odie... I'm not understanding why you can't do the 39" like you want? The calculations show you'll have at least 18"... a bit more, even with the crown and thin profile light rail. It's my understanding you can have Scherrs do anything you need.

I'm SO in love with IKEA kitchens (thinking Lindingo for us) but I have a few concerns perhaps you can alleviate...

1. We live 3-4 hours away from the nearest IKEA (Minneapolis) so will have to drive there, rent a truck, and bring it all home. This isn't a crisis, but what worries me is if something is broken, damaged, missing, forgotten, etc... How often did you have to return to IKEA after you made your cabinet purchase?

2. We are building a new house, so everything is being hired out. We are considering the owner/builder method which may allow us to put together the boxes, but otherwise we have to find an installer around here to do these cabinets, I am very worried about finding someone to do it well.

3. With the fillers needed, I have seen some great products by rev-a-shelf. Do they work with the IKEA systems too? Didn't know if the kind of cabinetry mattered.

And a new one... 4. I have never thought of staining their wood counters. Tell me more, do they come unstained or do you have to strip them down first? Then you just stain and waterlox? We'd be staining them walnut color if we did that. Was planning granite.

Hmmmm... all these darn options. I'm loving all the pictures, thanks for posting them, who cares if they are finished or all shiny clean, they are neat. And for those of you not doing the super fancy high end kitchens, lots of us are in the same boat and it helps to see normal kitchens too. (Of course I love seeing the high end ones too...)

So I can do a 1/2" light rail remodelfla? I did think about uppers from Scherr's but that seems kind of crazy to do for a one inch difference.

Besides, odiegirl, a lot of people do less than 18". It's a bit of a hassle for countertop appliances, but many of my neighbors have 16 or 17 inches to the actual cabinet bottom of their 42" cabs.

( I myself currently have over 19 inches because the original cabinets were mounted high to allow clearance for one of those ginormous early microwaves and I hate it--everything is too high and I can't easily reach the top shelf of even a 30 inch cabinet at that height.)

In any case remember that light rail only lowers the spot where the rail itself it. You still have more space behind the bar, especially if you use some kind of low profile under cab lighting instead of the big bars.

midwestmama, the BB counters come unstained. There are several different ways to stain, including just putting the stain in the first coat of waterlox (depends on the effect you want).

And yes, lots of people use rev-a-shelf or Hafele (or whatever) products in ikea kitchens. For an installer, ask here or on ikeafans for a reference for someone.

I didn't mean to do the uppers from Scherrs odie. I meant that they could make you a cover panel for any exposed sides at the end of a run ... I thought that was what you were referrin to. Get you're uppers from IKEA. You can tweak or have Scherr's make the doors or cover panels as you need.

amberley:

Those are actually Adel white cabinets. I really considered painting the Tidaholm because I like the style of those cabs a lot more than the Adel white, but to be honest I just didn't feel up to the task of finding someone to do it or to do it myself. I just wanted a kitchen and with all the other decisions I kind of threw up my hands and said, "Bah, let's just get the Adel and be done with it." Of course, the knowledge I could switch out somewhere down the road with Scherrs or do the painted Tidaholm kind of helped with that decision.

Jakabedy, I'm loving your remodel. (Loving your blog too--big MCM fan). Is that silestone you used your counters? And can you tell me who makes your slide-in range? I can't wait to see your kitchen finished!

Whew! Great! I am working on the island layout today. Go IKEA!

For Odiegirl13
Ikea makes a great product--rationell light shelves--that nobody seems to know about. They replace the bottom of the cabinet (30 and 36" widths) and add a light without taking up any space. They create a really nice, finished look. I will have a smaller than normal space between counter top and wall cab (but the best info on ergonomics says that 16" is about right for average sized people), and the light shelves really solved a problem for me. Check them out!

Here is a link that might be useful: rationell shelves with built in light--36

Odiegirl, if you are getting doors from Scherrs, you can cut down a 39" wall cab to 36" (or whatever height you need) and have Scherrs make a door in the size you need.

clarep_dc - You are right - I had never, ever seen those. That would be great for my two cabinets flanking the windows.

morton5 - I was wondering about doing that. I only have 5 upper cabinets. I am going to play with the planner a bit more today. I was thinking of replacing my planned corner upper with the blind corner solution I have seen.

