Ikea's not that strange now, I suppose, but when the Burbank store opened some years ago it was really different and amusing to tour. You come in one door and a line on the floor leads you into the living room area, then continues wandering you through the departments of the various rooms (their thoughtfully provided pencil, measuring tape, and shopping list in hand), including kitchen and bath, all of which have lots of smaller items well as furniture for those rooms. Even if it wasn't really my style, the unsually good design quality (at that time) for the extremely low prices had my head swinging constantly. The line cruises a couple of times by a cafeteria, where people are sitting talking about which counter or sofa or type of closet system while they eat (fairly quietly if they took advantage of the nursery provided near the front door). Once purchases are decided on on this floor, the line leads you downstairs, or whereever, past towels, scales, mirrors, flowers, patio furniture, office supplies, pots and pans, etc, etc, etc, etc, then through a warehouse where you can pull a bunch of the smaller boxes you've got on your list, then to the checkout stands, which are surrounded by tables of yet more loose merchandise like cute ice molds and so on. Also some food items. Off at the end is the waiting area and counter where one picks up large purchases and asks for help schlepping them out the door and into the car. Back then, a couple of friends had just divorced and had been shopping for weeks trying to get their new lives together, when a stroll through Ikea would have been so much more efficient and economical instead. Instant apartment. Although virtually everything's in that modern-European style range, there are a whole bunch of choices of sizes and colors and so on within that style. Back in those days, absolutely nothing even began to compare for the range of choice, the good design, the interchangeable customizable design systems, and the decent construction quality (high-quality low-end furniture) for the very low price. That was the big wow. Cheaper than Sears but looked like something you might see in a glossy magazine. Competitors took note, of course, and are competing now, but Ikea's still in a class of its own for what it offers.

I just placed my order for cabinets yesterday, our ikea did allow for accessories to be included to get you to the 20%. But this ikea does not allow for additional purchases to be made after the original purchase at the 20% discount. It kind of stinks...they said you get the one time purchase and that is it. The associate told me they used to allow people to come back and purchase additional items, but they had too many contractors taking advantage and making one purchase, then coming back over and over, so they decided to make it a "one time purchase" only at 20%. I had fallen in love with the Atlantic Salt Caesarstone displayed at our ikea...at $55 sq/ft with the discount, it would have been a great price. Unfortunately, I am 80 miles away and out of the range to have the counters fabricated with Ikea's fabricators. Locally I can't find it for less than $100 sq/ft, so I'm back to searching for different countertops....

Hey everyone... I had the same exact problem. Some of the thermofoil doors/cabinets started to peel on about 4-5 of my doors. I found a company that is amazing from California. I live in Boston but wanted to provide this info as they so far have been the best fix I could come by. The website is below: http://www.cabinetnow.com I purchased the Artesia RTF Cabinet Door - Frosty Satin White to match and then had the TSQ cut corner. I've attached a picture of the replacements. In my kitchen...can't noticed the difference. They also can do cabinet faces for the drawer fronts. It's the solid door front with TSQ edge. They will talk you through it. See attached photos. Hope this helps everyone with this same FRUSTRATING problem that I had. WAY better than replacing the entire kitchen cabinets! The second photo is an original next to a replacement. If you're staring at them you may notice a slight difference, but once up...seriously the same. Well worth it and reasonably priced. Shipped to my door. GOOD LUCK!

Thanks Benjesbride! Well, as seems to be our fashion, we had an unexpectedly rushed last minute do-or-die IKEA kitchen buying experience when our contractor told us he'd start putting in the cabinets on Tuesday (we had been debating trying to reuse the old ones that came with the home vs buying anew). So we drove to IKEA the same afternoon I posted this question. After much consideration, we went with the Ringhult white fronts (the kitchen associates said those were the most popular/durable with strong reviews) and we took everyone's advice to get rid of the corner cabinet and move the dishwasher into that space! I was pretty nervous about making the call (husband was not a fan of losing the extra counter space since we have a number of appliances that we use regularly), but we both agreed that having the kitchen feel more open was with the trade-off, since everything else in the home is pretty closed off with narrow passageways. At this point, we just have to move forward and hope for the best (I second guess myself constantly) and hope we made the right choice for layout and aesthetically! Benjesbride, funny that you suggested that pantry where you did; one used to exist there but that's where the termites were found and after they opened the pantry up, the space felt a lot bigger. But, yeah, I'm counting on all those IKEA drawers to help sort out our kitchen storage system (along with donating things we don't use or need)!