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Experience with IKEA kitchen cabs?

14 years ago

I will try this question here, but may also try on kitchens (tho I've not been there before!). I bought an upper cabinet from IKEA for a pantry reno I'm working on but I didn't buy the doors.

I need to paint the outer frame face of this cabinet, and I will be adding a different door (custom made) and I'm just not entirely sure this will work. I'm having 2nd thoughts! I'd appreciate any comments.

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Comments (7)

mahatmacat1
14 years ago
hey pesky,

I changed the edge banding on our Ikea cabinets when we redid our kitchen. Very easy. You just iron the edges that you need to have come off, they peel off easily when they're hot, and you put the new heat-adhesive 7/8" edgebanding (I used mahogany stained to match Hallarum, a discontinued line) on, slice the edges to fit with a double-edged veneer cutter (I got mine at Rockler), sand down the edges to smooth (paint the raw edges if you need to or stain--I didn't have to) put a cloth over it, iron that on too, and let it cool. Voila :) You only have to do one cabinet, too, so that's four edges. I did all our uppers.

What color do you need it to be? There are plenty of edgebandings, in melamine or wood (thin veneer) premade in lots of colors, or you can stain one to match.

Here is a link that might be useful: did this back in 2004 and it's still fine
annzgw
14 years ago
Which cabinet are you using? I helped DS install several IKEA cabinets last year and I'm surprised you couldn't find a color that works for your area. I'm wondering what style you're using since all the cabinets we installed had very little frame showing once the door was installed.

If the cabinet has a melamine finish I'm not sure how well the paint will adhere. I think some folks here have painted Formica, so maybe it's doable!
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neetsiepie
Original Author
14 years ago
Hmmm, I never thought about the veneer. Problem with the stuff you linked to Fly, is that it's not wide enough for what I need. I did look at some of their other things tho...drooling over the copper stuff.

I forgot that the one piece I have is the microwave cabinet, and it's got a shelf that extends out to support your microwave. There is another company that sells these adhesive sheets that are pretty cool, I might check them. It's like really upscale contac paper!

I'm doing a 'ballardaized' finish on this furniture. I have a pantry and a base cab I found at our local Habitat store, and I'm putting a butcher block top on the base cab. My mom's husband is helping me with the doors...they'll be a simple picture frame with beadboard inside. All painted a dark espresso brown with a black stain to age them. I'm soooo excited about this, it's happening this weekend, and when it's done you KNOW I'm gonna figure out a way to post the pics.

Naturally, because I'm going with the dark brown/black, I have a white cabinet to transform.
amberley
14 years ago
You need to come over to kitchens (we won't bite! ;) ). There are quite alot of IKEA kitchens going in now, and alot of people have done Scherrs doors on IKEA boxes. Do a search for both, and also look in the Finished Kitchen blog.

We just demoed this week for our IKEA kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: finished kitchens blog
mahatmacat1
14 years ago
I don't understand--Ikea cabs don't have face-frames...? They're "frameless". Do you have a pic? Do you mean the surface of the microwave shelf?
neetsiepie
Original Author
14 years ago
Bonk! You're right Fly. I just checked them. Sigh. I'm so worked up about this!! Ok, so to modify my question...do you think it'd be possible to add different (custom) doors? And, yeah, I need to do something with that microwave shelf!

Thanks for the invite to Kitchens. I checked that blog...not so scary! hahaha!!
annzgw
14 years ago
We used the microwave cabinet also and chose to eliminate the shelf that sticks out. The shelf they include for the microwave is HUGE and we had planned to cut the shelf to the size we needed. Fortunately, DS's microwave was small so it just sits on the bottom frame of the cabinet......no need for the additional shelf!

No reason you can't use custom doors. Have the cabinet guy use the same IKEA hinges and the doors should attach as easy as IKEA doors.

Try lightly sanding the white part of the cabinet and see if it'll hold a primer and some acrylic paint. Better yet, use the extra shelf to experiment on!

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