I've explained our big kitchen project, shown you the demolition, and shared our financing, and now it's time to get down to business. The bones of a kitchen are the cabinets and their layout, and we knew from the get-go that we wanted to use IKEA's cabinet system. Here are some things we learned along the way.
An early rendering of my kitchen from the IKEA software.
Why an IKEA Kitchen?
The decision to get an IKEA kitchen was very simple: Price. IKEA is like no other company when it comes to scale of economy in their home furnishings. I don't love every single thing that IKEA does, but when it comes to kitchen cabinets, I really didn't see any other way to get the size and style of kitchen we wanted.
IKEA cabinets are completely modular -- you can buy them in any configuration and adapt them to your style to a rather astonishing degree, especially if you, like us, wanted a more modern and sleek look.
I understand that some people are suspicious of IKEA cabinets, since they are made of particle board (similar to MDF - medium density fiberboard, but a reader pointed out that IKEA actually uses particle board not MDF in their cabinet bases). The low cost of the cabinets and their material are red flags to some folks who just really want the best for their kitchen.
But here's the thing. Most off-the-rack cabinet systems are also made of some grade of particle board. Any other cabinets we could afford (like the Kraftmaid cabinets or other lines sold at stores like Lowe's and Home Depot) were also particle board. You can go a step up and get cabinet-grade plywood, but there is some debate over whether that is actually superior to particle board or MDF. To go all the way to the top and buy solid wood cabinet boxes, well -- that just wasn't feasible for us. It would have cost tens of thousands of dollars, money we couldn't justify even if we had wanted to. Our entire cabinet system cost much less than $10,000. (See my full price breakdown at the end.)
For me, the most key part of a cabinet is the drawer. If anything is going to swell and warp, it's a drawer. But IKEA's drawers are solid metal, with really superb hardware, hinges, and drawer dampers. (We love the dampers -- I'll explain more about them in the next post.)
I read copiously on other homeowners' experiences with IKEA cabinets and talked to contractor friends. For the most part, they were uniformly enthusiastic. Yes, IKEA cabinets are cheap, but that doesn't mean they're shoddy or flimsy. Just like everything else, they have their limitations, but we felt that in the end the IKEA cabinets were by far the best deal. Here, then, are a few things we learned in the process.
Ah, the tedious joys of ordering an IKEA kitchen. Many bored/anxious-looking people (OK, usually guys) loitering about.
5 Things We Learned While Buying IKEA Kitchen Cabinets
- You don't need to buy IKEA's door and drawer fronts.
Besides price, this was the single biggest factor for us. IKEA's system is so flexible and modular, you can buy the cabinets without any doors or drawer fronts. I liked IKEA's flexibility and price, but I wasn't crazy about their various looks. I wanted real wood veneer, and also a custom color for some of the cabinets. (IKEA cabinets are hard to paint well.)So, I turned to someone I have been so looking forward to telling you about:
→ Semihandmade Doors
Based in Los Angeles, Semihandmade is a sister company to Handmade, which makes fine furniture and cabinetry. Semihandmade offers this craftsmanship at a lower price with doors and drawer fronts crafted to fit IKEA cabinets exactly. I worked with the Semihandmade owner John McDonald to plan out and order drawer fronts, doors, side panels, and filler pieces for my IKEA kitchen plan. I sent him the IKEA kitchen plan I made and he gave me a list and a quote of everything the kitchen needed.
It was super simple, and the results are absolutely stunning. I even got cut-outs instead of hardware handles on most of the drawers, just like I wanted.
Using Semihandmade was probably the single best decision we made through our entire kitchen renovation process. The cost was radically lower than custom cabinetry but it still gave me the modern luxe look I wanted.
While I simply cannot praise Semihandmade enough, there are other companies too that do custom doors and drawers for IKEA cabinets (Scherr's, most notably).
- You will develop Stockholm syndrome with the IKEA software.
IKEA has a wonderful, horrible, addictive, amazing little piece of software that helps you plan out your kitchen. It is an app you use right in your web browser, which can make it buggy. (Oh the tortures of Java; I would have actually paid real money for a desktop version of this app running on a more stable base.)The IKEA planning software starts out with you drawing your room with the correct proportions, then populating it with cabinets to your specifications. You can add in different wall colors, flooring, and outside views to add a little more (virtual) verisimilitude. You can adjust countertop, door fronts, and appliances too. All of this is quite fun, and there is a magic moment when you switch into the 3-D rendered view and see your kitchen just as it will appear in real life! Bliss.
