Built in style (but slide out removable) TOBO entertainment unit heavily modified, with a (cut down) PRAGEL countertop.
We used to have all out Home theater electronics in a deep double wide 24″ cabinet with heavy projection tube TV above. The A/V etc wiring was a nightmare since there was no rear access and limited room for (awkward) access from the front. When we got a flat screen wall mount LCD, I wanted a much better easier to manage system.
After a temporary period I built a new architrave style soffit across the room and under it created a surround for the wall mount TV (a lot of work). This included a hidden raceway for all the cable and speakers and wiring in the soffit and behind the TV. Below the TV I created a hutch area for a cabinet to inset into.
From Ikea I purchased a TOBO in white with sliding glass doors but without a base. I created a raised sliding base for this using a single large 3/4″ melamine sheet (cut to width) – this allowed me to add a cut down baseboard to the bottom edge to match the room baseboard when the cabinet is slid under the hutch space, the addition of the PRAGEL countertop finishes this off and hides the hutch gap. Various other trim is added to hide the side wall gaps and to ease the transition to the top.
I also added ~1.75″ wide side panels with rounded front edges wrapped in flexible white plastic sheet to bulk up the ‘heft’ of the unit. On the back I removed the hardboard rear panel and cut it down to fit the center section only and reinstalled it recessed to the back of the drawer supports creating an inset cable raceway, I added 3/8″ particle board over the top of this as a mounting surface and also installed equipment onto this panel: a 10Base100 ethernet Hub, a 4-way RF splitter, FM trap, 2 socket outlets – one for unswitched distribution and one for amplifier switched distribution. I then framed a white U-shape around each of the end section rears with a rabbeted out slot to allow a sliding panel to drop down from the top on each side. These panels are cut from white pegboard to allow ventilation out the back, they have small lift handles at the top outside.
Across the center back and bottom edges there are various (stick-on/screw-on) cable race channels to allow the easy routing of cables for power, A/V, RF and Ethernet.
All the cable connections are gathered at one end of the cabinet with support loops to locate them – and they plug into A/V etc socket panels under the hutch at that end – this allows the unit to be slid out from under the hutch and then rotated ~90 degrees providing full easy access to all the rear connections – without even disconnecting anything.
I consider this unit to be a complete success – the only remaining item is to dress up the center drawer fronts a little more – they look a little basic – I have some recessed handles and will convert to a fuller drawer front – extending them upwards more
via IKEA Hackers http://ift.tt/NalAQw From Alan in AZ
