Ikea kitchens

Yes, I bought and had a contractor install the cabinets. I bought the best quality with the best hinges for the drawers and doors. The problem was that the kitchen we were renovating was not exactly fitting the sizes of IKEA. IKEA installation does not deal with the customization.

For example, we bought 15" deep cabinets since the kitchen was small. We also bought a combo microwave/hood. The microwaves assume you are using 12' cabinets, so you have to build a structure behind the microwave that will work with a 15" cabinet. IKEA installation will not do that.

The contractor usually does custom cabinets, but he had a few people who decided they change out the cabinets every 5 years and didn't want to spend the money on custom cabinets. He knew exactly what to order to make custom filler strips and had the appropriate tools. He built an island out of the cabinets, but put plywood on the back (instead of their system) to give extra support for the quartz countertop. He covered the plywood with a side panel for a refrigerator.

The contractor was intially skeptical about he quality of IKEA, but he said they were better than equivalent priced items your had to assumble at chain stores. I went to Sweden and visited their kitchen departments. They have improved their construction for items shipped to the USA>

I have used Ikea cabinets but I have two comments:
Firstly, when you go to cell everyone will know they are Ikea and there is so much of a stigma of cheapness attached to them.
Secondly I found custom manufacturers in the midwest who will make full Custom Cabinets and ship them to you knock down for not that much more money. The biggest reason to use Ikea is the lead time. If you waited too long to order cabinets and need them quickly that is the time to use Ikea.

30, Appreciate names of the kitchen cabinet makers in midwest you used. The ones I know do not do frameless and wood veneer on plywood. They also have a lead time of 4-6 weeks.

http://www.scherrs.com/
I have not used them in a number of years but when I did I dealt with Leon Scherr.

Note that they will also make custom doors specifically to go on IKEA cabinets.

Note that they will also make custom doors specifically to go on IKEA cabinets.

Thank you.

I have heard good things about (but have not used) semihandmade, which also makes doors for IKEA cabinet boxes.

I have heard good things as well. My issue is that Ikea cabinet boxes are white/brown melamine coated. I am sure that they are durable but I like smooth plywood which looks much nicer and is more durable as well. The doors of Ikea are very nice especially at the more expensive end of their range.

If you buy IKEA cabinets, they have sales of 12% off at certain times of the year.

I had custom made cabinets down for my apartment since I had pillars in my kitchen that could not be removed. I had durable bases and frames made. The contractor ordered shaker doors and moldings from WalzCraft since they make top quality at a price he couldn't match.

I also built an IKEA kitchen for a relative's HUD cooperative. The reason I did that was that was they would never get their money back if they sold. Most of the neighbors went with bargain cabinets. My place is more upscale, so the investment in custom cabinets will give me a better retrun. I also maximized space usage of every inch of my kitchen.

The IKEA hinges and door slides are very good quality and worth the cost of the entire cabinet. There was an 10 year old IKEA kitchen in my apartment when we bought it. There was no way to tell that was the case without pulling out a drawer. Whomever installed it had custom made cabinets for odd sized openings, and the sides and island panels were covered with custom panels and stainless steel. The kickplates were poorly designed on older kitchen models, but that has improved. You can get better quality and pricing on countertops elsewhere.

We had our laundry room done with IKEA cabinets. The quality/value proposition is hard to beat. To each their own, but we hired a firm (the "Kitchen Couple," Google them) who measured, designed, bought, delivered, assembled and installed the cabinets. As with any good designer/installer, they can make custom pieces or cut down cabinets to make use of every inch.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4081199/custom-cabinets-vs-ikea-vs-semihandmade-vs-scherrs

Scherrs doors look nice. I love that newly added step Shaker one. Too bad none of these places do inset doors.

Scherr's will make pretty much any door you want, you just have to be able to draw the profile. I realize for a lot of non professionals this is tough, but most of the doors I bought from them we really full Custom in the sense that the door profiles existed no where else in the world but much kitchens. Using Scherr's you really have to know what you are asking for because basically you can ask for anything and with infinite possibilities it's very easy to get yourself into trouble very quickly.

My problem with inset doors is that the kind of have to be perfect and if they're not you really see the difference in gaps between doors and face frames, and even if they are perfect at the beginning overtime as doors warp and hinges sag they are much less tolerant then full overlay doors.

Yep, ours is IKEA, installed in 2008.....still looks great.
- http://bit.ly/2a8hBom

Kiss,

I think my first post on this board was answering a question about Ikea many years ago and my answer is always the same. I would not hesitate to purchase an Ikea kitchen. When I first started in this business I hated Ikea until someone showed me the value in them. We never have callbacks and clients who have had them for years still love them. They can also be customized if the installer knows what they are doing.

