The light natural woods are the most popular finishes in Europe, not so much here, for some reason. But if you like it, go for it. I personally prefer it to the MB finish.

The finished kitchens blog has several of the lighter adel kitchens (see here and scroll). There are also a bunch in the galleries at ikeafans.

Also, one reason you may not see as many when searching is that the Adel Birch, which was lighter still, was more popular when both were offered.

Actually, I should have mentioned that with either birch or beech, ikea has evidently been changing suppliers and the current versions are quite a bit different in color than the older ones were, so you should definitely take a trip to see what they look like now (pinker rather than the yellower tones, by all accounts) and if you do this, check your door/drawer boxes to be sure they all come from the same place.

Thank you writersblock for your input. Ikea is close to my house and I went and bought 4 of their smallest doors in different colors (Adel beech, medium brown, liljestad & birch). The beech looked the best even with pink undertones. My problem is - last year I remodeled my kids bathroom with Duravit cabinets in birch $$$$. Everyone that has seen it says "oh you bought Ikea". Duravit (being a Euro style cabinet has all the bells and whistles that Ikea has) looks the same but obviously a higher quality. I guess my point is - do you think that when a future potential buyer sees the beech cabinets they will automatically think Ikea? Can you also tell me what you mean by checking my drawer boxes to be sure that they all come from the same place? I was assuming that Ikea drawer boxes were all the same but the style is based on the cabinet front.

Have you seen the Askome? It is very light and the wood, which I think is ash, looks like a nice quality. It has a "Swedish" look, whatever that is. :-)

Our former home was renovated in the creamy off white Ikea cabs before we bought it. When we sold it (without updating the kitchen) everyone loved it- and didn't know it was Ikea.

I think it's about mixing up your sources, and doing what you love. If your home is modern (post 1940?), beech cabs would be timeless, IMHO. Any other era, and the medium brown might hold longer. But, in any case, if you are afraid of dark- then get what makes you happy!

As far as resale goes, I think it depends on how design savvy your buyer is. To be honest, some people (not on this site, of course) could not tell an Ikea cab from a custom. Nor would they care. Also, some people might even prefer Ikea for the hardware, etc.

The current top kitchen tour on apartment therapy uses Askome (although I'm not totally crazy about some of the things in her design):

Here is a link that might be useful: cookbook author Melissa Clark's askome kitchen

If budget permits, you could take a cheap door from IKEA to a custom shop and have doors made from it as a template. I remember some time back that someone at ikeafans said that Sherr's makes doors to fit IKEA cabinets. Not sure if you like white cabinets, but there are some IKEA kitchen owners that chose the Tidaholm door and had them painted white. Very nice. Here's a link to the Scherr's site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scherrs Cabinetry

The new IKea Adel is shaker style and a new color which seems designed to replace Asker (long discontinued), Adel birch as mentioned above, and Askome (being discontinued).

I have Askome, but I aligned them all horizontally so the look is different from what you will see on the web. Askome isn't Shaker style, but solid, so it is heavier.

We're just about finished with a Nexus Yellow-Brown kitchen in an MCM home. In color, it is somewhere between Adel MB and the birch/beech styles, and we love it. I haven't seen a lot of finished projects using it, so thought I would post it for you.

I had recently bought a sample of the Adel beech. It's VERY pink in tone... pretty... but pink.

Computer crashed so I haven't been able to respond. I bit the bullet and have ordered the Adel beech. I'm approx 2 weeks from demo. In regard to the pink undertone in the cabs, I have an appt with a Benjamin Moore interior color designer to make sure that the paint I choose will not pull any pink. My electrician also said the correct color of lighting will help minimize the pink as well. Thanks for all your help, I'm doing what makes me happy. Anything is better than my current kitchen cabs. Now on to figuring out where to put my DH's kegerator and how to build it in.

Jakabedy, thanks for posting the Nexus yellow-brown pics. I love they way they look in your MCM kitchen. Your posting inspired me to bring home a sample and see how it looks, unfortunately I still was hooked on beech. Did you use the Ikea handles?

I just installed the Adel beech in my laundry room and I love them. I never noticed any pink undertone.

A good way to identify what looks timeless is to check out an old library book on decorating or kitchen remodeling and see what appeals to you despite the style being 20-30 (or more) years ago.

Personally, we installed Ikea Adel birch cabinets w/Nexus birch drawers and have been very happy with the style choice (it's been about 2 1/2 years). Adel Beech wasn't available but I bet I would have picked it! Our house is a starter home and it's very unlikely that future buyers would disparage the choice -- my friend who is a real estate agent thought it looked great :-)

I think you'll love your new kitchen!

Melle sacto, would love to see pics of your kitchen. Funny you should mention looking at old kitchen decorating books. My mother is telling her friends that I'm getting a new kitchen in "blonde" wood. Beech must be the "new blonde" or in my case "strawberry blonde"?

I don't have any current photos, or any of the entire k*tchen (which is totally filled w/counter clutter now LOL). I will try to take some for you. :-)

{{!gwi}}

The windows that flank the range face south, the window over the sink faces east, and that same wall also has a pati0 door that faces east. Personally I like a light/bright k*tchen!

melle_sacto, I love your Ikea Adel birch cabinets w/Nexus birch drawers that looks great with your hardware and your light happy counters and appliances. I also like the wall color and the molding around the windows that I wish I had on my windows. Thanks for sharing.

leesab313 -

Our hardware is IKEA, too. The handles are Spann. We were going to get the Strecket handles, which are the small tabs that mount on top of the drawer. But I thought they felt flimsy. The Spann has a nice, substantial feel to it. The inner part of the handle is rounded so comfortable on the hand. And there is nothing to catch your pockets (like the Lansa handles do).

I just wanted to point out that the birch or beech will darken over time.

WE did our last kitchen in the Ikea Nexus Birch (I don't know if they make it any more.) It was a great kitchen, very light and sunny... we loved it! But the original very pale tan birch did darken and yellow significantly by the time we sold it. It was still pretty... just different....

By the way all the buyers who looked at our house (young couples, mostly) loved the kitchen, for wahtever that's worth. But they were all young, sort of hip, couples. So I guess think about your target market if resale is an issue. We knew that buyers for our current home would likely have more traditional tastes, so we went with cherry shaker this time :)

Ikea Birch Nexus:
New:

I agree the birch will darken/yellow, it's happened in my kitchen on some base shelves that I keep storage bins. The area covered by the bin is lighter. Personally I think the darkening makes the wood seem warmer.

We have chosen the Ikea Adele Beech kitchen cabinets, but I don't know what wood floor would look well with it. I prefer not to go dark, which is what is shown in the Ikea store near me. Does anyone have suggestions? Or pictures?
Thank you!

LeesaB313 -
Just wondering if you had any photos or information after you installed your adel beech cabinets! We just ordered and put together all of our adel beech boxes, and I'm also trying to figure out what paint colors to choose that will avoid making them look any pinker than they already are. We were set on Adel birch, but hated the new color, and didn't want to go any darker than we had to. I like the beech just fine but I don't want it to look pink...