A friend of mine bought light colored IKEA cabinets and had them custom stained by a professional

The "As Is" section of the store has doors and drawer fronts. You may get luck and get an old display one that fits... Who knows.

We did check the As-is section...nothing :-( I think the change was at the beginning of 2010. I just wondered if anyone here had heard anything. I also inquired on Ikeafans and sent Ikea an email w/my disappointment.

I've read that you can get the current Adel Birch, sand off the ugly pink finish, and poly it to get the old color (which was basically natural birch w/clear finish over it). I just know myself and I will take forever to do it.

Rats. My only small contribution is that most towns have a paint stripping company or two. We got a recycled front door and sent it out to be stripped. It came back completely clean and ready for a light sand and finishing.

I think there's a section of ikeafans that helps match folks who are seeking with others who have old ikea stuff. I find it difficult to navigate that site, but there sure are a lot of fanatics there! They would definitely know if there's a secret stash somewhere.

If that doesn't pan out, I'd suggest a deliberate contrast with the same door style and a deliberately different material. Or you could get a glass front and do a super-cool sandblast look.

Okay guys, I had an earlier response but I must have not posted it :-(

I took some photos of the area. Sorry our kitchen isn't super glamorous LOL! Still ISO the dining table fixture and DH keeps electronics on the buffet (which were going to potentially be stored in the second pantry, along w/my sewing stuff). So here goes, this is the area:

The second pantry would go in the corner to the right (the corner that has a fan, folding chairs, and folding tv trays shoved in it). We were thinking of running a high shelf above the pictures, connecting the two pantry cabs.

When I see the photos, I keep asking myself why we didn't think to put in the second pantry when we did the remodel 2 years ago...we just didn't think of it :-( Now that I want to put it in, I can't imagine anything else in that corner.

I'm totally open to other ideas! I like the buffet, but I guess I'm not wedded to it. We are on a limited budget b/c I quit my job a year ago to stay home w/the kids. I have an Ikea gift card that was supposed to cover the cost of the second pantry.

We also have the old birch Adel and like it very much. I think Ikea acted immorally in not alerting purchasers that they were phasing out this wood. My kitchen was not yet finished when it became hard to get some parts. They should have maintained a two year inventory of parts after they stopped selling this color. It is my understanding that was done in Europe.

As for the new birch, I don't think it's actually birch or a variety of birch anything like the old birch. No one in his right mind would take the original birch and "pickle" it as they have done. It's really ugly IMO and I would never select that wood. I doubt that stripping it would get you to a real birch, even if it may be the best you can do.

Personally I'm really not keen on buying the current Adel Birch and trying to make it look like the old color...I'd rather just pay someone to make me a custom door, two drawer fronts, and a side panel...I'm just bummed that they phased out the pretty birch.

The nice gal who was working there told me sales have really dropped off for Adel birch since they switched to a different finish/manufacturer. I'm not surprised, it's not very pretty in person.

just searched ebay-
http://cgi.ebay.com/IKEA-ADEL-B-DRAWER-FRONTS-SET-3-BIRCH-NEW-/220570300266?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0amp;hash=item335b03af6a

might want to keep checking enay and craiglist. or post on craigslist?? Maybe someone is getting rid of a kitchen?

The aluminum framed, frosted glass IKEA doors would look smart and mix with either door style. I think it's a great look. They have them pantry height. If you have another pantry too you can alternate the doors. One wood, one glass, one wood one glass, or change the other doors to the glass ones.

Is there an Ikea unit that matches the dark wood of the table area?

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

I'm pretty dejected over the whole thing. Ikea does offer a brown-black version that matches the dining table, but I can only handle that dark wood in small doses...it's just too dark and I think I would hate a big dark pantry -- our house is small and not bright. I love the idea of a glass door but w/two small boys (toddler and kindergartener) I'm pretty sure DH will NOT go for glass. Understandable.

I wish we had picked the medium brown when we remodeled b/c they still offer that color option :-(

I'll be looking on ebay I think; never thought to check there. Nothing on my local CL (that I can find) but I'll post a "wanted" ad and see if anyone responds. I have a couple contacts who do custom cab work, maybe that will be my best lead.

Just a thought -- I wonder if a yellow-tinted glaze over the newer pink Adel Birch would help it match?

There are lots of places that do custom doors. I don't think it would be too expensive to have that done & you could finish yourself to be sure you get a perfect match.

Our Ikea gave a lot of notice about discontinuing the old Birch finish (seemed like year but was probably closer to 6 months). Good luck finding a solution.

Ours did not. We would have chosen something else.

You should post on ikeafans, there is a Marketplace. I purchased some extra Nexus birch pieces when I heard they were discontinuing the old color, and others did also. I don't have a large pantry door but do have some drawer stacks that might fit, I don't really see myself using them and could sell them to you for what I bought them for plus shipping. I don't have any adel birch though.

I'll have to check out the Marketplace, I did look at the Swap section and replied to an ad for an Adel Birch door, but then I realized the posting was from 2007 so... :-(

I'd definitely be interested in your drawer stacks scrappy25 -- I think I need an 11" and a 12" high/24" wide.

I can't believe they don't have anything in this color now, not even another line! >:-(

Maybe you can have the wood panel removed on the new pantry door color and replace it with frosted plexiglass and paint the frame and door fronts to match your dining table. That way it won't be too dark of a look. You can do the same to the other to have them match.