But it's also a little crazy-making. Moving objects sometimes just breaks for no apparent reason. It's tricky to change the size of a room -- and sometimes the walls will suddenly move of their own accord. You have to save frequently; it doesn't save your work automatically. There were times I literally wanted to pull my hair out, after I had done a lot of work and then my browser crashed, taking all that work with it.
So you will love their software and hate it at the same time. It lets you visualize your kitchen, painstaking bit by bit. It's quite powerful, though, and it helps you budget by creating a shopping list with everything in the kitchen. So, plan on playing with their software for a long time, building your kitchen virtually and checking out proportions there before actually buying your cabinets. I built scads of slightly different layouts, bringing them to our architect and contractor for their thoughts and, as I showed you before, then actually drawing them in real life at the playground and on the subfloor of our new kitchen.
→ Play around! IKEA Kitchen Planner
- Wait for a kitchen sale.
This is pretty simple: We ordered our whole kitchen over the summer, during one of IKEA's big kitchen sales. Usually the way these work is that if you spend a certain amount you will get 10% off, and if you spend a little more, 20%. We also purchased our bathroom cabinetry during this sale (we used kitchen cabinets in our master bath) and a big pantry unit, as well as a kitchen island as a workbench for my husband in the basement. We loaded up! And it was all 20% off. Obviously this really makes a difference in the budget. - Prepare (and over-prepare) for a very long ordering experience at the store.
We thought we were super prepared and we breezed into the IKEA store, which is about 90 miles away from where we live, hoping to be out in a couple hours. Ha ha. No way. The ordering process for the cabinets is quite involved. You bring in your IKEA kitchen plan, and then log in to their computers and show it to a (probably harried) employee. The employee has to go through and order each piece on your list, bit by bit. This is the downside of such a modular system -- you are essentially ordering hundreds of little boxes at once. - Check everything as soon as it is delivered, even if it takes a few hours. IKEA will happily correct anything that is missing or wrong!
We live 90 miles away from IKEA, and we didn't want the cabinets delivered right away. So we paid for a delivery service. They brought everything right into our house, a process that took over an hour. All of the kitchen pieces were in boxes with strange pseudo-Swedish names.At the time I was so overwhelmed with our renovation that I couldn't deal with the stacks and stacks (our invoice was pages long). So I didn't really go through the boxes until we began assembly. Then we discovered that we were missing various small parts, like some shelves, and that a couple of cabinets were the wrong size. IKEA was a dream to work with on this, though -- I was actually a little shocked, given how DIY the shopping process is there. I called their post-purchase help desk, and they FedExed the missing pieces straight to our door. They did this even when I belatedly discovered a missing piece over four weeks later, during our final installation.
A look at that infernal yet addictive software environment.
Our lovely and diligent helper at IKEA with our piles of invoices and papers.
What Our IKEA Kitchen Cost
So, what did it all cost? As I was adding up these numbers, I almost couldn't believe how inexpensive our kitchen cabinets were. Even with cabinets made up mostly of drawers (which are much more expensive than simple cabinets with doors and shelves) I feel we got ourselves a deal on our quite large, rather luxurious kitchen.
IKEA Cabinets
• What: About 16 linear feet of AKURUM cabinets, lower only, all drawers. Plus, 10-foot-long, 36-inch-wide island with a mix of drawers and shallow cabinets. Also, drawer dividers and extra shelves. Plus tax. 20% discount applied. Delivery fee included.
→ Total: $2500Semihandmade Drawer Fronts & Doors
• What: About 16 linear feet of walnut veneer drawer and door fronts, with cut-outs for handles. Also, door and drawer fronts for the island, in Semihandmade's DIY product, which comes unpainted and unfinished. This price included shipping from Los Angeles to Ohio, which came out to about $500 of the price.
