Hi, it might be that not all doorsizes are available in stainless steel.
If you can wait untill the new kitchen doorstyles come out this august/september, there will be a white painted wood door in the Ikea kitchen program. This may save you the trouble of painting Fagerland. This link is to some photos on the Ikeafans forum.

HTH, Petra

Here is a link that might be useful: New Ikea doorstyles

The SS cabinets look nice but I think you'd go nuts trying to keep them clean of streaks and smudges. A painted surface would be more forgiving.

Not to complicate your decision making process but Scherr's will make doors to fit Ikea cabinets, any style you want. I suspect easier to paint than the Ikea doors. Scherr's was WONDERFUL to deal with, and have good reviews here, and my doors were cheap-I haven't done all the math but certainly not more than 10% more than the Ikea doors would have been, maybe less. Haven't ripped open the boxes yet-waiting until we can start putting the cabinets together (?next week?). Something to think about, anyway.
Sounds like we're going in a similar direction- my new kitchen will have open shelves, soapstone and marble, too, and the Big Chill ships in about a week.

Thank you all for the replies!

Petra, I had no idea ikea was coming out with a new painted white dooe--I'll def. look into that.

Riverspots, good point about the fingerprints!

Jcoxmd, Thanks for the tip on Scherr's...I'll look into that. Can't wait to see pics of your kitchen since we're doing similar styles. :) What color is your Big Chill?

I feel like you asked whether I'm having a boy or a girl! My Big Chill is RAL 1015 Ivory (creamy colored-I do love the fun colors but not right for this particular house.) Call and talk to Orion and he can send you color samples. It did cost more to branch outside the standard colors, but completely worth it to me.
I'll probably post some "in progress" pictures when the floor is in and the Big Chill arrives. We have been slowed down by an electrician who can't seem to show up when needed, and I'm expecting a delay towards the end while I ponder paint colors (I've decided I need to see the counters and floor under the new lights before I can choose between about 10 shades of nearly indistinguishable cream and tan.)
Also, I love the hex floors. I have a sneaking suspicion installation may be more pricy than your other choice though, if that matters. Did you consider Marmoleum if you did the big black and white tiles? Would be very "ice cream parlor," easy to care for, maybe as soft and "green" as the cork (not an expert on this.)

I love the new painted door styles! I went custom on my door/drawer fronts for IKEA cabs, and they were very reasonable and pleasant to work with. The company is Advantage Cabinet Doors. I got a total of 69 door and drawer fronts, with two different panel designs, including 5 pantry doors, hinge bored for IKEA hinges, delivered to my house for less than $2000. It was the best price I found. And I shopped around. A lot.

I was looking toward Scherr's as I have heard only good things about them, but they were a little higher priced than I had planned. Trav86 told me about Advantage, and several months after ordering a test door from them, I placed my order.

Just thought I'd throw that out there. Also jenswrens used them on her remodel, and she has a sneak peek on the IKEA Cabinets thread. They look FABU! :^)

Here is a link that might be useful: Advantage Cabinet Doors.

Nolasaints - I've been only a lurker here, but had to reply to your post. Your kitchen inspirations are some of mine too. Ideas are still swirling around in my head, though I have purchased my cabinets. I went with IKEA boxes and hardware and Scherr Shaker doors (paint-grade poplar). The Scherr doors are absolutely perfect. I couldn't be more pleased.

I kept worrying about the sanding and painting (thinking IKEA Tidaholm or Fageland) and not getting it right. I have to admit, those new IKEA cabinets look promising, though.

My kitchen is 18' x 10' and will be open on one side to a living area. I have a L-shape perimeter wall of cabs and a 6 x 4 island. The IKEA boxes and hardware came to $2200 (that includes the 10% off kitchen sale). The Scherr doors were only $1000 and some change. A local cabinetmaker will laquer paint them for $1000. Short of seeing the final paint job, I couldn't be happier.

I can't wait to see what you do!

This is not the question you asked, but if you have a fairly strict budget, the fully rectifed (flat to the edge) porcelain hex patterned with borders as pictured in your inspirations is expensive stuff, and the typical floor has to be stiffened quite a bit for this to be installed correctly. Black and white checkerboard is a classic and a lot of bang for your buck.

I went with Tidaholm brown/black and LOVE them. They look a lot like the first inspiration picture. They also come in a lighter color which would work with soapstone. Stainless may dent although I love the way it is done in that one pic! I think painting could be a real crapshoot. I have never pulled off painting furniture. It always looks bad. although the nice thing about ikea is the doors are cheap. So you can test it out. Although you may have to special order them. Not all door styles are stock.

I wanted to do hex floor but ended up doing VCT (vinyl composition tile - like used in supermarkets) because it was inexpensive and came in every color imaginable - so might want to look at that to create the checkerboard look.

I love my open shelving. I was at a house recently with uppers and they felt so cramped compared to my open shelves.

I was considering the Ikea Lidingo cabinet and am finding people love Ikea cabs or hate them, no in between. Everyone talks about getting these customized doors . . do you have any concern as to the quality of the Ikea boxes?

I read somewhere, maybe someone has a link? That consumer reports rated them 3rd for quality.. the top two companies being the most expensive in the country!

By the way, I did contact Scherrs right before I was going to order my IKEA Tidaholm (since it is one of their more expensive door styles). I gave them my IKEA figures to see if I could get Scherr's somewhere in the same ballpark. Scherr's said they couldn't even come close and wouldn't even give me numbers. And having gone through the whole IKEA kitchen experience, I am really thankful that I stuck with IKEA doors. The cabinets were so easy to assemble, so sturdy, and we loved working with them. If you are DIYing its really nice to know that if you make a mistake on cutting something like a side panel, you can just run and get another one off the shelf. We took a lot of trips to IKEA. A lot.

I chose to go custom because the door style I wanted was not something IKEA offered. If they would have had the door style and color I wanted, I would not have hesitated.

I love my IKEA cabinets, and everyone who sees my cabinets are blown away by the system. I see no quality issues with the boxes and am extremely happy I went this route.

Some of the new doors are up on the wall o' styles at the Baltimore Ikea. I'd say the white is more of a wash than painted - you can see the wood through a lot of it. The Black is kind of antiqued - but blacker than the white is white if that makes any sense. They did not have the cherry colored one. They didn't have the info tags, so I know the outer frame is solid from the way the joints are done, but I don't know about the center panel.

If you wait for the new doors, you're still gonna be sanding. You might like the design better, but you're gonna be sanding.

I went through Scherrs and got finished premium cherry in a mitered door style for about 25% more than buying the most expensive ikea doors. I wanted something Ikea didn't have. Each and every bit of them is solid cherry. My total for cabs, drawers, doors, sinks and fittings (like grundtals) is still way less than $4k, so I'm very happy.

But I do love the photo of the stainless fronts with the very ornate handles. Very romantic!

I love the look of the hex floors but all that grout would drive me crazy. For that reason, I would go with the B&W diagonal tiles.

Have you seen this Marble Island from Crate and Barrel? The picture doesn't do it justice, I saw it at their store a few weeks ago and it is absolutely stunning!!! I sooo wish I had room for it in my kitchen!

Here is a link that might be useful: Crate and barrel Marble Island