Thanks, tigger. I actually called Ikea yesterday to make sure I couldn't still get a full kitchen. No dice. I read somewhere that parts and pieces should be available until September. Hmph.

What cabinets did you choose instead?

I did my kitchenette right when they were clearing out Akurum and got the 2 over 2. It's a great cabinet. I can't believe they didn't keep it.

Oh, sreedesq. I was kind of hoping it was just me being too picky.

RIP, 2 over 2.

It's not just you! I dislike the new drawer in a drawer concept and wish they had the old 2 over 2. Loved them in our last kitchen, but we've also moved on to our "forever" home and I aspire to not use Ikea again, except for the butler's pantry area.

From a functional standpoint, you gain much more from one wide drawer than two narrower ones. Use dividers inside the drawers to organize.

My understanding of the drawer within a drawer is purely for cosmetic reasons. That way you can have a cohesive appearance to all your base cabinets and still have shallow drawers for little things. I don't agree that this is really something worth caring about, but apparently Ikea does.

Ikea cabinets of any style are OK up to about 24 inches wide then the draws start to get a bit wide for the material used for the bottom of the drawer. Any Ikea cabinet over 30 makes me really nervous.

Benjesbride I swapped to conestoga after getting quotes from barker, ultracraft, aristokraft, timberlake, and shiloh. Brian from the Cabinet Joint has been amazing to work with and has answered all of my annoying and repetitive questions.

At first sight I was not impressed with the new line. But it's growing on me. I love the drawer possibilities in the tall cabinets and I love that you can get shallow cabinets with the same drawer options.

Ikea wouldn't work in my kitchen overall since I love the look of traditional partial overlay doors. However I am thinking of using them for a shallow pantry wall and having doors/drawers made for them to match my other cabinetry. They will be full overlay but since that wall is separate from the rest of the cabinets. I think it may be fine. If I built the wall from the same source as the rest of the cabs I could not have drawers and due to the widths the doors would be butt anyway so it would no longer be a symmetrical 1/2 overlay anyway. So may as well treat it a separate area and get the function I want with the $$ savings.

The tall pantry units with drawers below are a steal compared to what they cost through Kraftmaid and the like. I'm using them for my laundry room.

What I don't like about Ikea is that you only have the choice of white or very dark boxes with the new line. I wish they had a neutral like birch for us wood lovers. I also wish they had cabs and doors/drawers that would work at desk height without hacking them up and needing to customize everything. Third groan is the lack of pure white in a traditional door. Not a big fan of their end panels either. Huge waste of inches to match even partially exposed sides to doors.

As to the drawers they come in 5,10 and 15 inch heights. The opening in a base cabinet will fit in any combination adding up to 30 inches. That's great flexibility in my book.

All said and done they are a great product if you are creative in their use. But not for everyone nor every application.

"Ikea cabinets of any style are OK up to about 24 inches wide then the draws start to get a bit wide for the material used for the bottom of the drawer. Any Ikea cabinet over 30 makes me really nervous."

We had two banks of 36" drawers in our last house, and kept all our dishes in them. They were rated for 150 lbs/drawer, if I recall correctly. We never had an issue with them.

As for the OP, I don't really see a problem having one long, shallow drawer instead of two short shallow drawers. I agree that the cabinet of many shallow drawers is odd. I'm not sure what you'd keep in it.

Anyway, we're doing Ikea again in the house we're building, but it will be a few weeks before we install the kitchen. I'm not worried, though.

I never took the time to compare the numbers on drawer heights. To me, Sektion looks like the top drawer is too shallow and the bottom drawer is too deep.

Well, I looked up the dimensions and Akurum 3 drawer bases had 12" + 11.5" + 6" fronts. Thanks to watchmelol for mentioning the new drawer front heights are 5", 10" and 15".

With this comparison, I think Sektion would actually function just as well for us and that my hesitation is just an aesthetic issue; I like the look of a more traditional cabinet.

Thanks everyone!

