IKEA Kitchen Review: 6+ years in - good & bad, plus input needed
Bought a '77 house with an original kitchen spring of 2009. Here's what it looked like:
Installed a mostly-IKEA kitchen Fall 2009. Have been happy with the cabinetry, not so much with the rest. Scan down for specifics and to the bottom for my latest problem and advice needed. Thank you and would love to answer any questions.
Appliances - used three IKEA by Whirlpool appliances: range hood, gas cooktop and 24" electric oven. Originally-purchased oven never worked and had a 3 mo. epic battle getting another one. All 3 appliances have been so-so in quality and performance.
Faucet - their Ringskar model failed in less than 2 years (the lever that adjusts hot/cold fatigued and could not be repaired). They replaced it under warranty, but why would I put in another one with the same design flaw? Replaced with a similar-looking but much higher quality Cifial model from Portugal.
Fittings - most of the pieces that fit in the cabinets have worked well and held up. Also love that wooden cart in the center. Be careful buying their hardware though. Our Hedra knobs turned out to be anthracite-colored paint on aluminum, which wore off quickly on frequently-used locations. Replaced all with repro vintage ruby red glass at about 5 years. Saved the old knobs -- the rest of the paint could be removed and one would have a great set of silver knobs, but that would be a lot of work.
Sink - those Domsjo ceramic sinks look great, but mine has not held up to hard use (I cook a lot). The right bowl developed a 4" double hairline crack about a year ago. I've covered it with mats for now, since the thing isn't leaking. The surface of the sink is wearing badly, too. Plus, the thing requires constant cleaning with our lousy FL water --it has a "drainboard" at the back where the faucet is, which is constantly covered with water.
The sink is warrantied for 15 years, so I can get another one. But to do so, I have to pay someone to remove the one above, take it to IKEA and hope they have the sink in stock. (High demand item!)
Even though the sink is going to be even more expensive to replace with something else, I am going that route instead. The reason it will be so hard: this is a 36" sink that covers the entire cabinet, to the back splash. My carpenter (and thank heaven I have a good one) will have to rebuild (or possibly replace) the cabinet to hold the new sink, then I'll have to try and get new counter to fit in with my existing Caesarstone counter. (Love it - not IKEA purchased or installed, though.)
I am looking at a Blanco Siligranit Super Single in metallic silver, and then a grey Caesarstone to blend with the existing Raven counter and white marble backsplash. None of this will be cheap or easy. All input welcome at this stage, as no decisions are made yet.
I'll end on a happier note, with a photo of my favorite part of the kitchen. When we bought the house, it had an ugly skylight near the sink, since there is no kitchen window. This was a piece of translucent plastic held up by a trim strip. My carpenter opened it up, dry-walled it and painted it to match the interior of my open cabinets. Now I love to look up at my sycamore's branches. Proof that a negative for a home shopper can turn into a major positive with the right help.
Comments (15)
wacokid
8 years agoRelated Discussions
please review my kitchen design - not urgent but hope to hear
Comments (23)As requested earlier from Davidro who wanted to understand traffic flow, below is a whole house "sketch" which shows our first floor layout (upstairs is only a loft) and second diagram is where I'm at with regard to kitchen design after input from you guys and after Ikea consultant/designer who was at my home today gave as far as cabinets fitting. Also, from the earlier discussion, I had some confusion about whether I could relocate the washer/dryer to the hall. The contractor who visited today didn't have any problems with the relocation. It helps a lot that our foundation is "pier and beam". Moving plumbing around is a whole lot easier. New location of washer/dryer may be a bit claustrophobic in the hall way outside the bathroom but I only do laundry a couple times a week for short spurts. I'm in the kitchen a whole lot longer and since the relocation of washer/dryer is the only thing keeping me from having the kitchen layout I REALLY wanted from the beginning (barring the fact the pantry has gotten quite a bit smaller), I am a happy camper. I'm going to lie low a while and get our bathroom done and maybe a roof before I come back with any updates on the kitchen. And for anyone who is in doubt, the Ikea prices for all cabinets is half of what price was quoted for Innermost cabinets by Home Depot. And the Ikea quote includes several of the appliances though I'm not sure yet if that is how I will really go. But cabinets -yes - their prices are too good to pass up. The money we save can go for the bathroom we're getting that has a curbless shower, and several other expensive details which Ikea can't help us out on. I'll still be listening but hopefully everyone can see the aisles around the island are considerably wider (maybe even too wide with my feet problems). If I need more pantry space, I'm fairly sure that several of the drawers in the main part of the kitchen will not all be used so I can use them for pantry space spill over if there is any. THANKS AGAIN (though I will definitely be back - still need to pick out countertop/backsplash/flooring/hoodOverCooktop and make decisions about appliances..) And since I haven't marked it well, let me explain that there are upper cabinets on either side of the cooktop and also to the left of the fridge. No uppercabinets on the sides of the "cleanup sink" with the large 6 foot wide window. Think I may wait until kitchen is done and probably install some open floating shelves on either side of cleanup sink - more for esthetics than function but I think I can wait until the last minute for that. (Maybe even some art work...)...See MoreLayout for Review/Input - Appreciate any and all help!
