I’m a huge IKEA fan. Our previous kitchen and current one are IKEA, as well as our pantry, kitchenette, and mud room.

Sektion is the cabinet box line... the previous (discontinued) line was Akurum. Maximera is the interior drawer fittings, and I’m pretty sure it’s the default in the planner, but there is a cheaper option. (Stick with Maximera.) Axstad and Bodbyn are the names of different drawer and door front styles, and each one comes in certain colors and finishes.

So, my previous house had Akurum cabinets with Lidingo doors, which have been renamed Bodbyn.

My current kitchen is Sektion/Maximera, with third-party doors that we painted. (Mudroom is the same, although they are a different color.)

My pantry has Sektion cabinetry with no doors, because I wanted open shelving.

My basement kitchenette is Sektion/Maximera, with Torhamn fronts.

Here’s a massive thread that discusses third-party doors and pricing, if you’re interested in going that route: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5182903/barker-doors-vs-semihandmade-vs-scherr-s-in-ikea-kitchen-results

What I’ve always wondered about IKEA cabinets is how good they actually are. I get that they are a great value, but price aside where do they rank as cabinets? Like if I have a quote for 7k for ikea cabinets but a quote for 11k from a local cabinet maker for an equivalent layout with full plywood boxes, full extension drawers, and soft close doors and drawers is the local guy worth the extra cost or are the IKEA cabinets pretty much just as good.

Plywood ain’t all it’s cracked up to be for cabinets....

I don't understand the love for plywood- if your kitchen gets wet plywood or furniture board will both be damaged or destroyed. I put in lots of custom kitchens that are made from plywood and they are fine- but not the deciding factor. In my house most of my kitchen is IKEA, two large cabinets are plywood from a local custom shop because they had to be an odd size and I wanted a particular effect (grain matched walnut blah blah blah). IKEA is less expensive because they are smart- the boxes are made in the states, the cardboard is made in Mexico, the hinges I think are eastern European, the slides are German, the handles are Chinese, and the fronts are Italian. The labor is on you. They are not the answer in every situation, or even in 10% of situations. But they are an answer, and to me they are far better than the unfinished cabinets at the big box stores (which I have used several times too)

Hillside House, do you feel any particular way about the Torhamn vs. Bobdyn vs. third party doors?

I think the advantage to plywood is you can paint and essentially seal it yourself to protect from some water damage. My concern with furniture board is they come pre laminated and if any wetness gets in it swells quite a bit, then your paint/foil will chip off and it's impossible to match the color and sand it to look new again. Also, picking the exact paint color is always a bonus. I'm just also not as well versed in IKEA furniture so I'm naturally wary. With Lowes and HD I know exactly where things are, there's always one close by and I know what I need to get to replace something. They're also the go to for cabinets where I am. You'd have to search pretty hard for a house built in the 90s that doesn't have those cabinets. My mom's house has them and definitely has some wear but the house we left didn't have any issues, I just hate their trim on those cabinet doors so I want to explore other options. I am genuinely surprised how much people love IKEA cabinets though. My options are limited since we're doing a massive reno and although we plan to stay in the house for years my husband refuses to pay for anything that won't increase the value down the road so it's not all about aesthetics. (Anything will look better than our current 70s cabinets but my husband feels guilty ripping out "real wood")

I think the advantage to plywood is you can paint and essentially seal it yourself to protect from some water damage.

As you can also do with MDF.

I am confused by your postings. The cabinets that you linked are made from low quality furniture board and not plywood. There is no coating that you are going to add to those cabinets that will ever make them equal to Ikea cabinets. They have wood face frames and doors, but face frames and doors don't get water damaged unless your home floods and that is going to destroy the boxes anyway so you are getting a new kitchen regardless.

There is some ingenuity to Ikea cabinets. Water tends to run downhill, Ikea fixes the water problem by lifting their cabinets off the floor on legs instead of putting them on furniture board bases. They also don't use dados and grooves for construction as they want the cabinets to let the water get out. Their smart use of materials helps cheaper materials perform similar to more expensive materials.

As for picking your color... Sure but the prep work alone required to get a durable finish will likely destroy any savings. Not to mention the cost of the equipment necessary to spray something that looks good and is durable.