I guess that is the benefit of DIY. Since I am doing it, I can do I want.

seattle rain -

The countertop is Papyrus by Zodiaq. The range is a Kitchen Aid Architect Series II w/ convection. I don't know the model #, but it was a close-out floor model from a local Sears that closed last year. We hadn't planned to get new appliances at that time, but the deal was too good to pass up -- about $1,500 for a $2,400 stove. We got a similar deal on the matching fridge. But we will keep our white Bosch DW, as it is only about 2 years old.
I'm glad you like the blog -- MCM-ers unite!!

midwestmama -

1. We're 2+ hours from our IKEA. It is possible to do it in one trip. There were some items that were not kept in stock in the store, so they had to be shipped later. I also just realized this week that we didn't get two drawer fronts (I totally missed their absence on the original ticket). I'll be in ATL for work in a few weeks anyway so will pick them up then. It is always advisable to open everything when you get it to check for damage, etc. If you have the space to do that, that's great. But we didn't, so we opened as we went along (and as total DIY, this is about a 3-month project). Just make a pile of the damaged things and make a trip back. I think you have 90 days to return.

2. You can do the cabinets yourselves. We are very DIY oriented, and I am anal about researching (IKEAFans is a blessing) so we did fairly well.

3. Rev-a-shelf works with IKEA.

4. I don't have the wood countertops -- perhaps someone else will chime in.

1. We live 3-4 hours away from the nearest IKEA (Minneapolis) so will have to drive there, rent a truck, and bring it all home. This isn't a crisis, but what worries me is if something is broken, damaged, missing, forgotten, etc... How often did you have to return to IKEA after you made your cabinet purchase?

*** We live about an hour from our IKEA, and have been back and forth at least 4 or 5 times with our remodel. That's due to a variety of factors (decided to make some minor changes as we were putting cabinets in, were doing some hacks that had to come together before we knew what finishing touches we wanted, forgot some stuff), but it doesn't HAVE to be that way.

You can certainly be organized enough to do it in one trip (the IKEA planning software helps immensely with that), and you always have the option of having minor stuff shipped to you.

We were a little loose with our planning because our IKEA is so close (and we never mind an excuse to go for meatballs), but if it were further, we'd have just been a lot more organized and more firm with our plans.

2. We are building a new house, so everything is being hired out. We are considering the owner/builder method which may allow us to put together the boxes, but otherwise we have to find an installer around here to do these cabinets, I am very worried about finding someone to do it well.

*** You know, I keep reading this concern on this board about finding IKEA installers, and honestly, I am utterly mystified by it. IKEA cabinets are extremely easy to put together-- it's 8 screws, 8 cam locks, and 8 wooden pegs. Seriously, it should not even REMOTELY be a challenge for any competent contractor.

Also, the install is hardly rocket science. The base cabinets can be installed like any traditional cabinet, and as far as the wall cabinets, in a traditional install, the contractor has to find the studs in the wall to screw the cabinet to. In an IKEA install, the contractor has to find the studs in the wall to screw a rail to, and then the cabinets get hung from the rail. That's ALL it is.

If a contractor cannot manage an IKEA cabinet install, there is something radically wrong-- find a new contractor.

3. With the fillers needed, I have seen some great products by rev-a-shelf. Do they work with the IKEA systems too? Didn't know if the kind of cabinetry mattered.

*** Any insert system should work with an IKEA cabinet, no worries there!

And a new one... 4. I have never thought of staining their wood counters. Tell me more, do they come unstained or do you have to strip them down first? Then you just stain and waterlox? We'd be staining them walnut color if we did that. Was planning granite.

*** We used IKEA counters and stained/sealed them ourselves. We stained them black with India Ink, then did 4 coats of regular Waterlox, and 2 coats of satin Waterlox. Easy process, but definitely time consuming.

The countertops do come unfinished, but be careful-- we had a couple pieces that behaved like they had some kind of waxy coating or sealant on them. We just gave them a thorough sanding, and that solved the issue. If we need IKEA counters again (and I'd have no hesitation on using them) I'd just assume the coating was there and sand them before starting the staining and finishing process.

This is a total DIY project for us, so don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions!