→ Total: $3500Door Painting
• What: We had the doors and drawer fronts on the island professionally painted in a spray booth for a really smooth, drip-free and chip-free finish. This is more expensive (because it uses a lot of paint) but produced an awesome result.
→ Total:$800Grand Total: $6800 not including some incidentals like lumber for the cabinet bases, and a few pieces of hardware for the pull-outs.
What Was Your Experience with IKEA Cabinets?
Next I'll show you part of the process of installing the IKEA cabinets. We spent a lot of money on our home renovation, but nevertheless it was still a budget operation, comparatively speaking, so we actually installed the kitchen cabinets ourselves with some coaching from our contractor. I'll explain the fun and games of that project tomorrow!
But first I'd love to hear all about your own experience with IKEA kitchens. Did you buy and install an IKEA kitchen? What was the shopping experience like for you? Do you have any additional tips and good advice for people wrangling their own IKEA kitchen saga?
(Images: Faith Durand)
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This has been a fascinating look so far into a full on kitchen reno/addition.
Love IKEA and have seen their cabinets in use, and they are great. Good friends bought several of their cabinets, both upper and lower units in a white front that while not exactly the same would work with the vintage 1940's cabinets already in the kitchen to add some additional storage in the kitchen dining area of their old house, and they were fantastic once up.
I've also played with them in the store and they do seem to hold up quite well, all things considered.
We had similar experience, but unlike you, there wasn't an Ikea in Ohio yet! We had to go to PA and rent a uhaul! Renting the Uhaul was more stressful than ordering the cabinets! I also recommend if anyone gets Ikea cabs and drawers to get the slow close! Was a luxury!
I built a home that was completed in 2010.
People always assume pre-fab cabinets are more expensive than custom made. That's not always so. I paid less than Faith did for her cabinets, and the doors are solid birch.
Now, of course, there's a good deal of variation here. But in my part of the country I actually saved money on custom cabinets.
I'm just finishing a major kitchen gut reno using Ikea cabinets. One thing to keep in mind, at least ere in Canada, is that the "kitchen event" sales don't give you a discount - they give you Ikea gift cards. If you're not planning to buy a ton of other Ikea products, you may want to split your purchase so you use the gift cards from purchase #1 to pay for purchase #2. You can do them both on the same day, but they won't let you combine two purchases into a single delivery.
Also, the way it works up here is that the percentage you get back increases with the number of appliances you buy. I bought an unneeded basic exhaust fan for $70 and it got me an extra 5% off on a $7500 purchase, walking away with $305 in my pocket. Then I sold the fan on kijiji. :)
We used Ankarum cabinets in an apartment re-do (we're landlords). I blogged it here: http://thriftathome.blogspot.com/2010/04/finished-apartment-2.html
It's not a big kitchen, but we were missing some parts, too, when we got our kitchen. Ikea was easy to work with and I'm so glad: I had read some service reviews that made me nervous! But we had a tiny budget and a specific design in mind, so we decided to try it. Three years later, the kitchen is doing great (we have great tenants, so that helps).
We are just finishing up an ikea kitchen install now and are quite happy with the results so far. Even though we live only 15 minutes away from a store, we elected to process our entire order online, it couldn't have been easier! We printed off the order list and then I read the numbers out to my wife while she input into the website. All in all it took us a total of 20 minutes from the comfort of our couch.it would take that long just to get the attention of an associate at the store, and the same again in line to pay, and one more to arrange delivery! Delivery was also painless as the two delivery men were in and out with our 130 piece order in 20 minutes. We were also the second delivery of the day, so everything was wrapped up within the first hour of our delivery window.
IKEA Kitchen Event starting soon, perfect timing.
I had an Ikea kitchen for over 10 years. Just replaced it. I never realised how deep the wall cabinets were. My new ones make the kitchen work top area seem so much more spacious. The ikea stuff was a good price but I only see now how basic it was. The new one is MDF but the details and finishing are so much nicer. My ikea kitchen was £700 ($1000) ten years ago. It did do the job but I remember the ordering process being a major hassle. Faith, I think your knowledge and research are the keys to making the Ikea kitchen work in your house. Can't wait to see the finished product.
For my sister's apartment we bought an ikea-kitchen. It was the price, too. But, because we have no plan about crafting, we gave it to somebody who did other small renovations in the apartment. He did his job great. But so price became a lit higher - but was still okay.
