12 Clever DIYs For Using Ikea Cork Trivets Around The Home

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Is the Ikea HEAT cork trivet set worth buying? There are plenty of mistakes everyone makes when shopping at IKEA, but buying these affordable trivets isn't one of them. Not only are they great for simple uses like protecting surfaces from hot objects, stacking between skillets in your cabinets, and placing under houseplants to prevent damage to tables, but they also make a perfect DIY material to create everything from cork board displays and wall-hanging storage pouches to plant propagation stations and wall clocks. 

One of the many perks of crafting with the HEAT trivets is the price: A three-pack costs less than $6. Because the trivets are made of cork, they're easy to cut if you want to create artwork with a shape other than a circle, and you can use them to make cork stampers by cutting any shape you want to duplicate. The cork rounds measure 7 inches across, which adds to the versatility — a single trivet creates a space-saving design, or you can combine multiples to craft a larger display. These cork rounds are one of the IKEA home essentials under $10 that are always worth buying, and our creative DIYs will give you plenty of uses for them.

Even a basic corkboard is pricy, and it's a boring rectangle with a cheap frame. Instead, grab several HEAT trivets and hot glue them to a piece of painted plywood for a customized cork display. For even more customization and design power, paint the individual cork pieces, either in solid colors or with patterns. If you don't want to mess with the plywood backing, simply adhere several trivets directly to the wall using Command strips. Use this cork board as a household command center you can DIY or simply display pictures and mementos.

For this wall organizer pouch, the cork rounds create the background, and a piece of fabric hot glued in place creates a pouch. Choose light, neutral-colored cloth for a clean, classic look, or brighten up the space with a brightly patterned fabric. Vegan leather is another upscale option. Add ribbon, rounded tacks, or other embellishments along the fabric edge if desired. A strip of vegan leather, ribbon, or twine works as a hanger. Then, tuck notes, photos, artificial greenery, or other items inside the fabric pocket.

Crafty DIYers use the IKEA trivets for signs, including door hangers. Connect a series of trivets using twine or strips of plastic for a larger sign. From there, you customize each cork piece with a letter to spell out a word, an image, or a short phrase. For instance, spelling out "Joy" or "Merry" works for the holidays. Or, paint the numbers in your street address (one on each trivet) for a year-round sign — it's one of many ways to creatively display house numbers. Add artificial greenery, ribbon, or other accents to finish the sign.

Yes, you can use a wood-burning tool on cork. And that means you can create any custom design on top of the trivet to match your kitchen decor. You can freehand the design, but it's often better to trace a pattern onto the cork with a pen or pencil first. Then, go over it with the wood-burning tool to make the image permanent. Since the HEAT trivets from Ikea are so inexpensive, you can make seasonal trivets to use for hot dishes or simply to display in your home.

We've already covered the IKEA hack that transforms a spice rack into a propagation station. This time, HEAT trivets create the base for a plant-growing space. Paint the trivet first if you want a colorful background and then connect multiple corks vertically with twine if you want to propagate multiple plants (or use the trivets individually). You just glue a small plastic bottle to the center of each trivet. The bottle is where you'll propagate your plant cuttings. Position it where the cuttings get exposed to optimal light conditions.

IKEA's cork trivets are the perfect size to make little signs for the seasons (or for year-round designs). Acrylic paint works on cork — start with a solid background, or create a themed pattern based on the season. You can stamp or hand-paint words and designs related to the seasons. To add a little dimension, glue on related objects, such as artificial pine boughs for winter or pinecones for fall. The cork is lightweight, so you can display it on a shelf or hang it with a ribbon or twine loop. 

Keep your jewelry organized with a cork jewelry holder — it's one of the cheapest and best jewelry organizers for your space. Use a single circle or connect multiple ones with craft sticks. Or, cut a trivet into different shapes, like crescent moons. Paint the background and add embellishments such as battery-powered fairy lights behind the cork. The cork construction is perfect for holding earrings — push the posts into the cork to hold them in place. Adding small screw hooks along the bottom creates a place to hang necklaces to keep them from getting tangled.

A craft knife makes it easy to cut a cork trivet into various shapes, which you can use as stamps. Brush paint over the cork stamp, and press it onto paper or canvas. It's a fun way to make abstract art for your wall, or make stamps for your kids, so they can design a custom work of art for their rooms. This is also a sustainable way to use up scraps if you cut down a HEAT trivet for another project — the remaining pieces can become your stamps.

Ikea HEAT trivets are the perfect shape for creating custom clocks. Kits, like the Paraor quartz clock movement kit, turn almost anything into a clock. Find a kit with hands that fit your style. Then, paint the cork trivet to fit your decor. Go simple with a solid-colored background, or paint whimsical designs on the clock face. You can add numbers around the clock, draw simple lines for the hour marks, or leave the face blank. To insert the movement, you'll need to make a small hole in the center of the trivet.

Customize a lidded canister by using a flowerpot as the base and a trivet as the lid. Choose a flowerpot that has a smaller circumference than the trivet. For the lid, you'll stack two trivets — cut the bottom one so it's slightly smaller than the inner circumference of the pot's opening. Leave the top trivet at the full size and add a knob to the top as a handle. The lid should sit snugly on top of the pot, with the bottom trivet holding it in place.

The cork background of an IKEA trivet works well as the foundation of string art projects. You can freehand a design or use a template — keep the shape relatively simple yet identifiable. Press pins into the cork around the shape. Now, you're ready to wrap string in your choice of colors around the pins — go completely around the pin head to keep the string in place before moving on to the next one. Then, you'll go across the shape with string to fill it in, looping it around pins to maintain the design.

For this project, pair the HEAT trivet with circles from the KOMPLEMENT multi-use hanger at Ikea. Cut the rings from the hanger apart — they become the side pieces on your DIY plant stand. Glue them upright around the edge of a trivet and add a bit of glue where the circles meet. To cover those joints, wrap some twine or ribbon around them. Wood beads glued to the bottom create risers for the stand. Whether you love a challenge or prefer the easiest houseplants anyone can keep alive, this stand elevates the look of your indoor plants.