>Seriously, it should not even REMOTELY be a challenge for any competent contractor.

Indeed, but many contractors are old dogs who don't want to learn new tricks. Make your contractor watch the video if they've never done this before. If they won't or they say it won't work to follow the directions (another big failing for many contractors), then move on.

Brickmanhouse, do you mean real India Ink, or a stain called that? They are gorgeous, whatever it was.

We are still toying with mixing Ikea base cabinets and custom uppers (with Scherr's doors, color-matched to the uppers) and have floated this with a few contractors. Only one wanted to do the install; one didn't like the idea of Ikea cabs (oh well) and the other two strongly encouraged us to hire Ikea installers, since they felt the Ikea installers did the job better, more cost-effectively, and much faster than they would do it. I thought that was interesting...we're fine putting them together ourselves, but don't want to install them since our track record for such things isn't so hot, and if we're dropping expensive counters on top of the cabs, they need to be level and square. :)

However, we live in hardcore Ikea territory--it's almost in walking distance!---so I'm sure that affects the availability (and possibly the quality) of the installers, and also contractors' familiarity with the cabinets.

Writersblock,

Yup, just plain artist's ink! There's not really a true black stain out there that we could find, so we went with the ink.

And I hear you on the old dogs/new tricks thing with the contractors, but the sheer stupidity of it all is frustrating. Since we started our kitchen renovation process, the misconceptions we have heard with regard to IKEA kitchens (from professionals and non-professionals alike) are truly mindboggling.

It's a real shame, because I have to believe that there are more people like me out there who cannot afford to spend the GDP of a small third world country on a kitchen than those who can. I think there are a lot of people with smaller budgets who are getting scared off of a great product for a great price because of the misinformation out there, and the contractors are some of the prime culprits in spreading that misinformation.

People hear that their contractors are reluctant to work with the cabinets, which leads them to believe there's something wrong with the cabinets, when really, if anything, there's something wrong with the contractor!

It's a cabinet, for crying out loud, not a nuclear reactor. . .

Thanks, brickmanhouse. Hmm, I wonder what brown ink would do. Very interesting.

And I totally agree with you about people getting scared away from ikea by contractors. Sigh. I think another thing is that the average person doesn't understand how the whole a la carte system works, so they think it's not flexible enough for their spaces, when it's actually more flexible than most kitchen systems, once you understand that it's basically all a big jigsaw puzzle where you can combine the parts however you want.

hi - does anyone know if you can scrape the pattern off the glass or is it sand-blasted? thanks!

hey you guys... check out sw austins' kitchen on a new thread... FABULOUS!

Brickmanhouse - Thanks for the photos. Your kitchen is gorgeous so far!!! I think the Lidingo cabinets and dark wooden counters are fabulous togethe;, and now I'm so excited to put ours in (we're also planning on having the glass cabinets down to the counter). BTW, did you use a router for the countertop edge? Looks beautiful!

Dawn T - I love that you used the doors for your side panels on the upper cabs! Is that a normal 12" wide door? Is it the same depth as the standard upper cabinets?

Writersblock,

I think it would depend on what kind of look you wanted from the brown ink. From our experience, the ink gives a very matte, opaque, one-note finish color, and definitely hides the graining. If for some reason you wanted a very opaque, uniform, slab-like brown, ink would work. It definitely wouldn't be a substitute for stain, though-- there's no depth, richness, or variation to the finish.

Where I think it would be WAY cool is in a modern kitchen, studio, or playroom where someone wanted countertops with color-- blue ink, or red, green, or any other shot of bright, pure color. I bet it would look amazing, especially after a few coats of Waterlox, and would be indestructible.

I agree with you that the modularity of the whole IKEA system is something that few people really appreciate or take full advantage of-- it's like a giant Tetris game, isn't it? Cabinet doesn't fit in your space straight up and down? Turn it sideways. Need more height? Stack a few. Want open storage? Pop off a door or two. Want drawers? The configurations are endless.

And the real beauty of the whole thing (at least for me) is that if I screwed up in my planning or change my mind down the line, I can change whatever I want with, like, eighty bucks, half a day, and a screwdriver.

Can't beat it!

dnebolon,

No, you can't scrape the pattern off the glass-- it's permanent. Sorry!

