I used Ikea to remodel the kitchen and I was very happy with it. I did not like the finish of the doors so I had the birch shaker doors custom painted. I was very happy with the hardware and loved my 30" drawers.

I plan to use Ikea cabinets in my next house. I have not found any other cabinet to match the quality for the cost.

Regarding his comment about custom, I have had several builders try to convince me of the same when telling me how great their "custom" cabinet maker was. When we looked at the work it was not quality craftsmanship. It was someone ordering doors/drawers and then essentially building frames and facing them. Not what I would consider "custom".

There is no way custom cabinets could be the same price as a stock brand. They can sometimes be the same as semi-custom cabinets, though. It really depends on your local market and how much work you expect your kitchen person to do. Most custom cabinet makers only install and that's it - it's up to you to find someone for demo and other work or do it yourself.

Two things.

1. Ask in the kitchen forum for excellent advice and reviews of Ikea. (I'm a fan of them)

2. I know the "bling" is the fun stuff, but honestly you need to get your exterior and interior designed first starting with the overall look and feel.

Cpartist is correct; spend your time on the structure. Kitchen cabinets are really just fancy boxes, made out of wood instead of cardboard, nothing more. That being said, as a builder, I think Ikea have the best 'value' in cabinets that there is.

I have 10+ Year old IKEA kitchen and love it. My cousin used IKEA kitchen in her dental practice for cabinets and you can bet that sees a lot of use. We are both very happy. GC who did the install was impressed with the system and thought they installed very well. Good luck!

I priced out many places and did my research. I would get your list of cabinets and price them out at couple places. I ended up ordering mine from a small remodeling company in Ohio and they shipped them directly to me for free and gave me contractor pricing. Best decision ever and it was a small office so I felt great about ordering from them versus Home Depot or Lowes...

Point of clarification -- these will be be for new construction, a custom-build house.

Which is why I made my comment above.

Interesting. I don't consider kitchen cabs fun or bling. I want them simple and plain, just like the rest of the house. Non-distracting and not high maintenance. I also know what looks I like and don't like, there and in the rest of the house. I'm not worried about "coordinating" -- that will happen naturally as my taste is consistent within itself. No doubt I'll get to the kitchen forum as well as some others as I ponder my choices for the various rooms, appliances, and so on.

Thanks for the helpful responses, I really appreciate thoughtful discussion as I consider many aspects I've not had the good fortune to be able to choose in previous homes.

The point I was trying to make is that whatever you decide regarding cabinets is it's too early in your process as first you really need to nail down the exterior/interior overall look and feel of the house. The parti as the architects call it.

Most of us have a tendency to almost want to gloss over things like the actual build to get to the more interesting things such as flooring, cabinetry, etc. You of course may be different.

I understand that. And I was trying to point out that I'll think about what I want, when I want to. :-) My thinking and research does not have to be as "linear" as the design/build. We're waiting for the architects next round of drawing, the question has been on my mind, and voila: agency, yay!

I appreciate all positive contributions, and if you believe there are other matters I need to be considering at this point, please by all means mention them.

If you use the IKEA doors and drawer fronts, they are going to be less expensive than a custom cabinet. For us, custom was about the same as semi-custom. The advantage came in the upgrades - they were much less with the custom maker - upgraded wood, inset vs. overlay, more drawers vs. doors, some deeper and some shallower cabinets, specialty cabinets, and of course no wasted fillers.

That said, if we wanted painted cabinets I'd probably go with semi-custom for the factory finish. The smaller custom guys just can't match (in my experience) the quality of the paint job.

As sunny said, yes, most of the smaller guys do order their drawer boxes because it is much more cost effective, and there is little to no value in a drawer box made in shop vs. outsourced. Same wood, same machined dovetails, same custom sizing.

Or - I can easily go the custom route via online / mail order since folks like Semihandmade or Scherr's all have the templates for the IKEA doors / drawers.

What's funny is that I've used Scherr's before for a lot of custom stuff--sometimes oddball. When I typed it into Google to get to their website (after seeing your post), the first hit was 'Scherr's Ikea doors'; a very popular search.

There is no way custom cabinets could be the same price as a stock
brand. They can sometimes be the same as semi-custom cabinets, though.
It really depends on your local market and how much work you expect
your kitchen person to do

Yeah, I agree. That's a bit much to believe. However, custom cabinets don't have to cost a fortune. My mom's custom cabinets price was somewhere between stock and semi-custom, and her are drop-dead gorgeous -- perhaps more importantly, they're pushing 20 years old. What did "cost" more was time; her cabinets weren't sitting on the shelf ready to be delivered/installed next Tuesday.

Ikea cabinets are okay (and, yeah, you can't beat them if you're talking bang-for-the-buck), but they aren't going to match custom cabinets in terms of quality. Personally, I'm planning to use Ikea for the laundry room and the bookcases that'll line the hallway and mudroom ... but a higher quality cabinet in the kitchen.

"Builder says custom cabinets are as affordable as stock brands"

They will also sell you a bridge if you allow them too.

millworkman, LOL! I have noted down for future reference and to warn the hubster, "Do not buy any bridges from the builder" Love it! :-D

mrspete, yes, in the showroom I wondered about the quality, too. I love the soft close drawers/doors, love the clean and minimalist appearance. And, while we are a professional, middle-aged, child-free couple, I wonder how they'd stand up over 3 years of use...

Just b/c someone is a "local custom cabinetmaker" doesn't mean s/he is a good cabinetmaker - s/he may be, but you need to do your homework if you decide to go down that road. Here's a thread on the Kitchens Forum about this topic (it's old and suffered when Houzz took over, so excuse the strange year (0002) and the duplicate posts!)

• http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2694920/custom-cabinets-lines?n=27

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