If it's just an aesthetic issue, you mig be able to hack the IKEA drawer fronts to match what youre looking for. If you take two 15" wide drawer fronts and gang them together and put them on a 30" wide drawer, you'd have the look of two smaller drawers. In the new sektion system, IKEA has a piece for attaching two cabinet fronts to act as one larger piece - I saw it used vertically in the showroom, but I imagine you could use it horizontally, too.

(The photo is sideways - sorry! But it shows the piece I'm talking about.)

For reference, here's the exterior view of that same cabinet:.

I prefer the look of the Sektion to the look of the Akurum, and as I did the drawer assembly, I'm glad I only had to assemble one top drawer instead of two :) However, I do wish the top drawer on the Sektion was just a smidge deeper. I shouldn't have to store the rotary cheese grater and can opener in the middle drawer. It's pretty tight for my dry measuring cup set, too.

emilymch, what door style is that, Veddinge? And what pull? I'm planning on Veddinge for my rental house, and would love to hear your thoughts on it if so. I am planning a similar sink pullout, too.

mabeldingeldine, that looks like an IKEA display to me (see tags).

I actually modified my akurum kitchen last summer to have one single drawer instead of the two, just because I felt like it was far more functional.

I haven't spent a lot lf time looking at the new sektion, but I would imagine that the reverse is also true... I'm sure there's a way to make that single drawer into two, if that's what you prefer, as long as they have comparable sizes... So, a 30" could have two 15" drawers, but if it's 24", you need to make sure they sell a 12" drawer as an option.

mabeldingeldine, Tracie is right - it's an Ikea display. I'm not sure what door or handle it is - I was more interested in the functionality of the interior. It's all Ikea though - that I know for sure.

I can see doing all those shallow drawers for linen storage. I wanted two shallow drawers in a 36 inch drawer base to hold rags and napkins.

Here is a pic of a Bodbyn tall cab with three 10" drawers.

Here is an interior of the top drawer.

This is a side view of a 15", 10" and 5" drawer.

Have you considered Barker?

Barker is at the top of the list. They're local to us. The cost and wait time were causing my eye to wander to Ikea, but I'm back on the Barker train.

"Ikea cabinets of any style are OK up to about 24 inches wide then the
draws start to get a bit wide for the material used for the bottom of
the drawer. Any Ikea cabinet over 30 makes me really nervous."

Don't like the competition, eh? We have dishes in a 36" drawer and pots and pans in another 36". For 12 years now.

We have the Akurum, but we actually modified our 2 over 2 drawers so the top drawer was one wide drawer. It is much more flexible because you can divide it up however you want, and you have more storage space overall. With two drawers, you lose some storage space in the middle to the extra drawer slides and spacing between the drawers.

We have two of those wide shallow drawers that are 30" wide. One is all divided up to hold all our eating utensils (forks, spoons, etc.), an in-drawer knife block for our knives, and all our cooking utensils (spatula, slotted spoon, garlic press, peeler, etc.). It is very handy having all those things in one spot.

The other wide shallow 30" drawer is also pretty divided up and has my baking stuff -- rolling pin, pastry cutter, measuring cups, etc.

I'm happy with it.

I agree that the new drawer-within-a-drawer designs just seem like extra work. But you don't have to do it that way; I believe they have normal real fronts for all their drawers too. And the new drawers seem just as sturdy as the old. For price, quality, and functionality, IKEA drawers were and are an amazing deal.

I prefer the new Sektion dividers for inside the deep drawers (easier to clean, better looking, and no slots like the Akurum ones). I like that there is a darker finish available for the cabinet innards because it peeks through way less noticeably between the doors than the old innard finishes.

All that said, I went through just what you are with not wanting a total IKEA kitchen. You might consider some mixing and matching to cut some costs in certain areas and get fancier stuff in others. What we did is we installed IKEA base cabinets to take advantage of their drawer systems, but I did not and do not love the uppers (I feel as if the light rail and cover panels always look sort of piece-y and askew). I also don't care for the cabinet/drawers fronts. The fake wood in medium tones look fake, a lot of the painted finishes look plastic, etc. They are all fine, but nothing I'd want in a long-term residence.