HALLETT & Co. - You wrote that Ikea cabinets "are not the answer in every situation, or even in 10% of situations." Can you elaborate on this more? I'm not trying to disparage Ikea cabinets, Im just trying to figure out where they stand in the gradient of cabinets. I understand they are an excellent value, but what makes other cabinets better than Ikea? Assuming I do not need specific sizes that would require custom or semicustom cabinets and assuming I am not looking for some sort of exotic finish (though I guess I could still get Ikea boxes) is there any reason not to go with Ikea?

bry911, I've seen multiple complaints about IKEA cabinets doors and faces peeling from steam and water damage because of the dishwasher and stove as well as when they use them for bathroom vanities. I've never had that happen from the cabinets I've had in the past which is why I created this post in the first place, lots of reviews are either 100% for IKEA cabinets or 100% against because of bad experiences which is why I asked how people liked theirs and to see if it's only their old models or a specific type of door. This isn't my first house, nor is it the first house I've painted cabinets in so "prep work" and spray equipment is irrelevant. IKEA cabinets never even showed up on my radar until I saw people on Houzz post pictures of theirs.

My other hesitation with IKEA is I hear their customer service is horrendous and their guarantee on their cabinets are worthless when there's a problem. I did purchase my table and chairs from IKEA, it was fine quality, plain pine that I stained but picking it up was definitely a nightmare, their customer service department almost looked as filled with defeated and angry customers as Walmart's.

There is a bit of a confirmation bias in your comparison. You are comparing anecdotal experiences with online complaints. If you put these things into perspective I suspect that IKEA has a very small failure percentage.

I use a IKEA cabinets in all my rental properties. I have probably installed 20 IKEA kitchens and, in fact, just closed on another rental property on Tuesday which will get an IKEA kitchen. I started for the ease of repairing a single cabinet when damaged by renters but rarely have had to. I have never had damage to doors or drawers near dishwashers or ranges. I typically use a cooktop and oven cabinet, so that is double the chance of damage.

The only problem I have ever had with IKEA cabinets was a coatings problem on their STAT cabinets and they replaced and installed the entire Akurum kitchen with a new Sektion kitchen.

I have never had problems with warranty service on any IKEA product personally, but recognize others may have.

Even through this pandemic, I have had excellent customer service at IKEA. I have had a few things delivered, as well as click and collected at two stores. No problems and no issues. Also shopped in person once. A lot of the stories online are people getting seriously bent out of shape over furniture during a global pandemic. They all need to CTFO. It’s furniture. And there’s a pandemic. And some people are just jerks to start with. They're all human beings too and we're all doing the best we can in the circumstances. (Meaning us humans, I don't work there.) Things are simply different right now, and may be for the foreseeable future. Nothing is instant and nothing is perfect.

It sounds from your replies like you really just want to go down to Lowe's and get your stock cabinets anyway, so do that.

wiscokid, that's good to know but these are not recent complaints, they're over many years, some from the old cabinets, some from the sektion ones.

bry911 do you have a go to door you like to use or do you change it up depending on colors of the house?

Jar g I do lots of work in small historic homes, some dating to before the civil war. IKEA does not offer enough sizes to work in these kitchens, and most of my clients prefer a traditional look which IKEA does not do very well. If you want modern or shaker they are great if you have the space to make standard sizes work.

one other comment about the Ikea quality. I think their boxes, soft close etc. is all great. I think their doors are ok, but you will start to have problems with peeling after 15 -20 years, but I cannot recommend any of the open shelving type things ( they have various of these types) they seems to be much lower quality and get worn out within about 10 years. I think people might initially like the look, but I do not recommend including that in your design

Oddly enough I had to run to Lowes to get a part to repair a faucet today. I wasn't familiar with the store and ended up on cabinets. Decided to check out the project source cabinets and this was the one setting on the floor.

In general I thought they were low quality. The hardware was cheap and doesn't seem suited for every day use in a kitchen. The sides were low quality 1/2" furniture board and it is full staple construction, which I just don't understand. If you are going to dado in the sides why not just add some glue to increase the holding power ten fold?

IKEA may not be the right answer for you, but I don't see these as comparable.

----

I don't have a favorite door. When I started, I planned on doing every kitchen the same, but that didn't last. I just use what works for the property now.

