dianalo, I love it when you come to the defense of Ikea kitchens. I'm so excited for you. You may have read that we are also doing an Ikea kitchen. We are doing a complete do it yourself renovation/addition. We bought our kitchen 9 months ago and it's sitting collecting dust in our new kitchen space. Between my husbands full time job and the unexpected problems that arise in an 1840 house we have experienced many delays. Along the way I found this forum and have made a few changes and have returned some items. I had absolutely no problems even after the accepted return date, mind you if I make any more returns credit would be in the way of gift cards. I look forward to using these on all of the great accessories.

Long story short, there is no need to stress because that is the beauty of Ikea. You can make changes. I've followed your posts and look forward to seeing your finished kitchen. It appears to have been well thought out and quite creative. Have fun!

So happy for you! I am looking forward to seeing pictures!
Enjoy the moment- a big decision behind you.

so exciting!! it seems that, so far, your experience with IKEA has been very positive, which is great. especially since renovations can be so stressful. can't wait to see the finished pictures!!

It's funny, but I don't remember being so nervous on my wedding day, lol. True, I was more excited but I am not the Nervous Nellie sort and this threw me a little. I didn't think it is possible to rethink the design or tweak another thing, yet I still can't get over how I changed 2 cabs at the finish line. I can't believe I was so spontaneous after overthinking/analyzing every other decision to death.

There is nothing I think I could have done different or better, yet I am still nervous as we get closer to demo day. The scale of this project is so big for me and I have waited for it for so long. I think it had so much build up because of too much time planning. I cleaned out another cab today and found 2 more items for the reno that I had not paid attention to in 3 years. It is a like a treasure hunt as I un-bury all the materials that we have been storing for so long. It is a good thing we did not go with anything trendy because any trend at the start would be over with by now, lol.

I am glad to be able to share my IKEA experiences because I am a recent convert. I started this reno with no plan or inclination to even check out IKEA but some fans were so "rah rah" here that I was convinced to at least take a look and eat some meatballs. Once I saw and tested the cabs out and read reviews from other IKEA consumers, I started to wonder how it would compare. The look is the same one I was doing and so that was no difference. The quality was just as good when I looked at how they were constructed. I know some people worry about anything that is not plywood construction, but I am convinced that any issue that comes up will have to be from a disaster or similar in which case any cab would be damaged. Replacement costs wouldn't be bad and the money saved on the initial purchase would go towards that (but am not planning on a disaster, lol).

I was stunned at how much I was saving and at seeing other people's finished kitchens. You would have no idea they were IKEA kitchens if you were not told. I hope my kitchen looks nice and don't think anyone will be wondering what brand we used. I'll probably brag about them being from IKEA and how much we saved, lol....

I've thought Ikea was great, ever since I saw the cabinets in Sarah Richardson's Farmhouse kitchen. She painted hers and they look wonderful :)

Oh congratulations Dianalo how exciting! You're probably just nervous because you surprised yourself with those last minute changes. My hunch is you'll be very happy with those changes. Now pour yourself a glass of wine and relax. Your gorgeous new kitchen will be a reality very very soon!
Cheers!

Congratulations! I look forward to seeing pics of your reno. I can't wait for IKEA to open here (Denver) next fall! I've decided not to make any cab decisions until I have a chance to check out IKEA.

I'm not quite at the ordering cabs stage (although I really should be as demo is done), but I can imagine how nervous you must be! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a major planning stage (cabs are huge) is over because you've forked over your hard-earned dollars and said, "these are my cabs." :) I hope I get feel your feelings soon!

I looked at IKEA's cabs a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say I was impressed. I've read people here gush over them, but I poo-poo'd them. They looked and felt great in person. Which style did you claim as yours?

Congratulations!

Congratulations! I am so happy for you.

I would be nervous as well but in considering IKEA, I almost felt like could relax a bit more. What is the worst thing that could happen? If I made a mistake I could just go get a new cabinet.

Best of luck for a smooth project. I will take any and all pics you have the energy to post.

I am using Applad which have slab fronts and doing it in white. I wanted to approximate simple vintage white slab front cabs, maybe even the metal cab look, but the real look I wanted was $35k at the kitchen place in cabs alone, so that went out the window, lol. The Abstrakt was almost a contender but they were just a smidge too shiny and had some seams at the edges of the door that the Applad did not (the Applad has more of a wrapped edge). When dh was leaning toward the more pricey Abstrakt, he did not want them once I pointed out the seam on the door edge. It is a minute detail, but bothered him too once he noticed it. I'd do them in a heartbeat if I were going contemporary as they are really nice otherwise.

I will use vintage chrome hardware that I bought on ebay and will have a glass arch of cabs made for on top of our peninsula which will be more vintage looking with inset doors and visible hinges. That will probably be added after the kitchen is done because they will cost approx $3k for those alone and will probably not make it into the budget right away. They have 3 sides of reeded glass, so while they will divide the LR from the kitchen, they will also help keep an open feel. They will be on the bottom of this layout. Our fridge and freezer will be recessed into the wall behind by a few inches to make them almost counter depth, but not quite.This pic does not show them accurately.
{{!gwi}} A view of the back of our island and our sink area: You can see our separate fridge and freezer set and the peninsula on the left side. We will have open shelves over the sink area. The shows the sink cab before I made it wider and the drawer stack next to it will be narrower.
{{!gwi}}