But by now (the kitchen is in there for about one and a half year), we see the disadvantages. The door of the integrated bin is angular and you can't open it on the same time like the dishwasher. And there are some more aesthetical mistakes...
Over all, we will buy a personalized one if we ever have to put a new kitchen in anywhere... It may be a bit more expensive, but the difference is it worth.
This post made me set up walls and doorways for our future third IKEA kitchen renovation. I forgot how much I loved/hated that software!
I can say that after living with self-installed IKEA kitchens twice, I would never consider another cabinetry system. The drawers are perfectly wonderful. Even the MDF parts held up extremely well to constant use.
My one complaint is the aesthetics of the doors - I prefer real wood and there are limited choices through IKEA. I'm excited to price options with semihandmade this time around.
My husband and I live in a 2 family home. We had planned on using Ikea for the kitchen cabinets in our rental unit as well as our own unit. We only made it far as the rental because it was such a disaster. 56 parts were missing from our order. We wish we had known how important it would be to check the entire order upon delivery. When I called, customer service was very nice, but when we showed up to the store (over an hour's drive away) to pick up the missing parts, they accused our contractor of stealing the missing parts. We left the store empty-handed and it took several phone calls to get the whole thing straightened out. For our own kitchen, we found a carpenter who built our solid wood cabinets, painted them inside and out, and installed them without any headache. We paid about $2000 more than Ikea but it was money well spent and our cabinets will last forever.
Our order was too large for IKEA's system, so it had to be broken down to 2 orders, which were then delivered together. It took nearly 5 hours to get it all into the system. When the delivery came, they smashed the fridge into the stair railing up to our unit and dented the door. Fortunately we were able to bring the door back to the store for a replacement.s But in the end (as Faith knows . . . ) we were very happy with the outcome:
http://www.thekitchn.com/template-kitchen-tour-franls-114250
We now renovated two kitchens using the IKEA system. In each case we ordered online, and the delivery was remarkably swift, accurate and in perfect condition. I'm an architect and old enough to not quite fathom why anyone would use anything other than IKEA's system: it works, it's affordable and it looks great. I'm tall and the various leg and base options have allowed me to tailor the kitchen counter height so that chopping, slicing and dicing are done without back pain. Having used a variety of other cabinetry manufacturers, as well as custom woodworking studios, I'll use IKEA in the future. There's something to be said for maintaining both one's sanity and one's financial well-being.
Yes to everything in this post except that Ikea cabinets aren´t really that hard to paint in my experience. In fact, I just did it and blogged about our kitchen reno here:
http://takingnotes.squarespace.com/home/2013/2/20/the-kitchen-makeover.html
Can´t wait to see the finished kitchen!
This post couldn't of come at a better time! We have an Ikea kitchen in our vacation home and we love it and now my husband and I flip homes and use Ikea kitchens every time with great success. But we were curious about having custom doors built and now we can use Semihomemade. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
I re-did my kitchen a little over a year ago. I wanted a sleek look with lacquer doors, and there is nothing else even remotely in this price range that I could find. (I pretty much did the white Abstrakt that they have (or used to have) as one of their in-store examples).) I went to a local Poggenpohl showroom and, frankly, did not think the quality of their cabinets was measurably greater (if at all) than Ikea's, especially for that price point.
Anyway, the in-store process took about 2 hours, and the sales person was extremely knowledgeable, knew every dimension off the top of her head, and had some great suggestions.
Delivery went fine and there was nothing missing (though I didn't check -- it filled up half of my garage!). I used one of their installation contractors. They recommend them (rightly so, I think), because they already know the systems and can put everything together fairly quickly. Speaking of which, I also used their measuring service, which paid for itself a couple times over since I ordered my kitchen through them.
Overall, I have absolutely no complaints about anything -- the entire process went extremely smoothly from the ordering, to the delivery, and construction. The kitchen looks amazing and I couldn't be happier with it.
We just got done installing an IKEA kitchen, and do I wish this entry was up well before we embarked on our own reno-drama-rama. I think our biggest issue was that the contractor sort of went off label, and as a result, the kitchen isn't up to snuff. We also weren't crazy about IKEA's trims for the bottoms and sides of their cabinets, and so opted to not install, thinking that maybe later on, we can find someone who is skilled in finish carpentry to do something with them.
