IKEA’s Stylish New Sideboard Gave My Small Kitchen Tons More Storage

My husband and I live in a relatively spacious 1960s apartment in Los Angeles. One of my favorite things about our apartment — and older apartments in general — is how much built-in storage they tend to come with. Even with the cupboards, closets, and built-ins, however, our kitchen needed more storage. No matter how many items I donated to Goodwill, there never seemed to be enough cabinet space for our cooking essentials and dishes (and don’t even get me started on the food storage containers). 

On a quest to find the perfect solution, I scoured Pinterest for IKEA hacks, planning to create another built-in myself. However, when I stumbled across the new LEDAMOT cabinet on the IKEA showroom floor, I scrapped my entire plan and took this simple storage solution home instead. 

The LEDAMOT Cabinet is technically a sideboard — IKEA’s site shows it styled in living rooms and dining rooms — but its compact size (it’s just over 16 inches deep) made it an excellent solution for our kitchen. I love that it has cabinet doors that hide the clutter, but it also features an open shelf cubby that I use to display cookbooks and a vintage tea canister I found while on a trip to Portland, Oregon, earlier this year. 

When shopping around for storage options, I was mostly concerned by how well the cabinet would physically and decoratively fit. Despite its more modern look, I think it blends well with my eclectic decor and doesn’t make the small space feel more crowded. The classic light gray-beige color gives it a softer feel than a stark white might have, and pairs well with its modern aesthetic.

Since the LEDAMOT cabinet has enough covered storage space for our more unsightly kitchen overflow (aka the festive dishes I cannot part with, our sushi plate sets, and tablescape decor), it also means that I don’t have to hang a second cabinet option above it — which was part of my original IKEA built-in plan — and could instead keep the custom arch shelves that my dad and I made when I first moved into this apartment.  

Aside from the additional storage, the best part about this update is the price. It only cost me under $300 to completely alter my kitchen storage and give our home a quick functional refresh that I know will serve us well for years to come. 

Buy: IKEA LEDAMOT Cabinet, $299.00