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How to Make a Beautiful DIY Console Table

Turn old kitchen cabinets into a chic new piece of furniture.

By Reveal Editors | July 20, 2026

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Would you ever guess that those old kitchen cabinets you have taking up space in your garage could be easily turned into a gorgeous media console? It’s true! With some hand tools, a few pieces of plywood, and a fresh coat of paint, you can make a DIY console table that looks just like the ones you see selling for $2,000 online. Plus, you can customize it to look exactly how you want—which means you can finally stop the endless search for the perfect TV stand and earn bragging rights for building your own piece of furniture.

If you don’t already have them lying around, you can head to your local thrift store for a couple sets of old kitchen cabinets. They’ll usually go for somewhere between $15 and $50, but that may differ based on your location. Take a look at the room you’re planning on placing the console into, and pick a paint color that complements your existing color scheme. Once you have your supplies, you’re ready to get to work and retrofit a chic new piece of furniture into your space.

To help you with the transformation, we put together a full list of tools and resources, along with a step-by-step DIY tutorial. Note that our measurements below are based on the cabinet size we used (30 x 18 x 12). This size is fairly standard, so the cabinets you’d be most likely to find will be around the same dimensions. If they’re not, adjust your cuts accordingly! (FYI: 12 inches is a standard cabinet depth; 30, 36, and 42 inches are standard heights; and most cabinets come in widths in increments of 3 inches.) Now, let’s get started!

What You Need

2 salvaged kitchen cabinets (ours were 30 x 18 x 12)
1/2-inch piece MDF wood (for back board)
1/4-inch piece plywood (for space and filler pieces)
8 1/2-inch overlay European-style hinges
Semigloss paint and primer (we used Sherwin-Williams Sashay Sand)
Paint brush
Paint roller
Nail gun and nails
Wood glue
Table saw or circular saw with a guide
Drill with Forstner bit and screw bit

Carpenter square
Caning material
Contact spray adhesive
Scissors
6 furniture leg plates
6 wooden furniture legs (there are tons of color, material and shape options available, so you can fully customize your console)
Wood clamps
4 cabinet pulls (check out our list of favorites)

Cut List

1 shelf: 18 x 12 x 3/4
2 top and bottom: 81-1/2 x 13-1/4 x 3/4
1 back: 79-1/2 x 18 x 1/2
2 outside vertical ends: 18 x 13-1/4 x 3/4
2 inside vertical ends (attached to shelf): 18 x 12-3/4 x 3/4
4 filler pieces: 1/4 x 11-1/4 x 18 (so cabinet ends are flush with face frames)

How to DIY the Console

Remove cabinet doors and hardware.
Make all wood cuts—see cut list above for specific measurements.
Glue and nail filler pieces on each end of the cabinets.
Lay both cabinets face down and apply wood glue to the back side of each. Lay the 1/2-inch piece of MDF wood on top of the back of the cabinets, with both cabinets set at either end of the back board.
Nail the back to the back sides of the two cabinets.
Flip the cabinets over so they’re lying on the back board. Glue and nail each outside end piece of the back board to the outsides of the cabinets. Then, glue and nail the top and bottom pieces of the top and bottoms of the cabinets.
Measure and mark the halfway point on each of the inside end pieces. Line up the shelf piece at the halfway marks, glue, and clamp in place. (This will look like a letter “H.”) Nail the shelf in place.
Apply glue to the inside ends of the cabinets and slide the shelf piece in between the two cabinets. Nail the shelf in place.
Sand, prime, and paint the unit, doors, and legs. Allow to dry.
Screw 4 of the leg plates 1 1/4-inch in from each corner of the cabinet on the bottom side. Screw the remaining two centered and 1 1/4-inch in from the front and back edge of the bottom of the cabinet.
Use a Forstner bit to drill holes for the European hinges 1/8-inch from the edge of the cabinet doors and 2 inches from the top and bottom. Repeat this for each door.
Measure the size of the inset panel of the cabinet doors and cut the caning material to size using scissors. Spray contact adhesive to coat the back side of the caning material and lay it onto the recessed panel. Press the caning into place and use your finger to dab up any extra adhesive that might show in the caning holes.
Measure each door for centered placement of cabinet pulls. Drill holes and screw the pulls in.
Drill pilot holes into the console doors for hinges, then screw hinges in.
Drill pilot holes into the face frames on the cabinets. Center the doors vertically in the cabinet openings and screw the hinges into the face frames.