hinge models for 80 cm (31.5 inches) fronts. IKEA could exert similar influence on fridge manufacturers, but they don’t: no wide front selection like with Faktum, and no appliance options precisely matching Metod niche dimensions.
Using an under-counter fridge instead of a built-in fridge would involve even more tinkering. I would need to either extend the countertop above it or use wall brackets at the back and sides to create a cabinet extension for the oven above the fridge. Of course, I looked at the option with the HUTTRA fridge, but I’m looking for an extremely quiet model where you can at least set compressor delay times so that it hardly ever runs during the night (it’s a studio apartment, so the kitchen is in the bedroom). Finding IKEA-compatible third-party under-counter refrigerators will probably be as difficult as with dishwashers. Also, I’m not a fan of appliances just being squeezed between kitchen cabinets, as in every other kitchen (IKEA or not) it’s usually the fully integrated dishwasher that is the weak point when striving for consistent alignment. Fronts mounted on Blum hinges can be adjusted more precisely than fixed-door fronts or dishwasher fronts (the only exception is BSH dishwashers, which have movable velcro fasteners before the final front is screwed on). That’s why I prefer a fridge for the 88 cm (34.6 inches) niche — in the future, I will have good options from many manufacturers.
What surprises me in general: IKEA switched from Faktum to Metod even though there are no refrigerators or fridge-freezer combos available with Metod front dimensions without having to use extra storage buffers in the niche. With dishwashers, IKEA accepted that the manufacturer Electrolux had to adapt to Metod. As a result, there have been suitable dishwashers from AEG right from the start, and the BSH Group followed with Vario hinge models for 80 cm (31.5 inches) fronts. IKEA could exert similar influence on fridge manufacturers, but they don’t: no wide front selection like with Faktum, and no appliance options precisely matching Metod niche dimensions.
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IKEA-Experte29 Jul 2016 22:32I assumed an equal gap size, which results in a difference of 2 mm (0.08 inches) in width. A difference of 1 mm (0.04 inches) is probably not noticeable.
Tenants are likely not selected based on their height. Therefore, I would not install the oven higher than 80 cm (31.5 inches) from the floor to the bottom edge. Instead of placing the refrigerator under the countertop, you can simply install the oven below the cooktop in the traditional way.
Tenants are likely not selected based on their height. Therefore, I would not install the oven higher than 80 cm (31.5 inches) from the floor to the bottom edge. Instead of placing the refrigerator under the countertop, you can simply install the oven below the cooktop in the traditional way.
I recently saw a display kitchen in a large furniture store where the bottom edge of the oven starts at countertop height, just like in the project I described. Now I can imagine the setup quite well; for my smaller stature of 1.75m (5 ft 9 in), it was pretty comfortable when I tried pulling out the baking tray.
I want to stick with a 60cm (24 inch) high oven and refrigerators with an 88cm (35 inch) niche because it will be a rental apartment, and in case of a defect, replacement appliances should be easily available from a local dealer and quickly installed. I know that with other IKEA appliances (thanks for the tip about the lower oven height), I could actually plan with fewer compromises.
For those interested: the oven will be the REALISTISK (possibly the one with the turquoise-green front from the 2017 catalog) and the refrigerator will be SVALKAS.
I want to stick with a 60cm (24 inch) high oven and refrigerators with an 88cm (35 inch) niche because it will be a rental apartment, and in case of a defect, replacement appliances should be easily available from a local dealer and quickly installed. I know that with other IKEA appliances (thanks for the tip about the lower oven height), I could actually plan with fewer compromises.
For those interested: the oven will be the REALISTISK (possibly the one with the turquoise-green front from the 2017 catalog) and the refrigerator will be SVALKAS.
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