😂 I love when they leave beat up displays on the floor. I ran through Lowes and Home Depot a couple months back to look at fridges and 80% of the french door ones were missing the freezer bar because it snapped off, way to promote a product!

I've never seen them with staples, I guess they don't make them like they used to? My old ones were definitely built with a staple gun and you could see some glue seepage.

We won't be needing any open shelves luckily, I do like their over the fridge cabinets though that has the open from the bottom and the door goes up. I don't know the name lol we have an old cabinet in the bathroom that does it too.

I meant to say nail gun, got staples on my mind now.

@Christina

The fact that the cabinets were beat up was not the problem, the problem was that it exposed how low quality they were to begin with.

Part of the background that I left out is that I am an experienced woodworker. I have built several sets of cabinets and used to earn extra money designing, building and repairing wainscoting.

The Project Source cabinets don't compare to IKEA cabinets. If you are really hung up on unfinished doors and paint. Then get unfinished doors from Barkers and end up with much better cabinets and better doors. The Project Source are utter crap. My Baltic Birch shop cabinets are ten times better.

There is simply no way a local cabinetmaker can compete on price with IKEA on lower and medium grade cabinets. The only advantage a local cabinetmaker has is on high end custom cabinets.

I would caution against ordering anything from IKEA right now. I'm still waiting on a cabinet drawer front ordered on April 29th that I received two invalid tracking numbers for. Several ordered cabinets back in January and still haven't received them and customer service won't take their phone calls or respond to email inquiries.

"A lot of the stories online are people getting seriously bent out of shape over furniture during a global pandemic. They all need to CTFO. It’s furniture. And there’s a pandemic. And some people are just jerks to start with. They're all human beings too and we're all doing the best we can in the circumstances. (Meaning us humans, I don't work there.)"

I disagree that IKEA is doing its best right now. Other online retailers are able to service their customers or at least communicate with them. IKEA continues to sell products online and then won't ship them (they charge your card, though!). They won't cancel orders they can't fulfill and they won't pick up the dang phone to answer any phone calls re: orders. People are okay with delays but what they are NOT okay with is the lack of communication and taking people's money (often thousands of dollars) and then won't deliver the product or refund the customers. I had to dispute the charge on my credit card to get my money back. Thankfully, it was only $50. Some people spent thousands on their IKEA credit cards and now they don't have their product and they can't dispute their charges but still have to make payments on their cards.

shead, the complaints I heard with customer service were very similar, I think IKEA outsources the delivery for their cabinets and a lot of people's shipments get delayed multiple times and people were waiting 6-8 weeks before the pandemic.

I helped a friend design and complete an IKEA kitchen. It’s gorgeous and has held up well. I had custom cabs built by a local cabinetmaker for my kitchen- wasn’t much more expensive. It’s gorgeous and has held up well. I think IKEA cabs are well-made. Challenges: I would NEVER get thermofoil anything. It discolors with time, can delaminate, and can’t be repaired. If you are doing an IKEA kitchen, it’s all on you- making sure measurements are perfect, that you leave enough space for your appliances to open properly, etc. One of the things I loved about working with the custom cab guy is he took responsibility for all that.... I just sent him my appliance specs and he took care of everything else: measurements, installation, hardware, and working with my stone fabricator. I was amazed at how affordable he was and suggest you check that option before writing it off based upon assumptions about cost.

This company, Semi Hand Made, makes Ikea cabinet doors and drawer fronts.

Thank your for sharing your experience Hillside House and that would be an amazing return on your investment assuming you haven't sold it yet. Do you live in California? I know the market there swings wildly, my husband is from L.A. In Texas we have a lot of "hot" markets but our property tax rate is so high it keeps home prices more at bay than other areas of the country, anything will make this house look 1000x times better than when we bought it and there's always a good medium when adding value to a home, too low end and it won't increase the value and too high end you'll never get your money back. Sudan, the thermofoil ones are the ones I hear the most complaints about. I know things can't last forever but I want to be able to touch things up myself or have easy fixes rather than be stuck rebuying all doors which defeats the purpose of looking for a budget friendly kitchen. I'm new to my city so I should get some quotes from local cabinet makers and I hate to say it but given the times we're in maybe I can find a really great deal. bbstx, I briefly looked at their website, need to do a deeper dive. I also need to figure out exactly what cabinets my kitchen needs and the size so I can get a better idea pricing out IKEA and custom cabinets. My kitchen's layout is going to be changing quite a bit and I'm knocking down the built in fridge area as well as the pantry and putting more cabinets in.

