Published Apr 19, 2018 Last Updated May 01, 2020. We just ordered Ikea interiors and Semi Handmade fronts and it was about $8k for everything. My brother suggested I read this since I am looking to replace our kitchen. Thanks in advance! My son installed my Ikea kitchen cabinets 5 years ago, I forget the style name but they’re glossy white, flat panel doors and drawer fronts. This is the same process when installing your upper IKEA cabinets. By leveling all of your kicks, there is no need to level the cabinets during installation. My husband and I are not handy people. IKEA kitchen distribution is outsourced to DPD, which has a outgoing message about people being upset and not to get angry with staff. This is not to argue particle board is better, it is simply to state that just because it isn’t solid wood, doesn’t mean it isn’t a quality product. This allows for endless creativity and customization of your IKEA kitchen. Whether it is the kids and dogs running around and smacking them, or a full on house party, the cabinets still look like the day they were installed. I do plan to have a friend sign up for the task of shipping me any parts that are missing or damaged but I also plan to triple check my order. I have heard many similar stories. If you are a fairly good DIYer with a decent understanding of renovations then you can probably skip this service. Great article, thanks Jeff! I know this isn’t what you had in mind, but I thought I would just throw it out there as an option. Building the cabinet boxes is straight forward as long as you follow the instructions. My suggestion would be to frame up around the stair area and next to the new cabinets. I have had NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS!!! I had an IKEA kitchen including all the above in my apartment in Budapest…and the appliances, with the exception of the dishwasher, were terrible. Question…. Truck came to pu wrong cabinets. You might also want to spend 5 minutes looking at the plethora of 1* reviews on IKEA online delivery service – doesn’t matter which country you choose they are all equally bad. On occasion, these contain some particle board; however, the majority of their appearance is glass or metal. We created this blog as  a resource for our readers, helping home owners, travelers, and future friends to learn how to renovate efficiently, and affordably! Hello, I am in the process of remodeling my kitchen with IKEA Axstad cabinets but I have a problem how figure out the side panels for this cabinets line. Here is that article: https://www.thehomestud.com/2017/12/06/ikeakitchenplanningserviceupdate/. Like anything else, it will all come down to how it is treated and cared for. For the off-white cabinetry like grimslov, I have an exact match paint that has worked well for me. Kitchen specialist returned to draw-up new plan. You must live in a location where both materials and labour are cheap and plentiful. If you are looking for projects… it is in New England. This isn’t to say they are poor, I just think there are better options available. They can be a great solution and money (not always time) saver, but in the case of your experience, an incredibly large hassle as well. I’ve been planning it for a couple of years and expected to do it in another year or two, but our old dishwasher flooded the kitchen floor and began a cascade of demo and repairs. Mine will be in a bright space like yours and I fear how the black will look after some use. IKEA cabinet door and drawer fronts are purchased separately from the cabinet boxes (another perk to the flexibility of the system). Thanks for all the good tips and ideas! (Here is the link) He was entirely right. I had my list in hand and went to the kitchen dept in the store. Is this not possible? Choose between a variety of display cabinets and glass-door cabinets. Even worse, they said, “installation will not be scheduled I “agree” that there will be no compensation.”. Ikea cabinets cost 1/3 of the price of custom cabinetry. Lastly, I have also used solid wood (far more expensive). Here is my 2 cents on the topic: All three times we used the online planning software. BRUTALLY HONEST IKEA KITCHEN REVIEW | CABINETS & SEKTION SYSTEM Most box store (and all custom) cabinets … I started my kitchen remodel about 3 months ago. We were newlyweds with student debt and an empty house. If anything is going to need to withstand slams, warping, or swelling, it’s drawers. After 2 months, IKEA said that my back board / splash back panel had not been ordered – and it would any way take 4 weeks to produce in Germany. It has a slight blue undertone but still has a warmer tone to it. I want the cabinets to be connected with ceiling so I know I will also need a crown molding. I’m about to sell,this home and Reno the next, the look and design will sell this house quickly. I requested a meeting (my daughter was also present). What have you found with this? The next step up from this is cabinet grade plywood (sometimes with a real wood veneer), but there is a significant debate over whether this is actually superior. We are thinking of gutting the entire kitchen and thinking about IKEA. I left myself enough room to get this kitchen installed and have someone to do the measuring for me. They are divided into four classes: I discussed IKEA kitchen design in Chapter 1 of our Beige Bungalow build, and I also reviewed the in-home IKEA kitchen planning service here, and here. 4. This works best in a more modern or contemporary design. Now that we have done it once, we are sure that we could be far more efficient next time, eliminating most of the headaches listed above. I prepared the plans for him and created the orders, all he had to do was pay. