Another Ikea kitchens advocate here. Installed ours in 2003. Spent 11.5K on the entire 180 sq f kitchen - all cabinets doors and fronts were solid wood (pine, discontinued), tons of drawers, sitting area, stainless appliances, granite, etc. If you want to keep your kitchen for the next 50-60 years, spend $150K and buy solid wood cabinets. If you are like many other people will get bored with your kitchen and/or want more modern details in 10-15 years, Ikea is the best option. Thicker than other medium range kitchen MDF (0.75" instead of 0.5") frames, high end Blum hardware with doors and fully extended drawers that have soft closure option. Both solid wood and melamine doors are very durable. As for the designer look, it actually all depends on your design abilities. I've seen $70K kitchen and $115K kitchen that looked much worse than many Ikea kitchens. Pick a good counter, knobs, curtains; think about trim and light. I've heard this 'Ikea-kitchen-is-for-losers' song from many contractors, but never from the actual owners. I will use Ikea kitchen cabinets (hacked) for our master bath remodeling. I was interviewing several contractors - two of them tried to convince me to not use Ikea cabinets for this. When I asked them about the alternative, they offered their cabinets instead. After comparing their cabinets to the Ikea ones that I chose, it turned out that their cabinets are: 1. About 2 times more expensive without all drawers I want and about 2.5 more expensive with the drawers; 2. Have mediocre hardware without soft closure, etc. 'What are you talking about??' said one of the contractors. 'All hardware is the same!' Yeah, right... The new Sektion line promises to be even better - more drawer options, more glass cabinets, etc. It will also be more expensive than Akurum probably. So, if the budget is important to you, use Ikea fall sale. The spring sale is already over in US. I got 20% off this time and I am very happy.

Here's some visuals. 42" of cabinets with about 6" of molding. This only works because the ceiling is absent. IRL it would leave an awkward gap. [Transitional Coffee Station[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/transitional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2112) by Memphis Metro Kitchen & Bath Designers ProSource Memphis A mix of 36"H and a 42" corner cabinet. The wing wall is 108". [Traditional Wine Bar[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-wine-cellar-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_755~s_2107) by Memphis Metro Kitchen & Bath Designers ProSource Memphis Here is a 48" "prestacked" transom cabinet with a simple cove molding. It uses a 30" bottom and 18" top, joined in one single cabinet. [Transitional Alder Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/transitional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2112) by Memphis Metro Kitchen & Bath Designers ProSource Memphis 48" corner cabinets with 42"H wall cabinets and 6" of molding. [White Inset Kitchen by Dynasty/Omega[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/transitional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2112) by Memphis Metro Kitchen & Bath Designers ProSource Memphis

I have modified Ikea cabinets about every way you can just to see if it can be done. And the answer is - "yes it can be done." But that isn't the right question, the right question is - "should it be done?" This looks like 50 dollars of effort for a 2 dollar return in my opinion. When you start modding cabinets you exponentially increase the risk that something is going to go wrong, or that you are not going to be happy with the results, especially in a remodel situation where the walls may not be true, and this is where a few good spacers make things work well. I think that the 1" spacer on the left is going to cause you problems, after handles you have almost no clearance and I bet you are going to end up with dinged doors. You have good sized drawer bases now (two 24" and a 36") I just don't see that much gain from another 3".

I know this is an old thread and I'm sure I'm way overthinking it, but @beachem @Lisa and @writersblock (9b/10a) mentioned just using a flush piece of panel to fill the 5" gap. I find myself with a big ceiling/cab gap as well and this is precisely what I want to do, simple flush panel and maybe a very basic molding up top. I just don't know how to do it with frameless, full-overlay cabinets. How do I attach the flush 5" piece? Am I overthinking it, do I just screw through the top of the inside? This pains me to create exposed screws in my new cabinets but I'm willing to do it to close the gap. Is there another way?