Tall cabinet with unsuitable top panel

Hello,
we are currently assembling our first Ikea kitchen and are slightly at our wits' end. We were able to resolve most uncertainties ourselves, but now it's about our tall cabinet, which has a depth of 37 cm. However, the supplied side panels are 60 cm deep. Shortening them wouldn't be a problem in itself, but we have already noticed with various handle drillings that the veneer from "Gnosjö" peels off very quickly. If we were to shorten this side panel now, in my opinion it would look sloppy at the cut edge afterwards. Who has done something like this successfully? We have the same issue with the baseboard and the side panels of the wall cabinets... we don't want a light strip... and therefore also have to shorten there.

I am grateful for all experiences, tips, and tricks
Best regards
Eriu

Hi,

stick masking tape on the areas that are to be cut, then mark on it and cut with a proper saw, e.g. a circular saw with a guide. If you don't have such a tool, you can now have such cutting done in many hardware stores for a small fee.

The veneer coming off of course must not happen. Gnosjö is a nice but also quite inexpensive front. The foil is only glued on and therefore certainly not as firm as a lacquer or a veneer. So also stick masking tape on the spots where a handle is to be attached. Please also make sure you have the right drill bit for woodwork. If the "chipping" increases during your further assembly, please contact customer service, it could also be a defective batch.

Regards

Nayla

1. the right drill

2. a sharp drill

and that's it.

So we’re done with the handles for now, only the cover panels to be shortened are still giving me a stomach ache. The tall cabinet stands alone against the wall and any chipped spots will be seen immediately....I really hope that Nayla’s tip works ops:

The tip will work, a sharp saw blade also helps here.

You can first make an attempt and saw off a narrower strip. If it doesn’t work, have it cut. I haven’t had good experiences with [Baumärkten]. They often seem to use their saw blades for too long. In any case, a cut-to-size coated chipboard there often has frayed edges.