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be in the realm of possible in many areas, especially in my neck of the woods. Feel free to make a comment on any of the kitchen posts here and/or email me If you have not read the newest blog post on kitchen design with some tips and tricks, make sure to check it out: https://www.thehomestud.com/2019/10/04/ikea-kitchens-how-to-plan-a-successful-kitchen-layout/. Review: "Very happy with many Ikea kitchens we've installed" I'm a professional building contractor and we've installed about a dozen Ikea kitchens in homes. When neighbours were coming by, and saw all the boxes lying around, everybody gave me the “You are crazy.” look, and then the type of comments like “Oh, it will take you forever to build this.” As for myself, I have a very good system of organising my work, also thanks to the great labelling on the boxes and the detailed list of my order, with pictures. However, I will add some context for our other readers who may be on the fence about IKEA kitchen products. At Hilltop, we also included a custom wood bookshelf for cookbooks (or anything else you want to display), as well as some floating shelves. This is mine, let’s see if it gets published…. 2. This way you are guaranteed to hit several studs no matter where your IKEA cabinets start and stop. The one you see here is done by stacking 2 20″ upper cabinets and only putting a door on the upper one. Hi Cheryl – Glad to hear you are sticking to your guns. The Bad: Assembly: My guess, is some of the savings is in the fact that you assemble your own cabinets! Second, I like to finish my floors up the kicks instead of trying to match cabinetry color. Another method to distinguish your IKEA kitchen from the crowd is to add non-IKEA elements. There is a slight gap between the frame and the inner panel that can catch the odd crumb… or spilled milk. In order to have a panel that goes from floor to ceiling, it would need to be custom work. You give some great advice here to make sure everything is in stock before you begin the process. There always seems to be an annoying uneven gap. This hasn’t been worth the cost savings. This all sounds great, but it is also headache inducing. I was also contemplating putting in an Ikea kitchen but was told many times they are made of inferior materials – ie particleboard not MDF. Inexpensive cabinets + custom fronts = renovation win. When you call customer service, I was waiting 45minutes to speak to someone to explain the issue. You should wait for a kitchen sale. Save yourself a trip back to IKEA if possible and catch any mistakes the first time. Love our cabinets but liquids and fingerprints leave stains . I am now building a new home for myself and I have decided to use the IKEA boxes not to save money… but because there’s just nobody that offers the internal organization options that IKEA does…and when you want to change something…its very simple. In fact, I include this on every IKEA kitchen I install, as it gives a custom finished look. Hi Jackie- Thanks for the comment. I would love to hear about how your project goes. Because of the recycled materials , even though the cabinets look like wood, you can not use Pledge or any polish or wax . Hi Janet- No problem at all! I made a few changes to the plan after my last call with the online planner, and that’s where things started to go downhill. Thank for the great article! IKEA Sektion Kitchen Review – Would We Do It Again? I wil never buying Ikea again Waist of al the hassle and your frustration. For me, its a Netflix binge with a hammer and screwdriver and I'm good-to-go assembling. This is the type of information I am looking for, and to learn how the Ikea kitchen furniture performs over time, so your feed back looks encouraging. Let’s start with appliances. Amazingly, it doesn’t look too bad – people say they only notice it’s shorter when I point it out, and finally I have a reliable dishwasher. I also used an EKBACKEN laminate countertop (I cut off the back 5" or so and flipped it up to make a backsplash). The bathroom cabinetry is also cheaper but just not the storage capacity I need. We will go for the Voxtorp. Awesome article and super informative. When I first started … I CANNOT RECOMMEND Ikea kitchens. Option 1 is flooring as you mentioned. This kitchen will be big and thanks for pointing out the sales. We have just sustained water damage in our kitchen from an upstairs washing machine failure. I typically just ask questions when I am in store. I’m not sure If I’ve missed this in your article, do you mind sharing how much this kitchen cost to do? Can hinge be adjusted? Instead screw directly