Installing our cabinets!
Ready for the next step in my kitchen renovation? Here's where things get a little wild and fast, and where my photo library gets a little, um, thinner than I would like. I understand now why people have a hard time documenting renovations, especially near the end — you're so exhausted and ready to be done the camera is the last thing on your mind.
Having said that, I do want to walk through how we installed our IKEA cabinets. Here's a peek at the process of assembling and installing the kitchen, which we actually did ourselves with some coaching from our contractor. (Tip: If you want to read from the beginning, click here, or scroll to the bottom of this post and click back through the series widget at the bottom.)
The kitchen space with exciting things like drywall and brand new hardwood floors. Yes, the poly was still wet and (shockingly) shiny. It dried nice and matte.
And here is the pile of IKEA boxes that filled the entire room adjacent to the kitchen. Somehow these were going to turn into my kitchen?
Crunch Time!
It's hard for me to delve into this period of our renovation, because this was crunch time for us. Remember we weren't just renovating our kitchen but doing a gut renovation on an entire home. Our goal was to be finished enough that my husband's brother and sister-in-law and their two small children could come and stay with us the week after Thanksgiving for a family get-together. A goal which, in hindsight, seems insane, but did push us over the finish line.
At this point in our life, just two weeks before Thanksgiving of last year, my husband and I were sleeping perhaps 3 hours a night, juggling work, contractor meetings, the labor of priming the whole house, assembling and installing the kitchen, and packing up our old house. (Apologies if you emailed me during this time and never heard back — my inbox still really hasn't recovered yet from my renovation!)
The instructions booklet!
Assembling IKEA Cabinets
The process of putting together IKEA cabinets is very straightforward, but also time-consuming. We had about 16 large cabinets to assemble, and we worked until the wee hours of the morning several evenings in a row.
The way we did it is put down plastic to protect our new floors, then lay out several cabinets in a row, putting them together assembly-line style. We'd lay out the pieces, knock in the dowels and screw in the cam screws, then fit it all together. Doing it like this was satisfying and efficient.
To Glue or Not To Glue?
My husband and I had a mild disagreement over gluing the cabinets. Our carpenter contractor reflexively recommended gluing the cabinet joints as we assembled. So did my cautious father-in-law. But as I read through the IKEA Fans web community, many people said that gluing really didn't increase the sturdiness of the cabinets at all. After all the cabinets would be bolted to the floor and, in places, the wall. Would wood glue really make a difference?
We ended up gluing most of the cabinets that went into our island to be on the safe side, but time and exhaustion got the better of us and we gave it up once we started in on the wall cabinets. (Curious about your experience — if you assembled IKEA cabinets, did you glue them too?)
Surveying the cabinets, partially finished. Getting so close!
Installing the Cabinets
Our budget with our contractor didn't really extend to him and his team actually installing our kitchen cabinets, a fact that rather overwhelmed me at this late juncture. He was racing to finish up our master bathroom in time, but he did coach us through the installation which was totally awesome of him. There's no way we could have done it all on our own! (He and his crew did do our trim and small finishing carpentry on the cabinets — a great combination of DIY and professional help that really worked well for us.)
The platform we built for the cabinets to rest on.
The first decision to make when installing the cabinets was how to mount them on the floor. We had bought a lot of legs for the cabinets but after some discussion with our contractor we decided to return the legs and not use them. Instead we built a platform out of 2x4 lumber.
We had several reasons: First of all, it was easier than attaching the legs and making sure they were on correctly. Secondly, it was WAY easier to level the cabinets on one even platform. And third (and so exciting for me!) this way we could lower the countertop heights by a whole inch to accommodate this short cook. (I seriously did a happy dance over this — I love having cabinets that are better suited to my height!) It was also quite easy to attach our toe-kick to this platform.
Tom, our contractor, taking a break from tiling our bathroom to coach my husband through attaching cabinets.
Once we made that decision we placed the cabinets on the base and worked to attach the built cabinets to one another with these little bolts called sex bolts (yes, I know), because one part fits inside the other and as you ratchet the bolt it pulls the cabinets really flush. (Sex bolts became the subject of many, many late-night weary jokes, believe you me.)
Making sure the cabinets were level.
Then the cabinets were painstakingly leveled and bolted into the platform (which was itself attached to the floor). Describing all this makes it sound fairly straightforward and simple and in some ways it was. We didn't have the extra hassle and care of hanging upper cabinets, which made everything easier.
But if you're not a carpenter or building professional, this kind of thing takes a long time. My husband is a total champ — he learned a ton through this process (and acquired a better drill and a circular saw!). But it took him hours of painstaking, cautious checking, planning, and double-checking as he built the platform, attached the cabinets, made sure they were level and plumb, and bolted everything into the wall and floor.
This was after we started building the drawers and stacking them up in the cabinets. Love that IKEA/Blum hardware. Those drawers and slides are really solid.
One of Those Little Renovation Shockers...