Tam 184,
The doors look nice as cabinet side cover panels, but they *are* a little narrow to be called true covers. My doors are 11 7/8 inch wide and the cab boxes are 12 inches deep. Also, due to the rail hanging system, the upper cab box is held away from the wall with a 1/2 lip at the back, however I'm using a small cove molding here to cover the resulting small gap.

Another thing to remember is that the real door attached to the front of the cab adds another 3/4 inch to the total depth of the cab. This wasn't an issue for me as I'm leaving the big cab to the right open (building my own plate rack display). The 2 smaller cabs flanking the sink were hacked and cut down to 9 inches wide (yes, I split a Lidingo door down the middle!) due to a space issue. I cut the doors down to 9 3/4 inches wide, making them wide enough to come up to the cover panel edge. Clear as mud huh? :)

Dawn

I have a lot of pictures of my Ikea Lindingo kitchen on the Ikea Fans galleries. Search my membername dawnjohnston

Amberley :

I painted a few Tidaholm doors for a bathroom vanity. I just used one coat of liquid sander, then two coats of latex paint (mine was Farrow&Ball Estate Eggshell, which has a very flat finish). It was an easy task. With this process, the grain shows through a little, but that is the look I wanted to achieve.

Brickmanhouse are you still out there? Just today we started considering staining Ikea butcher block counters black! Oh dear I wish we had thought about this a few weeks back when this thread was in full swing. In case you are still paying attention, I just wanted to know:

1. Which wood did you choose? Oak/Birch/Beech
2. How did you apply the India Ink? Brush? Sponge? Rag?
3. How many coats of India Ink did you use?
4. How did you determine the India Ink is okay for a food surface?

Many thanks. Your kitchen looks fabulous -- unpretentious, tasteful and warm.

Thanks!
Fringer

We went with the New Nexus Birch IKEA kitchen cabinets. The word New is important because both Nexus Birch and Adel Birch are getting revamped into a lighter, less yellow shade of wood. We are 3 hours from IKEA. We took the entire day to tow a UHaul trailer over to pick up the cabinet boxes. I would strongly recommend doing your design on the IKEA planning software, or use another software, then transfer to IKEA's, then call and make appointment and be sure to upload your design. Bring your assigned IKEA password and all drawings. They allow 2 hours for the appt but it might take longer. Some people have to return several times because they haven't done a drawing and/or need to measure their space, etc. I would strongly recommend leaving children of any age home. Some of our items are on back order due to the switchver in style for Nexus Birch. They will call us and we come and get them. Other items we had shipped. We had 5 pallets and 2 grocery carts of stuff to load. Some was our Godmorgon bathroom. We ate lunch looked around then went downstairs to get our items at Customer Service I think it was called. We were there for hours but it was fun. Be sure to check every single item off on your "green sheet" of items ordered and paid for before loading and driving off. Time very well spent. Very important: if you need Perfekt decor trim the 3' x 8' panels it is NOT listed in the software and you may forget it. It is carried in the store but can be back-ordered.

These posts have me now interested in IKEA. Tell me more...

Main concern is durability. Is the quality high? Will the cabinets hold up 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, longer? How much are you saving? Is it worth the expense of having to travel some distance with a UHaul. In New york state our closest IKEAs are an hour and half away in Canada or an hour and half to Pennsylvania. Not sure what would be better considering taxes and currency exchange.

I requested a catalog but was somewhat confused on the web site.

I am still catching up with this thread, but regarding the previous post, ikea cabs come with a 25 yr warranty and there are several people here who have had them for 10+ years and they're very happy with them.

My own observation is that I've seen skepticism on ikea cabinets among a lot of people who do not have them or contractors, but yet to find a homeowner who has been unhappy with them.

debrak_2008, Ikea delivers. It is certainly worth the visit to the store to touch and feel the cabinets, but if I was doing a whole kitchen, I would get it delivered. We did our laundry room/pantry with Ikea cabinets. We picked them up at the store with our pick up truck. OMG there were so many boxes, heavy boxes. I wasn't sure we were going to get it all in the truck. Really, if you have to pay to rent a truck, consider paying Ikea to have it delivered.
As for the cabinets, we are quite happy with the quality and with the ease of DIY installation.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea Services-scroll down for delivery

I did my kitchen 2 years ago. Here are some pics. I love it, nothing has scratched, broken, worn out. Would go with Ikea again in a heartbeat. What I liked most was that there was no sales person telling me what I had to choose. I got to design my own kitchen the way I wanted it.