@Christina, I totally tore out a kitchen in our weekend house and re-did it about 2007. I went to 2 or 3 different kitchen designers, but I wasn’t pleased with any of them. I finally came here where I got the best, most useful advice. Here are the before and after photos

The microwave on the counter was waiting for a shelf to be installed in the closet for it. A friend loved my kitchen re-do so much, she tried to buy my house! I wouldn’t sell it to her, but 7 years later when we built the house we are in now, it took me one call to sell it to her.

All of this to encourage you to use the resources of the Kitchens Forum!

ETA: The cabinets are all custom. The closest IKEA was over 6 hours away.

I’m in Utah, and we don’t anticipate selling anytime soon... it’s our forever house.

If I was handier or hubby had more time, I would have considered Ikea. If I remember correctly it was about $8k-9k in savings over our custom cabinets built in a little town nearby which I like [support local and all]. So for me, that was one of the 'splurges' in this house. And then the pandemic hit so our IKEA was closed until just recently so I'm glad I went the route I did.

bbstx oh yes that is much better, very pretty! The IKEA here is about an hour and a half but that's really far to me lol

Trish Walter my husband is pretty handy, I am when I want to be and I would prefer to support a small local business if it at least comes close to a big box store's prices. Since our house has a galley kitchen the current cabinets are just red oak shelves running through multiple cabinets (minus the sink cabinet and one 4 drawer cabinet) and then a front frame with doors attached. I asked my husband if he could re build new ones like that but he said he didn't want to.

Thanks Live Wire Oak! I need to figure out the nitty gritty details in the kitchen so I can get accurate prices for each place, other than IKEA do you know any places that offer diy 3d renderings with their products?

When you start planning your kitchen, remember that drawers are the preferred configuration for lower cabinets with perhaps a narrower base cabinet that's good for baking sheets and trays. This along can make a large price difference between Ikea and your local cabinet maker (who may still buy door/drawer fronts from a 3rd party supplier) who doesn't do frameless construction. Ikea drawers are very well designed.

ikea provides a free design and 3-D rendering either virtual or in person

One advantage of IKEA for renovations, is that IKEA cabinets hang from a rail. Base cabinets have legs which are then adjusted to take some of the strain off the rail. With the rail system, it is easier to get cabinets perfectly level and square even if the house is not. This can be a huge timesaver with an older home.

Another big Ikea fan. We have an Ikea kitchen (Edserum) and pantry (and laundry room, both in Bodbyn off-white), and also in the granny suite over the garage put in an Ikea kitchen and pantry. We live on a farm and our dishwasher and 48" Bluestar range get a daily workout, and the cabinets are fine.

We opted against Ikea pulls and knobs, buying a variety of different ones for the different rooms. Makes it look much less like a stock Ikea kitchen.

Also a huge fan of Ikea bathroom vanities and high storage towers. The storage is amazing, and the integral porcelain sink top is delightful to clean.

We had some Home Depot base cabinets in our old house in our dining room addition -- not terrible but absolutely no comparison with Ikea.

Jar g I do lots of work in small historic homes, some dating to before the civil war. IKEA does not offer enough sizes to work in these kitchens, and most of my clients prefer a traditional look which IKEA does not do very well. If you want modern or shaker they are great if you have the space to make standard sizes work.

This is true, but for anyone interested, take a look at the link mabelgeldine posted in the first post above, of brickmanhouse's Ikea kitchen in his 1840 house. It's an eye-opener : ) ,

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

Thank you ladies!! (and maybe some guys)

I'm getting the popcorn ceiling removed next week so after that we can tear down these walls! I'll get some accurate measurements of the final kitchen layout and do the IKEA 3D program and see what you guys think!

Christina I’d love to see the final version if it’s done

Thanks Lil I but it hasn't even begun 😂 I've decided to go with IKEA, Askersund for bottoms and Ringhult white on top. We've got to get all the plumbing for the permit done first and then we can arrange things but I'm also holding out on IKEA doing another kitchen sale since they haven't done one in about a year. I plan on using IKEA'S design tool to map it out so when the sale hits I already have everything ready.