through the cabinet box in between the pre-drilled holes. I have been in dozens of high end, custom built homes with expensive kitchens, and their cabinets are constructed from laminated particle board. I found when I was explaining that to people, it became more confusing. Then just buy IKEA door fronts in whatever the rest of your design is to make it look as though a cabinet is there. Discovered today this did not happen. From what I am reading it sounds like your major issues revolved around IKEA appliances and your particular IKEA kitchen installer who tried to cut corners, and not necessarily the actual quality of IKEA’s cabinets. So if you have 3 cabinets in a row, I build one kick that all 3 cabinets can sit on. I still stand by IKEA’s kitchen cabinets and have used them on numerous occasions, with many years of use, and they still look as the day they went in. Alternatively, you can rip the frames down with a table saw to a depth of ~20″, and use standard vanity countertops. Good luck! Any help would be appreciated. You should be aware that the in-home planner is not an IKEA employee, but an employee of the local company with the contract for IKEA kitchen installs. Use filler pieces to hide the stark white color of the cabinet boxes, and cabinet end gables to finish of the look at the ends of your cabinetry. 2. QUICK TIP: If you want to run your cabinet end gables to the floor, buy the right size. IKEA cabinets really are as affordable as you've heard — with quality owners rave about Megan Winfield, an IT manager in the hospitality industry in Lexington, Kentucky, and her … Would love to hear from anyone with experience! PSA: IKEA Kitchen nightmare. It was actually quite easy to install them. Thank you in advance. A huge pro for IKEA applicances: They come with 5 years limited warranty. THEN, an employee will comb your entire order piece by piece. Although IKEA does have easy to follow instructions, there is still some building knowledge required to complete the install. Almost every off-the-shelf cabinet system I looked into for our project was made with particle board or MDF cabinet boxes. Sometimes the parts were the wrong colour. I said, but why should the components become damaged just due to installation? This is where you can start taking your overall design to the next level. Chip Styers. All of them are great options and far superior to using IKEA cabinet feet if you are planning on heavy countertops. QUICK TIP: Do not screw into any of the pre-drilled holes in your cabinet box. A simple drawer. Love, love the site and so enjoyed the IKEA review, I learned a few things too like solving the dishwasher front panel from separating. This is even more true if you are customizing any aspect of your kitchen design, such as replacing filler panels with a. I actually had to solve this exact problem for a friend of mine. CONS. We. I find the easiest way to make micro adjustments when leveling is by using wood shims. However, she was fobbed off in Sweden and nobody wanted to know. If you want an IKEA kitchen with true white shaker cabinets, this is the best option. We made a few small additional changes in the store. I will leave this section with one final comment. I find the building of kitchen cabinets absolutely interesting and not complicated. I’m wondering if you have a paint color that you have matched to the white Axstad cabinet doors that way I could at least reference that paint sample. Or you could finish the front of the boxes with black tape - we considered this before I realized how little I notice the white boxes showing. Be careful though, this part of the design can still add some serious dollars to the overall bill. First, they are vastly stronger than the cheap IKEA cabinet legs (a definite con of the IKEA kitchen system). They use a different installer in every city and I don’t think every one of them produces the same quality (it sounds as though you had a very bad experience with your installer). Go ahead and place the order and get everything available delivered. Their door and drawer hardware is high end. Some of our door were uneven, but I found a youtube video that showed how you can fix unlevel doors by adjusting the screws in the hinges. If I had my kitchen quoted to that level (solid wood/dovetailed drawers/self closing/granite/installation) I would be WELL OVER $25,000. This is exactly why we started Homestud Studios. There’s no compensation. To complete a project of this nature and size on your own, I would bank on around $15,000-20,000. Most of us collect things that we love to see every day. I have 2 cabinets 24x15x90 and my ceiling is 108′. They said, “IKEA’s policy doesn’t permit us to release that information.” Dimwits! Many still use laminated particle board for the cabinet boxes themselves in order to keep the product price more affordable. I love the black and the easiness of putting together and the cost, but I am not sure I would purchase them again . When things go wrong it is way tooooo hard to get solutions. We made a few changes (Ie. Part of our kitchen design is ‘dead space’ where there is no lower cabinet but looks to be – it’s actually clearance for the staircase leading