DIY Arched Cabinet With Reeded Glas

Ad – This post is in collaboration with Andrew Martin. 

It’s no big secret that we love a good IKEA hack. We love to transform affordable pieces of furniture and often just a few small updates can quickly turn a boring piece of furniture into something that suits your home and style. 

Some of our most popular projects, like our chest of drawers with cane webbing and our extended Pax wardrobes are IKEA hacks, and we’ve completed another furniture makeover – a DIY arched cabinet with reeded glass doors!

Would you have guessed that this gorgeous arched cabinet started out as an IKEA Platsa cupboard? 

This project may look complicated but it’s not difficult to build as you just have to add an arch and a couple of doors to the IKEA Platsa cabinet and we’re showing you the exact steps to build this DIY arched cabinet with reeded glass doors.

This is what you will need to build your own DIY arched cabinet with reeded glass doors:

This post contains affiliate links. We only recommend products we love and think that you will, too! Read our full disclaimer here.

Supplies:

• Ikea Platsa cupboard
• 18mm MDF
• Flexible MDF (alternatively: 4mm MDF) 
• Timber battens
• Easy Mount Hinges
• Polycarbonate Sheet (optional)
• Primer
• Paint – we used this gorgeous paint in Mayan Temple by Andrew Martin (kindly gifted)
• Wood filler
• Wood glue
• Sandpaper
• Handles
• Feet (optional)

Tools: 

• Jigsaw
• Cordless drill & drill bits
• Router (optional, but it’ll give you a better finish)
• Clamps
• Paintbrush
• Filling knife

Here’s how to build a DIY arched cabinet with reeded glass doors:

Step 1
Assemble The Cabinet & Cut The Timber

Start by assembling the IKEA Platsa cabinet.

All the measurements we’re sharing here are based on updating the Platsa cupboard but you could update any existing cupboard you have using this method. You’ll just have to adjust the measurements to suit your piece of furniture.

Once you’ve assembled the cupboard, move on to cutting the MDF sheets for the doors and arches. We’d always recommend having them cut to the size you need at the DIY store where you buy them. It’s usually for free and is much quicker than cutting anything yourself but you can, of course, cut them yourself with a circular saw, too. 

Build the arch on the top of the cabinet: 

You will need two pieces of MDF (800mm x 400mm).

Out of one of them cut a 50mm wide arch with the help of a jigsaw, and out of the other cut a semi-circle that’s the same circumference. The overall width of the cupboard is 800mm but you’ll have to cut your arches slightly smaller so that everything is flush when adding the bendy MDF top.

We used 4mm thick MDF to cover the arch (we couldn’t find bendy MDF) so our arch has an outer diameter of 79.2cm (800mm – 2x the thickness of the bendy MDF).

Make the doors for the arched cabinet: 

You will need two long pieces of MDF (400mm x 1600mm) that have a rounded top.

Draw the arches onto your MDF sheets and cut them out with a jigsaw. It’s important to draw and cut as precisely as possible so that everything fits together afterwards.

To draw the arches you can either use a piece of string or a piece of wood that you attach to the centre of the MDF sheets with a pencil at the other end. We used a piece of timber to draw this arch (we used the string method when making our DIY XL round charcuterie board) and both methods work well.

Step 2
Add The Arches

To give you something to screw the arches to, attach timber battens to each side of the top of the cupboard with some wood glue and a couple of screws. 

Next, glue the two arches you cut out to the front and back of the cabinet as well as the timber battens you attached to the top of the cabinet. To make sure the arches are firmly attached, add a couple of nails or screws straight through the MDF arches into the timber battens.

Because the whole construction seemed a bit wobbly, we decided to add another timber batten in the middle of the arch. It’s probably optional, but a bit of additional support can’t hurt. 

Next, add the bendy piece of timber to the bottom of the arches. 

If you can, we’d recommend using some bendy MDF but, as we couldn’t get hold of any, we used some thin 4mm MDF instead.

Glue the MDF to the timber battens and secure them with some clamps while the glue dries. Then, repeat the step with the outer piece of bendy MDF to cover the outside of the arch.

Step 3
Prepare & Add The Door Details

Adding the reeded glass to the DIY arched cabinet is completely optional (and makes the project much more expensive) but it does give the arched cabinet a more high-end look. 

There are a couple of steps you’ll need to do to be able to add the reeded glass. 

1. Cut out the section for the glass
2. Add a rounded edge (optional)
3. Add a groove for the panel to slot into (optional)

The only thing you have to do is cut out the hole for the panel, everything else will just make the finish a bit nicer but is optional. 

1. Cut out the section for the reeded glass

Start by cutting out the holes for the reeded glass. We opted to cut two holes in each door with a horizontal beam in the middle for some additional support. You could cut out one large panel if you prefer.

Measure and mark where to cut (we left a 6cm edge around the whole door) and cut it out with a jigsaw. Take your time with this to cut as precisely as possible. 

2. Add a rounded edge

We opted to round the edge of the cutout section. For this, we used our newest tool – a router. 

We had hired one before for the occasional project and it’s definitely what we’d recommend doing if you’re only ever using one for the occasional project.

Having said that, it is a great tool and one we’d recommend if you have a bit of cash to splash. Best of all, it’s surprisingly easy to use as you pop in the bit and run it along the edge of the cutout. 

3. Add a groove to the back of the doors

I love our new router so much that we also decided to add a groove on the back of the door for the reeded plexiglass to slot into.

Again, this is completely optional as you could glue the glass to the back of the door but this gives the inside a more professional and tidy finish.

Step 4
Attach The Doors

Next, attach a couple of easy-fit hinges to each door. When you’ve attached the hinges, screw the doors to the Platsa cupboard. 

Step 5
Fill & Sand

Fill any imperfections with some wood filler and give everything a thorough sand when the filler has dried so that the doors and arch are perfectly aligned and everything fits together well. 

It’s also important to give the whole IKEA Platsa cabinet a sand to roughen up the surface ready for the first coat of primer.