Keep in mind with Ikea you have to hire someone to assemble and install and you have to stick with standard boxes.

I always suggest working with a local shop, you will be surprised on the pricing. Never use a big box store as they don't care about an individual sale and customer service isn't going to be as helpful if/when things go wrong.

This is one we did a few months back with IKEA and our custom fronts. Miele

appliances. Range and fridge. House sold quickly for 1.3 mil. This was highly modified and did not look at all like stock IKEA still was done in a reasonable budget.

The execution of IKEA is the key. Sticking to normal sizes, not trying to use too too many fillers, or having to "hack" a cabinet to get it to an odd / nonstandard size.

I am putting IKEA in my new kitchen, and I am looking at a pretty hefty appliance budget / build. The design will be the key, and attention to detail in assembly and installation, as well as interior fitments, etc - to get to a truly high end look / feel.

sure you can. :) IKEA has some nice looking options and practical solutions and personally I’d also rather put my money In the appliances where it makes more of a difference..

quality cabinet makers do NOT use MDF boxes. I would want solid wood base construction. (yes plywood is considered solid wood).

Have you looked into custom cabs?

As years of Ikea threads have shown, it all depends how you put everything together. If you use all Ikea items, then yes, it can end up looking like an Ikea showroom (though admittedly, some people like/want the look).

This is one of my favorite GardenWeb Ikea kitchens, which looks high-end and not particulary Ikea-ish,

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2678448/finished-kitchen-circa-1840-working-farmhouse-ikea-budget-reno#n=107

We have Ikea cabinets (Edserum) with a cobalt blue 48" BlueStar range and a 4' x 8' honed Calacatta marble island and it looks great.

I find it funny that people want to save on cabinets yet spend big on appliances. If done correctly you shouldn't need to replace your cabinets ever again but an appliance will be replaced in 10 years regardless of price because the technology is every changing and the components will wear out.

As with anything, it can be done and look terrible. Or it can be done and look great. It is a bit incongruous to have double the price of cabinets in appliances. It’s usually the other way around.

The difference is always the knowledge and skill of the designer doing the designing.

Although I'm not completely familiar with the Ikea line to date, I'm very familiar with the higher end appliances and how they work seamlessly into the cabinetry. My concern, would be if the limitations of Ikea cabinet sizes would work against you trying to fit built in appliances into it.

I would get quotes on other lines before making a decision. It sounds like you are going by hearsay when it comes to the pricing of others. I would be surprised by the 3-4 times estimation.

There's a current thread by The Cook's Kitchen which is comparing an Ikea layout/pricing to other cabinet suppliers, I've yet to see the others coming in at 3-4 times what the ikea is. And then as mentioned above, you have to factor in labour to assemble Ikea.

Yes. Do it. Hire a KD who is experienced with IKEA kitchen design. Get some custom fronts from Reform or Semihandmade or Kokeena etc.

Custom doors for Ikea are far from a bargain. You’re better off just buying something the way you want it in the first place. And that goes for the engineering to make built in appliances work with Ilea. If you want paneled appliances, forget it. If you are OK with stainless fronts, it’s hackable. But it’s a lot more labor to make something hacked than it would be to just buy the cabinet line that has everything you need in the first place. If you aren’t going to DIY it all, forget it.

JDESIGN,,,let me reiterate,,,I was comparing the boxes from Ikea made of the fiberboard. I realized MDF are used in panels and such. I was referring to the actual boxes. those flimsy, put together, fiberboard panels that make up the base of the Ikea cabinets. That's what I was talking about. and yes, I still stand by what I said. Quality cabs that cost over 20K, will not use fiber board/mdf on the body that make up the base. and if I had any type of water leak, I'd rather have plywood than fiberboard. As for 'cheap' plywood,,,,,I never specified 'cheap', did I?

I have no experience with Ikea cabinets and I could be totally off, but Louis Vuitton handbag with Payless shoes comes to mind. Why would you put bargain basement cabinets with luxe appliances? Asking out of genuine curiosity!

Can we just agree that some people will never like Ikea, and it's easy to see who they are.

To the OP, filter out the Ikea haters and go from there.

sushi,,, OP is the one who asked the question hon,,,we are giving her honest answers. don't get your knickers in a wad.

where did I say I hate Ikea? we are comparing cabinet boxes made of quality construction with solid plywood/wood, or with fiberboard panels you screw together yourself. the latter is Perfectly fine if you have a budget.

Personally I'd want my cabs to last 50 years AND stand up well during that time.

I have custom cabinets. I’ve been to IKEA and the cabinets have a place. What is overall cost of the home? I would not use Ikea cabinets in a high end home with high end appliances. It sounds like you want integrated appliances which is a more custom look. Shop around your design plan before you decide. I probably overspent on my kitchen but the design process was worth every dollar.

I found my way to the GardenWeb Kitchen forum back in 2009, long before it was sold to Houzz and when the Kitchen forum had very few professionals and a great number of interested amateurs assisted by other, quite talented, amateurs. One of the greatest GW legacies from that time is the Finished Kitchens blog, which is as highly searchable as it is lacking in an updates.

