^^^good advice^^^

I agree with Mrs Pete. That is a lot of money for intermediate. Whatever happened to making do?

If they are in bad condition fix them. Most cabinets have the ability to repaired. You can buy new hardware and new drawer boxes. You can order rollouts for drawers. It looks as if the doors are okay.

There was a very recent thread (like in the last day or so? maybe 2 days?) about someone very disappointed with CLIQ. They said the software was great, everything seemed great, but they were not pleased with the quality and when they had problems, if I recall correctly, they were very displeased with the customer service.

There are threads about Fabuwood and if I recall, very variable experiences. Some were happy some not, but the most recent one about CLIQ made an impression on me and it was very negative.

Thanks, lulu bella for actually speaking to the questions I asked.

If you don’t like IKEA, then you definitely won’t like Fabuwood or Cliq. CheapChineseCrapola as someone used to say.
And others are right, this is not the best idea anyway. You’re just wasting money and resources. Stop watching HGTV, live with what you’ve got until you’re ready to do it with a better product.
Replacing the appliances would be a much better investment right now if that money is burning a hole in your pocket.
But a keep a good cushion, new/new-to-you houses have a way of revealing issues you didn’t foresee when you are buying them, some of which can be very expensive.

Cliq is exactly that and IMO Ikea is a 100 steps above. I don’t see what the huge issue is with just living with what you have and when time comes to do the big reno you have not wasted money on cabinets that won’t probably work in the new kitchen. To me those cabinets you have work perfectly wellin the space not sure what you mean by not suited

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I have to agree with the others. I've done 2 major full-scale kitchen renovations in 2 different houses (in the middle of the 2nd one now). The first house was a house we thought we'd live in forever. At that point, the cabinets were 12 years old, builder grade and made of particle board. They were literally falling apart. My husband purchased right angle brackets to hold the drawer fronts in place until we could afford to tear out and renovate. We lived in that kitchen (that was literally falling apart) for 6 years with our small kids. Literally 2 weeks after all the tile work was finished we found out my husband would be relocated.

We built the house we are in now and the kitchen that the builder offered was crap. Not really customizeable and not at all what we wanted. We picked a standard kitchen with standard countertops and lived in that for 3 years until we could afford to put in the kitchen we wanted.

My point in all of this is to live in it. Yes, it is not at all what you want. But neither are the crap cabinets from Cliq, which are quite expensive for what they are, imo. I agree with Lulu about Cliq, I've seen nothing but bad reviews on here about them. Live in your space. Take time to figure out what is working and what isn't. Take time to decide what you want in your new space. How your new space will flow, what style you like, etc. Take that $6k that you're willing to sink into crap cabinets and use that to start up your savings. I assure you that when you start tearing down walls and discover what's behind them you'll be thankful that you have that extra $6k.

I lived with an unsuitable kitchen (cheap builder-grade in a spec house) for 25 years - hated it for 15. But we had young kids, and other priorities, so we lived with it.

We remodeled the kitchen 6 years ago, and it was well worth the wait! Every time I walk into the kitchen, it makes me happy. If I haven't opened a specific cabinet or drawer for a while, when I do I think "This is my favorite part of the kitchen!" I've thought that about every single aspect of this kitchen over the years.

I agree with the others - hang in there, save your money, and do it right the first time.

I have to agree with everyone else. Why would you want to throw away $6000 + dollars when it could be used instead for the fabulous kitchen you want down the road.

Additionally, when you move into a new house hidden things have a tendency to pop up and cost more than expected.

Another problem is what you think you want NOW, almost always turns out to be the wrong thing once you're living in the space.

I'm with the OP. If you want to change the cabinets now because you hate them, do it. Waiting for the BIG renovation doesn't always work. What if the big reno never happens? Life is uncertain. You may never have the money or means for the big reno. Meanwhile, you'll be happy with your small reno. You are doing what you can afford now. Congratulations.

If the OP doesn't like the quality of Ikea, I doubt a cheap reno using cheap cabinets will bring long-term happiness. If the major renovation becomes unreasonable, a smaller project might be just the ticket - but let's give the big dream a chance.

I think a better planned small renovation that would dovetail with the larger plans would be the better route. There should be no reason that a “house master plan” couldn’t be created that wouldn’t involve a wasteful disposable “for now” kitchen.

That would require that money be spent on architectural design work, up front. Before you spend money on anything else. You do not want to backtrack and have wasted money and have to redo things. Like a brand new kitchen. You want to do it once, and do it right. Regardless if the larger much more remodel happens or not.

Start with a measured diagram of the whole house. Then your setbacks and restrictions from your town. Assess the electrical panel and entire service. Assess the plumbing and entire service. Assess air tightness and insulation levels. Roof condition. Lead and asbestos contamination.

You’ve got 6 months ahead of you at a minimum of assessing the home, and the feasibility of your ideas, before you do anything! Make that count. Start with those measurements, and an exploration of the costs vs payback for such a huge renovation plan. You may find that a different house would give more value vs the large expense of a remake.

I don’t see the point at all of doing an “interim “ Reno, but I can add that I have Fabuwood cabinets and I’m very happy with them. I had custom cabinets in our last house and don’t really see a big difference in looks or function. I redid our kitchen as soon as we moved in a year ago but I recommend living with the layout for awhile so you really know what you want to change when you redo for real.

I've done two budget kitchens now and installed the cabinets myself both times (and I'm a 30 year old woman with a desk job - it's definitely doable). The first time I used https://www.unfinished-kitchen-cabinets.net/ and the quality was fantastic. Made in the USA and lots of options plus they come assembled which is awesome.

The most recent kitchen I went with Barker Cabinets because I needed more customization to deal with some space issues, but I'm super happy with those as well.

I'm a fan of painting my own cabinets, so I've always gotten unfinished, but both of those companies will finish them for you for additional $$$. The biggest difference between them is that the first company sends them pre-assembled on a pallet and they have face frames. Barker is RTA and frameless, but also much more customizable.

6K for a band aid? Wait until you can do it the way you want.

If the big renovation is 7 to 10 years off then I would would do the intermediate renovation and consider where cabinets might be repurposed later. I used my older kitchen cabinets in a basement kitchenette and painted some and used them in the laundry room. The cabinets could eventually be used in a shop, library /study area, craft area or garage storage. Keep possible reuse in mind when you pick them out. A solid wood door cabinet might hold up more for reuse then an inexpensive white painted MDF.

I have in my main kitchen Medallion cabinets purchased through a home center store - they are over 22 years old and holding up fine - though I want to replace the drawer boxes sometime. I also have bought Shrock with good results so don't write off American made home center cabinets. These cabinets come in standard sizes so they can be mass produced which is why they are cheaper than custom cabinets.

Many will say NO to open shelving - it is a personal decision based on how you live and what cleaning you have time for, but some open shelving would reduce the need for more uppers if that is a budget consideration. If you like a cottage look - possibly farmhouse, you might be able to work with the boxes if they are in good shape, use some open shelving, buy some new doors and curtain the sink base cabinet.