The water v. cabinet issue has lots of people talk about it, but you kinda have to experience it to see the difference. Full disclosure - I have had some sizable leaks in two different brands of cabinets, including a valve break. Neither were ikea. I have ikea now. This was a monetary decision made after a lot of discussion. We modified all of the base cabinets by adding additional structural parts. I am prepared to ditch the sink cabinets if it becomes necessary and right on to kurtg that a sink base is the one place where the cost of actually doing any replacement completely overwhelms the value you can recover from the warranty. Some of the other things said above? Edge banding is for visual appearance, not a moisture barrier. Unless you are very fortunate, and the glue fills every millimeter of seam, it will not keep out water. YMMV on seams from an original manufacturer. Most cabinet plywood can beat up most particle board for moisture resistance. This is particularly true of ikea where one minute of water exposure to a cut edge is enough to cause deformation. The caulk idea expressed above is cute, but not really practical where pipes enter the bottom of the cabinet. Plus when almost every edge on the entire cabinet is a cut edge, its pretty difficult to make this work. So, how do I know it deforms? Because I tried it. A couple of those trials were yesterday on a cabinet part purchased within the last month. Dunk for a minute, wet sponge sitting on the surface and a decently long dunking of an end. I also tried other materials - like mdf, another companies particle board, hdf and two different types of cabinet plywood with differing cores. Ikea particle board was easily the worst at absorption and deformation. Hdf was easily the best at shape retention - no deformation even after 24 hours of immersion. In decending order of goodness: hdf, osb core cabinet plywood, mdf, home depot type veneer ply, other makers particle board and well behind that, ikea particle board. I will say that water sitting on just the coated surface - the really damp sponge test - took a long time to penetrate something over 10 hours. Water will penetrate all melamine coatings eventually. The problem isn't the coating - its what's inside of the coating. The particle board will tolerant no moisture. This isn't special to ikea. Other brands that use particle board cabinet bottoms (like one of the kinds I had) can also deform from standing water or continually being exposed to water or cleaning chemicals. The amount of time needed for deforming and the results depend on quality of the coating and the quality of the particle board. If you get a good long dunk, expect ikea to be destroyed. The low density fiberboard back is another weak spot. It has a very thin coating that is easily damaged. How easy? Piece of blue tape or slight bending or slide across a counter face down kinda easy. Will disintegrate on exposure to water. Intended as a dust back. It isn't structural - low density fiberboard has no structure. One of the famous weird things that gets said is the cabinet back will stop the cabinet from racking. It's laughable - the concept that this very soft stuff nailed into particle board - that can be pushed back out or bent by any small child - would be capable of structure. It's much more likely the racking will pull the nails out. Also from above, ikea base cabinets have two sides, a bottom and two puny cross pieces. The larger the cabinet, the weaker it is (even with the back attached). I very much doubt the bottom can be removed and the cabinet still has the same structure. They (being cabinet companies) used to sell, and some still do sell, a sink front that was framed - the actual sink cabinet was then built in place. But that was before big sinks and wide cabinets. Some of the large sinks and some of the countertop materials need some decent support up top. It can happen, but relying on just the two small mdf cross pieces with one fastener per end into a side piece held up only by cabinet connectors doesn't sound likely of being able to provide it. Mdf isn't known for its wonderful structural qualities either.

