Alan Chenkin, Lifelong Carpenter/Cabinetmaker, owned an AWI certified shop for 10 years.
This issue with IKEA products and most inexpensive RTA cabinets almost universal. Screws do not hold well in particle board, and cabinets can get loose, or come apart. My solution is simple and can be done by almost any person with a little knowledge and desire to fix their cabinets.
Here is one of my solutions, which is often the quickest and most practical (IMHO), and can solve the reassembly problem without waiting for glue to dry. In many cases, a squirt of Titebond glue and a toothpickbroken off in the screw hole will make the screw form new threads in the wood when you put it back in.
This is an ANGLE BRACKET, also known as an “ELL” bracket. It is even stronger when combined with the toothpick and glue fix, and can give an Ikea cabinet a new lease on life.
This will keep an Ikea cabinet box together. I usually use 2 or three on each corner. One caveat – use these screws instead of any that come with the bracket:
Most of the boards are about 5/8″ thick, so 1/2″ screws don’t break out the other side.
You can get these parts at any hardware or big-box store. Most of the time they do the trick.
There are lots of different types of angle brackets. I use them to attach the sides and top/bottom of cabinets when I can’t fasten it any other way.
Angle brackets come in many sizes, I like the smaller ones for fixing most Ikea products. I like the ones that have 2 screws on each side, more screws equal more holding power. They are not overly large, and are easy to install with a power screw gun, usually without pre-drilling.
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