I recently acquired a second cat! Her name is Lucy! The day I rescued her, I purchased a beautiful, brand new kitty litter box … and I quickly learned that she kicks litter out of the litter box. There was litter ALL OVER my bathroom floor. Like, there was more litter on the floor than in her litter box. And if there is poop in there? That gets kicked out, too! Obviously that beautiful, brand new litter box was not working. So then I DIYed a top-loading kitty litter box and yet there was STILL litter everywhere. So I decided I had to make my own IKEA Cabinet Kitty Litter Box Hack. This way, she kicks, the litter stays in the cabinet. Also, I won’t have to see it! Plus, I have some tips below on how not to SMELL it!
Yeah, so I went a little overboard making my own Kitty Litter Box Cabinet. But, with two cats and two litter boxes, I was done messing around. I hate looking at the litter boxes, I hate looking at the bags of litter, I hate looking at the scooper, and I’m tired of all the tracked litter throughout my house (even in my bed!), so I thought that an enclosed Kitty Litter Box Cabinet with a little kitty door on the side might be the best way to go. 
I went with this IKEA double locker cabinet so I could eventually put a litter box for each cat on each side. If you only have one cat, this is still a great piece of furniture because you can put the litter box on one side and all of your cat supplies (kitty litter, scooper, catnip spray, laser pointer) on the shelves on the other side.
Not loving this exact cabinet? Here are a few other options:
- This IKEA cabinet that might work
- This metal cabinet on Amazon is similar and maybe a little longer
- It also comes in pink
- And mint green
Here’s what Lucy had before when she kicked all her litter out:
IKEA Cabinet Kitty Litter Box Hack
If you want to make your own Kitty Litter Box Cabinet using an IKEA Cabinet Hack, I’m sharing my full tutorial below, but first, you’re going to need a few supplies:
Supplies:
- IKEA Cabinet
- Cat Door
- Drill and Metal Drill Bits
- Tin Snips
- Pencil
- Gloves
- Litter box
- Kitty Litter
- Litter Mat (optional, but recommended to reduce litter tracking and aid in cleanup)
- Catnip Spray (optional to lure cat to go inside the cabinet through the door
Step 1: The first step is to build the cabinet. But, don’t install the shelves, you won’t need those. Don’t forget to read the instructions and make sure all the pieces are there before you start! Oh! And charge your drill gun so it’s ready for Step 3. 
Step 2: Follow the instructions on the kitty door and trace the outline onto your cabinet. 
Step 3: Use a drill with drill bits that go through metal to drill some pilot holes into your outline so you can get the tins snips into the cabinet and cut out the hole. The hole isn’t the prettiest, but I don’t have any machines, and I did this all by myself. So if I did it, you can, too!
Step 4: Follow the manufacturers’ instructions on the kitty door to install the door onto the side of the cabinet. Be sure there aren’t any sharp metal edges exposed to your cat after it is installed. If so, cover up the sharp edges using duct tape.
Step 5: Place a litter box inside the cabinet and fill with kitty litter.
If you want to reduce litter tracking, place the litter box at the far end of the cabinet away from the kitty door and place a litter mat next to the kitty door to grab all the tracked litter before your cat exits the cabinet.
Next, all that is left is to introduce the cats to their litter boxes. 
Yay! She went in!
If you want to see a video of someone following my tutorial and making this cabinet, check it out here.
I also recommend getting a Litter Genie pail. Since I got one for our house, my husband is better about scooping the litterbox every day! And it doesn’t smell! The Litter Genie pail keeps up to 3 weeks of cat poop and I promise you, it DOES NOT SMELL! It might be the best $20 I’ve ever spent.
And if you’re looking for other cat tips and tricks, check out some of my other cat blog posts:
What an amazing job you have done! I am loving this #hack! #client
That’s a great hack! You’re very brave for assembling an IKEA cabinet! They always seem to have a million parts to deal with. I’m in the process of making an enclosure now for my cats. I think you have the right idea. Buy something pre-cut so all you do is assemble, then add a kitty door. Are those cabinets hard to paint, you think?
This is awesome! Litter – is a 4-letter word. I’m curious, since your build have you added a second litter box? If so did you add a divider so it feels like a second litter box to the cats? Did you just put in a plastic open litter box inside? I’m assuming the round covered one didn’t fit inside. Great work! I’m starting this project this weekend!
Hi Kelly, I love it! Litter IS a 4-letter word! I did NOT add a second litter box – my cats are still not getting along and I decided not to push them in this area. So it’s only the one side and I used a low-sided plastic storage bin as the litter box (because they’re cheaper than litter boxes). Good luck with the project!
Andrea – So far so great! I ended up using a metal cutting disc on my Dremel to make the initial cut. I positioned the “template” an inch above the bottom edge (outside) and it just barely left enough room for the bottom of the PS unit to go in. Hindsight I would have raised it up a little so the cat door frame would not sit as close to the bottom. Lesson learned 🙂
Yay! I think there’s always hindsight when DIYing, but at least it works and it’s done! How is kitty liking it?