to our basement. Thank you for an insightful and honest article. Kitchen remodels are one of the harder DIY projects, but the rewards and personal satisfaction are unparalleled! If that doesn’t convince you of their durability, the complete wet bar area in my own basement is built from IKEA cabinets. Can you also tell me if the range hood was wall-mounted or an under cabinet range? I will make sure these two items are a part of my new IKEA kitchen. Now that the kids are done University and on their own, I get to build with only my needs and style in mind. This was three days ago, and I still have not heard back from them. I'm going to be using the same cabinets and colors from Ikea for my own renovation, and I was having such a hard time visualizing the final look. A little patience goes a long way. After altering the design one million times, I went to IKEA to place the actual order. Second, you will need to get creative with height. Then started a never ending story of damaged boxes with damaged parts, and undamaged boxes with damaged parts in side. This will move the door up/down and left/right depending on which of the two screws you adjust. When I complained to Ikea, they said, but that was the installer, not Ikea. As a result of the above, my kitchen installers have been laid off, and the kitchen floor and new carpets have had to be rescheduled. IKEA’s new kitchen cabinet design sits the top rails 1/8″ higher than the cabinet sides. Thankyou. I always vow “never again!” with IKEA, but they always seem to come out with something so enticing! I'm nearly ready to purchase my cabinets, but I'm still on the fence between these and white cabinets. Maybe tomorrow will be better. Keep it up, you have the touch. IKEA have now introduced a new kitchen model called METOD. It was not difficult Originally, when I tried it out (for curiosity sake) I was more than pleased with the service we received. Further, every company has ways to try and get you to purchase their products over a competitors, including IKEA. Hi, I had high hopes after reading your blog, but after talking to my Husband he says we can’t re-do our kitchen using Ikea. Just installed some Ikea cabinets to supplement our kitchen. As of now, only 4 lines of IKEA cabinet doors contain real wood: MDF + foil finish. I was looking into getting acrylic cabinets in Home Depot but total cost was $23,000 with a promo $17,000. Another good source is this Consumer reports review on IKEA appliances. It is an online software used right in your web browser, which makes it a little buggy… Fear not though, a little patience goes a long way. If you happen to be doing natural hardwood floors which at times can be 1″ in thickness, then be sure to account for that. The wait wasn’t long, only about 20 minutes. Are you using flooring as the front of the kick? A … IKEA kitchen cabinets reviews The IKEA brand has spread widely throughout the world thanks to the ease of use and the wide range of furniture and accessories offered in its catalog. Many of the doors, gables, deco strips, etc are all made from MDF. IKEA’s kitchen software results in a love-hate relationship. Stock cabinets are sometimes sold at home centers pre-assembled, while Ikea and other stores sell versions that require assembly. We are in the midst of an Ikea kitchen remodel, and I would just echo the last few comments about the subcontractors that Ikea uses for design and installation. Once your cabinets are hung and secured together, use these pieces to secure your IKEA kitchen cabinets to the rail. Where do you find information about IKEA’s product cycle? It maximizes interior drawer space (no more loose cutlery organizers) which is one-of-a-kind when it comes to off-the-shelf modular cabinet systems. Thank you! It has solidified my decision to use IKEA again despite the negative comments from the contractors I’m vetting for the house renos. Wow, how incredibly helpful and insightful this was. IKEA’s standard lower end gables are 30″ tall, and are not tall enough to extend right to the floor. That’s a great price and I hope your happy with the kitchen. Something as simple as moving objects around the room can cause crashes, so save often. What recommendation (either Ikea or work around) would you recommend? They also had us running to Ikea three times in the space of four days to pick up extra items that they said were missing from our order, but in the end it turns out they were only missing because they were using the wrong plan. I sent an email to the installation subcontractor, who seems to be based in Denver, the day after our installers finished their work. I would never put MDF in my home, and the reality is you can get better cabinets for just about the same price. It is great that on the Ikea web site you can see the quantities on stock, and when is the expected delivery of a missing product, and whenever we had difficulty figuring out, the Ikea staff on the phone was always very helpful. Thanks for your post. I can’t seem to find if Ikea sells just panels. Wood will mold you follow the instructions reached at IKEA all day your hands are greasy and you too! 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