Tired of looking at a litter box or have a kitty that kicks litter out? Try this IKEA Cabinet Kitty Litter Box Hack! The litter box stays hidden within a cabinet and there’s room to store an extra bag of litter and cat supplies!
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.
IKEA Cabinet Kitty Litter Box Hack
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 might work
- This cabinet could also work and comes in multiple color options
- This taller cabinet could also work if you leave out one of the shelves. Plus, it’s a super cute pink!
If you want to make your own Kitty Litter Box Cabinet using an IKEA Cabinet Hack, I’m sharing my full printable 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 – double check the measurements of the box and your cabinet to be sure it fits!
- 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 your 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 or power tools, 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, you can cover up the sharp edges using a cut up towel and 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 highly recommend getting a Litter Genie pail. Since I got one for our house, my husband is better about scooping the litter box every single 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.
IKEA Cabinet Kitty Litter Box Hack
Materials
- IKEA Cabinet
- Cat Door
- Litter box
- Kitty Litter
- Litter Mat
- Catnip Spray
Tools
- Drill and Metal Drill Bits
- Tin Snips
- Pencil
- Gloves
Instructions
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.
Step 6: introduce the cats to their new litter boxes.
And if you’re looking for other cat tips and tricks, check out some of my other cat blog posts:
Kelly
Friday 13th of January 2017
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!
Andrea
Friday 13th of January 2017
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!
Marceia Egler
Wednesday 9th of November 2016
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?
Amy Desrosiers
Friday 8th of April 2016
What an amazing job you have done! I am loving this #hack! #client