The IKEA Expedit bookcase may be one of the most popular affordable bookcases out there. (When you actually start looking for it, you see it everywhere. Trust me.) Its ubiquity also means it's rife for reinterpretation, as seen in this kitchen/dining storage hack!
A few months ago IKEA Hackers featured this kitchen storage solution. The owners like the look of open shelving, but after they put the Expedit together, they were left underwhelmed by a few of the messier kitchen items. So, they hacked their own partial coverage with door hinges, black MDF, and plywood to get the best of both worlds!
Read More: Expedit Kitchen Storage at IKEA Hackers
Related: 10 Examples of IKEA Shelving in the Kitchen
(Images: K. Klose via IKEA Hackers)
Yuck: A Fourth Grader Reveals What School Lunches Really Look Like
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Floral Drink Dispen...
Using Luxury Rooms to Keep Teens Home
Juan's Garage Turned Modern Guest House
Very nice. The OCD in me wants the doors to all be in the same row, either vertical or horizontal, but it's still a great idea.
i agree with you, sherrme - the placement seems random, but good work nonetheless. i love my Expedits, i have four now. i am content with the baskets that fit as drawers for the messier stuff, but that's just me!
Would this be hard to keep clean?
I use an expedit shelf in my kitchen, and it is excellent! So nice to be able to see everything. Just wipe with a damp cloth to clean.
Not a fan of the random cabinet faces. It looks like hiding the messy stuff ... with messy stuff.
I just noticed something interesting though: in the new IKEA catalog, they've really embraced the idea of IKEA hacking. They show furniture with custom paint jobs, fabric-wrapped bed frames, and lamp shades with designs painted on them. It's a smart move for them to encourage creative hacks like this.
I think these doors look really ugly. As Sherrme mentioned, it might look a little better with them all in one row, maybe a row of doors along the bottom with the rest left to open shelving.
We've been using a 5x5 expedit in our kitchen just like this (sans doors) for 2 years now & love it. While the OCD in me has led to the rows & columns containing related items (all plates in the middle column & all baskets of jars across the bottom) it works perfect. When we're done school in another 2 years we'll be moving provinces & plan to leave the unit behind as I'm afraid that an item weighing this much won't hold together well after a big transport like that- anyone with experience moving one of these beasts?
@slightlyirritating: it would actually be quite easy to move if you're willing to take it apart and put it back together- I helped a friend put hers back together after a move (and it was the second time she had moved it by disassembling/reassembling). just lay it (carefully!) on its side and take the bolts out of the top and bottom, then pull the pieces apart, making sure that you save the bolts and the little wooden dowel things that hold the pieces together for reassembly.
I just moved and i'm using mine as a dresser in my room - it gives a trendy boutique feeling to a pretty small room, and holds a LOT of items.
that is an amazing idea to take apart and put back together. I just bought one and I'll be sure NOT to throw away the instruction manual!