Ask Design Mom Week: Cabinets — Price vs. Style
Question:
I'm looking into new kitchen cabinets (good construction, good looks, and good price!) and want some input. {Especially on Ikea cabinets. What do people think about them?} What have people chosen to use in remodeling while they were dancing between price, function, and style... Thanks much — Allysha
Answer:
Such a great question, Allysha. Dear Readers, have you bought cabinets lately? Do you have any advice for Allysha?
image from Ikea
posted by Gabrielle of Design Mom at Monday, March 30, 2009
24 Comments:
I admit I was a bit of a snob about IKEA cabinets - until I used them. I installed their kitchen cabinets (in my studio actually) and they were sooo easy to put together and seem about the same quality as my higher end kitchen cabinets. There's alot of info in the comments of this post too:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/good-questions/good-questions-ikea-kitchen-cabinets-or-better-006836
I have done 2 separete rental units with Ikea kitchens. I'm very lucky that my husband is handy and put both of them together. One was 10 years ago! We have been very happy and I would definitely do it again!
I don't have any input on cabinets, but I do have input on things to do in Colorado. I lived there for two summers. All the concerts series at the red rocks amphitheatre are great. And, Tumbling River Ranch - that is where I lived for two summers. It is an awesome dude ranch, with great activities and very family friendly. A few of my other favorites were the Silver Mine in Cripple Creek Colorado and definately Pearl Street in Boulder! Good luck with the move!
We installed IKEA cabinets in our family room to do sort of a custom entertainment center. They look fabulous (four years later). My only complaint is that one of the brackets pulled out of the base cabinet. It was easily solved by using a longer screw.
It's funny because we just bought a new house and I was sure that the cabinets were from IKEA. I was actually excited about them because I had big plans to do some more cabinetry in other rooms that would match. Come to find out that they're Cardell-- much pricier than IKEA. Bummer...
Our friends just modernized their new home and checked out many kitchen cabinet options, but ended up going with Ikea. The kitchen looks amazing!! Paired with the right finishes, you'd never know. Makes me want to go out and re-do ours...
Another option to consider, though, is to design your own cabinets and go to the source. Find a cabinet maker and have it priced out. My husband remodeled three bathrooms with beautiful, custom walnut cabinets for LESS than Ikea!!
Be resourceful! Have fun...
my hubby and son put in an IKEA pantry cabinet for me around Valentine's last year. It white, with silver handles, and looks like an extra tall old top freezer fridge. But I love it--LOVE the drawers. I have all my small appliances, etc. in it. Eventually want to redo all the cabinets.
We just did a major remodel on our house and used IKEA cabinets for the kitchen - I am soooo happy with the outcome and because of the pricepoint we were able to go with good appliances and a Ceasarstone countertop which has been great. Feel free to PM me if you want to see links to the pictures or if you have other questions.
A friend of mine who has done some work in our home is also a custom cabinet maker. His work is in very high-end homes all over Westchester and Connecticut. When he renovated his own kitchen on a budget, he used IKEA cabinets. He said he was super impressed with the quality and how easy they were to use. I certainly made a mental note because he is certainly familiar with what exists as "top of the line."
We used Ikea cabinets in our kitchen renovation 5 years ago, both in our home and in our rental unit. They have held up so well, and could not be more pleased with them and would use them again. They were a great price, easy to install and still look great!
We are doing over 2 kitchens and we went with Pedini, an Italian Company. The price was reasonable and the choices were awesome. (I wanted a super modern streamlined look with glass cabinets). We looked at the Ikea and may use them in a craft area, but we were concerned about the wear and tear for the kitchen, especially on the door hinges. But a friend of mine who is an architect redid her kitchen 5 years ago using Ikea and she really likes them.
These comments are great. Keep 'em coming!
Thanks for posting my questions, Gabby.
We remodeled our entire house when we bought it and didn't have the time for IKEA cabinets... we went to Menards and were able to get a very modern look with flat-fronted chocolate stained cherry. Very dark and sleek. We bought the hardware from IKEA to finish the look. It cost a bit more to have them done at Menards, but it was quick and we were able to save $$ by doing our own install.