I know this is ancient but here's what posted in the "solution thread" in case anyone needs to know how to remove the TWO flow restrictors in an IKEA faucet. I HAVE THE SOLUTION! NO NEED TO BUY A NEW FAUCET OR END. I stumbled across this (and your thumbs down thread) when trying to figure out why my ikea pull out kitchen faucet had such poor flow. It wasn't even enough to trigger the tankless water heater. I went to Ikea and while there brought it up with a kitchen specialist who denied all knowledge of a problem or that a flow restrictor existed. I said that's impossible as FR's are legally required in my state. But it was the way she denied all knowledge that got me thinking there's something more to this, and VOILA! I solved it. Here's HOW TO REMOVE BOTH (YES, THERE'S TWO!) FLOW RESTRICTORS IN AN IKEA FACUET. 1, On the pull out spout you'll see indents for a wrench, let's call this part the hose coupler. Now It's the actually the larger cylindrical spout part below it that you need to get off, so grip tight and unscrew it away from the house coupling. 2, once you have the spout end free. you'll notice that it's a metal cover with a black plastic part inside. Push downwards gently on the screw thread and the plastic barrel will come out of the housing. It's this part that aerates the water and has the flow restrictors. At the bottom of this barrel, you'll see the grey part with little teeth around the edge (they look like battlements on a castle). If you still have the green key that came with the faucet I think this should unscrew it. I lost mine so instead unscrewed this grey part with a good quality flat head screwdriver, pushing against one of the teeth in a counter clockwise pressure. Be careful not to cut the tooth as you push it. If you won't budge, move on to another tooth and try again. Don't use a very sharp screwdriver - I used the flat wide one in a Swiss Army Knife and it was perfect. They grey part will unscrew and on top of it, you'll see a little white mech and underneath that, something green. That little white mesh is a cap that sits inside (not on top) of the white ring housing. Pry it out with a little knife, it'll pop right out and inside there is FR number one - a little green devil, that sucks the pressure from your beloved faucet. Pull it out and put the little white mesh cap on. Now look up that plastic barrel - you'll see theres a white/beige contraption with a spring. Yoo can either push up from below to pop this out with something like a pencil. or get that flat screw driver again, and from the top, angle it under the lip of this little contraption and while pulling up, turn it in your hand.It's only held in place with a rubber O ring so should slide out. This little contraption is a pressure regulator and will also affect flow. 3, Now, screw the grey part back in, and then slide the metal cylinder cover over the barrel and then screw the spout back in to the hose coupler. DONE. You know have virtually full flow back. It will be at the price of that aerating feature, but I just want as much pressure as possible. I did not try putting the pressure regulator back in, but someone else out there may want to try. I hope this helps and please feel free to comment with any questions If you need.

I HAVE THE SOLUTION! NO NEED TO BUY A NEW FAUCET OR END. I stumbled across this (and your thumbs down thread) when trying to figure out why my ikea pull out kitchen faucet had such poor flow. It wasn't even enough to trigger the tankless water heater. I went to Ikea and while there brought it up with a kitchen specialist who denied all knowledge of a problem or that a flow restrictor existed. I said that's impossible as FR's are legally required in my state. But it was the way she denied all knowledge that got me thinking there's something more to this, and VOILA! I solved it. Here's HOW TO REMOVE BOTH (YES, THERE'S TWO!) FLOW RESTRICTORS IN AN IKEA FACUET. 1, On the pull out spout you'll see indents for a wrench, let's call this part the hose coupler. Now It's the actually the larger cylindrical spout part below it that you need to get off, so grip tight and unscrew it away from the house coupling. 2, once you have the spout end free. you'll notice that it's a metal cover with a black plastic part inside. Push downwards gently on the screw thread and the plastic barrel will come out of the housing. It's this part that aerates the water and has the flow restrictors. At the bottom of this barrel, you'll see the grey part with little teeth around the edge (they look like battlements on a castle). If you still have the green key that came with the faucet I think this should unscrew it. I lost mine so instead unscrewed this grey part with a good quality flat head screwdriver, pushing against one of the teeth in a counter clockwise pressure. Be careful not to cut the tooth as you push it. If you won't budge, move on to another tooth and try again. Don't use a very sharp screwdriver - I used the flat wide one in a Swiss Army Knife and it was perfect. They grey part will unscrew and on top of it, you'll see a little white mech and underneath that, something green. That little white mesh is a cap that sits inside (not on top) of the white ring housing. Pry it out with a little knife, it'll pop right out and inside there is FR number one - a little green devil, that sucks the pressure from your beloved faucet. Pull it out and put the little white mesh cap on. Now look up that plastic barrel - you'll see theres a white/beige contraption with a spring. Yoo can either push up from below to pop this out with something like a pencil. or get that flat screw driver again, and from the top, angle it under the lip of this little contraption and while pulling up, turn it in your hand.It's only held in place with a rubber O ring so should slide out. This little contraption is a pressure regulator and will also affect flow. 3, Now, screw the grey part back in, and then slide the metal cylinder cover over the barrel and then screw the spout back in to the hose coupler. DONE. You know have virtually full flow back. It will be at the price of that aerating feature, but I just want as much pressure as possible. I did not try putting the pressure regulator back in, but someone else out there may want to try. I hope this helps and please feel free to comment with any questions If you need.

KL, Your new kitchen is spectacular. Thank you so much for sharing in such detail. I am thinking I ought to do the same, as I am just at the planning stages of my project. I am wondering how your kitchen is holding up after 8 months. I am considering going with IKEA boxes and semi-handmade in my kitchen reno, but worry about the durability of the Ikea drawers, slides, and hinges. Are you still happy with them? Also I am curious about what cabinet material you chose. I am guessing that SemiHandmade in Flatsawn Walnut is a veneer, right? How is it looking 8 months on? I am trying to make my budget work and am tempted to save on cabinets because it's just such a big ticket item. Are you still happy with your choice? Also, how do you like the FP fridge?