Ikea WARNING - and progress for my latest kitchen renovation

9 years ago

I have not been on here lately - although I did post here often for kitchens I renovated in 2007, 2011, and the end of 2013. I'm in the midst of another kitchen renovation for an investment property and was planning to do another ikea kitchen. I have not seen any posts on here - so perhaps it's been discussed... but ikea is a mess these days. With their discontinuation of AKURUM and move to a new kitchen system my ikea has some dramatic shortages on items. They are understaffed and their entire ordering process is a nightmare (the kitchen design tool is awful as has been mentioned numerous times, but then the conversion to a list and then input into their inventory system to find out they do not have nor will they get the items in the design is excruciating). So this is just a warning I guess - if you want an ikea kitchen - you may want to wait.

Here's my progress so far. Small 50's ranch house, we removed a wall between the kitchen and dining room. Relocated the fridge, sink, and stove. We were not able to remove all the doorways in the room, although we did eliminate one - there were previously 4 doorways in this 9'x11' space.

The kitchen was so small, it was nearly impossible to get a before shot:

this cabinet was freestanding:

wall removal:

electrician working:

drywall:

cabinets to assemble:

last night (the peninsula cabinets are not set yet - but will be put in place when my hardwood guy is finished:

The bad news is that I have NO cabinet doors. I am trying to turn this property pretty quickly (would like tenants in by early Dec) so I don't think I want to order all the doors from Scherrs or another company and for me to finish them - although that's still an option I may have to consider. I'm heading back to Ikea to try to find a few doors in stock within the southeast region but I'm not entirely optimistic.

I had planned a Lidingo kitchen with grey lower cabinets and white uppers - but there are 4 or more doors that I cannot get at all - they tell me they "may" get more delivered but they have no idea when, what they'll get or how I can get them. I'm "on my own" to finish the kitchen. So perhaps I'll just get what I can at Ikea and order the remaining doors from Scherrs and try to finish them to match. It's a bit of a nightmare. I was also really disappointed that they have no 24'" domsjo sinks (and will not get any more)... and had to redesign the kitchen.

I do love how quick an ikea kitchen goes together, how easy the cabinets are to level and hang, how great the drawers, hardware, and soft close features work... I guess I"m disappointed they are overhauling the entire system - it's going to make it more difficult to replace parts on the ikea kitchens and that was one of the huge selling points to me initially - you could swap out the doors for a new look anytime you wanted to. :-(

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Comments (13)

raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That is disappointing! Have you tried on-line ordering, and have you checked stock in other regional Ikeas?
kiko_gw
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Yes, maybe someone could ship you the doors you need?
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Thanks, all! Nosoccermom, we did not paint the doors. We were concerned about that pinkish tint, too, but decided we could always paint in the future if we hated them as they are after installation. As it turns out, they are definitely an off-white, but the pink seems to depend completely on lighting. In natural and direct light, they are warm white but not pink. In dim light, they do take on that pinkish look. We have the white fridge right next to the cabinets, which you can see in a photo I posted above, and in another area there are cabinets adjacent to wainscoting painted with BM simply white. You can certainly see the difference in those locations, but we don't find it jarring. Those spots are the areas where the pinkish tone is most prominent in dim light, though. We didn't replace the fridge, since the old one still works fine, and we are happy enough with the way it looks with the cabinets that we will probably go with white again when this one does need to be replaced. So, I would say to anyone considering these doors, you have to bring a sample home and see how it looks in your home with your lighting to really know how it will look.
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Gracie
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You can get finished doors at Barker Door. They have medium-stained, white, and off-white.
lovetorenovate
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
may_flowers, any idea how their off-white or white compares to Lidingo white?

Just returned from ikea and got all the doors I need except 3... that I'm on my own to find. It's better than what was happening last time I was there - but I also need to take down two cabinets to replace with another size (or I would have been without 3 more doors). I ended up needing to use some doors in STAT glass - which is the same color as Lidingo, just a different door style. In the glass door, it's not a bad match.
bmorepanic
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You can get finished doors from Scherrs. I did.
Karenseb
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That kitchen is going to look great. If I was a tenant wanting to rent, I would be more than willing to wait for the remaining cab doors!
nosoccermom
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
This is off topic, but how durable did you find IKEA for tenants, including info on specific front types? Is Lidingo the most durable, or did you also try wood cabinets, like the Romsjo?
I have a tiny kitchen in a rental and am wondering whether I might snap some up.
bbtrix
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I have Adel Birch in two rentals. They are in year two and look brand new. Very durable.
northcarolina
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the warning -- I've been meaning to pick up a door for a future integrated DW before they go out of stock.
eam44
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Congrats on your progress! I celebrate all forward movement.

Sorry to hear about your door situation. Did you go on a weekday or weekend? Stock shortages might depend on day of the week, and where you go. I just got back from Ikea in Canton MI and they had everything I needed. No signs of any shortages in the kitchen department there.

I did consider waiting for February and the Method roll out, but I changed my mind when I read that they will use 1/2" MDF instead of the 3/4" MDF they use in the Akurum line. Only time will tell whether that was a good call. For right now, all I can say is I've got

SO...MANY...BOXES....
bbtrix
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
And don't forget to check on-line stock. I am 350 miles from the nearest Ikea and have done 3 kitchens long distance.
funkycamper
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That kitchen is going to be lovely when it's done. Your renters are lucky. We usually put the cheapest builder-grade, unfinished cabinets from HD in our rentals.

I'll throw out this thought just in case you never can find matching doors: some kitchens of that era had different color doors on cabinets. Think Mondrian. It was more common in kitchens with sliding door cabinets but the same concept could still work. I think if you got doors quite different, like one of the black/brown color lines, so there was a lot of contrast and strategically placed the dark doors, it could look quite striking.

I almost ordered my kitchen through IKEA during their summer sale but cancelled as soon as I learned about the roll-out of Sektion (Metod in the rest of the world) beginning in February for the very reason you stated. If I get sick of my style in 10 years, it's pretty cheap to just hang new doors/drawer fronts. Also, some of the cabinets I wanted were already out of stock then and I was very concerned about availability. Besides, after playing around with the UK's website and designing a Metod kitchen, I really like the new look and the flexibility in designing this new line gives you so I'm glad I wanted.

Not to mention that I hadn't put my thought into the design at that point. Since then places like GardenWeb and IkeaFans has been a goldmine of ideas and I sure like the layout I'm working on now much better.

I've read reviews by Europeans who have experience with both the old and new IKEA lines and none of them have expressed concerns with strength or durability of the new line.

Anyway, none of that helps you, right? Have you tried ordering online? Although the shipping costs may make that an expensive option, it might be worth checking out.
eam44
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
They have Lidingo doors in Grey in abundance for the lowers. Maybe you can finish the uppers in Harlig White?

Ikea WARNING - and progress for my latest kitchen renovation

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raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio

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Ikea WARNING - and progress for my latest kitchen renovation

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