Cable Management

I opted for the Milsbo cabinet as my first greenhouse cabinet in around 2021 I believe. First steps first, rather than assembling your cabinet I would strongly recommend drilling a hole into the base using the core drill bit, and covering this hole with a desk grommet. There are 2 thin layers of metal for the base, trying to do this with the cabinet assembled and the glass in this situation is really difficult! You may decide you don’t want to drill a cable hole, which is fine, but it does limit the amount of cables you can feed into the cabinet whilst the doors are still closed flush. After the hole is drilled, assemble your cabinet!

Weatherproofing

Once the cabinet is assembled, the next step is to be weatherproof. I chose to use a plastic weatherproofing strip. I did initially try the foam type insulation strips, but they just deteriorated and were a nightmare to get back off again. The plastic weather strip has been going strong for over a year now. You may choose not to weather-strip, which is fine but I try to keep the humidity level in my cabinet and this has really helped a lot (especially as I don’t have a humidifier but more on that subject shortly!)

Shelving

Glass shelves are provided with the Milsbo cabinet when you buy from new. A lot of people, myself included have chosen to swap these out for wired shelves. I purchased mine from Homebase, and sprayed them black. Although I have been told that Homebase no longer stock them. So if you're looking for wired shelves I have been recommended these.  Before installing the shelves I spray painted them matt black.

Humidifier

If you choose to use a humidifier, think about the positioning. In the past when I have used a humidifier I have put it on the bottom shelf, with a fan slightly above it to keep good air flow and distribution. You don’t want the inside of your greenhouse to be damp and cause condensation, as excess liquid can pool at the bottom of the cabinet which is not ideal. I have tried numerous humidifiers in my cabinet, and none of them have a long shelf life. At the end of the day humidifiers aren’t designed to be used in such small spaces, my only solution to this has been replacing the humidifier with a cat drinking fountain. Hilarious but it works! It doesn’t generate a huge amount of humidity, but it’s keeping the humidity constant which is all I ask of it! It's worth having a humidity sensor at the top, and bottom of your cabinet so you can get 

Lights

Suggesting lights is difficult, there are so many variables so it is really dependent on what you are looking for. I have tried various lights, so I’ll give some feedback on what has worked for me. I found the T5 Sunblasters too strong, and they generated some heat so weren’t exactly what I was looking for. I tried the Nicrew Aquarium lights from Amazon, they’ve done a fab job in nearly every use I’ve put them to. I invested in some Arcadia Jungle Dawns too, but they are a bit too powerful for the distance in between my shelves. As a solution I currently have the Jungle Dawns, but I have angled them slightly backwards so the plants are receiving bright indirect light. Attaching the lights came with difficulties of its own, I chose to have one set at the top, and one then miss a shelf, and one underneath the next shelf. The top light I tried attaching with magnets, Velcro, all sorts of stuff. Every time it eventually gave way and crushed some of my plants. I have now fed small metal cables through the two (PRE DRILLED) holes on the lid, used these as a sling for the lamp, and used a carabiner on the outside to hold them together. Hard to describe but I will add in a picture for clarity. This way I can chose to angle the strip however works best for me.

The light on the third shelf I have just used simple metal hooks to attach it to the underside of the shelf.

Fans

You will probably have seen many of these Ikea greenhouse guides, and a lot of them will recommend a small computer type USB fan, or a small desktop fan. Due to the humidity in the cabinet, and the hours that these fans run, they’re not going to last long in most cases. I’ve bitten the bullet and have a grow fan at the bottom which I’ve hooked up in some weird looking contraption, but it does the job and keeps everything moving nicely.

Smart leads

I personally love a  smart extension lead so everything can be remotely controlled, lights set on timer, fans set on timer etc. I’ve got everything in my cabinet plugged into a smart leaf, the lights go on at 8am, turn off at 10pm, the fan and fountain stay on all night. I don’t ever have to think about it, the magic just happens. I can control it from my phone if I want to turn things off earlier, or change the routine.

I think that’s everything, now I don’t think about my cabinet once, but I just wanted to show you some of the things I have learnt after keeping the cabinet for a while!