We had old cabinets that we repainted added new hardware and had glass panes installed in a few of them. we adore our "new" cabinets and saved so much money.
We are in the process of putting in ikea cabinets and couldn't be happier. They have great quality, with their interior hinges etc often made by Blum which is used in much higher end cabinets. If you don't like any of the doors offered you can get someone to make you some for a custom look.
I would encourage you to go to ikeafans.com Its a site that is a font of info about ikea kitchens, their quality, how to customize and modify to suit your needs, etc etc. It is not created by ikea just people who love their kitchens.
We also used Ikea cabinets and LOVED them. My husband especially appreciated the easy install hardware. We also saved tons of $ on the countertops by using butcherblock for one section (great for making bread) and granite tiles instead of a full-on-granite slab for the rest. Looked so fancy & expensive when we were done, but total cost was under $3000 for a totally brand new kitchen (including a new dishwasher & fridge!). Yay!
about colorado. that's where i'm from and i love it more than anything! wish i was living there now, especially around boulder. the closer you can get to boulder, the better, in my opinion. the flatirons are gorgeous all year round, there's all the activities you would associate with living in a mountain town; but also boulder just has a certain charm to it that's hard to define but is so amazing.
i really miss the way the mountains look kind of purplish-blue after it rains, i miss the quirky charm of pearl street and so many other areas of boulder, i just miss it! you'll fall in love, i'm sure.
Our experience mirrors the many other comments. We installed IKEA cabinets in a complete kitchen overhaul. Our home was selected to be part of a neighborhood home tour and another architect in the neighborhood was telling people to visit our house since his vision for their future kitchen was in line with ours. They are durable and stylish and easy to install. When we were contemplating the purchase, Consumer Reports came out with a cabinet review article and IKEA cabinets (categorized as 'low end' cabinets because they do not come preassembled) rated higher than all the middle level cabinets and just under the premium level cabinet companies. We could not be happier with them.
I live in a rental with IKEA cabinets. Our main issue is that the cabinets next to the stove are peeling. Also drawer fronts have come off a few times. Since it's a rental I have no idea how long they have been used.
We installed IKEA cabinets in our kitchen last year and I could not be happier. It took some time to put them together and we bought in stages so we weren't overwhelmed. We also bought colored tape that we lined the outside edges with. That way - when the doors are closed, you don't see birch peeking through. We bought the nexus black brown doors, so we didn't want anything light showing through. The doors and drawers close so quietly - I love it. No more slamming cabinets!!
We just recently remodeled our kitchen, ok so its still a work in progress, but my husband the designer and contractor build his own cabinet boxes and we used ikea drawers with all the organization fittings and the quiet close feature. I LOVE THEM! Couldnt be happier.
After reading in Consumer reports that Ikea ranked better than most cabinets costing double their price, we went with Ikea cabinets for our kitchen. They have even withstood 6 year olds leaning on the doors (I still can't believe the hinges stay put) and all sorts of abuse.
I also love the style we went with - I wasn't able to find similar elsewhere.
We bought a butcher cabinet from ikea in 2007 and we absolutely LOVE it. It really is so sturdy. They were actually pricey for what we were intending at the time, but I am so glad we bought it. Plenty of storage, sturdy, and pleasing to the eye. Not everything at ikea is long lasting, but our cabnets were.
We had really good luck hiring a custom cabinet maker to put in stock cabinets for us. He had a company he could source the cabinets from at his contracter's discount and he was able to customize a couple of aspects for us, but without the price of a completely custom job. We found him by asking around -- a friend's referral.
My brother-in-law used IKEA cabinets in their remodel 2 years ago and loves the cabinets. I've been there a couple times and the kitchen looks great. My father-in-law installed them (he does contract work every once in a while) and says they were pretty decent and worth the money. We are planning to use IKEA when we remodel our own kitchen in a couple of years.
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