To give you a sense of how much faster professionals can do this stuff, let me tell you the one little shocking story from our kitchen installation. The afternoon after my husband had heroically installed all the cabinets, I came to the house and found our contractor, his second-in-command, and the plumber standing around with stricken looks. We hadn't double-checked the dishwasher before building our cabinet platform and so the dishwasher was half an inch too tall to fit where it should go.
My contractor made a fast executive decision. They would lift the entire island (which is 10 feet by 3 feet, let me point out). I didn't stick around to watch, but they unscrewed all the bolts, shimmed it up with thin pieces of plywood, and bolted it back down. This took them all of 15 minutes.
I waited until my husband had a glass of wine in his hand that evening before passing on that story! We were glad to have professionals who knew what they were doing — it's just humbling to know how much faster they can get stuff done, and to remember there are times it's best to just let the pros get it done.
Happy level bubble!
And yet it really shows how accessible this installation was. If you have someone who knows what they are doing to coach you (like our contractor did for us), adequate tools, and some time and patience, it's very doable to build and install cabinets yourself. My husband is a researcher and professor and I'm hardly handy at all; we're really not the DIY types. And yet we're really proud of the time and handiwork that went into building the kitchen ourselves.
At the outset it sounded like the scariest thing ever, but it's actually less pressure, in the end, than building your own IKEA furniture — which we've all done, right? Think about it — your IKEA chairs and bookshelves get a lot more wear and tear and shoving around than your kitchen cabinets, which have the advantage of being bolted to the wall and covered with a solid countertop. Yes, you need to make sure everything is as level and plumb as possible, but with the right tools and enough time this something that nearly anyone can do.
Just don't underestimate the time. We spent at least two weeks of evenings and early mornings before work assembling cabinets and installing them and then adding drawer slides, dampers, and drawers. I spent at least 8 hours one night doing nothing but taking drawer pieces out of boxes, and putting them together.
Our unfinished pantry and laundry room with some assembled drawers waiting for installation, plus our drawer and door fronts from Semihandmade. They came protectively swaddled in paper, plastic, and Styrofoam wrappings.
What's Next?
So, those are the bones of the kitchen, but what about the pretty parts? The fronts and doors? Those come next, along with the appliances and countertops. Oh, the countertops — what a saga that was. Stay tuned!
Key Resources
- Cabinet Bases: IKEA
- Cabinet Doors & Drawer Fronts: John McDonald of Semihandmade - Los Angeles, California
- Our Contractor: Tom Eastwood of Cornerstone Construction - Columbus, Ohio
- Our Architect: Tim Lai and Eliza Ho of Tim Lai Architect - Columbus, Ohio
(Images: Faith Durand)
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I'm really loving this series, Faith! Thanks for spelling it all out. This is a great resource, especially for those of us who are dragging our feet on a kitchen remodel on a limited budget. It's reassuring to see how much you and your husband were able to do yourselves. It gives me hope for our remodel (hopefully in the next two years!)
Thanks so much! I am doing a bathroom/laundry room remodel and have been struggling with some height issues between the washer and dryer and Ikea cabinet heights. Your solution of a custom base for a custom height just solved my problem of an inch difference! I have really enjoyed your posts about your remodel. Thanks again.
I am SO excited that I found these posts you are writing about installing an Ikea kitchen. I have designed our kitchen and am trying to pull together a budget so we can project when to start our project. I've been contemplating using Ikea cabs to save a little money, since my husband and I both cook and want a lot of bells and whistles out of this kitchen renovation, so I'm thrilled to read along about your experiences and using Semihandmade for the doors. THANK YOU for writing this series - I am feeling so much more confident about going this route now! Can't wait to see your kitchen progress!
Wow--the space looks so beautiful!!! I am really enjoying reading your experience with putting in an Ikea kitchen--I've always thought that was the best way to go, and you are really tipping the pendulum in its favor ;-) I cannot wait to see what the doors look like!! Semihandmade does some awesome work.
such good information, thanks Faith.
I'm laying out a new design for our 75 yr old church kitchen, which is used as a cafe currently.
We did NOT glue any of our Ikea cabs and they are still perfect 6 years later!
This is such an interesting series on building a new kitchen using IKEA cabinets. I like the idea of keeping costs down, and letting semihandmade create doors and such.
I can see this being done to mimic elements of Henry Built cabinets for instance as far as simple appearances are concerned in a kitchen remodel for a reasonable budget.
Can't wait to see/read the next installment, and your documentation on this segment was very good despite the reduced photo taking, and I can totally understand why though, still, I got a good idea of what went into the assembly nonetheless.
Faith, this is awesome.
I put together my ikea kitchen last winter with the help of a carpenter whom i had budgeted in for 2 days maximum. The overwhelming feeling of despair i got from looking at ALL the boxes in the living room, was real. Urghhhhhhhh!! I assembled everything and got help with the actual hanging. I did not glue any of the cabinets.
