Use This Tiny IKEA Billy Bookcase To Make Coffee Station That Can Fit In Any Kitchen

Caffeine is a necessity for many as soon as they roll out of bed — ourselves included — but fumbling through the kitchen to hastily throw together a cup of joe can make it feel more like a chore than a treat. If this is your experience, consider assembling a creative home coffee bar. A daytime spin on the classic home bar, these little areas act as a dedicated space for your drink-making essentials, whether that includes mugs, coffee pods, roasted beans, an espresso machine, or flavored syrups. Keeping everything in one accessible location helps to streamline your routine and prevent the annoyance of ping-ponging around your kitchen while you're still bleary-eyed, and IKEA can help.

While a coffee bar is a kitchen feature that will boost your home's value and improve your mornings, this only holds true if it's well-organized and functional. A stack of miscellaneous appliances and tools on your counter will read more as a source of clutter than anything else, so it's important to prioritize organization. That's where IKEA's BILLY bookcase comes in.

While the retailer does carry plenty of full-sized bookcases in its BILLY line, this one is tiny – just 15 3/4 inches wide, to be exact. It's perfect to use as a shelf over your coffee maker (with some minor modifications, of course), and because it's fairly narrow, you'll be taking advantage of your kitchen's vertical space without having to sacrifice much of the precious room on your countertops.

Luckily, it doesn't require a ton of DIY skill to turn this BILLY bookcase into coffee station storage. First, and most obviously, you'll need to pick up a BILLY bookcase. IKEA's smallest BILLY option is 41 3/4 inches tall, so it might not be able to fit on some countertops, especially under a cabinet. As an alternative, consider the BAGGEBO bookcase, which is 10 inches shorter and a few inches wider.

From there, all you'll need to do is build the bookcase, omitting the lower two shelves and the panel at the bottom. If you go for the BAGGEBO, only remove the bottom shelf. This creates a nook that's the perfect size for a small coffee maker or espresso machine. If you want to conceal the countertop appliance's power cord, you should also cut a small hole in the back of the bookcase. This shouldn't be a difficult task, as the backing is made of fairly thin fiberboard – a utility knife or jigsaw will do the trick (but a circular saw may work best).

Now that you have your structure built, all that's left to do is style it. You can paint your IKEA BILLY bookcase to match your cabinets for a more cohesive effect, but the wood-look options on IKEA's site can also provide a great way to bring some warmth into your kitchen. Finish off by placing some  mugs, sugar, and decorations on the open shelves above the coffee maker, and you'll be left with a functional coffee bar that's sure to add some style to your morning routine.