Ikea Kitchen Bench Copycat

Hi All,

I built something.  With wood.  Yup, me with tools.  If anyone had been watching me fumbling around, and revving my drill, they got an eye-full.  Hilarity at its finest.

But we needed a bench and the one from Ikea would have been too big for our table and $120, I DONT THINK SO.  So I decided to build our own for $10.

I based the design off of the Ikea Norden bench:

(link)

These are the pieces I used:

(amendments are made in red to add further support)

For two of the cleats, the bottom brace and the braces I Kreg jigged them using my mini Kreg jig.  Then it was just a matter of assembly.

I don't know whether to be joyful or totally ashamed.  There are so many crooked areas, the gaps aren't even and I didn't have the right screws for the top and used drywall screws.

It's my first build and I learned a lot on the way.  I learned that a mitre saw might need to be in my future (I used a primitive method called ....a saw), a kreg jig is a cool little jig, measure, measure, measure and I also learned that building is fun!

One more look.

Now I can get more than two tushies on one side of the table.


Amendment:  Since building this I've decided "totally ashamed" should be what I'm feeling. Saint Joseph would not be proud. The wobbliness is due to lack of support and a couple more braces should be added.  I will fill you in once the new and improved bench is made and stained. 

(Updated bench post found in this post)

Blessings,
Christina