Pictures of our project so far (still not done, but fairly functional at this point):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k2yhe/sets/72157632790372401/
I am 100% serious when I say I'm literally getting ready to leave the house to go buy our IKEA kitchen. If you're reading this in about 4 hours, we've probably already ordered it.
THANK YOU for this post, and can't wait to see the rest of the series! We currently have a very basic, older Ikea kitchen (installed by the previous owners) that we are looking to update, and after getting estimates for custom and semi-custom cabinets in my area, I am thinking we will probably do Ikea again. It's such a huge help to hear all your details with the process.
I absolutely LOVE our IKEA kitchen we did ourselves, with the help of our family and friends, almost a year ago exactly! The process of picking out the cabinets we wanted, designing them in their program online, and having amazing employees at IKEA to work with was a blessing. Without a doubt I will be going through IKEA again when we move someday.
We had many reasons to go with IKEA--biggest one being affordability, they had what we liked, and their Warranty is exceptional. If anything goes defective in 20 years, we can go back to them; though I highly doubt this will even happen. We do have hopes of possibly renting out our space in years to come, so we figured having a warranty like theirs will be comforting if something does go wrong.
Clearly our IKEA kitchen turned out with a success since we did win The Kitchn's "Small Cool Kitchen 2012" !!! :) Still thankful everyday for that!
http://www.thekitchn.com/bryces-kitchen-of-memories-small-cool-kitchens-2012-174208
My husband has been suggesting a new kitchen, and using a company like Semihandmade is the only way I will do it. Thank you for the link!
I loved IKEA kitchen. We replaced our vacation home kitchen with IKEA cabinets almost five years ago. We were not sure about the measurement between the stove and the wall so we ended up ordering two different-size drawer units. The larger one fit better and IKEA gladly accepted the other unit back (all ready put together). I'm still happy with kitchen so far. I've told my husband when it's time to renovate our main resident's kitchen, I would go with IKEA again. Thanks for the infor on Semihomemade Doors. I bookmarked it for future usage.
If you have the option of using the certified IKEA kitchen installers, do it! We put an IKEA kitchen in our new house, and one in our basement suite, and we used the IKEA designers and installers. When they arrived to install everything, there were EIGHT guys on the crew. It was like watching time-lapse photography. They will customize the cabinets, cut them down to different sizes or depths for you, build custom bulkheads and filler pieces - amazing experience.
I've used IKEA in the past and liked the system just fine; however, if you aren't handy enough to be confident hacking a few cabinets here and there, the IKEA system may not maximize your space. This kitchen renovation, I used Barker Cabinets out of Oregon. All American plywood, made in the US. Ready to assemble. Completely customizable. Solid wood doors from paint ready to cherry to two white painted options. Fabulous blum hardware. Love Chad Barker, too. So responsive he'll make you feel like you're his only customer.
We paid $3300 for our kitchen cabinets (but we also have the spendy servo drive trash can) in paint ready maple. They are rock solid and gorgeous. And my husband, who will be the first to tell you that he isn't the handy one in this marriage, had all our cabinet boxes together in about 2.5 hours. The first one is the hardest, of course.
If you are ready to remodel and IKEA isn't nearby you, definitely investigate Barker Cabinets. You will be glad you did.
Love this post - we are looking for houses now so we will definitely keep this in mind! Thanks so much for the advice! Are you posting an post photos - would love to see them!!
I have been down both the Ikea and custom cabinet routes. Some custom cabinets may not have been available through Ikea (I'm thinking of open, floor to ceiling cabinets), but Ikea wins hands down in terms of value for money.
My parents and my BIL both installed IKEA kitchens and we've gone back and forth on it for a long long time now. For the price it's very hard to find a good comparable even with a sale at other major home renovation companies/stores.