It's a galley kitchen. Here's one side:

Here's the other side:

Here's the whole thing:

If anyone in the NYC area is looking for a designer/contractor, I would highly recommend mine. Our renovation will be finished this week, and we've been really pleased. They primarily work with Ikea cabinets, and they are Ikea-certified installers (they've also installed kitchens in Ikea's showrooms). They will customize Ikea cabinets. For a fee, they will also order all the cabinets from Ikea, and handle returns.

I will try to post photos when our renovation is done!

Here is a link that might be useful: Basic Builders

debrak 2008 - Ikea offers a 25 year warranty on its kitchen cabinets.

And the great thing is, even if you DID damage a door or something, you can always buy a replacement :)

Personally, even if I had a huge budget, if I ever do a kitchen again, I'll be using Ikea again.

My parents recently bought a country house that came with an IKEA kitchen; it was installed in 1990 or 1991. They will remodel the kitchen because they do not like the look (grey laminate slab doors that do no fit the 1910 house) but the cabs and countertops are in excellent condition.

If you look at European home decor magazines, you'll notice that most designers' houses featured in those magazines use IKEA cabinets.

nicanewjersey, I saved the link you posted since I may want to call your contractor to get a quote on upgrades to my kitchen. I definitely am changing out the 21 years old Linoleum floors but depending on the cost will determine if this is the year to change out the almond seamed laminate counter tops, the old fashioned ceiling light, and/or update the laminate oak cabinets.

Thank you everyone for posting pictures of your beautiful kitchens using Ikea cabinets to give me and others ideas.

barthelemy I wish they still made those cabinets. They were discontinued before I got around to designing my kitchen. I love them but my home is contemporary so they would fit. Maybe they'd like to send me their door fronts?

Wow - to think DH didn't want to do an Ikea kitchen - he thought it would lessen the value - was he wrong (and yes he has admitted it)
Click on photo to see a few more - finished one year ago

I promise to post as soon as I get my backsplash in. There are a lot of Ikea kitchens out there. Love it.

What a great thread! Brickmanhouse, love those black stained countertops!

Can I ask what you put under those cabinets that come down to the counter? It is a nice finish trim, but I imagine that it helps the doors to clear the counters and not rub on them when opening.
thanks!
Nancy

kITCHENREDO, my DH has the same negative attitude about IKEA. I wanted IKEA for the high cabs floor to ceiling to install both corners of a window wall in our dining room. He said, he thought WOOD would be better, doubted Ikea would work.

For the last 3 months I've searched for a good looking product to replace what I love at Ikea.

Now I'm BACK.

My issue concerns delivery, and the purchase options. When they say kitchen cabs must be ordered by phone and not online, does that mean I CAN ORDER VIA PHONE? AND HAVE THEM SHIPPED?

If so, that would truly be more economical for me. The ATL store is 400 miles away. I'd have to fly up there, rent a U-Haul truck, and drive home with all the boxes.

I've registered at IkeaFans, but not discovered a close connection for getting advice, like I find on GWeb forums. I am still exploring, and it is discouraging.

My plan does not really involve close tolerances for matching cabs or countertops. I need only TWO HIGH CABS, with a single side/end panel each. And doors of course. In the online PDF catalog it is shown in a drawing on page 58 I think it is. Footprint is 24x24, and height is 88 inches. Our ceilings are 98 inches, so add the base frame to lift 88 up, and then add the molding across the top to seal the gap.

I want roll out drawers, individually rolling not a pull out pantry. I want the Stat doors and side panels. I like the beadboard look the best. Our small cottage has touches of beadboard in several rooms already.

Then my DH can stick build a window seat with storage and a single long cushion to go the distance between the two 24" wide cabs. The bench would be nearly 8 foot wide, and 24" deep and maybe 20" high, plus cushion.