Because of that, I was looking at getting fronts for our base cabinets from semihandmade or Scherr's, which would be a great option for you to not have an IKEA-looking kitchen. Ultimately, we went with the IKEA black-brown, which I think is their most expensive-looking and least offensive finish, and it fit well with the style of our house. It is handsome and, most of all, inobstrusive on the bottom cabinets. (It does show a lot of dust, though. Word to the wise.)

Then we got custom uppers. I think everything at eye level is what really sets the tone for the kitchen, so the kitchen with just custom uppers seems more expensive than it was. It actually worked out pretty well. 0ur cabinets in total (for a small kitchen) cost us about $7500. $2500 for IKEA base cabinets that we installed ourselves, $4000 for custom uppers and pantry installed by the cabinet maker, and $1000 in custom leaded glass inserts for the upper cabinets and for miscellaneous drawer dividers and pull-outs.

An all-IKEA kitchen would have been about $4500. An all-custom would have been about $12,000 or $15,000 with drawers.

I've just used the Sektion base (Bodbyn gray) for the vanity in our newly built bathroom. I used the 3 face/1 internal drawer set, and think it will be practical. Sadly, I wasn't able to use drawers or pull fronts under the sinks due to the plumbing.

amemm - That looks good. And that floor looks great, what is it?

It's a ceramic tile. The name of it is Fly Zone 12X24 Spa Bianco. Thanks for your kind words.

That bathroom vanity looks great...has anyone else done anything like this? i am considering using ikea bodbyn for a double vanity in the bathroom and am just wondering what are some different layout options. Thanks!

@Cabot & Rowe All Ikea drawers have a 5/8s bottom. They are quite capable when you use the appropriate bracket to screw the bottom to the front and on screw in through the steel back. They are quite beefy. Definitely stronger than any 1/4" bottomed drawer.

Aaron, I meant the cabinets not the drawers

I built a 36" wide Sektion drawer cabinet, and I'm noticing a gap of 1-2 mm between the drawer bottoms and the drawer fronts. Has anyone else seen this?

Kim Ladin - the drawers can be adjusted in all directions.

Cabot & Rowe - don't I recognize that name from somewhere? Ah yes, you're Paul from the TF? I was (or am) Ellie (Gukki) there. You were such a great help to me and hubs during our kid's bathroom remodel back in 2010/2011. Ha, what a fun project that was. You recommended our job for the "hall of fame" too. I was so honored. I hope you enjoyed that banana bread!

Btw, Ikea 36" cabs are plenty strong. I have one with all the drawers chock full of cookbooks. I'm happy to report that it's not going anywhere and your fears are unfounded. Some people float the Ikea cabs and top them with quartz counters - no problem. Look at Joseph Corlett on this forum show off on them:

Cabot & rowe aka Paul. I know you from JB. You clearly get around! Your input has always been welcome

I didn't realize new line had those changes. Guess I need to pay attention - lol. I keep coming back to IKEA cabs because of Blum hardware. Is the same hardware in the new line?

I'm the OP--my original post is over a year old and regarding the configuration of the drawers not Ikea quality.

I'm not sure how this thread got unearthed, but I thought I might as well follow up...

We installed Ikea Sektion in this kitchen. It's our second Ikea kitchen and I think for the ease of DIY, price and quality can't be beat it. However, I still prefer the Akurum configurations to Sektion--we have both 10-10-10 bases and 5-10-15 bases-- but I definitely recommend Sektion.

Benjesbride, just out of curiosity (since you've been so helpful to many of us using the Sektion system), which door fronts did you get? And any particular high cabinet configurations your recommend?

I realize they placed an order for us using drawers on ALL the shelves (including the upper ones) in the high cab which isn't what we intended.... going to have to correct things tomorrow even though delivery is scheduled for Tuesday!

Hi, Seopee - Thanks for asking. We have Veddinge. I don't have any high cabinets, though.

Good luck with your delivery. I strongly recommend all Ikea sektion buyers confirm inventory right after delivery. I suspect there's almost always a mistake.