Great tips. Love IKEA kitchens and baths. I've used them many times when flipping homes and in my own. Plus, they're really good looking. Love the glass fronts available. Love the cabinets and even used the butcher block on some flips. But, not a fan of the kitchen appliances. Here's my latest before/after using IKEA kitchen cabinets. Scroll down the page to see the photos.
http://chezsabine.com/about-2/
Serious savings, but oh my lord you'd better have some time on your hands for the many trips back to Ikea for missing items not shipped or that the dazed and confused Ikea Kitchen helper forgot to add to your order (installer: oh you need feet for these, oh you didn't get side paneling for this part of the fridge, oh you're going to need a different size now).... On the sixth trip my husband broke down and finally ate the meatballs (it's a 45 minute drive to the Ikea near Seattle).
That said, we got a slamin deal where if we spent $3,000 on ikea kitchen items (cabinets, sinks, etc.) we would get free installation and 50% off their partner company's counter tops. Yes, we got 50% off Caesarstone which is unheard of, serious savings.
We re-did our kitchen two years ago with Ikea and love the whole thing, especially the fact that they have spacious drawers. I would use Ikea again if I ever had to do another kitchen.
We just moved into a house less than a year ago and are working on building up the cash for a kitchen reno. So I've taken to playing around with the IKEA Kitchen Planner tool quiiiiiite a lot. I have to have at least 20 different versions (some with only slight variations) of my would-be kitchen. I haven't had any huge issues with the planner; the only thing is loaded the menus to save/undo/etc but that just requires patience. Then again, I am playing around with the planner on the gaming computer my SO built for me, so maybe you just need a powerful computer.
Also, this website is not only full of cool tricks for kitchen layouts, it's IKEA specific, so it gives you "inside tips" (like how much space you need between walls/cabinets/appliances) that are not discretely spelled out for the kitchen planner: http://www.ikeakitchendesignonline.com
I put in an IKEA kitchen 2.5 years ago, and it's still the best change I made to this house. The website ikeafans.com was very helpful. You can search for posts on hacks you'd like to try. I posted my plans and got great feedback and comments that helped me tweak my final design to be a bit more functional. When I ran into a problem, I could post there and get help. I also learned some tricks for ordering and pickup, including having several printouts organized different ways so that you can check off each needed item as you load it. That way, if you are missing something, you can find out right then. That's the drawback of delivery - they are dropping stuff off and you are rushed to try to check it off. When you pick up yourself, you can take all the time you need to load items and check them off. With three people total, we did my total kitchen from demo to final bits in 10.5 working days (there was a break in the middle while countertops were templated and installed.
OK, went and bought my kitchen! Posted the experience here:
http://bit.ly/13AFjd3
I've re-done three small kitchens with IKEA cabinets. I'm very happy with the quality/price ration. For the first (and largest) I assembled the cabinets myself and had them installed by a contractor. In the other two, the contractor did everything including get rid of the many boxes. For two of the kitchens I brought home all the stuff myself in a truck. For the third one I had delivery. Only one item was missing but they called to tell me it couldn't be delivered with the other material and made arrangements to have it brought later. Luckily it was just the large panels to block in the fridge, so we were able to cope and add that later. All the contractors I used were amazed at what I had paid for the cabinets.
I agree with nearly everything in Faith's post.
Even though the software can drive you nuts when you hit a bug, I was so grateful for it, because I was able to envision some major changes to the kitchen with the 3-D feature that I couldn't see when I was in the space itself. I am so happy with the result!
The in-store ordering experience was definitely longer than we expected. We'd been to the store three times before ordering (and our nearest one is a couple hundred miles away, but fortunately near family we wanted to visit). If you feel that you are working with someone who's a little shaky on what they are doing, I'd suggest that you ask for someone to double-check their work. We were aware that the person we worked with was very competent because we eavesdropped as she worked with others.
I love that the cabinetry comes in so many sizes; we were able to maximize our odd-sized spaces. We have mostly drawers and also the wonderful pull-out swivel for a corner cabinet that swallows nearly every appliance and all their accessories. The quality is fantastic for the price. I mean, fantastic. I've lived with the kitchen for about 18 months now, and I am so, so, so pleased with the quality of the cabinetry and had absolutely no reason to regret the purchase. As a result of using IKEA cabinetry, I was able to afford both my must-have induction-top range and to splurge on my lovely Big Chill fridge. Mix-and-match door/drawer fronts meant we got to put in some pretty turquoise glass doors that make me happy every day. (We also bought IKEA farmhouse sinks, and they were a fraction of the price of Kohler farmhouse sinks.)
