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ikea cabinets: would you recommend them?

15 years ago

We've heard ikea cabinets are good. we've heard they are budget friendly but are they worth the cost saving? We want them to last a long time (30 yrs+). Anyone with Ikea, would you recommend them as a sturdy cabinet? Are there any drawbacks to using this brand over others? Do you know how the prices compare. We are also comparing to custom builder prices.

I've purchased their furniture and have had some bad and some good luck as far as quality.

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Comments (4)

remodelfla
15 years ago
Here's the beat way to find the most information in one place. I've attached a link that lists over 200 forum threads discussing this very topic. There have been some very informative ones recently. Have fun reading!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Everything you've wanted to know about IKEA and then some...
marthavila
15 years ago
Remodelfla, you are a TKO after my own heart! LOL!
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I don't believe in forever homes (as you see above...people don't stay in them forever) so I can't necessarily answer to that, but in my "for a long time because we have invested a lot and will invest too much by the time it's over to sell at a reasonable price" home we just put in a very small IKEA kitchen in our gardeners cottage. There were a few reasons to go IKEA. Lowes and Homedespot didn't have a selection worth even considering in their ready made cabinets. I had very very very few inches and feet to play with and having options was very important to me. Secondly while this is not the "forever" kitchen for the cottage (it's an 1890's cottage and will eventually be a museaum likely...see why above LOL) we wanted a kitchen that had a comfortable feel in an 1890's cottage. White wood, tin backsplash, white appliances....soft and somewhat cottagey (if that's a word). IKEA fit the bill there as well and with additional doors I was able to get an all wood look kitchen. The options for inside the cabinets are better than the boxes you get at the big box stores by far. Given we had literally a six foot wall and a five foot wall, we needed these cabinets to really sing in the work space. Super efficiency is normally expensive....IKEA is not. Thirdly...what number am I on? we were able to pick up a gorgeous wood counter top for next to nothing. My contractor softened up the edges, but other than that it was perfect as is. It flows so well with the antique pine pantry! We acheived a very vintage feel kitchen space in a tiny cottage for less than two grand installed (including the range, sink, faucet, fridge micro and hood). I could not have done that through the big box stores and I would have had to paint the cabinets as I wanted that look for the cottage. Its an adorable little kitchen and our renter (a sweet 21 year old student) loves it. She expected basically a cheap big box cabinet or two stuck on the wall...which I would have had to do with the big box cabs....they just didn't offer enough variety. Instead I have a kitchen that isn't forever...but it's for a dang long time anyhoo!
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Because of our terrific experience with our current kitchen, we are using Scherr’s for our next one (new construction). Leon is fantastic to work with - we give him the basic layout and appliance models # and he makes it all fit. None of those issues with fridge doors that won’t open and improper spacing and such. I wanted lower wall ovens than “standard“ and slots for sheet pans and pizza pans and cutting boards above, shallow drawer below for pie pans. The best best cabinet in the kitchen. We are doing 30” deep custom cabinets along one wall and the island (30” counters are the best thing we did in our current kitchen) and they found us 27” blum soft-close rails, so our drawers and pullouts are huge. The other “custom” cabinet makers would build 30” deep boxes, but all the pullouts (all the bottom cabs and pantries) would only be standard 24” rails, so the drawers and pullouts would all be short. There’s no point in paying extra for that. Better to pull standard cost cabinets 6” away from the wall to get the extra counter space. What I also love about Scherrs is my mixed-hardwood drawer boxes. They are made from cast offs or short cuts from all kinds of beautiful woods, but they are only seen when we pull a drawer out. They have all sorts of material options for drawer boxes and cabinets and doors, including making door fronts for IKEA cabinets. Many woods, many finishes, many styles. Totally customizable for a very reasonable price. The biggest drawback is that there is a long lead time right now. Get your deposit in early for your place in line. You can work on the details and finalize later. And Made in the USA in Minot, ND! Scherr’s Website with excellent cabinet FAQ
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sw_in_austin
15 years ago
There was a long thread discussing the pros and cons of IKEA just a few days ago so you might want to search for that (I know IKEA was in the post heading).

We have been using our IKEA kitchen for about 7 months and are completely happy. We saved about $6,000 (we were leaning toward KraftMaid cabinets before we switched to IKEA) and believe that what we got with the IKEA cabinets was, quality-wise, quite comparable to what we saw of the KraftMaid cabs. The dollars we saved allowed us to upgrade in other areas, resulting in a kitchen that I'm happier with than I would have been if I'd had to scrimp on counter materials and hardware and appliances in order to stay within the budget we set.

As far as lasting 30 years, I have no idea. That's a long time. One advantage of IKEA is that, assuming the cabinet and drawer boxes hold up, you can always switch the doors later and get a whole different look.

I do think the IKEA kitchen cabinets are better quality than most of their furniture, which often seems sort of rickety to me. The cabinets are sturdy and, if you like one of the admittedly limited door styles and the overall sort of stripped down, European style, then I think they're worth considering.

What I said above about choice is the key: IKEA is a choice. For us, spending more than $10,000 on cabinets seemed unreasonable. Other people are glad to spend that (or many multiples of that) on their cabinets. That's their choice. We'd rather spend our money elsewhere. So we made the choice to use IKEA. And we continue to be happy with that choice.
mindstorm
15 years ago
I have IKEA kitchen cabinets. I like IKEA kitchen cabinets. I have had them for 3.5 years and I truly and completely think they're tops. I have some fairly expensive things in my kitchen but frankly, one of the things I like most about my kitchen is the cabinets. I like the look of them and I like their build. We built 'em well, with good wood glues and measured and squared and whatnot and we expect them to last.

So saying all that, if I were planning for a 30+ year kitchen, I most likely would not use IKEA. Not because I don't think they'd last; rather that I haven't seen any record of such longevity on them. If I were planning for a 30+ year I'd look into other cabinets brands which DO have such longevity attributed to them. Woodmode is one such that comes to mind and I'm sure there are others.

On the other hand, IKEA must believe their kitchens would last close to 30 years - they have a 25 year warranty on them! :-)

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