Kotatsu for IKEA LACK
Summary
In this small craft, I turn a classic IKEA LACK table into a kotatsu. In this page there are files and instructions for building it.
Wooden top
The wooden part that is placed on top of the LACK table, was made by joining together two 30x60 cm pieces of wood. The material used was a 18mm thick long oak bord with a width of 30cm.
Wooden boards with these dimensions (30cm width and 18mm thick) were a standard size and easy to find here (Sweden). The 60x30 cm boards were cut on site and no other wood working tools were necessary. Later they were joined together with wood glue to form a 60x60 cm table top. Rope was used to clam the pieces together.
For finishing, the table was sanded down to 180 grit and, afterwards, several coats of linseed oil were applied.
Printed fixtures
A kotatsu top is supposed to fit on top of the table so that a blanket can be placed in between. For that reason plastic fixtures were designed in fusion 360 that are meant to help the wooden top fit nicely on top of the table and keep it in place on top of a blanket.
The plastic fixtures were 3d printed and screwed under the wooden top part.
Finished kotatsu
The finished result is a wooden board roughly larger than the top surface of an IKEA LACK table that fits snuggly on top of it with the plastic fixtures. Some space is required between the fixtures and the LACK table to allow for a blanket to fit.
The only thing that remains is placing a blanket between the table and the wooden top, and fitting the top snuggly above the blanket.
Downloads
The plastic fixture can be downloaded here and it can be printed on its side with no supports.
Heater
It is common to use an under table heater in combination with a kotatsu. Unfortunately, the ones available on ebay are rated for 100V (standard grid voltage in Japan) which makes them unusable in Europe. Some alternatives do exist on amazon but the pricing gets too high - north of 150 euros.
Note that insulating a heating element under a table can go wrong in many ways! I will not encourage nor dicourage anyone from installing a heater under their improvised kotatsu but please be wary of the fire hazard!