Bathroom Cabinet With Ikea Bowl

So I was remodeling my very small bathroom. Searching for a nice cabinet I noticed that I didn't like the materials used in the cabinets for sale. Besides that, all cabinets where much to big (in size and price) for my small bathroom.

A new project was born!

I'm very happy with the result and I made some pictures to share with you co-iblers.

Materials:

• Wood (oak flooring in my case)
• L-profile 20 x 40 mm (2 x 1m)
• F-profile (2 x 1m)
• Z-profile (4 small pieces)
• 4x4mm brass rod (1m)
• Inox plates for the sides of the cabinet
• Aluminum plates for the doors
• Lacquer
• Inox screws
• Waterproof wood glue
• Tape
• Cutting fluid

Hardware:

• Faucet (high enough for your bowl)
• Drain
• Siphon
• Ikea Inox bowl

Tools:

• Drill
• Drill bits (several sizes)
• Hole saw (both for the faucet and the drain)
• Screwdriver
• Clamps
• Paintbrush
• File
• Sanding paper
• Sharpy
• Tape measure
• Circular saw (or handsaw if that is your thing)
• Router
• Workshop press (I used the 15T press that my brother owns, but 5T is enough)
• Metal bending and cutting tools if you do that yourself
• Power sander
• Level

I used some oak flooring that was left over from an other project to create the bottom shelf and the top of the cabinet.

My cabinet should be very small so the length of the floorboards was long enough and I only needed to glue a few together. In my case the top of the cabinet will be 96 cm x 30 cm. That is three planks and a little bit.

I used more than enough waterproof glue and clamped it all together with some extra support on both sides to prevent warping under the pressure of the clamps.

*** The bottom shelf is one little plank shorter than the top ***

When all the glue was dry (the next day), I glued an extra plank underneath the front of the top of the cabinet to give it some extra visual thickness. *** Now the thin part of the top is now the same size as the bottom shelf ***

When all the glue dried, it is time to cut the shelf and the cabinet top to the exact sizes. I used a circular saw for this.

To make it look nicer, I routed off the corners of the front of the cabinet top.

To make an 8,00 euro bowl into a sink, we need a hole that fits a standard drain.

If we just drill a hole, the water will never be fully drained because of the raised edge of the drain. So we need to make an indentation to lower the drain.

I pressed this dent in the bowl with a mold made out of a piece of hardwood:

• Drill a hole in de hardwood with a hole saw. This hole should be the outer size of the drain.
• Use a file to smooth out the edge of the hole.
• Take the hole you drilled out and use a power sander to create a chamfer in the angle of the drain.
• Mark the exact middle of the bowl on both the in and the outside.
• Use tape or glue to temporarily put the plank with the hole exactly in the middle on the outside of the bowl.
• Put the circle with the chamfer exactly in the middle on the inside of the bowl.
• Put the bowl with both pieces of wood in a machineshop press.
• Press until you have the dent you need. (2 - 3T must be enough pressure)
• Use a hole saw in the size of the inside of the drain to cut a hole in te bowl. (use cutting fluid)
• Clean of the sharp edges with a file.

To prepare the wooden parts, we need to drill two holes in the cabinet top. One hole for the drain and one for the faucet to go through. You can probably find the sizes of the holes on the packaging of the parts you bought.

I drilled my drain hole in the middle near the rond edge, so the bowl will protrude over the edge. I test fitted the bowl en all looks fine. I did some measuring to find a good location for the faucet and drilled that hole as well.

Now starts the sanding and lacquer and sanding and lacquer and sanding and.... well you'll get the picture.

It took me four to five layers to get it the way I wanted.

The sides

The space between the top and the bottom of the cabinet will be 400 mm.

For the sides of the cabinet I used 1 mm Inox plate 440 mm x 220 mm. On the top and bottom 20mm will be set at 90 degrees so we are left with a hight of 400 mm. This hight must be pretty exact. (so I had this plates bended by professionals)

The doors

The aluminum doors will slide in aluminum F-profiles. But aluminum doesn't slide very well on aluminum, so I used a 4x4 mm brass rod inside the bottom F-profile to make de door slide better.

The sizes of the F-profile, you can see in the picture.

The two doors on the sides will slide the one in the middle won't.

We can calculate the sizes of the doors:

All the doors combined must be just a little wider than the cabinet. In my case the cabinet is 96 cm. So 96 / 3 is 32. To give them a little bit overlap, I made them 34 cm wide.
The thickness of the doors must be just smaller than the slot in the F-profile, so I used 3 mm aluminum plate.

The middle door will be just behind the slot of the F-profile, so the hight should be 400 mm - (2 x the hight of the lip of the F-profile 1,5 mm) - just a little extra 1 mm = 396 mm

The side doors should be 400 mm - (2 x the hight on the inside of the slot 4 mm) - 4 mm for the brass rod - 4 mm so the doors can be lifted out if necessary = 384 mm

Middle door: 340 x 396 x 3 mm

Side doors: 340 x 384 x 3 mm

I had this doors also cut by a professional because I can't cut this thick with enough accuracy.

The F-profiles

The F-profiles must be cut to the width of the cabinet. I drilled some holes in the lips of the profile to screw it on the top and bottom of the cabinet. ***make sure not to drill holes in the middle 34 cm of the profile, where the middle door will come!***

Screw the bottom profile on the front edge of the bottom plank. The top profile will be put just behind the thicker part of the cabinet top, so the two will be exactly opposite one and other. The top profile will be totally out of sight.

The L-profiles

This profiles will be used to hang the cabinet on the wall. Cut the profiles to the width of the cabinet. Drill holes in one side of the profiles to screw them to the wood. Drill one hole in each side of the other lip of the profiles to screw them to the wall.

Screw one profile to the back of the underside of the top of the cabinet. The other profile will be used later.

Put the sides on the cabinet to put the top and bottom together. Put the bottom plank just a mm more to the front than the top.

Test-fit the doors. The middle door should just fit in-between the F-profiles, behind the slots. Put the brass strip in the bottom profile and put the side doors in.

If all the doors fit, you can take them out again.

Now you can fit the cabinet in your bathroom.

I used some boxes and planks under the cabinet to determine the right hight for the cabinet. Use a level to get it straight from left to right. Now you can mark, drill the wall, put plugs in and bolt the cabinet to the wall.

Take the stuff away that you put underneath the cabinet.

Because the bottom was put a little to the front, the cabinet will now be slightly hanging forward. By putting some wedge or something behind the bottom and the wall, we can get the cabinet top exactly level.

When all is level, you can screw on the left over L-profile on the bottom of the cabinet against the wall and take the wedges out.

Now you can install the drain and faucet. This is also a nice moment to caulk the top with silicone.

And now the fun part: removing the protective foil from the inox sides.

You can use silicone to glue the middle door in place on the inside against the slots for the other doors. I used some Z-profile to clamp them in place. I screwed the pieces of Z-profile with one screw each in place, so I can turn it sturdy against the middle door, to make sure it doesn't rattle.

Easily put the other two doors in the slots and remove the protective foil from the doors.

I am really proud with the result. The wood and metal looks great in my bathroom and this way I fitted a nice cabinet in my very small space without cramping it.

The costs of this project are also reasonable compared with a bathroom cabinet from the store:

160,- All the metal included the labor for cutting and bending
8,- The bowl
60,- The drain
150,- The faucet
52,- Paint, screws, brushes, and stuff
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430,- Total (without the wood)

(all in euro)