I’ve had an Ikea Detolf glass cabinet for a long time. It stored the many miniatures from the many games I’ve played. I moved house a few years ago and didn’t unpack much into, I was starting to get unhappy with how little it could fit. The cabinet stands over 5 foot tall but only has 3 shelves and the base on which you can put models. That’s more then 12” of height for models that rarely go over 1”!!
Attempt one
I was recently on paternity leave, and was determined that there must be a way to add more shelves, even with my limited handyman experience. Alas Ikea themselves don’t see extra shelves, and there would be no existing way to attach the shelves to the frame. This is surprising given how flexible their stuff usually is.
I did some googling and found that people using wire grips as anchors and then got new sheets of glass. I found some online and ordered them, but they were the wrong size in the end!! I also measured the space and found sheets of glass on Ikea for another unit that would fit, but when they arrived Ikea’s measurements were wrong, the glass was too small!! All in all a bit of a failure.
Where there is a will their is a way
I gave it a rest of a little while, being in the middle of a global pandemic also didn’t really help with being able to find supplies. One day though I was searching again, determined to figure it out. I had glass that was a little too short on all sides, but maybe I could find some piece of hardware that could bridge the gap. In the end I stumbled across someone who made anchors specifically for adding shelves! They even looked long enough to bridge the gap with my glass.
Nearly there
I ordered them, and thankfully international post between Ireland and the UK was still operating and they arrived quickly. They were easy to install, and just (just!!) fit the glass I had. That said, the glass was super easy to push off and wasn’t at all secure, so in the end I had to abandon it. The site I purchased the anchors from recommends getting perspex sheets cut to size, something that never occurred to me! If we weren’t in a global pandemic where everyone needs sheets of perspex to make their retail employees save, it probably would have been super easy to get. That said after lots of emails I managed to find some one to make 4 sheets the exact size I need and deliever it for just €43!
Perfection!
And with that I had everything I needed. The new shelves were perfectly secure on the anchors, and took the weight of my models easily. I’m super happy with how things turned out. Ignoring my failed efforts, I paid about €60, this is the price of the unit itself but now I can hold more in less space. Next time I buy on I’m definitely getting the extra shelves straight away.
For those interested here is a closer look at my models.