Christina I highly recommend you take the trip to IKEA in person. The designers come up with all sorts of handy ideas for cabinets you may not have thought of and will maximize your space. It would be worth the drive. They just need your exact measurements of the space. It really doesn't take very long for them to do and then you are able to access the design online at home.

My brother has an IKEA kitchen, I used them in my beach house and now I am putting them in my brother in laws new home. If you don't mind doing all the assembly its a great way to do a reasonable kitchen reno. I installed their appliances too. I also recommend going with drawers on lowers rather than door front cabinets.

Thanks cdnmiss, I'll make the trip there. Have a rough idea of measurements but it won't be exact until I knock out the existing pantry and move the fridge where i want it. I think the only cabinet I'm going to have is for the sink but they may have one for sinks with drawers, if they do I'll get that to store my cleaning products in there.

Hi, did you ever get any response about beech cabinets being stained? You had said "not ikea" and then every comment was "oh but Ikea" LOL I am putting a kitchen into an ADU and do not want to assemble anything. I've used HD unfinished in the past and they held up really well for 15 years (until an under-slab water line broke and the kitchen flooded...). I don't need anything high end for a guest house. Just wondering what you ended up doing.

Actually never mind, you did ask about ikea. Should have finished my coffee before commenting.

kari951- I did use an espresso colored gel stain on the beech bathroom cabinets at my old house and hated it. It's pretty fool proof but it covers so much you don't see a grain and my dog used to like laying on the tile in there and she'd push off on the cabinet and leaves scratches so I had to sand it down and redo it before we moved. You can see in my pic the gel stain basically looks like a satin black but in sunlight it had a tiny bit of red tint.

For other stains I'd look at the product reviews for those on Home Depot, a lot of people stained them and you can see how the grain looks after staining.

Also unfortunately I still haven't done my damn kitchen lol I'm going with IKEA because I want a custom pantry and I can change the doors if I get tired of it but IKEA hasn't had a kitchen sale since the pandemic so I'm waiting for that.

Thank you for the comment! I have an 8x8 kitchen in the guest house, and that guest house is just for my teenagers to hang out really, not like we are expecting the Queen of England to visit, and I was all ready to get an ikea kitchen because it looks easier to install with the rails and etc. But then I got overwhelmed with choices and parts and assembly and their planner tool... So my $1500 kitchen plan quickly morphed into $3500. Plus the planner tool said I needed like 200 items (feet, shelf pegs, rails, hinges, toe kick, yada yada just too much work for one impatient person. So then I thought, I know Knoxhult! Modular, so easy to order, few decisions to make... But you can only put an RV sized sink into that. So then Homedepot unfinished have served me well in the past, and they have a 60" sink cabinet for $159! It looks nice, I mean it's not hand-hewn teak but whatever. I would rather stain than paint because I hate painting... But now I'm thinking artichoke green with wood counter would be so nice. Anyway, I have a few months before moving forward but I think I'm going with the unfinished. Good luck on your project! And the dogs look innocent to me... I think the cat framed them!

Kari951 I agree, the IKEA "system" is overwhelming. I had to watch multiple videos to understand exactly how many combos and options there are. My last kitchen had unfinished beech, it's a rental now and we used Benjamin Moore Advance paint. I know there's a lot of nay sayers when it comes to DIY painted kitchen cabinets but it's seriously easy, we used their primer as well, both are self leveling just get a decent angled Purdy brush and do thin layers. i think I did 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of color with 3rd coat mainly being some touch up spots for any areas that looked a bit spotty. The Advance paint is super durable, I've spilled spaghetti sauce on it and scrubbed the hell out of it before we moved and we didn't have any chipping or fading. We did White Dove in satin finish. I've got a bunch of projects at the house I'm in now so I'm bought more BM Advance to paint a vanity in the guest bath because it's in a weird alcove and I'm not ready to drop money on a custom vanity for the 0 guests that come over lol. The bathroom is straight out of 1972 so we're just tiling, painting the vanity, new hardware and making a countertop with Formica.

I am a huge fan of Benjamin Moore paint. Just transformed this $50 Craigslist desk with Mozart Blue. Two coats. Thick as pudding going on. Ok, I'm doing this. Thanks for your input!

kari that's beautiful! I may do that color for my vanity, you got this!

Thank you!