“Other brands that are well made but don't break the bank.”

What number will break your daughter’s bank? That phrase will mean different things to different people. Giving us a budget would help us, help you.

Her budget is somewhat flexible, but would like to stay at a reasonable level for a 10 x 12 L shaped kitchen. My guess is under 10K

That would not be a remotely possible kitchen renovation budget. Average is 25-30K just for cabinets.

https://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2020/

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5647040/white-shaker-battle-ikea-vs-the-rest-of-the-cabinet-world

If she wants wood doors then “the rta store” is probably worth her consideration. https://www.thertastore.com it would be a real challenge at that budget to do much of a remodel - maybe if she did everything herself & didn’t change any plumbing or electrical. Removing cabinets usually means destroying the counter. I would encourage her to ask around semi- locally for a custom cabinet builder that will do the installation and take responsibility for a perfect fit. Keep in mind with ikea it will take a week of someone’s time (likely) to sort through, assemble, and install. IKEA excels at the organization & the drawer glides are ok but everything must be perfectly square to look & function correctly (which usually takes a determined pro) if she does go that route. Have her order a sample door first for any online purchase.

That likely isn’t enough even with IKEA. Use the ikea kitchen planner to design the kitchen. Let it fill in amounts for counters, appliances, etc. you may be shocked at the total. Then add labor (unless you are diy)

As to your initial question, ikea kitchens are great. Tons of options.

That 10K was just for cabinets - not install or anything else.

You can also get a great assortment of doors and drawer fronts from commpanies that specialize in Ikea boxes. Sherr's and Barker are just two. So you can built the boxes and add the desired fronts easily. A proper kitchen uses lots of drawers, which really ups the price. Ikea makes that more reasonable.

The 3rd party door sellers take the cost WAY up. You might as well buy a different already assembled brand as do that. Don’t buy any of the internet RTA’s. They are all going under. You don’t want to spend money and have them close the doors never get any cabinets.

I just did a Kraftmaid kitchen for 14,000 (cabinet cost). Huge island and almost all lower drawers. $25-$30k is not necessary. I'd buy Kraftmaid again a heartbeat.

They discontinued KM One.

FWIW - Our big IKEA kitchen cost 12k, using one of their most expensive fronts and also included drawer lights. I think 10k is feasible for your kitchen cabs using IKEA.

10k is more than enough for ikea. Our suite kitchen is 10x10 an the cabinets came in around $3k and install around same. Combination of cupboards and drawers with uppers and lowers. Ikea is great and well worth it.

Umm, yeah. Reality check. My kitchen cabinets from Ikea with aftermarket fronts (13 cabinets total for a 21'x13' kitchen) are coming in at almost exactly $7k.

She should wait until Ikea is open again and then check them out in person before committing.

We just received our Kraftmaid cabinets that we bought through a well known dealer. List price was over 25K. Big Box wanted 22K. We paid 16.8K (17 x 21 kitchen) This includes three pantry cabinets and a small island. Not sure where you are at, but if your in Ohio I know where to get a great deal on Kraftmaid. My guess is for the size kitchen you're speaking of it will be under 10K with Kraftmaid. Best of Luck.

As far as I know IKEA’s kitchen sale is on now. Their stores are closed, but you can order online and get delivery.

We went with Ikea and we're super happy with the results!

If I were outside of Boston with any intention of selling the home someday (or only doing this remodel one time) I'd go for the best all wood cabs I could find and avoid RTA. I am extremely frugal and we looked at RTA from Ikea and China. Not the same - at all as what you can get from many places in all wood. It would have saved us 6K in the end to go that route with the 'joy' of endless assembly. However - when we have shown people our plans and what we are doing most think we are spending over 75K - 85K all in. With very careful shopping we are under 46K.

Design Girl-

In response to your original question, there are a zillion threads here on Houzz that you can search and find everything you need to know about Ikea cabinets. But I'll summarize for you: if your daughter can afford them, they're probably the best solution for her. If it's any reassurance, my neighbor with the $1.5 million house put them in his otherwise high end kitchen when he did a remodel almost ten years ago and they are still just fine. And my remodeling contractor, a fanatic German perfectionist, put them in his kitchen.

In a word, yes. If your daughter is handy and plans to do much of the work herself.

A few more words in this thread from a professional kitchen designer that might be helpful,

"White Shaker Battle: Ikea vs the rest of the Cabinet World"

@Design Girl, "I've heard some pretty good things about IKEA kitchens"

Like what?

Ikea kitchens have a good warranty, come with soft close doors/drawers as standard, have various configurations and many different fronts, Ikea has fabulous sales and software that most people can manage on their own. If you can't they have people who will design and install for you. It is an easy inexpensive decision to use them.

I just installed IKEA Axstad cabs in my 12x14 kitchen and hubby and I are very pleased with it. The standard door dampers alone make it worth it and the doors, although thermafoil, are made extremely thick at 3/4”. We made our plumbing cut out for sink pipes and that mdf was THICK.

We spent $3k on our layout and put them together and installed them ourselves to save money elsewhere. Worth it imo and would purchase again.

if she has solid cherry cabs, it's hard to compare w/that quality. (if they're real cherry and not 'cherry stained'.

how about refacing them, and modifying the layout changes? I had a similar thing done with mine. the carpenter modified some drawers (I moved the micro), had a custom vent hood made and he put large drawers in my island. all of the new fronts are solid wood with MDF panels, soft-close, and they were all sprayed the exact color I want. It would still come in below her budget and she'd have a new kitchen.

Ikea still uses fiberboard boxes. they aren't solid wood/plywood. you spring a leak in a pipe and those get wet, the cabinet is toast.

how much of a layout change does she want? can you post any pics?