I need these two cabs (windowseat could wait I suppose) installed in the dining room BEFORE we redo our kitchen. These cabs should hold most everything now in our old 1950s kitchen. Over the last two years, I have replaced every appliance (except the range), getting ready for the kitchen redo. I got disgusted with the state of the electric range, so one day I took it apart and threw it in the trash. Literally. For the last year, I've cooked on a Waring Pro 2 burner hotplate, a micro/convection Sharp oven, rice cooker, a big Presto electric fry pan, and our outdoor Charbroil gas grill. We've also replaced the gas waterheater with a (free) electric one in a little "shed" next to the power meter in the back yard outside the kitchen. And permanently located our frenchdoor fridge so we have the icemaker/water working like a champ. The stacking energy star laundry center is front loading of course. I purchased a 30"x18x10deep single bowl SS Kraus sink this week, still in the box. All I lack is the Bertazzoni 24" gas range w/ convection oven--will not buy that until it is ready to take its rightful place in our NEW kitchen. But it is my top choice. ONLY choice. We've already enclosed the back porch to take it into the new kitchen config, and plan to make big archways to open the kitchen to both porch and dining room.

So you see that I want to maintain as neat an environment as possible in the house, when we do begin the actual kitchen redo. My DH is afraid he will have no peace and tranquility in any room in the house. I'm trying to allay his fears on that score, and really really need some help getting this dining room storage project nailed down.

Any advice to help me get there will be appreciated. He will be out of town for the next month, and I want to get SOMETHING DONE. I'm quite capable of putting things together, just not mounting rails on walls and using power saws.

moccasinlanding, here is a pic of my dining area with 2 80" high cabs that are 12" deep. Please ignore holiday decor.

Now, I put the other cabs together, but it took 2 of us to put the pantries together. You need 2 to make sure everything is square before hanging on rail.

IMHO, Ikeafans is more helpful when it comes to actually building the cabs. Gardenweb is more helpful with layout & design/decor questions. Love both sites.

About ordering, you need to call the closest IKEA near you and ask those questions.

I love, love, love my IKEA cabs and would do them again if I ever move.

moccasinlanding, Ikea has a few sizes of cabinets that are 15" tall or 18" tall (designed to go over the range or over the refrig. - I think the catalog calls them either fan cabinets or refrigerator cabinets). Many people have used them to build window seats with storage. Or if your DH wanted to custom-build the bench part, you could still buy doors or drawers in Stat to match the high cabinets. One of the nice things about Ikea (and one of the things the website and catalog don't always make clear) is that everything is sold separately. So if you want to buy just a door, you can. Or just a drawer and drawerfront, but not the cabinet they go on.

moccasinlanding, I did what jenva2010 is suggesting. I have three 36" wide, 15" high, 24" deep over-the-refrigerator cabinets used as a bench/banquette type seat. I will have drawers on those. One of those is to be used as a pullout pantry type thing. I used IKEA Lagan butcher block for the seat, and I am having custom cushions made also. It is 111" of bench, and I love it!

You could so easily do that set up with the two tall pantries--in fact that exact design was one of my first plans I had.

IKEA is sold in components. You can reconfigure the high cabinets just about any way you want. In fact, there are diagrams on Ikeafans that show the many ways those High Cabinets can be configured.

Sara wrote: "And the great thing is, even if you DID damage a door or something, you can always buy a replacement".

Hate to be a negative Nelly, BUT I just have to comment on this because of a recent experience we had with Ikea. They can only replace the door if they still carry that exact model or style of door. They actually change door styles quite a bit and they discontinued the style we bought before we even managed to finish our kitchen! And almost worse, on several occasions Ikea has switched manufacturers of the same door to a different country and they don't quite match the previous doors of the same name (this has created a lot of problems for people). And lastly, regarding the 25 year warranty - it isn't much good if they can't replace the door or get you one that matches exactly. Otherwise, the best they can do is refund the door cost and you're still left with a cabinet that is missing a door.

These are just some of the issues that accompany the markedly lower price so people should be aware of these potential problems if they are considering Ikea product.

Wow, I know this is a bit of an old thread, but Kitchenredo08 I don't know if you post or read here any more, but, my kitchen looks to be exactly the same footprint wise as yours! How weird to be searching for IKEA kitchens and come across an alternative universe!

