Dutty nails it with this quote: "Is Ikea for everyone? No. Are there better cabinets out there? Yes. But for the money, it's a VALUE and you can do amazing things with a little ingenuity. Plus, with the savings you can put drawers everywhere, inserts, soft close, etc. All of those would be UPGRADES with a cabinet company. The thing you need to be most careful with is who you hire to put it all together and PLAN. PLAN. PLAN⦠make sure you KNOW the product inside and out. " Dh was just drilling through a Home Depot particleboard panel that had an IKEA cabinet behind it. He remarked that it was incredible how much denser the IKEA cabinet side was compared to the no-name particleboard - not the same stuff at all. Also, he had a major allergy attack while working with the Home Depot particleboard - something he hadn't experienced during hacking the IKEA cabinets at all. I wondered if that's because IKEA particleboard is made to EU standards which limits some VOC levels, etc. It's a mistake to assume that all particleboard is created equal. IKEA wouldn't be able to warranty their kitchens for 25 years if their stuff was the same crappy material that my home's original 2001 builder grade cabinets were made from for example.

I was going to ask this same question today! Great minds..... ;) Anywho, I'm not concerned with the "messy" hands- I plan to use a bin pull on the trash cabinet. But, I am also wondering if I can use the same pulls on dishwasher drawers and refrigerator drawers (obviously, I plan to use panels on these appliances, hence the need for hardware). Anyone have this? I want to keep the hardware styles to a minimum.... of 2 to be exact. Bin pulls on the drawers, knobs on the doors.

Sorry to bump this after so much time. Here's a picture of the trash compactor. This is the pull out trash/recycling system that I want. http://www.pullsdirect.com/rev-a-shelf-5349-2150dm-2-5349-series-double-50-quart-pull-out-waste-container-with-soft-close-slides/p1573591. It says that it fits in a 15 inch width cabinet. It took me this long to contact a few custom cabinet makers in my area. 2 of them have told me that to replace the trash compactor with the double pull out trash/recycling that I want, I would need to not only have a cabinet door/face, but also they'd need to create a cabinet box and a frame too. However, by doing this, the width of the side of the cabinet box would mean that they wouldn't be able to put in the pull-out that I want, which needs a width of 14.8 inches (the trash compactor is 15 inches), so I'd need to select a different one, which would have a much smaller bin size. The one I want has 2 50 quart bins, and I would have to go down to 2 27 quart bins, I think, to get it to fit, which is a big difference. I'm also talking to a third custom cabinet guy who said that there might be a way to be able to put in a "floor" to where the trash compactor was, so he could install the double pull out I want (which is bottom mounted, not side mounted) without any sides, and then put some type of frame at the top only, so something that the cabinet door could rest against while closed, but said he'd have to think about how to create it, and get back to me. I'm waiting to hear from him to see if he's thought of something that would work. In addition, the price estimates I've gotten so far were substantially higher than I was expecting. Alison, I'd love to know the details of how you and your dh did this. Did you add a whole cabinet box? If not, what did you mount your pullout to, and what does your door rest against? I would appreciate any ideas. Thanks! Here is a link that might be useful: rev-a-shelf double pull out

Doesn't it come with the trash bins? Check Rev-A-Shelf. Btw... the cabinet only needs to be 18" wide, not 21.5". I'd put those extra 3.5" into the cabinet next to it (assuming there is a cabinet next to it).