Ikea kitchen toekick drawer

While installing my Ikea kitchen, I figured out a way to add a toekick drawer without any special equipment. This was pretty easy because I did it before installing the cabinets, but it's theoretically possible to retrofit an existing cabinet. I found that a drawer designed for a 30-inch cabinet fits perfectly under a 36-inch cabinets with toekick boards installed onto the feet underneath. I haven't tried it, but I suspect that a 24-inch drawer would fit under a 30-inch cabinet and a 18-inch drawer would fit under a 24-in cabinet.

Step 1 The view underneath

I wish I'd taken pictures of this during installation, but hopefully this will be clear. I used a 36-inch cabinet with 4 legs on the outside. Then I installed the toekick boards on the side legs to support the drawer rails. I used a scrap piece of 2x2 on the inside corner to keep it solidly in place. You'll have to drill pilot holes in the board in order to install the drawer rails, and check really carefully to make sure you're getting the locations right.

Comments

[thequara]

I like the collection of peanuts and other debris under the drawer! Haha! =)

[davialyn]

I tried to do this, but was not successful. The drawer stuck out as far as the base cabinets instead of being flush with the toe kick.

[terrilynnt]

I have never ever seen this idea before and I think it is amazing! My kitchen is rather small and am always fighting to find a spot for this exact items! This would be perfect! If I ever get to build my own kitchen, these are going to be a must!

[shooby]

Toe-kick, so you kick it to open it? Nice. Still have to bend down to get the item though, unless there's a toe kick ejector button as well.

[JakeTobak]

A Toe Kick is that recess at the bottom of your cabinets, you don't actually kick it to open the drawer, although I'm sure you could make one like that if you wanted.

[noahh]

they make drawers that open when you push them, so (in theory) you could make one close to the ground so when you push on it with your toes it would open!

[shooby]

Ah, I see, thanks man. Pretty cool idea in that case, in terms of extra storage.