An Effektiv island to cook, eat, work, play!

Louise came across Ikeahacker when she was looking for some tips on building a banquette. Then, wham! She realises that she has a hack of her own to share - a kitchen-island-room-divider-work-station. Phew! That was a mouthful.

She says, "I moved into a one bedroom apartment with an open concept kitchen-living room. I needed a place to eat and to work that wasn't going to be really ugly if I had people over. I also wanted it to move around. The standard kitchen islands didn't really seem to fit in in the living room. I found these pieces in the office section of Ikea. I started with the Effektiv base with castors and added two Effektiv low add on units. In the bottom one I put in the set of two drawers and fronts. I added an extra shelf to the top one. Then I used some 3M Command Strips to attach a Galant table top that is slightly larger to the unit (they stick well and eliminated the need for drilling). I drilled a 1/2" hole in the back to let my cords out. I have now added a little ring from Lee Valley that makes the hole look more finished.

I bought two stools so that I can sit and eat or work. My pens, pencils and stationery stuff is in the top drawer. I have placemats and other things for entertaining in the larger bottom drawer. I have my printer in the open section, and my laptop gets tucked away on the shelf when I am not using it. Most of the time it is a divider between my kitchen and living room but I can push it up against the wall (computer side facing the wall) for a 'bar' when I have a party. I can also pull it over closer to the counter to have an extra 'island' for prep if I am doing a lot of cooking.