The Ikea section has more than a dozen kitchens, which are all different and each is a very good example of what can be done with Ikea cabinetry. One of my favorites over the years is redrange's 2007 kitchen, with a red BlueStar range, ModernAire hood, tiles handpainted and -glazed by redrange herself, and refrigerator and dishwasher with custom copper panels.

I've appreciated the assistance from GW oldtimers over the years to help members achieve the kitchens they want, working within their various constraints. For us, building a new house in rural western Canada, the constraints were geographical as well as financial.

I have no experience with Ikea cabinets and I could be totally off, but Louis Vuitton handbag with Payless shoes comes to mind.

I've always appreciated the fashion sense of those, like Michelle Obama and Kate Middledleton, who are able to come up with a good high-low mix that suits their needs.

I am just telling the OP that some people will never have a good word to say about Ikea. Filter results as necessary.

I found some oldie-but-goodie threads

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2668566/how-to-use-ikea-to-get-a-custom-kitchen-high-quality#n=77

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2417805/ikea-kitchens-am-i-missing-something

And Canadian interior designer Carol Reed's nifty older blog post which is still around,

http://carolreeddesign.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-i-love-ikea-kitchens.html

I don't have a problem with Ikea cabinets. . . I'd prefer Miele for the appliances.

Funny, I don't see anything incongruous about Ikea cabinets with high end appliances. For me, the appliances are the main event in a kitchen and I choose them first. After that comes the most serviceable cabinets and countertops I can afford. Ikea ticks off all my important boxes (no pun intended ;-)

And some people have nothing nice to say about Neiman Marcus. To each his/her own.

Here's the thing: IKEA is polarizing. People love it or hate it. Which camp do you fall in?

Some IKEA kitchens look like IKEA kitchens. Others don't. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Personally, I love IKEA. I have custom fronts (Barker), and my appliances are a mix of Thermador, Miele, Bertazzoni, and Frigidaire, so obviously it doesn't bother me to mix high/low. I have a pricier backsplash and cabinet hardware, and fairly inexpensive quartz countertops. The pendants over my island are from Pottery Barn, while the light I have above my sink was a splurge from Barn Light Electric. I feel the same way about clothes and home decor... I wear high-end brands along with Gap. (I definitely don't think IKEA is comparable to Payless, though!)

some people" yeah only the professionals who see more than an aesthetic difference between the products. There is a HUGE difference in quality of construction, customer service and ease of installation.

How many cabinets have you actually manufactured? Because here is my take as a woodworker.

The idea that Ikea cabinets are lesser quality is predicated on two assumptions (1) that mdf is lower quality than plywood (which is certainly not solid wood) and (2) that the failure point of kitchen cabinet boxes is the wood.

The fact of the matter is that no one can really answer the question about mdf vs. plywood construction. They both have advantages and disadvantages, and if you look at hundreds homes who had cabinet problems related to wood failure, about 2/3rds would have the same problem whether mdf or plywood, and the other 3rd would be split rather evenly between problems that occurred because it was mdf rather than plywood and vice versa.

In the end, if your kitchen has a problem that is exacerbated by plywood, it is going to be the wrong choice, and if your kitchen has a problem that is exacerbated by mdf, it is going to be the wrong choice. I can tell you that all of my shop cabinets, which get far more abuse than home cabinets, are made from MDF.

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So the second problem is that wood quality is not the failure point of most kitchens. Water is the failure point of most kitchen cabinets and Ikea cabinets handle water beautifully. Water is very good at flowing downhill, so Ikea cabinets, which aren't glued together, are pretty good at just letting the water pass through them doing minimal damage on its way to the floor. Moreover, the water tends to move away from the cams and thus any damage is in areas that are not a failure point. Take a nice glued joint and it is just going to let that water set there.

Ikea then lifts their cabinets off the ground so that any water collecting on ground doesn't wick up through the wood. Spill a good sized mop bucket under your traditional cabinets and remove the toe kick a week or so after you cleaned up and look at the damage. Do the same with the Ikea cabinets and notice their is no damage. Please note, this would never really happen, if you spill under your Ikea cabinets, remove the toe kick and clean it up.

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I have Ikea cabinets in rental units and after 8 years of tenants the cabinets looked brand new. I choose Ikea for all my rental properties because I can remove a damaged cabinet and just put a new one in no problem.

However, there was a quality control issue in the finish on my doors, it was a known issue. Since Ikea no longer makes the Akurum doors they sent someone to the property to measure, they then removed the old cabinets and reinstalled the new cabinets, and since Ikea cabinets can be removed, a new cabinet inserted under the counter and lifted into place on the adjustable legs, they did it without damaging the granite or tile backsplash. One cabinet on each side had to be shrunk to accommodate the new sizes but I was also compensated for that change.

You may well have a different experience with Ikea warranty, but I think they are second to none.

