I recently ordered our cabinets from Ikea in preparation for our kitchen remodel this winter/spring (ordered now to take advantage of the countertop sale that through the end of November). We'll be using custom doors simply because ikea doesn't offer a style we liked. Its funny that people can look at the exact same product and have completely different perceptions. We've been wanting to do our kitchen for a few years and now after deciding we will be staying in this house for the forseeable future decided we would do it now, but within a reasonable budget. The standard "good" cabinet lines are not inexpensive. Standard cabinet construction in these lines includes particle board boxes & shelves with solid wood doors (and solid wood face frames if not frameless). I looked at some "upper end" cabinets and still, the standard constructon is particle board for boxes & shelves and solid wood doors & drawers. Sure, you can upgrade to plywood boxes but for our use I don't see why we would. Our current cabinets are 30 years old with 1/2" particle board boxes that have not deteriorated - a little bit of sagging in a few spots but generally in good shape. I find it funny that ikea kitchen cabinets get a bad wrap for not being constructed of "solid" wood when in fact most kitchen cabinets are not made of "solid" wood. When I looked at the ikea cabinets I was impressed. I saw very solid boxes & shelves made of 3/4" particle board, soft close doors & drawers standard - yes the drawers are not dove tailed wood but truthfully, even though a dovetail joint is extremely strong, the main point of using it in a drawer is for aesthetic purposes. The drawers themselves are screwed to the drawer face as are the ikea metal drawers. Our current 30 year old stapled plywood drawers have not fallen apart in 30 years - I don't think dovetailed construction could have done any better than that. I can appreciate why someone would want solid wood drawers but we are choosing to spend our money elsewhere. As far as the doors, ikea has cheap ones, and they have some nice wood doors if you like the styles (I'm not sure the durability of the finish would be as good as with a typical catalyzed finish you would get in a more tradition cabinet however). Personally - I see ikea as a great value on a good cabinet box & hardware - that we can customize. For our kitchen (which I recently posted a thread on), the cabinets with all hardware minus legs & door fronts came in slightly less than $2500. Had we ordered the most expensive style door that ikea offers, the total would have been around $5500. I am expecting our custom doors / drawer fronts to run around $3500-4000 or $500-1000 more than using ikea doors. For us, this was the best value, especially since i can do the install myself. We only have 1 other piece of ikea furniture in our house and thats an entertainment center down in the basement. The quality is OK, nothing to write home about, but a good value for what we are using it for. The kitchen cabinets are constructed much better than this piece. If they weren't, I wouldn't be using them.

I live in the Madison area. My husband and I have been to two of the six Parade neighborhoods so far. In one, the homes were around the $550k. In the other, I’d say they were around $300k-350k. I heard someone mention that the lesser priced houses were a welcome addition to the Parade of Homes this year; that in years past, it was only more expensive homes. We have a 1200sf ranch, and we are almost finished building our new screened in porch. The next big project is the kitchen… and finishing up our single bathroom remodel. We enjoy going to the Parade of Homes to get ideas. We each bring a tape measure, and we constantly measure aisle widths, island dimensions, countertops, etc. It’s a huge help while we work on our renovation plans. I tend to look at overall layout and function. Here are some of my comments: - 9 of 10 homes have a great room set up, with a kitchen/DR/LR open plan space. The living room is often super tall (2 or more stories), and frequently, the only place to put a TV is above the fireplace. I’m torn on the super tall ceiling in the LR – I’m not sure I like the scale, and it tends to make the rooms feel taller, rather than wide, which makes them feel smaller in footprint than they really are. Also, TV is important to me, but above the fireplace is just. Too. High. -Speaking of TV, there is often a second TV room in the basement, or on a landing on the second floor. It seems like there is no way to close off the ancillary TV spaces from the first floor great room, which may or may not have its own TV. (open stairways to the basement, open railings to the great room, etc.) Really??? Is that cool? -Several homes had the kitchen sink in plain sight of the front door. In new construction (i.e., when all of the options are available to you), I’m not sure I like that. - Lots of pocket doors. I Love them!!!! However, I don’t love the dinky little hardware you have to fiddle with to get the teensy little handle thingees to pop out. There has to be a better way! -We looked carefully at the detailing in the screened in porches. Ours is DIY, and nearly finished. I was generally not impressed with what I saw. In just one of the lesser priced houses, we quite liked the detailing and quality of the work. In most of the houses, the screened in porches and decks were generic, regardless of the style or price of the house. (I like ours best!) -All of the 10 homes I’ve seen have a master bedroom suite on the first floor. It’s not uncommon to be able to lay in bed, and look straight out into the kitchen. (even in the more expensive homes). This is something I’ve been thinking about, because this will most likely be the case in our ranch home after our kitchen remodel. -In the majority of MBR suites, the closet can ONLY be accessed through the master bathroom. I am not impressed. -First or second floor laundry is standard now, which is pretty cool. -Mud rooms were an area that were greatly expanded in more expensive houses. In the less expensive houses, they typically felt quite cramped. -Yards seem small to me, in ALL of the houses, and the houses are close together. Kitchen comments: -For me, a 42” aisle is perfect. (our house and kitchen are small, so this dimension is important to me.) -For me, 12” overhang for seating at a 36” high counter is plenty. One kitchen had a 9.75” overhang for seating, and it was bad. -some of the islands are just out of control – too big! Too deep, too many angles in the differing counter heights. The above pictures almost always cut off the high/bar height portions of the islands. -One house had a giant pantry/storage area between the mud room and the kitchen. It was AWESOME. -Only the pricier homes had kitchens with lower drawers instead of regular lower cabinets. -I MUST have a landing space for the fridge – either across an aisle, or to the right of the fridge as you look at it. I saw one fridge that was all by itself next to a pantry closet, with no landing space within 7 feet of it in all directions. -I only saw a few prep sinks, only in the pricier homes. I can’t say I’m sold. They seem like a bandaid for poorly designed kitchens, IMHO. I have a friend who has one; she never uses it. -one kitchen (in a pretty pricey home) had a 32” aisle in front of a French door fridge. It was too small. -I hate MW below the countertop. hate it. Hate it. Hate it. (I am a heavy MW user). -Undermount sinks tend to be deeper than I like. -Several of the more pricy kitchens had GLASS pantry doors at a 45 degree angle in the corner of the kitchen, with the word “pantry” etched in. Really? Does anyone really want to display their pantry contents??? -Many homes don’t seem to have a formal dining room at all. If they do, it often seemed small (to me), and were typically near the front door, around the corner from the kitchen, with double doors that faced the great room. They seemed better suited for offices. But, I’m not a fan of an office that opens up in to the main social space of the house. And if it’s a dining room, I’d like better access to the kitchen.

You will love Clear Fork River Valley--I got it at Wade and Gatton a few years ago--the Clear Fork River runs by the edge of their property. I have some of the others too. What a great collection of different types, colors, etc. I love hosta shopping.

Our nearest Ikea is nearly 3 hours drive from me. I hate that drive too, through Northern Ky and Cincinnati area. The interstate has multiple, very narrow lanes with a lot of semi trucks. Hate it. Last trip up there a few weeks ago, I bought a dresser to put in my closet. My friend put it together for me but when she moved it, part of it snapped. The part in between the drawers. She glued it back but it was noticeable even with the drawers in it. So when I went to pick it up it wouldn't fit in my car. She said she'd keep it since there was no way to get it to my house and she couldn't take it apart again to take it back to Ikea for a refund. It's sad because it's a very nice looking dresser and now I can't find one I like anywhere else.