Ikea Kitchen ... Would You Do It Again?

11 years ago

Our daughter and her husband are going to be building their first house ... working with a very reputable custom builder. I have helped them fine-tuned the details and floorplan, and it is now time to turn our attention to the design and finishes in the kitchen.

A couple of weeks ago, she and I were in Ikea to pick up a couple of things. While passing through the kitchen department, my daughter practically swooned over their new Lixtorp line of cabinets. (It's so new that it's not even on their web site yet.) If you can imagine a combination of contemporary and dark oak Arts and Crafts style, then you'll have the right idea. The door and drawer design perfectly fit her personality, and she was oohing and aahing over the various drawer and cabinet inside fittings that are available.

She and I have an appointment with the builder later this week to go over the kitchen design. She loved the Ikea kitchen so much ... I need to know if it's worth pushing the builder to use these cabinets, or if we would be better served by trying to find a similar style at a reasonable cost from their supplier.

Just as a bit of background, I am very experienced in both stock, semi-custom, and custom kitchen cabinets ... having built all of these in our homes, homes of friends, and remodels for others ... that's why our daughter is leaning on me for advice and a LOT of handholding through this process. I've never done an Ikea kitchen, though. For those of you who have, what would you do?

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Comments (15)

kompy
11 years ago
A lot of people like them. However, keep in mind they have a very limited amount of cabinet sizes. So you might have to redesign the kitchen using their standard (available) cabinets. I also remember hearing that the cabinet boxes aren't always the same color as the fronts (doors)...but that was years ago, so maybe that's changed. I'm sure you'll get lots of feedback here on them.

Kompy
hartwood
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks, Kompy. Standard cabinet sizes aren't a problem here, since the starting point for the base kitchen plan almost certainly uses stock sizes ... won't know that for certain, though, till we get to the meeting later this week.
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annkathryn
11 years ago
I absolutely would do Ikea again. It's true that the standard sizes are a limitation, but with a little filler and some tweaking they can fit into many different types of layouts. The cabinet boxes are either white or a birch color. The doors generally hide the boxes but not always - edge banding can be added to the front of the box to hide any differences in color between the boxes and the door fronts.

I saved at least $15,000 on cabinets by using a combination of Ikea and Sherr's, rather than custom.

Most of the general contractors we interviewed thought Ikea cabinets were only good enough for use in the garage. The one we hired didn't have this preconception.

Here is a link that might be useful: See Davidro1's post about halfway down.
writersblock (9b/10a)
11 years ago
> So you might have to redesign the kitchen using their standard (available) cabinets.

Ikea is like lego. If you want a cabinet size they don't make, you can often combine parts of two different cabinets to create it. EDIT Since they sell things pretty much a la carte, this works better than it would in most lines where a cabinet is a cabinet.

>I also remember hearing that the cabinet boxes aren't always the same color as the fronts (doors)...but that was years ago, so maybe that's changed

No, the boxes are still either white or birch or black/brown. Not sure the black/brown is still available and it was onlya few limited sizes anyway.

This post was edited by writersblock on Tue, Nov 27, 12 at 15:59
sara_the_brit_z6_ct
11 years ago
Yes, yes, yes, and again yes, even if I had a huge budget.
shannonaz
11 years ago
I don't have an Ikea kitchen in my home but I have one in a business. In my opinion the only reason NOT to strongly consider an Ikea kitchen is if you can't find a style you like OR you need super custom sizes. If your daughter is swooning over an Ikea door style it seems like a no-brainer to do an IKea kitchen!!
Tasha Harris
11 years ago
I would definitely do Ikea again. I have only lived with my Ikea and Scherr doors kitchen for a few weeks, but I love the fact that I saved around $12,000 going this route, Ikea's nifty drawer fittings and the little extras (soft-close, more drawers than cabinets, pull-out pantry) that I would not have been able to affordable had I gone the semi-custom path. It's true that the cabinet boxes do not always match the door fronts, but that doesn't bother me since you can't see the cabinet boxes when the doors are closed. My kitchen isn't finished yet. I'm waiting on the cabinet pulls and replacement doors from Scherr.
drybean
11 years ago
Tashamh-Lovely kitchen! It looks gorgeous. I really like how you stacked above to go to the ceiling. Are those the 39" with the horizontal cab on top? Did you have to use filler between the two? Did you use the Ikea crown?

We are most likely using Ikea cabinets for our remodel. This is not our forever house, and the value of our home does not support expensive custom cabinets. I have done a ton of research on cabinets, and I am happy with the quality and the options available.

It does perhaps take a bit more tinkering and thought on the front end, but it sounds like you will be able to assist with that. I don't know that someone who isn't "TKO" would be able to put together the gorgeous Ikea kitchens that abound on this site.
dccurlygirl
11 years ago
This is my Ikea inspiration! Just beautiful, I think.

Here is a link that might be useful: Little House Blog
Tasha Harris
11 years ago
Hi Drybean,

Thanks so much. I can't believe it's my kitchen. I've been living with a horrible kitchen for the last 10 years and thanks to this website, I learned how to customize Ikea cabinets. I've attached pictures of the Ikea cabinet boxes before they installed the Scherr doors. We did not need to use filler. But, my contractor had to shave off 1/4 inch from the horizontal cabs because they aren't exactly 30" or 39". I have no idea why Ikea would build them that way.

Here are the elevations. I can email these to you directly because I can't figure out how to upload them to this site.
Tasha Harris
11 years ago
Sorry it's me again. There's a website called ikeafans.com that someone from this site referenced. It has loads of information but can be a little overwhelming. The other thing that helped in my case is that my contractor does Ikea kitchens all day long. His own kitchen is an Ikea kitchen. Other contractors were going to charge me more because of all of the assembling. It took about 2 days for them to put up the cabinet boxes and about 3 days to install the Scherr doors and trim. Here's a before picture...so anything is possible with a little GW help! And let me tell you, I WAS CLUELESS before I found this site. If you read some of my original posts, you'll see what I'm talking about. But this site was a lifesaver!
detroit_burb
11 years ago
did it three times, would do it a fourth.

The quality, fit and finish are impossible to match in this price point, and being an off the shelf product that is easily obtained, the face of the kitchen can be completely redone in future years if trends change (yes, even all the white on white kitchens will have their day) or your kids destroy it by riding their wheeled vehicles indoors. Don't ask...
vsalzmann
11 years ago
Yes yes yes. Here's a link to my ikea kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vsalz kitchen
crl_
11 years ago
I would do another ikea kitchen in a heartbeat. In fact, I hope to be putting one in our new house in the next year or two.
hartwood
Original Author
11 years ago
You guys are incredible!! This is exactly what we needed to know!

We had the meeting with the kitchen guy this morning. Turns out, my daughter wasn't as married to the Ikea design as she thought she was, and she chose a lovely maple raised-panel design instead. I know I could have designed a great kitchen with the Ikea cabinets, but it's her house and she has to be happy with it.

This said, now that I know that so many of you love your Ikea kitchens, will store this info away for future reference ... our daughter has a laundry room and a finished basement that will be needing some cabinetry in the next few years. :)