Here are some of my favorites:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaZZzqWAsGu/?taken-by=primerenovations
https://www.instagram.com/p/BL00OVCBWio/?taken-by=primerenovations
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMBzj5thV9Y/?taken-by=primerenovations

But with Ikea aren't you Limited to 3 inch increments for cabinet widths and one or two different heights on the upper cabinets?

Primer, What are places ikea is stamped on IKEA kitchen? Thanks.

It's sounding like a Ikea should come up with their own version of AMG (Mercedes).

I like some of their doors but get tuned off by white or brown choice of boxes rather than wood finish. I bet wood finish interior will be in AMG edition.

30 yrs,

There are limitations in regards to sizes of Ikea cabinets, we obviously cannot make them bigger but we can make them smaller (height, width, and depth) as long as the doors are flat as we cut them down to size

300 Mercer,

I have no idea, never noticed, I do not think it is really out in the open. If you do not like the colors you can go to a company like Semi Handmade as they offer a much larger selection of doors that fit Ikea cabinets

If the doors are any but totally flat/1 piece (even say a simple Shaker cabinet door), when you cut them down, won't the styles be off? If you have a door where all the styles are two and a half inches width, and you need to cut a cabinet down buy an inch and a half, won't you end up with the vertical styles on that cabinet at be one and three quarter inches wide? Won't that look odd?

300,
I haven't done anything with IKEA cabinets in quite a while so this information isn't current, but my recollection the only thing that said Ikea was on the covers for the hinges.

30 years,

That's why you can only customize the flat doors.

Okay, then it is my own personal bias in that my taste is that I find slab doors to almost always look cheap.

I think depends on the quality of the slab door. Wood veneer slab doors on frameless structure look beautiful. Much of the new construction is slab doors.

For example this one. Picture 2.
https://streeteasy.com/building/49-chambers/5g

I totally agree. No slab doors for me. The only exception is the face of shallow drawers in an inset construction.

300,
Personally I don't like that kitchen at all, and I think that it is entirely possible that in the not-too-distant future kitchens like that will be "so 2018".

30, I have a similar frameless kitchen which was installed 20 years back with finished plywood inside by a top end mill worker. Different wood veneer. It still looks timeless modern. We love the simplicity and clean looks. However, I completely understand the attraction of say Shaker which has withstood the test of time for more than 100 years.

30 and Firedragon, I guess you do not like this one either. Personally, I would have liked a little more shine and statement in the wood veneer but natural is in these days.

https://streeteasy.com/building/21-east-12-street-new_york/17c

Correct. If I bought one of those for my personal residence those cabinets would be the first thing to go (or at least the doors).

This is my taste in kitchens from 1994:
https://cdn-img-feed.streeteasy.com/nyc/image/80/167151180.jpg

It goes to show everyone's tastes are different, 30 yrs, that kitchen looks to me like a store bought kitchen from home depot

We just finished this one which is one of my favorites:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgjeax_lIcZ/?taken-by=primerenovations

Primer, Did you custome make rhe cabinets? They look very nice. May I ask what color finish? All natural or a little grey/white wash/smoke?

This photo was my inspiration when I started the renovation:

http://www.sierraesl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/french-country-white-kitchen-cabinets.jpg

But mine ended up more like this

https://www.houzz.com/photo/5509784-elegant-inset-shaker-transitional-kitchen-charleston

But with dark green marble countertop and solid brass hardware.

Primer, that last one is quite nice. I like the contrast between wood grain and white. Is it IKEA too? I assume not because there's no hashtag. Is the countertop mitered to look 2+ inches thick?

300,

That is not ikea, that is all custom made using Shinnoki Veneers

Fire,

Your kitchen is beautiful. Countertop is mitered

Fire, that kitchen is fabulous.

Primer05,
I can only assume from that comment that you weren't building kitchens 25 years ago.

30yrs,

Only 15 years

No, I did not install it but I have heard about it.

I've seen many units with stunning IKEA kitchens installed. Honestly I don't think there is much of a difference to most eyes.

I'm sure there will be a lot of pompous or arrogant fools who will only live somewhere if they have custom cabinets .. but not our issue

Is Ikea really the cheapest in terms of price? I know they have a reputation as being a low cost provider, but if it's anything like Home Depot for hardware I've found prices to be pretty high in general.

Home Depot pricing can be ridiculous for some items!

I don't know if it is the cheapest but it is by far the best value.

What do you mean by hardware? The pulls and knobs?

Can anyone recommend an installer for cabinets, Ikea or others? What is the average installation or assembly cost in NYC?

teijoluis,

If you are just installing a kitchen you can try to use the Ikea installers, it is hit or miss but most of them can handle it. They will not generally customize them (they can be cut smaller if needed or panels for the appliances can be done) if its part of a bigger project you should make sure the contractor you hire has some experience with them

As far as cost it depends on what you are doing, size of the kitchen, are you using panels for a more finished look, etc?

Why the negative rep for IKEA in NYC? These guys are fantastic at a great value.

Yes, I have installed them.