Is it possible to shorten the height of Ikea Plasta?

Hello everyone,

we would like to create some storage space in the basement and for this purpose buy Platsa cabinets 180 cm + 40 cm each. Unfortunately, this makes the whole thing 2-3 cm too high for the basement room. Therefore, I would like to shorten the 40 cm cabinet a little bit. Is that possible and will the cabinet still be stable? The good piece is not exactly made of solid wood. If possible, we would also like to equip the 40 cm cabinet with fronts and, of course, shorten these as well. Table saw and plunge saw are available.

Best regards

That will probably not work because the parts have grooves and are plugged together that way. If you want to cap the system, you might need to screw the top panel to the side panels with brackets. You could go for larger cabinets, e.g., Metod (200cm + 8cm base/plinth). Then you still have a 12cm gap at the top. Or stay with Platsa with a grid of 40cm + 120cm + 40cm. Or leave the 180cm as is and simply place storage boxes along the entire length on top. Or put long items in.

I did it that way with our Metod cabinets. They were too tall for the new room.

It worked well. From below, you can see the cut surfaces. But actually, no one ever looks from below ;)

I simply fixed the shelves on the sides with wood screws and, where necessary, built a cover panel in front.
I also screwed in brackets from the inside. But that was actually unnecessary.