Thanks Benjesbride -- have you been happy with the Veddinge, have they held up well? I'm debating switching to the Veddinge from Ringhult but also read a few comments about their quality over time. We'll be putting the cabinet boxes together today but still have time to switch out the doors (hopefully it's not an issue to install countertops without any doors on cabinets).

I considered Ringhult, but they're too glossy for our modest mid century ranch. Also they're much more expensive. If you have stainless appliances, I strongly recommend the Grimslov. I had the foil finish in my last kitchen (Ikea Akurum Adel) and they held up incredibly well for the seven years we had them; even with abuse from two adults, two toddlers and a rottweiler the doors/fronts looked new when we sold

I went with the Veddinge because I wanted something different in this house and I didn't like the off-white of Grimslov against my white-white appliances, but I think Grimslov looks great with stainless.

I don't expect longevity from the Veddinge finish, but I'm okay with that. I'm thinking of painting them blue someday anyway.

Thanks for sharing.

For us, I couldn't get over the off-whiteness of the Grimslov (if they were white -white, we'd go for it!) or the slight pinkish hue (at least in store) of the Veddinge, but I'm tempted to go back to the Veddinge due to cost savings and because I wanted a simple clean look (still finalizing handles/pulls too). Bodbyn were also in the running but felt too formal for my tastes overall. Ringhult had strongest reviews in terms of quality but they are a bit modern-slick. I'm also debating waiting to install doors and contacting Scherr's, Semihandmade, Barker's, etc. for quotes. But husband wants to have everything done now, he does not want the work to extend much longer (even if doors are the easy part).

One thing I'm thinking is that the Veddinge might look better and not super "pink" in our home, it could just be the lighting in the store? We have a neighbor next door with a green house so that influences the color of light that flows in (at least in the late afternoon/evenings).

Here's what the kitchen looks like now. I'm waiting for floors to be completely done before we start assembling cabinet boxes. Trying to keep it light, airy, Scandinavian in feel.

Gonna go with bright white quartz countertops and backsplash on the window side, and the Karlby walnut countertop on the microwave side. Just debating whether the trip back to IKEA with doors and cover panels is worth it....

Sorry for hijacking your thread!

It's a tough call. I know the pink hue you're talking about. I think the Ikea door display at the store doesn't do the Veddinge any favors next to the pure white of the Ringhult. If you look around at the sink displays and the cabinet size comparison display near the kitchen computers, they don't look pink at all. I guess it's all relative; they can look slightly pink next to pure white. I think I'm the only one who will see this in my house and I actually plan to put some pink in the kitchen anyway (the old kitchen had pink countertops!) I'll take a pic of my white fridge in the Veddinge cabinet and post.

Why don't you buy the cheapest door or drawer fromt. Bring it home and see how it looks in your lighting.

I don't know how helpful these pics will be. It's overcast here in Portland and the kitchen has dual exposure to the southeast and southwest. The countertops are medium toned butcher block, but I don't think they'[re reflecting much color up to the cabs.

If Ikea is nearby, you might go look for a Veddinge door or drawer front in the as-is section to prop up in the kitchen and watch the color throughout the day.

Here is our white fridge door compared to the veddinge above fridge cabinet, wall cabinet on the left. Our fridge is whirlpool and is by comparison more of a blue-white.

Here's a Veddinge wall cab next to walls painted Sherwin Williams Snowbound

Veddinge/SW Snowbound walls/white exhaust hood:

We went with Ikea Veddinge for out kitchen, which is still not not done yet (construction - the gift that keeps on giving.) We picked it because we thought it went well with our soapstone and walnut countertops. It also allowed for fun hacks.

We choose blue/greys for kitchen paint to counteract that pink undertone in cabs.

I am happier than I thought I would be with Ikea cabinets. My contractor, on the other hand....

I have to say... I am having mixed feelings about this new IKEA kitchen cabinet system....Gone is the simplicity of Akurum cabinets... when working with the new Ikea cabinet system, my first thought was "it is over designed...over engineered"

Ikea should have offered more colors and cabinet door styles and not to make the cabinet system more robust and complicated for DIY people, and even for those who make a bit of money with installing these kitchens.

