You may absolutely purchase Ikea cabinets without doors either online or in person, whichever you prefer. Each cabinet is really a collection of, say,10 items, each with a part #. At the store, a kitchen person will add the cabinet you want in a Harlig door, for example, and then go in and just remove the door, leaving the other 9 items in your cart. If you go this route, double check size, configuration, and frame color (birch or white) while they're typing it in. Mistakes happen. If you're doing this online, simply select the item you want in the configuration you want, and click on the "Show dimensions, weight and article numbers" link. Then copy each article number into the search button at the top of the page, and the item will appear. Buy it online. Repeat with the next 9 part #s. When you come to a door, just don't buy it. GW is great for some types of info, but you should really check out the Ikeafans web site for more guidance. In order to use Barker doors, you will need the measurements for the doors. You can find these on the Ikea web site if you look hard enough, or you can check out the Ikeafans link below. You'll have to look up info on hinge cup cut out size and location. Barker will cut them wherever you want them, but you need to know what to select/ask for. It is worth comparing the cost of a Barker Cabinet vs. Ikea/Barker Door. For ordinary cabs there's not that big a savings to be had with Ikea. For tall pantry/oven cabinets, or corner cabinets, the difference is substantial. Also, when ordering through Barker Door, make sure to take note of the maximum door width that differs among styles. Good Luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Measurements

scrappy2, there's really not much to show. Any cell phone pic I'd post would look like an unfinished door. My stuff was stripped before I applied the paint base. I used exterior so it had all the weather and UV protection elements in it. Just figured it couldn't hurt. I did use latex, because it was inside. I'm thinking you could use a tougher, oil base for cabinets that get a lot of action. Now, I did do a credenza, which I sold. I scuffed the finish with a 220 sanding block, being careful to get into detail with an emery board. I then applied the paint base and boom. No shine. Smooooooth and beautiful. 2 coats. Water proof against glass condensation, etc. My person is still thrilled with it a year+ and I'm using it all the time. I also used it to glue chipping paint down without it looking gummy. Other top coats (even DecoArt's supposedly matte finish) leave a discernible shine. Haven't tried Modern Masters, when my paint base is so inexpensive. Anyway, the chips glue down without any hint of glue, or looking top coated. I don't know how to explain how it Doesn't look top coated! I'm considering scuffing (or even sanding hard) the unfinished cherry face frame and drawer fronts I got from The Cabinet Joint. I love them, but I polyacryliced them (not polyurethane!) and even the satin is just too shiny. I'm eyeing my can of paint base for them instead.

I sampled sea salt, quiet moments and rainwashed. In my very brightly lit, wall of southern windows (that have white plantation shutters that REALLY reflect our bright green florida lawn and our equally bright blue skies) open living space the Sea salt turned bright blue, quiet moments gray, and rainwashed bright green. All three of these colors look radically different and more like paint chip in my bright east facing bath that does Not reflect a lot of green and blue into room. i mixed 1/3 of each sample (measured with a scale for exact replicable measurements) and came out with a beautiful soft grayed green blue). Playing with other ratios today with same samples. my local paint store wouldnt take responsibility for calculating formulas based on my mad science projects, so they gave me all three individual formulas for me to calculate what i want. They will mix to those numbers. i am having them do a sample tomorrow with that formula to make sure it comes out good. good luck everyone.

Think of it this way...Gap...Old Navy... and Banana Republic they are all owned by the same company...I would say there are plenty of people who shop at these stores who not aware of this fact, these three different clothing stores sell many of the same type of items and change things like thread count, buttons etc. and they sell to slightly different clientele....think Ford and Lincoln....Toyota to Lexus...or more so Carl's Jr Hamburgers vs Hardee's, it is along this same concept that these cabinet lines are made and 'branded'....I would suspect one other purpose is that it also allows different local cabinet sales companies to sell these cabinets in the same city and have less price matching comparison shopping from clients...the basic manufacturing is the same, the basic approach to building the cabinets are the same...the colors, hardware and maybe some door styles are often changed (or simply sold under different names.) These are all fine manufacturers - and all are made in the US. An affiliated company of our sells several of these lines made by some of the manufacturers mentioned above and the products are all great and the manufacturers back up their products. One of the biggest reasons they do not want their customer service information out there is that they want you to go to their local Sellers to deal with any issues rather than for them to handle customer follow up. All of these brands I would buy with confidence the part to be more mindful of would be which line within the brand to buy. Once you're comfortable with the 'Brand' my advice would be to focus on different features even within the same nameplate - and get educated on features of the various 'lines' - such as stapled drawer fronts vs dovetail, particle board vs plywood boxes, the limitations of paint colors, door styles and sizes, these are the items to watch out for more...I guess this would be kind of like the polo shirt I buy from Banana vs Gap vs Old Navy might wear differently over time depending on actual thread count and type of buttons used etc.