Our contractor put in the cabinetry, and instead of using the plinths we purchased through IKEA, made his own (just wood plinths) and we are very happy with how sturdy they are, and the price was just about exactly the same.
For the first time in my life, I have exactly the kitchen I want--functional, beautiful, sturdy, and under $10,000, even with demolition of a wall and a half, movement of a water heater, re-ducting for the exhaust fan, considerable electric work, and new appliances (except the dishwasher). Yay, IKEA!
Consumer Reports gave IKEA cabinets a top rating. There's NOTHING wrong with their quality.
Ikea simply rocks. I re-did my kitchen (with the help of a contractor for the installation) using all Ikea products, except for door handles and knobs (which allow for personalization and aren't expensive anyway), and after 2 years, my (all-white!) kitchen still looks fantastic. The extra-deep drawer option is a favorite, and so is the no-slam hardware, which can be absurdly expensive at the custom level--and that's if it's available at all.
I enjoyed this post, but I disagree on two points:
1.) I can't see the logic behind spending nearly double on door fronts--between the doors themselves and the custom painting. Not to mention the additional planning with yet another vendor.
2.) There was no hassle whatsoever in obtaining the items. The kitchen planner kicked out a list of all the products, which I faxed (along with my payment info) to Ikea. They collected my whole order and had it waiting for me. I think the key is paying for it ahead of time; you're in and out in 15 minutes.
I'll add my 2 cents for anyone it may help: My IKEA experience was fabulous.
The employees were never harried and were knowledgeable and creative beyond my wildest expectations. They really know their product line and are able to make invaluable suggestions.
My cabinets are a year old, and so far so good. We are planning on buying more for our office soon.
Excellent post! I'm planning an ikea kitchen right now too.
I needed a modern kitchen that fit in with our unique house, something that looked like it was original but refreshed. The software KD was not compatible with a mac when we designed it and our kitchen is a trapezium so we carefully drew the plan out on graph paper and took it to the rep at the kitchen department at Ikea who was a dream to work with.
Tip: take a day off work and go mid-week, weekends are reserved for the determined and demented.
We renovated the laundry room with Ikea cabinets first and we set up a temporary kitchen with microwave, coffee maker and toaster in there while we went through the kitchen renovation.
Two and a bit years later the kitchen looks as good as it did when it was finished and I'm sneakily envious of your process-I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Link to the kitchen: http://www.modernemama.com/search/label/kitchen%20renovation
While we do not have Ikea cabinets, we used a local cabinet maker who made just doors for us. The existing cabinets were a decent and solid wood, but had yucky yellowed laminate doors.
For a ridiculously low price (I was beyond shocked), he took all of our measurements, produced the doors out of particle board, and even drilled the holes for the hinges. He could keep the cost so low because we picked a cheaper material and he basically plugged in the measurements into his software which then was sent to equipment that auto-cut each door.
My husband has tons of experience in painting so we handled that ourselves. It was a lengthy of a process, probably took the course of a month, we primed, sanded, and painted each door on weekends it didn't rain or nights after work. We absolutely love our kitchen AND the price tag that took to get the cabinets the way we wanted them.
Such great ideas and advice here. And if you want more IKEA kitchen photos, I've added them at http://chezsabine.com/2013/03/16/for-the-love-of-ikea-6-kitchens-you-should-see/#more-4371
Thanks!
The secret to a stress-free and optimal result with IKEA cabinets is to work with a professional IKEA kitchen designer. The cost of a design service should be a small portion of your budget. The difference between what a professional IKEA kitchen designer can do for you, and what you can do, or IKEA co-workers can do, using the limited tools of the IKEA planner tool, is huge. More on this: http://www.modernfamilykitchens.com
You might save a bit doing the design yourself, but expert design pays for itself many times over with enjoyment of a more optimal kitchen layout, and increase in home value.
Faith, can you share which walnut veneer you used?
When you planned and already bought your IKEA kitchen it's good to assemble it and install without pain and stress. You can count on kitchen installation professionals like this one: www.kitcheninstallation.ca
Regards,
your IKEA installers.