You can also just paint the frame and drawer fronts dark brown and have mirror sections cut to size to replace the three squares in the frame. The glass would be supported having the wood backing so it shouldn't pose a hazard. That would be a lighter, brighter look with the mirror.

You can also forget the pantry and add a pretty corner wrought iron etagere or bakers rack there and store cookbooks or pretty cookware, stoneware, serveware or even a small TV to watch. Maybe by taking things out of your cabinets and placing it there instead you can make more room in the cabinets for storing food and you might not even need the extra pantry then.

blondelle I like the way you think ;-) I'll have to give it some thought.

We need the pantry for storage of non-kitchen items, actually. Fabric and sewing stuff for me, and misc electronic bric-a-brac for my DH. Our house is pretty small and short on storage.

We have plenty of storage for kitchen-related things, which might be why we didn't consider putting it in during the remodel. In the last year, however, we've been trying to create more storage in our home so it won't be so cluttered.

I know exactly how you feel. I went to IKEA last night and bought a wall cabinet to add to what I installed last year. I got the cabinet put together and when I opened the boxes containing the doors I was like, you have got to be kidding. I returned them today (at Burbank CA) only to find out the color had indeed changed. I went back to the kitchen section and the girl there couldn't understand why IKEA changed the color either. She suggested the "AS IS" section as well. No luck at the Burbank CA store. I am going to Covina tomorrow. They even typed in the old item number and did a search at other stores in So Calif and even Seattle WA, Portland OR and Tempe, AZ. No luck.
I'll keep my eye out at the Covina Store for your item.

Hey thanks!

For now we're just going to build the pantry and use it w/o the panel, door, or drawers.

I wanted to add that I'm sorry you got shafted too! I *never* would have expected the golden birch color to change. Maybe the styles but not the color b/c they sell a lot of stuff this color. I had no idea pink cabinets were the new style of natural birch ;-)

How about going big guns and painting the existing cabinet and the new cabinet to match each other? You might have to add some crown over the top to make them look like they are supposed to be different.

Or you could just get doors and panels for the old pantry in a new color / style and again add some crown to bump out the top so that it looks purposeful.

I would be nervous about 'almost' matching a wood tone, so instead of missing small, miss big and go for two matching painted pantries or maybe medium brown?

I do like the Adel Medium Brown, it was actually my first choice for the remodel but DH and I compromised on the Adel Birch instead.

I think making both pantries a different color would be a great option but our budget really doesn't allow me to replace the other door, side panel, drawers etc of the existing pantry. And, honestly, I don't want to do the work of sanding off all the finish in order to paint :( I guess I'm relatively inflexible when it comes to changing the one we already have.

After we get the pantry up, sans finished panel and door/drawers, I'm 90% sure I'll be ISO something custom to match. #%@&!) Ikea >:-(

Hi melle,
No luck finding any of our needed pieces in the "As Is" section of IKEA Burbank, Covina or Costa Mesa CA.
It was worth a shot.

I decided to buy the cheapest piece in the new "birch" color for testing; a drawer front. I bought a 39 cent Trial Sample of Varathane Brand Stain (Natural #203) at my local hardware store. I sanded the right half of the drawer front down to the natural wood and left the other side alone for comparison. I stained the sanded half with the Natural #203 and I have to tell you I am amazed at how close it matches. Not sure how the mid veneer section will look stained though. Now I have to decide whether I will proceed and sand the 2 actual doors (which are the only 2 things I have left of this project) -or- bag the idea and go with aluminum framed frosted glass. Decisions, decisions.

I have linked the "old color" nexus birch thread at Ikeafans. Looks like Ikea Sacramento may still have some pieces.
designbymeiny on that thread has 15" wide x 24" tall doors. You could turn these perpendicularly into 15" tall drawers but then the slat pattern would be horizontal not vertical.

Unfortunately, I don't have 24" wide doors or drawers. I have 15" and 18" wide stacks and two 15x30" doors (to fit a 30" cabinet or two 15" cabinets).

Here is a link that might be useful: nexus birch thread at Ikeafans

Billy the match was close? That's awesome...not that I wanted to do a bunch of sanding but I guess if I did a little at a time they would eventually be done. Please try the veneer I'd love to know how it turns out :-)

scrappy AFAIK Ikea West Sac was out, that's the store we were at. I specifically asked about old stock and she said they had some but not the sizes we need.

So far DH and I haven't really discussed what's going to happen except that we're going to install the pantry w/o the panel/door/drawers.

Anyone have updates or leads? Our pantry is up but w/o the cover panel, the door, or the drawers :-(

I found an as-is drawer front in the new Adel Birch for $1 -- I bought it and am going to try various treatments to figure out if we can just buy and re-finish the piece we need.

:-)

Melle -- Could you please let us know how it all worked out? We need to do something about changing the new Adel birch deco strip to the Old Adel Birch. How did your experiment turn out? Thanks!

Hi Melle, I just went through a part of the garage that hasn't seen the light of day in years. I found some doors and drawer fronts in the original Adel birch, including a 24" wide pantry door. Do you still need one? I also have a set of deep drawer fronts at 30" wide, so they'd need to be cut down. If you're still on here and are interested, just let me know.

Hi krumhorns - I may be interested in these if still available. Please email me sbrooks06340@netzero.com