And then, at last, when the finished product came together, i was more amazed than i was overwhelmed the previous week. I spent the most time putting on handles (and messing up) and installing the finishing touches of trim than i ever thought possible but it is beautiful and functional. Don;t give up, it will be AMAZING!
Lisa, you can do it. I had not assembled cabinets before and even though i did get help with the hanging part, (cabinets are actually heavy!) i did a lot more of the finishing than i thought i would and it is BEAUTIFUL. you will really love your kitchen. Depending on the size, give yourself one to two weeks.
I'm really enjoying these posts. I had considered Ikea for my own kitchen renovation after I relocated back to my 1947 house, but didn't want to replace all the cabinets since they were solid wood and half of them were in good shape.
The cabinets under the kitchen sink had rotted out during my absence, so I hired a local cabinetmaker to match to the remaining good ones. He did a superb job and the cost was competitive with big-box stores. I also found hardware online, to match the original drawer pulls.
Although Ikea can offer some great deals, I would advise anyone thinking about a small renovation to consider using a local woodworker. Often you'll get great craftsmanship and exactly what you want, with potentially higher quality materials. And he worked with me on a price I could manage.
It would be really cool if we could sign up for notifications whenever a new part in this series is published!
This has been an education and is helping me to finally make moves towards our own kitchen remodel. Thank you so much for your well-written, detailed and human-like explanations along the way.
We didn't glue our cabinets, and they are holding up just fine.
Also, I can't imagine anything being easier than using the Ikea legs. You do have to check that they stay in the appropriate holes as you move cabinets in place, but they are what makes leveling the cabinets easy. (Of course, you still have to use a level and figure out which leg to adjust, but the actual adjustment is straightforward.)
I'm with emilie_b on both points. My partner and I built and installed our Ikea kitchen ourselves (just the two of us) in 2 days, no glue. I think you may have made it harder on yourselves using that platform base, using the Ikea legs was super easy and fast. Ours had tiny holes in the center of the leg bracket, and a tiny screw to hold it in the right spot while placing the cabinet.
The only issue I have run into is that one of our base cabinets holds a trash can (insert by Rubbermaid, I believe), so the door is held on at the bottom of the trash slider. The knob is still at the top of the door though, so it has warped a bit with 3.5 years of use.
Just finished putting together an IKEA bookcase, desk with drawer, and a storage cabinet. THREE DAYS. I could do it in my sleep now and at this moment I am hearing "Fanfare for the Common Man" in my ears.
My experience has been that "assembling Ikea furniture" should be included along with "irreconcilable differences" or "abandonment" as grounds for divorce.
I am in awe of your forbearance. Well done!
Even though only half finished, your kitchen is gorgeous already!
I am totally in awe. Congrats to you and DH at your accomplishment.
Glue is really not necessary, and probably can't hurt. But keep in mind that it may invalidate your warranty since you deviated from the installation instructions. The platform might be necessary for an island (since you do need to attach the cabs to the floor), but in general the legs are really easy to use and ideal for existing homes which may not have level floors. In my house, the floors sloped quite significantly from front to back and side to side, so it would have been a nightmare to try to build a platform. Overall, the IKEA installation system is straightforward and relatively easy - the hanging rail is simply genius! I do like the idea of getting a carpenter to do trim work.
Looking good!! I'm so excited for you, can't wait to see the rest!
Ikea cabinets are beyond easy to put together. I mean, it's the absolute most basic form they make. No one should be afraid. : )
We didn't glue ours because it never occurred to me. You have to screw through one into the next, and the countertop is adhered to the top, so how would they come apart? Also, one side of that joint is laminate and the other the end of a sheet of particle board. There are few glues that are going to stick to that laminate with any real strength. Don't bother.
We made one bonehead error in our kitchen, similar to the author's not realising the height of the appliances: I had our dishwasher butted up to the wall (there's no clearance in our plan), only to find the door wouldn't open past the doorway trim! GAH! So we had to buy a new sink cabinet (30" down from the 36" we had already drilled through for the plumbing), move the DW over 6 inches, and cut down a cabinet saved from our demo to create a 6-inch wide "thing" to fill the gap between the DW and the wall. Kind of a happy accident, in the end because the weird skinny cabinet is perfect for cutting boards and grocery bags (or cookie sheets). (god help us if we ever buy a new stove and it's more than a quarter inch wider than our current one)
We're really being held in suspense waiting to see how the kitchen turned out!
Seriously, where IS the next installment? We're in the middle of the IKEA kitchen sale, and I'd REALLY like to see the series finish. It's been a big help so far in helping me decide how to attack the kitchen reno in my new home; wish I could see how the rest turned out.
I also love the series and am finding it very helpful. It would be great to hear a few more details about the IKEA box choices. Love semi handmade fronts! But what was the finish you chose for the IKEA boxes? Also, any thoughts about must haves for kitchen storage options? Can you suggest the basics? Like your other fans I too am dying to see the finished product! Get that camera out!!