Also some IKEA material selections in this system are questionable??!!! The worst might be the use of plastic cabinet toe kicks ( plinth). I was also NOT happy at all with practically no possibility of vertical adjustment of cabinets on the rails... if IKEA designers spent so much time on making their kitchen cabinet system so complicated, why not to put some thoughts into this crucial part of installation and to make the hanging cabinet brackets horizontally adjustable.( level)

Everybody will need a great amount of patience and accuracy in order to complete their ikea kitchen renovation/remodeling project successfully with this SEKTION cabinet system. :-(

http://kitcheninstallerstoronto.com

check our blog with useful information for IKEA kitchen cabinet product

cheers

I am considering Section cabinet modules for my newly constructed laundry room and adjoining bathroom. Some of you who installed Sektion 2 - 3 years ago, please comment on how the materials have lasted over time: Particularly the cabinet finishes, and resistance to steam and other moisture.

Our kitchen was installed a year and a half ago with Bjorket doors/fronts. No issues with finish and steam around the dishwasher or range.

Thank you!

Just chiming in - sorry for the lack of updates!

It's been 2 years since our (very stressful!) kitchen renovation, but we're super pleased with how everything turned out. (I know you were asking about laundry-bathroom but just gonna write a general review in case others are interested.)

We love our Sektion cabinets; the drawer-in-drawer came in super handy for storing things like medication, manuals/warranties, afternoon tea supplies, and lightbulbs/tools/odds&ends. On our stove side we use that drawer-in-drawer for lesser used or back-up cooking utensils (ice cream scoop, tongs, can opener, tea infuser, etc.). I did map out all of our storage when considering what size drawers/cabinets to get, and most everything fit pretty much as planned.

For doors, we went with the Ringhult White. It was the most expensive at the time and made me super nervous, but we bought it during the kitchen sale and all the IKEA showroom staff said this was the top seller and best quality door they had. It also satisfied my need for a 'white-white' door, and provided a reflective surface that would help brighten up our lower level flat.

No regrets. Easy to clean, no problems with scratching, steam, moisture, etc. I actually found some doors and drawers in the As-Is section at IKEA, so ended up saving $ by returning the brand new boxes for as-is items that were in perfect condition. (Hint: Even though the blue protective plastic on the doors might be scratched, when peeled off, the foil finish was still perfect / unharmed underneath.)

We did have one problem with a faulty faucet leaking into the sink cabinet right after we installed it, unfortunately. This did create a little bit of bubbling in the particleboard but since no one is ever looking into the back of our sink cabinet except for future plumbers, and functionally the cabinet has held up just fine, I don't fault IKEA for this - I think any cabinet would have had some cosmetic damage if someone was pouring a cup of water onto it every night for two weeks.

Also, we built all the cabinets and drawers ourselves, and screwed in all the handles as well. Though tedious, after the first few, you get the hang of it. There are a few details to watch out for (like how to position and nail in that plastic 'fat L' piece on the back) but overall this was inconsequential to the final result. Our contractor just helped us hang the cabinets on the wall (since I kept freaking out about how they could possibly stay up under all that weight)!

Here are some After photos of our kitchen (a few are focused on the floor since I was writing a (very favorable) review on the wood-look tile we used). Pardon the mess... I wish we could live a Pinterest-worthy minimalist life, but alas... :P.

Hope this helps and happy to answer any other questions!

_____

P.S. One thing we forgot to get (that the IKEA kitchen staff forgot to tell us about) was the metal countertop support piece: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70274628/?query=Countertop+support+fixture

Most contractors are able to improvise if you forget about this -- we still ended up adding a sheet of plywood under the quartz -- but I think this helps 'lift' the countertop for sink installation and allows the drawers and doors to close properly. We ended up having to drive back to IKEA multiple times just to get enough of this $2.99 FIXA thing :(. My advice is to buy more and return the ones you don't use.

Also, some of the hinges were annoying to install (mainly for the sink cabinet because our large sink got in the way) as were the soft-close dampers, but I had my local IKEA Kitchen department on speed dial, and also referenced many many YouTube videos.

Good luck!

Thank you for all the detail. Your review was very helpful.

P.S. I love your cat!