Beth H, no I'm the one who said "cheap plywood." You're not building the boxes so I'm not referring to you. Do you think that a low to mid-level cabinet manufacturer is going to use high-quality plywood or just commodity plywood to be able to say " we use plywood on our boxes". The fact that some use only 5/8" or even 3/8" side gables tells me that they are trying to get away as cheap as possible. With over three decades of building custom cabinets and furniture at a high level I do know a little bit about the sheet goods used in the industry. There are all levels of quality in the various products. The new generation of "fiber board" or melamine faced industrial particle board actually coming from Europe that we currently use has a 12 hour water rating so not all is the same. Granted Ikea is not that but their boxes are adequate enough and are not going to fall apart even after years of use. Their drawers, which is their best feature, I would take anytime over a 1/2" sided wooden box drawer found in most mid-level cabinet lines. Not a fan of their doors options only a few look decent to me. Not just because we sell custom doors for their cabinets but a lot of them look like imitations of better doors of that style. My conclusion is; Ikea works for someone with a limited budget that just wants a new, clean kitchen and can dress it up with a nice countertop and backsplash. Ikea plus custom can blow away most or all of the mid-level cabinets I've seen at half the price. I too stand by my comment that melamine board used in six figure European cabinets and we use everyday is not a sign of an inferior cabinet it's just an aesthetic choice.

>>following>>>

I am with Hillside I have very higher end appliances in an Ikea kitchen becauseiactually choose my appliances before I even begin to design my kitchen . I have been designing Ikea kitchens for 20+ yrs and many have gone into kitchens with SZ and Wolf appliances.IMO the appliances have to do all the work and the cabinets need to hold my stuff and crap out

This quality discussion is logically pointless when we have only one known product. Ikea is the known. You can find poor, mid or higher quality products. But you've got to pick something and name it to compare.

On another tack Kitchenaid with a 'commercial' tacked on isn't high end for me. Not since Whirlpool is the owner. I'd prefer Bosch which is mid level.

My first kitchen back in the mid 80's was an Ikea kitchen. Worked great and was easy to install. When it was time to move, we had an older couple looking to downsize who were into upscale things. They asked where we got our cabinets from. We played dumb and pretended not to remember. They wound up buying the house and from what I understand after they did, they kept the cabinets but redid the appliances with more upscale ones.

While I might not put Ikea in a million dollar plus home, I'd have no problems using it in a mid market home. Actually I take that back. We at one point were in talks to buy our rental apartment in the condo we stay in NY. If we had bought the place, we would have absolutely redid the kitchen with Ikea cabinets.

On another tack Kitchenaid with a 'commercial' tacked on isn't high end for me. Not since Whirlpool is the owner. I'd prefer Bosch which is mid level.

This. If I had to choose appliances all by one brand (ugh), I'd probably choose Bosch or Miele. But for me the height of high end and luxury is being able to choose appliances for their function.

jdesign_gw, where are you located?

Los Angeles

Opposite coasts :(

@bry911 I will remove my input as no matter what I say you will obviously fight it. And feel free to call BS but the production schedule and invoices say otherwise. I will no longer be providing input on this thread and no one wants to listen to actual facts.

JDesign where can I find information on your custom fronts?

Right now it's just the Instagram page @eurofronts to see examples of some of our work. Some of the projects on there are built on IKEA but anything there can be made to fit the IKEA platform. The website listed is not linked yet it's a lot to put it altogether but working on it along with doing our custom work. We will have a lot of options not offered by anyone. We also have acsess to everything else that is currently available and we will compete with better pricing on that. .

You can contact me through Houzz

Nosoccermom

there's always shipping. And I'll be on that coast in about two weeks. NYC. If it's an interesting project that we can use for promotion we can do something in regards to pricing.

Sativa: That’s a silly response. The OP asked a question, and you answered it with your thoughts. As did others.

We all know these threads can recirculate for years, and input and differing viewpoints are valuable.

For the record, semihandmade does provide panels for DW (for sure) and fridge (I think). My fridge is stainless but my DW is paneled. I just had to specify which make/model in my order. Not all DWs fit, but my Bosch 800 series did.

Bluestar range, Miele fridge and dw. Ikea kitchen with Semihandmade cabinets. fight me if you hate it.

Sorry for this parallel conversation. @jdesign: I'm in DC but will jot down your contact info and look at the instagram. Thanks!

hey nosoccermom - in DC too.

@jdesign_gw How did you go about the Ikea integrated fridge cabinetry? The Ikea cabinetry only works with sliding hinge refrigerators, but Miele is a fixed hinge system. Did you have any trouble modifying it to work?

Not clear on what you are asking. Fridge isn’t really in a cabinet. It’s framed with panels with a cabinet above usually.

@jdesign_gw Thanks for the reply. We might not be talking about the same cabinet. This is what we have, but it's meant to work with Ikea integrated fridge (which is a sliding hinge). I am trying to find if anyone has modified one to fit a Miele fixed hinge (door on door). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiaSXa6GoZ4

Like i said no cabinet just panels on either side and hang panels on Miele ”panel ready” fridge as Meile requires. I’ve never put a fridge in a cabinet.