How to Create a Ikea Cabinet Door Using a Drawer Front

Elevate your kitchen's aesthetics with this ingenious custom cabinet solution!

Using an Ikea drawer front as a door when cutting an IKEA cabinet to a custom size is a great way to get custom kitchen cabinets that suit your needs and elevate your storage space. However, putting on the Ikea door hinges on the drawer front can be challenging, if you do not know how.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to drill precise holes and seamlessly put hinges on a drawer front so you can transform it into a stylish cabinet door that fits your unique needs.

Watch the full video tutorial below, or keep reading to learn more.

To what size can we modify IKEA cabinets?

In this tutorial, I will show you how to build a custom cabinet door from a drawer front that is 5″ tall x 30″ wide. I chose this particular drawer front because I am building the door for a 30″ high base cabinet cut from 12″ to 5″ in width.

Remember that you can only modify cabinets to the size of the fronts available from Ikea unless you don’t want to put a door on it. 

Tools needed to make holes for hinges.

There are a few special tools that you will need for this custom kitchen cabinet project, including:

  • A Cabinet Door Hinge Jig. 
  • Two clamps to hold the jig in place.
  • A 1/16″ drill bit.
  • A 5/16″ drill bit with a collar ring to prevent you from drilling through your drawer front.
See the bottom of this page for recommendations.

Setting up the Kreg jig.

First, measure 1-9/16″ from each edge of your Kreg jig and mark a line. By doing this, you will not have to measure each cabinet door. Ensure these lines are as accurate as possible, or you will risk your hinges not lining up correctly.

Next, adjust the jig’s distance from the edge of the drawer. Adjust the height setting on your jig’s side stops to 6 mm.

Finally, ensure the collar ring on your 5/16″ drill bit is adjusted to the correct depth.

Now, you can set your jig up on the cabinet door. Line up the marks you made on the jig with the edge of the drawer and clamp the jig down. I recommend using one clamp on each side of the jig to ensure it does not slide around.

Drilling holes.

You are ready to drill after carefully going through all those steps, but before you do, check that the two distance knobs on the jig are sitting close to the drawer front.

Whether you first drill the large center hole or the 3/16 pilot holes does not matter. Always ensure your collar ring is correctly set before you drill the 5/16″ hole after removing the jig so that the tip of your drill bit will not go through to the other side of the cabinet.

Job Done!

After removing all the sawdust you’re ready to snap on the hinge.

That is it – you made a new door.

PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS​​

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It’s important to note that my recommendations are solely based on my personal experience with each tool or product. I genuinely find them helpful and valuable, and the commission is not the driving factor behind my endorsement.

I have tried and tested every single tool I recommend – no exceptions.

I encourage you to only invest in these tools or products if you genuinely believe they will contribute to your goal attainment.

Holes for hinges made easy.

This door hinge drilling kit from Kreg is perfect for making holes for hinges on Ikea fronts. It is easy to use, and when you have marked the distance mentioned above, it doesn’t take more than 5-10 minutes to make two holes and be hinge-ready. 

The clamp and Forstner bit (35 mm) are included, and don’t bother getting a spare right away unless you have a lot of holes to make. I purchased an extra Forstner bit when I bought the jig, thinking I would need it soon, but a few years later, the original bit is still as sharp as a knife.

Link to item.

As far as we want to go.

There are two kinds of people. Those who know the value of small tools like these collar stops and those who think they can do without until the drill plunges through a front by accident.

I used to be one of the latter. but a few “breakthroughs” made me wiser. 

Link to item.

These will do the trick

Drills. It is hard to understand why a full set of good drills costs less than the only two sizes we need for this job when bought individually.

Oh well. That is how it is, so get the box and start drilling.

Link to item.

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