I've had my IKEA cabs for about two years now and I couldn't be more pleased with them. If I ever do another kitchen I will definitley use IKEA, regardless of my budget.

If I had one complaint about IKEA it would be that the door styles are pretty limited, and some (not all) of the wood finishes look kind of cheap. (If that is a concern for you as well, it can be remedied by ordering custom doors from Scherr's - a cab company that offers literally hundreds of door options for IKEA cabinets.)

There have been countless discussions of people's satisfaction with IKEA kitchens here at GW. Just do a search of IKEA and you will find them, along with lots and lots of pics of finished IKEA kitchens.

Another great place for lots of IKEA info is at ikeafans.com. They have loads of articles and solutions to every problem you could imagine. Plus, like here, they are super helpful in answering your questions.

Nicole

Here is a link that might be useful: ikeafans

Ditto above, including choosing Ikea all over again. The boxes are very dense, heavy particleboard covered with thin plastic. They're very durable installed, but the plastic is pretty modest looking and will show some wear. Fortunately, it's hidden behind the doors, some of which are quite good quality and are where most of the cost will be incurred. There is a broad price and materials range, including solid wood, with the cost at the upper end pretty comparable to lower-end custom wood doors, and the lower end...unbelievably low.

Have fun checking them out for yourself. The Ikea website has a kitchen design function that will also price out your various choices for you with the push of a button. No "estimates." Just $12 for one of this, $8 each for 2 of that, $32 for one door you both like, $46 for the other one you both like.

They are known for their kitchens. And they carry a 25 year warranty. The Adel Beech, Birch, and Medium Brown, all have all-wood Shaker-style doors. Interestingly, the Adel White is a formed white laminate.

We have an Ikea kitchen with Adel birch doors and Nexus birch drawers that's about 1 1/2 years old.

So far my 4 year old hasn't damaged anything; he tries to slam the soft-close drawers, however, and I wonder if that will eventually impact the soft-close feature. I'm not worried, though, because the soft-closers are inexpensive and easily replaced. Also he's learning to be more gentle...slowly.

The Nexus drawers are veneer while the Adel is, I believe, solid. The drawers do show a teeny bit of minor wear (a few scratches) and, if it starts looking really bad, I'll replace them with Adel drawers in the next year or two. The veneer dings easily.

The thin plastic coating inside the cabinet boxes is not highly durable so definitely line the cabinet shelves. Ikea sells liner or you can purchase it from other places. The box fronts are faced with a more durable plastic band that matches closely to the interior color (you can choose white interior or birch-effect interior--we chose birch-effect).

The drawers are full-extension, a very nice feature. Also the interior of the drawer has a durable plastic-like finish on the bottom. I still lined the drawers, but the finish on the interior bottom can take more abuse than the cabinet boxes. I believe all the drawers have white bottoms. Also the drawers have metal sides vs. wood but that was a non-issue for us. The metal sides have a lot of adjustment features to align the drawer fronts. HTH!

Hi Nicole,

Thanks for the mention of Scherr's for different doors. I managed to get into IKEA for the first time in my life, and I did think the wood finishes looked rather cheap, while I loved how the doors and drawers glide and close in the display rooms.

Do you know if Scherr's also carries drawer fronts to use instead of the IKEA stock ones? Or just the doors?

Doors and drawer fronts. And Scherrs is not the only place to get them, either.

The nice thing about Scherrs is that they know the correct drilling location for IKEA hinges. Not to mention great service and dozens of styles.

I have both Scherrs and IKEA cabinets.

We've had our Ikea cabinets for about 9 months now. Ours is a veneered slab door (Nexus) that still looks new after hard use--of course, only been a short while. Can see though, that it is more delicate than a solid wood door. Our problem was that the slab doors tended to be veneer only.

The carcasses themselves are very sturdy and look new also--we've lined drawers and pantry/pullouts, but not uppers.

Unlike others, we thought the Ikea selection was great--problem was not having enough choice, but having too much. Ended up mixing Nexus brown-black and Rubrik white glass for a somewhat modern, but hopefully timeless, look.

