Ah IKEA. We spent a few hours there on two separate trips recently, and we were reminded of how much we love and hate the place. It's maddening yet delicious; inexpensive yet deceptively pricey. Some of their kitchen goods are not worth even the $2 they cost, but there are others that we have found to be good buys. We'll look at a few favorites this month - feel free to chip in with your own!
Here's the first installment: the RATIONELL wooden cutlery drawer.
We like this tray a lot; it's made out of solid beech and gives a substantial, clean look to our flimsy old kitchen drawer. It's smooth and well-made and we love how long it is. There's plenty of room for our small set of silver as well as everyday cutlery.
This is designed to go inside their RATIONELL system of kitchen cabinet drawers, but it fits just inside our regular drawer. It's pretty heavy and so doesn't slide around like our old plastic tray.
We saw a similar tray at Target for the same price, but this one is better made, heavier, and an all-round better buy. Two thumbs up!
• RATIONELL Cutlery Tray, $19.99-$29.99 at IKEA-USA. Available online.
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I have red measuring cups and spoons from IKEA. LOVE them...and they are red, which matches my kitchen and makes me smile.
Recycle, Reuse!
We bought flatware from Gourmet Settings, which came in nice cloth-covered boxes (in a nice chocolate brown color). Happy Accident: they fit perfectly (horizontal) in the 15" Ikea drawers, leaving a small gap below. They slide easily back and forth (resting on the angle of the mental drawer sides) and make for a shallow subterranean level of storage, where we keep (hidden) the less used utensils.
And I placed two boxes in the drawer: front and back. I organize the flatware on their sides so they keep neat and separated (the spoons et al spoon each other) for a tidy display. Only the knives are unruly. They stay in the back tray with other unruly bits, like chop sticks.
The Charm cheese grater with a lid:
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/80083256
I love this thing so much. It's way less messy than the conventional graters, and when you want to store leftovers, just pop on the lid.
I have had a bit of success with Ikea kitchen stuff more or less. I have the larger insert from the pictured series that I picked up for better than half price in the as-is section. I removed some of the dividers and the knife block thing with a screw driver and it fit perfectly in our wider drawer for all those odds and ends pieces.
I also love the apple slicer. For $3 it is a good buy and works very well. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20083259
I also love the Grundal series. I have used the shelves as pot racks and the knife strip is the cheapest I have every found for the quality.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00011428
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00136621
That is indeed maddening, that some Ikea stuff is sturdy and inexpensive, and some is just cheap. I like the design of a lot of their kitchen utensils and gadgets, but I can't bring myself to buy them. They're just too flimsy and remind me of cooking ramen in a dorm room hot pot. (And I say this as someone who dropped $3.5k on Ikea kitchen cabs this year...)
LOVE IKEA, especially their kitchen stuff. Admittedly their cookware leaves a lot to be desired, but there are really good finds in there!
Including:
-airtight SLOM glass jars for dry goods storage
-365 knives (not *super* high quality but great for everyday or rounding out a collection with a specialty piece)
-color matching assorted goods, including plastic funnels, dishwashing scrubber thingie, etc.
-WINE GLASSES that are big and gorgeous, and you won't mind when a guest breaks one
-RAJTAN glass spice jars that look sooo much nicer than an assortment of plastic containers from the grocery store
-sleek silver serving/fruit bowls
-IDEALISK colander/strainer with expanding sides so it can sit over your kitchen sink
-dishtowels
-plenty of tiny glass bowls, perfect for condiments or melted butter to accompany an artichoke
I bought a bunch of their big wooden butcher boards, because they perfectly covered my apartments ugly, UGLY, acrylic painted countertop.
Seriously, who *paints* countertop with cheap white paint? People are going to be cooking here, soft wall paint is not a good surface solution.
superchou, I have that knife strip, too, and I LOVE it. IKEA is like a thrift store- you should go there often and keep a look out for deals. I kept seeing that knife strip and kept thinking about buying it until one week I went and they were on sale for $2.50. But even at $8, it's still a great deal.