Ikea uses metal boxes. My guess is that it is the lower grade of Tandembox from Blum since Ikea uses Blumotion for drawer runners. Tandemboxes come in lacqured metal or stainless steel. Tandemboxes can be used with their Orgaline of drawer inserts that look very much like Ikea drawer inserts. I am not sure if Blum makes the ones that Ikea uses or not. But... If you wanted to change the standard dovetail hardwood drawers with Tandembox from Blum, a typical custom cabinet maker considers that an upgrade and charges quite a bit for the Tandemboxes. So what you are getting with the Ikea is an upgrade from the standard drawers. HOWEVER, you do get the MDF boxes which is considered "less" durable than plywood. (I am just quoting the industry saying.) So Ikea boxes/drawers are a mixed bag in terms of "perceived" quality... Having said that, I really like the Tandembox drawers and I only looked at custom cabinet makers that offered that option. I think it is a HUGE functional improvement from the standard dovetail boxes because the accessories are so well designed and easy to use. I would say to go for it with the Ikea boxes with custom fronts. Let us know how it turns out. (I considered that option seriously for us. I actually picked the custom route for myself.) http://www.blum.com/pdf/BUS/3063_tbx_fb/3063_tbx_fb.pdf

I am not 100% sure but I think that the minimum is 9" for the depth of a base cabinet. We had to have a section of our Kraftmaid cabs reduced to 18" and the cost was ridiculous but necessary in our current home. IMO, I would chose Diamond over Kraftmaid. We have the glazed Vanilla Bean paint on Maple and the finish is terrible...peeling right off! They are less than 2 years old too!

Keep in mind that ONLY KraftMaid has the two-coats finished process of their doors/drawer fronts whereas Diamond, Schuler, and other comparable-priced brand only have one-coat finished process. if you go to your dealer or Lowes or Home Depot and feel the smoothness of the doors/drawers' finishes, you will find that KraftMaid has the smoothest feel and a more durable finish than the other comparable competing brands. Also KraftMaid construction and its drawers/doors holds up very well and last longer, and stays good looking longer. I have a Diamond Reflections/Intermediate series with Ply-Ends box construction which weren't cheap and after two years, the quality has started to show its weakness resulting in issues needed to be replaced as such the tall wall cabinet doors starts to bow out, shelves warp down from the weight of the dishwares, drawers are skinny thin the thickness of your pinky finger, especially if you have a pots and pan drawer that's 30 inches or wider, the weight will make the drawer box bow down and become treacheously bouncy as if it's going to break off. The bottom of the drawer boxes on base cabinets of 30 inches and wider do not have a spine the in center under the "floor" of the drawer box to prevent the floorpanel from bowing down, from the weight of the items in it. ONLY KraftMaid has these spines attached from the back to front under the center bottom of the wide drawer boxes for structural integrity. Their drawer runner guides are wider, thicker and much more durable as STANDARD feature. With Diamond, you would have to upgrade to the most expensive Intrigue/Advance series to get that wider and strong drawer runne guides and wood veneered interior boxes. With KraftMaid's the wood veneer interior boxes (only available on APC All Plywood construction) is standard and cost less than Diamond Intrigue/Advanced series. Diamond does have very nice door styles, wood, and color finishes and Diamond is the only leading brand with the most variety of paint color finishes than the other brands. You just have to pick your priorities or poison. If you are concerned about quality finishes and durability, then go with KraftMaid- they are guaranteed to last a very long time as I have seen its true test of time of cabinets as old as 1984 and they haven't aged much at all.

My new construction is custom, but the builder uses the upgraded Homecrest with full wood and "deluxe" drawers as their standard. I could get whatever but I thought I'd avoid the awful ordeal of cabinet shopping and just go with those. I'd rather spend a lot of money on a fabulous quartz (love the marble look-alikes) or one of the amazing exotic granites than on cabinets. My thinking is that cabinets are just a backdrop for stunning countertops. Is this a mistake?