25 DIY Built-Ins Using Prefab Bookcases + Cabinets

Did you know you can create custom built-ins for your living room, office, or laundry room using prefab and stock cabinets to hack the high-end built-in shelving look? These 25 DIY built-in cabinet and shelving ideas will give you lots of bang for your buck and add value, storage, and beauty to your home for a fraction of the cost of custom built-ins.

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When looking for ways to add storage to our home, I came across a plethora of ideas from fellow content creators using pre-fab cabinets to create the most ingenious built-ins.

After discussing it with our carpenter, it turns out this is a cost effective way to skip the most complex steps so you can focus on the rest. Not only does it save money but time as well.

In our previous home, we had a carpenter build bookshelves from scratch and it was gorgeous but expensive. Here’s a little snippet so you can see the custom look:

We had the contractor for our new home use stock cabinetry for the base of our built-ins both my office and laundry room. The final result means tons of storage for a fraction of the price of custom builtins.

Our laundry room is tiny but fierce, as they say. Despite it’s small size, we need it to function as a laundry room, mudroom, storage space, holding area for bookbags, and kitty litter area (ewwww.) The stock cabinets from Home Depot look like they were built for the space thanks to the installation of the backsplash and shelf.

We used the same contractor for my office built-ins, but went with semi-custom cabinets on the bottom so I could get the 24 inch depth I was looking for without built-in drawers. He used two tall cabinets and two 24″ depth cabinets, and added the shelves in between.

As a result, I have EXACTLY the custom look I was going for with perfectly sized storage for my needs… plus pretty shelves that pull double duty with housing both decor and storage.

Where Can You Buy Prefab and Stock Cabinets?

The plus to using stock cabinetry is you can find it at big box home improvement stores, warehouse stores, IKEA, and online. Here’s a few sources for prefab cabinets and bookshelves:

• Home Depot and Lowes
• Costco
• Menards
• Amazon
• IKEA
• Habitat Restore for pre-owned cabinets that you can refinish
• local kitchen stores– they can often customize what you need if you can’t find something in stock

What to Know Before Purchasing Stock Cabinets

You’ll want to have your design in place before looking, so you can find the correct dimensions. For example, I wanted my base cabinets in my office to be 24″ deep but without the drawers that come on many stock kitchen cabinets, so it was a bit more challenging to find (but I did finally find them!)

Be sure to check what type of material they’re built with as well, and if it’s prefinished, unfinished, or primed in advance. For example, melamine cabinets are covered in a layer that you are unable to paint over later, so keep that in mind if you’d planned on changing the color down the road.

Don’t forget to make sure options are in stock or will arrive in a timely manner if your project timeline is tight, because supply may vary. Thankfully many options are quickly available from bog box stores, but the more custom versions may take longer (weeks or months) to arrive.

25 Custom Built-In Ideas Using Stock Cabinets

With all that in mind, we’ve rounded up 25 ideas for using stock cabinets to create your own custom built-ins. Many thanks to these amazing creators from around the blogosphere for these crazy amazing and clever ideas!

Gorgeous Bedroom Built-Ins by Jaime Costiglio

DIY Walk-In Closet (GOALS!) by FW Made By Carli

Built-in Office Cabinets Using Stock Kitchen Cabinets by Rain On A Tin Roof

Transform Cheap Bookcases into Custom Built-ins by Addison Meadows Lane

I’m in love with this custom closet using IKEA pieces by Making Home Base

Built-In Cabinets using IKEA Billy Bookshelves by Making Home Base

Custom Crafting Desk with Storage by Bari J Designs

DIY Office Bookshelves and Storage by Artsy Chicks Rule

IKEA Kitchen Cabinets Turned Built-Ins by Making Joy and Pretty Things

Renter-Friendly Built-Ins by PMQ for Two

Home Office Storage Cabinets by PMQ for Two

How To Make Cabinets Look Built-In by Rambling Renovators

Custom Office Built-Ins by Rambling Renovators

Built-In Entertainment Center by DIY Danielle

Built-In Office Renovation by DIY Danielle Office

Mudroom Built-Ins by My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

See how Craving Some Creativity built a custom closet door!

Custom Nursery Closet by This Is Our Bliss

Playroom Built-ins by Maune Legacy

Built-In Living Room Storage and Media Center by DIY Danielle Living Room

Laundry Room Built-Ins by The DIY Village

IKEA Bookcases to Semi-Custom Built-Ins by Lovely Etc.

Tween Girls Bedroom Built-Ins by Tidbits and Twine

Built-In Snack and Bar Ideas by Making Lemonade

DIY Bar Cart by Shrimp Salad Circus

Aren’t those incredible?! I’m looking forward to sharing the plan for my office and laundry room, I’m using stock and semi-custom cabinets to get a similar built-in look. Even if you hire someone to do the installation, it’s still much less expensive to create a built-in look using prefab cabinets instead of having them made from scratch!

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