January 4, 2024

Knee Wall Cabinets that are the Perfect Solution for Storage

I am three years overdue but finally sharing the steps for the knee wall cabinets that are the perfect solution for storage in our loft, aka Brian’s band practice space. If you followed along with our garage attic renovation back in 2021, you will know that one of our objectives was to make this space very useable. To not only act as a band practice room but for storage, too. To accomplish this goal, we turned the knee walls into hidden storage cabinets and they are everything!

Read here for The Easy Vertical Paneling Installation and see where we started.

If you’re curious about installing it yourself, here’s how we got it done!

5 Steps for Turning Knee Walls into Storage Space

We researched lots of tutorials and referenced Ana White’s DIY blog as a starting guide (it is very detailed so would definitely recommend if you need more info) and modified it to fit our project.

Scroll to the end for the tools and materials list

Step 1: Grab MDF boards for the doors and trim. Cut them down to size.

mdf wood boards for knee wall storage.png

Step 2: Nail the pre-primed boards over the posts where it meets the slope on the top and bottom boards.

*Pro tip: if you are working solo, you will want to use these clamps to help hold the boards in place while you nail it because they are heavy.

Step 3: Next, make sure to cut your doors down to size and attach the hinges. We used our secret weapon, the Kreg Concealed Hinge Jig to make perfect circles for the hinges.

Line up, clamp down, drill and there you have it!

We used these hinges which saved us on cost but would recommend this here if you want soft close.

Step 4: Attach vertical handles with a finish nailer. We used Finished Elegance 1″ x 4″ MDF molding boards, which was the perfect width and comes completely finished since our local Home Depot was out of pre-primed MDF.

*Tip: Make sure when attaching vertical handle boards, there is a slight over-hang so when door closes, it overlaps the adjoining door for a seamless look.

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Step 5: Last, caulk and paint! With only one tiny window, we didn’t want the space to feel cramped so we decided on Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace (not shown here).

*Tip: use oil-based primer to paint un-primed/unpainted MDF