Beth H. - The pictures are from the listing. I figured it might be better for her to paint, but she'd like the cabinets to go to the ceiling (they almost do) and wants to switch the location of the fridge and stove, which would then force other changes. Some of the cabinets sizes aren't that functional and she would like deep drawers. Her island is mobile and was there when she bought the house two years ago. Note that she stained the hardwood floors dark walnut before she moved in. It is a traditional New England colonial outside Boston.

ok, I see. so moving stove to fridge would mean putting in a separate 220V outlet to accommodate the oven, moving plumbing for the fridge, to the stove locale, for the ice maker, and moving all of the ductwork for the venting above the stove. If she moves the stove to the fridge wall (which doesn't look like an exterior wall) the ducting will have to be done so that it can vent to the outside. And yes, you still need this even if she keeps the microwave above the range. It has to have venting.

Since she wants to move it, I'd look into putting a built in micro into the island .

Oh, and if she wants a stationary island, then that means running electrical through the flooring and into the island. yes, by code that will need to be done since all island require an outlet. (I suspect that's why they currently have a moveable island)

So, as you can see, swapping things around has a ton of ripple effects that end eating a big chunk out of the budget. don't know if you all have considered any of that.

Beth H - All good things to consider. Her husband is very handy and he has both a licensed plumber friend, and a licensed electrician friend. However, I see there are ripple effects to doing this. You are correct in that the current fridge wall is NOT exterior, but the current stove wall is. There is an unfinished basement below. Perhaps it will be best for her to visit the kitchen showroom where the cabinets were built years ago (they are local and still in business) and find out what her options are. I do believe they are solid wood cabinets and even have shaker style doors. A paint job may be the best way to go with perhaps a few modifications.

Not a pro, but her cabinets look nice., esp if they are real wood. Another thing to think about is if the stove will go exactly where the fridge is that it will be a hazard on the end- perhaps she means to have it on that wall but not on the end of the cabinet run. Wonder if the area about the molding can be modified to look like it goes to the ceiling vs ripping everything out.

Gcubed - She would not put the stove on the end, but in the middle of that run. I'm sure we can do something to trim out the tops so that it appears the cabinets go to the ceiling. Nothing is happening now but getting ideas. It does seem silly to replace real wood cabinets with something that is not.

Design,,

I had posted a reply w/pics but it seemed to disappear.

I had said that just having people she knows do all of those expensive ticket items is great. My husband is like that. can do everything. when we were dating I had mentioned I wished my closet was bigger (was barely a walk in) In a week he was out back framing a new 20x15 add-on! (if you look under my name to master redo, that old before pic was the portion he built. a few years ago we turned it into the new bath)

Perhaps for the kitchen she can find a cabinet maker to match the island and do modifications to the current ones.

I just had mine done. these cabs were all custom and still in good shape, but the finish was very worn after 15 years. See all the fluted molding and rope trim? I hated it. and wanted white

I also hated the micro over the stove top. wanted it in the island but it wasn't deep enough.

If you daughter is looking to move the micro, look at some of the countertop models that can also double as a built in. you have to look at the rough in dimensions to figure out where it can go. The only place I could fit it in my kitchen was under the wall oven. He modified those two drawers and gave me two larger drawers in the island

you can see them here on the left side, along w/the micro under the wall oven.

(not completely done yet. i have the tile/window to finish)

I also refaced everything because in the before all of the top drawers were flat, and the others were shaker. All of the refacing for every cab I have (some you can't see) was only another 2K. Now they all match. the refaced fronts are all solid wood w/MDF panels. actually better than the solid wood ones that I previously had.

I'm showing you this as an option for what's currently there. It would be a shame to take out solid wood cabinets and replace them with Ikea. Ikea looks very nice, don't get me wrong, but nothing beats solid wood cabinets.

If she can keep them, get them refaced and modified, I'd go that route.

you mentioned space above the cabs. Can't see how large it is, but she could always have boxes built like this and keep open cubbies,

or if refacing, have boxes added on and get taller doors

or, do smaller cabs on top of what's there

If there isn't enough space for that, then a simple add- on like this could be done.

Beth H - Thanks for your thoughts. I agree and think that she's going to keep the cabinets and try to work with them. There isn't that much room from the top of cabinets to the ceiling - Barely enough to get an arm in to clean. I'm sure she can put a piece of trim on top and then put the crown back. I did something similar with some built in's I have. She may leave the footprint the same for now, and just have the painting done and get new counters and backsplash. She does want a larger fridge and since it's on the end, I think she can get one 6 inches larger. That cabinet can be modified. I'll be doing my kitchen in the next 6 months or so and will most likely give her my 2- 30 inch banks of drawers for her to possibly use as an island. She can have the drawer fronts changed out and some other modifications done and have a permanent island. My cabinets are Rutt which were custom and are still in great shape. In the end, it does seem nuts to rip out solid wood cabinets for something of lesser quality.

I admit I didn’t read everything here. Her existing kitchen looks nicer than ikea. I think she should look into refacing as Beth detailed. She could fill that gap to the ceiling with a larger piece of crown. Why does she want to switch the micro and stove?

Perhaps it will be best for her to visit the kitchen showroom where the cabinets were built years ago (they are local and still in business) and find out what her options are. I do believe they are solid wood cabinets and even have shaker style doors.

It's always good to have more information when trying to decide what to do.

It would be super helpful if people weren't so negative about price. IKEA quoted me a mid to top of the line kitchen Upgrade for 9k installed with drawers and extra cabinets and bar seating.