Comments (12)You're welcome. Can you put a lower counter below the one window on the left wall? If it's the right height for a baking counter, say 33", that would make a nice baking center for you. If that's possible, here's another idea. Move the DO to the lower end of the left wall with a pantry cab between it and the wall. Then add a lower counter below the window, spanning the distance between DO cabs and cabs on upper side of the left wall. Then turn the island perpendicular to its present position and shift it over to give you enough aisle space between perimeter cabs and island. Rhome has only 36" between prep area and cooktop and it works for her but most prefer 42". This eliminates the butt to butt problem of sink, DW and cooktop. On the backside of the island, go with a raised curved counter with seating facing the baking center. This eliminates the in-a-row seating that makes conversation harder and also provids a buffer between seaters and cooktop activity (a pop-up downdraft helps with that, too). These changes mean that fridge traffic no longer crosses the work zones so you can eliminate the undercabinet fridge. You can increase to a 36" fridge if you need more room. Oh, one thing just popped out at me. You wrote that you're doing standard depth fridge but your plan shows a fridge with CD dimensions. A standard depth fridge will stick out several inches more than you show. You could take the money you would have spent on a fridge and undercab fridge and get a CD fridge instead and gain more aisle space. I'm talking stand alone, not built-in. If the window doesn't allow for a 33" or 34" counter, you could still put one in front of it, just do a "floating" counter. A GWer did such a thing for her sink in an old house. Wish I could remember who it was.... It was clever and allowed her to put counter where one wouldn't think counter could go. Until I remember who it is, here's my recollection of how it works. She has cabinets up to the window sill, then open space in front of the window between lower cabs and counter. You could leave this clear or put baskets there for storage. The unfitted look would be appropriate for your old home's age. Heck, if this look works for you, you can go with standard height counters and have a really nice long counter run, perfect for baking prep....See MoreIKEA Kitchen layout input please
Comments (5)4) The 18" pull-out drawer to the right of the sink would be for the garbage can. I understand that it would hit the dishwasher; just can't really think of a way around it. Use a 15" trash pull-out, with 3" of filler. I have a 12" trash pull-out and it is sufficient for our family of 5. You'll also need filler between the DW and corner. You could use a second corner susan, with a 6" slot beside the sink for cutting boards or sheets pans, and have an under sink trash pull-out, although you might need a single sink with offset drain. The DW would be 12" from the corner, so no filler necessary....See MoreNeed kitchen design input- TIA!
Comments (8)How about this... Working off of your design with the range in front of the brick wall, put a floating little island (fold-down wings for extended surface?) next to the cabinet to the right of the range, along the wall. Do as AFritzler suggested and put the fridge near the dining room and the sink under the window. Now, with a wheeled island, you can pull it over to the fridge when it is time to pull out all of the fresh ingredients that you need. Then you may push the island to wherever it is convenient to chop, after going to the sink to rinse. Keep cutting boards, knives and colanders in the island. You can now chop watching the kids out the dining room window, watching something on TV from your portable island, or in a spot of sunshine or cool breeze - whatever you like. Then wheel the cart over to the stove. Have your spices on the island, too, and it will all be right there. Once everything is cooking, wipe off the island and scoot it back to its corner. Or you can put it at a 90 degree angle to the sink during washing up to have aan easy place to reach to set pots to dry. I had an island like this from Lowes. One side of the top folded up or down to increase or decrease the work surface. One end had pegs for hanging tools. the other end had a door with shallow spice shelves behind it. The front side had a door on either end and shelves in between them that went from front to back, so you could reach the kitchen towels I stacked there from either side. In your case, with all of your spice needs, you might want the backside to also have shallow shelves for spices, oils, and condiments (behind doors) and a work surface extension that slides out from under the stationary one.The white thing on the left is the island. Front.Here is the back, with fold-down top extension. This little island made this small kitchen usable before we remodeled it. Yours could be sized to fit right between the end of the counter and the basement door. You would have to scoot it out of the way to get to the drawers under your pantry, but that is probably okay. You could make it with standard cabinets on a sturdy base, or have it custom made with just the compartments you want. If you want a recessed top extension, Lee Valley might sell something like that. Your kitchen is wide enough to leave the island in the middle sometimes, too. It is just inconvenient to walk around a stationary island to go between the sink and range. That is why I am making it portable. You may also want to go with a counter-depth fridge, as Astrid C did in Her little SoCal Spanish Kitchen...See More
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7 years agoUpdate on my IKEA DOMSJO sink issue. I had my wonderful countertop company install additional counter plus a new Blanco Siligranit one & three-quarter bowl with low-divide in Cinder. This color is a close match to my Raven Caesarstone. I would really have preferred to go with a light sink and surround, but both the owner of the counter company and a friend who cleans professionally for a living strongly urged me to go dark. It's a big visual adjustment from the huge white IKEA one, but does look good.
The next week, I returned the cracked sink to IKEA and was given a replacement. I was then sent up to Kitchens to talk with a rep about how to make it fit. I have the discontinued "Akurum" cabinetry. They have changed the sink to accommodate the new "Sektion" system. In order to install it I'd need new doors and a fill piece, at my own expense.
Here's a better view of the new sink, which required no new doors or fill pieces:
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