Happiest with the smooth operating of hinges, full extension drawers, and soft close features. Also happy with the relatively inexpensive ikea accessories for storage and configuration. Only real issue we had with the cabinets is that the double oven cabinet needed to be reinforced to actually support a 300lb double oven--which we would have done with any cabinet used for this purpose.

Definitely check out IKEAFans as noted above!

I've had my Nexus Birch kitchen for over two years and it is as beautiful as the day I installed it. I literally saved thousands of dollars on cabinetry and labor costs. I would absolutely recommend IKEA kitchens even if they were of a comparable price to high end lines, but at the cost savings it's practically impossible to justify going with any other brand! They carry a 25 year warranty and the hardware that comes standard is Blum, which would be a considerable upcharge on other lines.

Love my Ikea cabinets-- I have the Tidaholm oak black/brown door, which is a solid wood shaker-style door with dovetail detail at the corners. My doors were made in Italy, so I feel like I got Italian style on the cheap! I was a little disappointed in my sample door when I first saw it, but it was transformed by a spritz of Pledge. Love my door style and the cabinets, especially the Blum glides, drawers, and hinges. The soft-close feature is wonderful.

I haven't noticed any fragility of the melamine surface, but I have almost all drawers on may base cabs, and have lined all shelves with the Rationell shelf liner.

I think all slab doors are veneered regardless of manufacturer, because a solid slab door would not be dimensionally stable.

I would definitely use Ikea again.

Hope this isn't too off topic, but does anyone know how much IKEA charges for shipping? I can't quite figure it out on the website. Would the savings be eaten up by the shipping? Would it be worth it to have a family member who lives in an IKEA town ship them instead?
Peace

Well we are still working on our kitchen remodel using IKEA cabinets, but with custom doors from another manufacturer. I would have gone with IKEA doors, if they would have had the style and color I was looking for. I am very picky. ;^)

We are just about three-quarters through the remodel, and I am so excited to use my new IKEA kitchen. I pull out the drawers and close them all the time, just because it is fun to do. HA!

One fabulous thing about IKEA is you can dress them up to be more traditional looking or forgo the fancy moldings and trim for a more sleek or contemporary look. Plus they are very hacker-friendly. We have modified a couple of our cabinets, and it was fairly easy to do.

So far, so good for us!

If you call Ikea and talk to a kitchen Ikean (someone who works there) they can tell you shipping estimates: but you would need to have a mock-up of the kitchen, with the number of boxes that you would be buying.

Shelayne, did you get your doors yet?

Shipping is pricey. Call for estimate.

Hi Jen!

I am *muffle mumble* er- not quite there yet. I have my order all figured out, but haven't pulled the trigger, yet. I have granite being installed this week, and I am just about a nervous wreck over it. My palms are getting sweaty just thinking about it. Ha! Anyway, I keep thinking there is something *else* I must do before I place my final order, but darned if I know what *it* is. I know, I know. I'm a strange duck. ;^)

Did you get your sample door? If so, how do you like it? Did they get the boring right?

Still waiting for it to arrive... hopefully soon!

(sorry for the hijack, everyone!)

peace_rose...shipping rates vary depending on how far they're being shipped. Delivery for all of my cabinets was only $150, they were shipped from Quebec (very far from my actual Ikea store), but I live about 5 mins from my Ikea, and don't know if that made a difference. Definitely call.

Adel White cabinets, for about a year. Love them and will definitely use Ikea cabinets on any future kitchen. I had them delivered, and it was well worth the money - cost depends on distance, and they were able to give me a quote in the store. It may cost more if you need it all brought up flights of stairs.

Without a doubt, I would use them again.

Just installed Ikea Lidingo cabs and I love them to bits!. They assembled perfectly, hacked quite easily and work beautifully.

Total weight of pallets: approx 1900 lbs
Shipped across country: $499.00
Look on friends faces when I tell them they're Ikea: priceless

Dawn

I have Ikea cabinets with white-painted recessed-panel doors and drawer fronts from Scherrs. (I like Lidingo, but had my heart set on recessed.)

Shipping was $169 for the whole kitchen. Although I live an hour from the Stoughton, MA Ikea, they shipped from Quebec.

If you go with Scherrs, be aware that they don't drill the drawers. It's not hard, but it was scary to start.