I haven't posted here in awhile. We're past the planning stage and beginning the doing stage now. We're going with Adel Beech. Kitchenredo08, we scrapped the peninsula that had been in our old kitchen. It was horrible and had upper cabinets that blocked out a lot of the light from the deck patio doors as well. The counter top also had no overhang for seating! Your peninsula looks great, but our old horrible one left a bad taste in my mouth about them so we're going with an island instead.Our fridge will be near the patio doors, our sink is under the window. Our stove will be on the wall your fridge is on. We have the same door you have by the fridge (goes to our garage) and 90 degrees from it we have a door to the basement so we're not planning on putting anything on that other wall right now. It makes that corner too tight. So weird to see an alternate version of our kitchen online!

All these IKEA kitchens look great! Just the inspiration I needed. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now. We're just finishing up installing the floor (marmoleum click) and then it's on to the cabinets, but all the boxes piled up are beginning to look like a mountain!

Thanks for the inspiration!

You guys are making me wish I did an Ikea kitchen now :-). I opted for Schuler cabinets mainly for the finish and I still love them, but I also appreciate the extra storage that one gets with frameless cabinets and all the wonderful Ikea storage options.

Great thread!

Here's my IKEA kitchen slideshow. I probably have the most extensive "IKEA" kitchen since I also bought IKEA-branded Whirlpool appliances there.

The pix were taken with an old camera and don't do the kitchen justice. I can't take new ones for now because I am currently renting that home.

As far as my experience with the remodel using IKEA - I am very hands-on. I designed and chose everything, and GC'd the remodel as well. You'll either get minimal or no help from IKEA staff as far as design. I used their software and thought that was great.

Those interested in using IKEA cabs - they are very high-quality. Compared to neighbors with traditional custom cabs, there is no loss of quality at all. The home I moved into a few months ago is a mid-century mod with a 2004-remodeled traditional kitchen with custom cabs. I don't like the cabs/design at all, but I can't complain since it is a basically new kitchen. (I mean I CAN complain, but, well, you know what I mean!) I think my IKEA Adel cabs are far superior to what I have now.

I don't check in here as often as I used to, but if anyone has any questions feel free to email me through Gardenweb. I also hang out at the Cooking Forum - been there about 10 years now - yikes!

Posted by shelayne (My Page) on Wed, Feb 3, 10 at 1:05

We are working on our banquette right now and are looking to be totally done this spring. The kitchen is functional now, but missing the doors, the floor, new entry doors, etc.

Just laughing at myself here. *mimicking self in high-pitched voice* We should be totally done this spring!

bwahahahahahahahaha!

Silly, silly girl!

Come now, Shelayne - we can say it's still spring, can't we? :-) And didn't I see a pic of some of your cabs recently, already painted?

OK - since I may never finish my IKEA kitchen before we tear the house down and start rebuilding, I guess I'll go ahead and post some pics of what I have now.

I've been working on my IKEA completely DIY kitchen since before 2006 (argh!). We did IKEA carcasses with quite a few modifications, IKEA BB, and finished it off with a custom hood/island and custom, painted doors that were finally just installed about 2 months ago. Here are a couple of shots of the most finished part (sink wall). The fridge wall still has a few naked spots so no pics of that yet.

I have IKEA Stat white in my laundry room. Just love to see all these great IKEA kitchens here!

Oh Jen! That looks absolutely beautiful! May I ask how you did the sink cabinet valance? That is EXACTLY what I want to do on my sink base, but haven't figured out how to accomplish that! What color are your cabs? If I would have seen THAT color, I may have had them paint mine too! It looks really nice!

You are right about my FINALLY getting and painting doors (took me long enough-GAH!) but I am waiting on back-ordered hardware for my drawers, so I am holding back posting any pics of those. Who wants to look at my blue painter's tape pulls? LOL. We still need the back doors, floors, and finishing trim done--oh and I don't have my glass doors up yet because I have yet to get the glass ordered.

Anyway, YOUR kitchen looks absolutely wonderful! I bet you are so happy to reach this point. (I totally understand. Our remodel tecnically started in 2007.) I cannot WAIT to see the rest of your kitchen!

I cannot believe you are going to start another remodel! How DO you do it?

jenswrens, that is awesome! I love the details, where did you get your cabinet doors? I also want to know about the sink! And how you did the butcherblock! I really like those flat face drawers also. Where did you find the valance under the sink cabinet? Do post some details!