What are you wanting to know? That door is thermofoil over mdf. It will wear like iron but doesn’t look the same as a painted maple door. There are issues in the finish in the recessed panel- often it isn’t smooth. Great for the price.

I have had the white Axstad cabinets for about a year and love them, they are beautiful and I have had no issues.

dianestjohn, Did you install them yourself or did you use an installer? Did you use IKEA's planning service?

We used IKEA’s installation service, Traemand - a very good experience as they were clean, professional, careful with the details, courteous and efficient. I also used the Ikea free kitchen design service. They came to my house to measure, then I played with their online kitchen design thingy and went in to the store to finalize the plans. We kept exactly the same layout, didn’t remove any walls, etc., so my design was really just figuring out how to replace current cabinets and make sure everything fit. Many people love the online design tool - people say they go down that rabbit hole for hours - but I found it frustrating as it’s a sort of architectural 3D design program where you install cabinets, move them around, and see how it looks. After they took my kitchen measurements the measurements were put into that program so you can see exactly how things would fit. I’m not spatial or visual so tinkering with it was not fun for me. I think they encourage you to play with it but I don’t think it’s required - you could probably do the whole design at the in-store meeting - not sure if they are doing the in-store meetings now or if it’s more like a Zoom meeting. It was great to be able to sit in the store and their kitchen consultant could move things around on the screen and I could, for example, run over and look at cabinet hardware, see in person a corner cabinet vs 90 degree cabinets, etc. I had a really good experience with Ikea and I think the combo of cabinets and installation (not demo or plumbing, which we paid for separately) was less than $6,000, and the Caesarstone Noble Gray quartz (which Ikea calls Kasker Noble Gray) was about $2,500 - 1/3 less than my quote from another company, and the quartz installers were also excellent.

Thanks, Diane. Your kitchen is beautiful! I had the measuring appointment and scheduled an in-store planning session but canceled because I had all choices made but was frustrated with their 3D design software which seemed very tedious to me. All new cabinets and appliances will be in same places. Do I need a storyboard to show all my choices? I'm ready but became paralyzed by the design software. Also, how long did the Traemand installation take? Who does the demolition? I want new flooring so will I need a separate contractor for that? What about tile installation? Will they do it or will I need to hire someone else?

When we remodeled almost 2 years ago, I did the planning session online talking to the planner on the phone. I made very few changes, but she was very good at fitting everything together. She also generated the parts list, which was more than I could have done. The IKEA installers tool 2 full days plus a couple of hours on the next day. Our contractor did the demo, altered a soffit, repaired a lot of bad electrical work, painted, then took a week off while cabinets were installed, then came back and did flooring. Separate granite company did the countertops. (We also did a powder room sink and toilet and bath and hallway flooring.) The IKEA installers were great. Our contractor scoffed and said he could have done it, but considering the learning curve he;s have needed, I seriously doubt he could have done as well. We had $7000 in cabinets (Torhamn) and assembly and installation was about $3000. Worth every penny.

We had our whole kitchen remodel (demo, Ikea, flooring, counter, etc.) handled by a contracting company (they had never done Ikea); I ordered the cabinets, assembled the carcases, and then one of their more finish type carpenters installed the kitchen. It is a pretty straightforward installation method (hangs on rail) and the fit-finish details are not that different from other cabinet installations, IMHO. But I do think those details can make the difference. That was 17 years ago, and I think it has held up and functioned very well. He did do a couple of "hacks" to customize it to our kitchen.

Mary, sorry, don’t know what a storyboard is. But for the design I think a lot of people just go to the in-store appointment and say they didn’t like the software and the kitchen designer can work with you at the in-store appointment, they really are expert at the software and if you ask how a cabinet would look in a different location and with glass doors they point and click a few times and you have the new design. I asked the Ikea kitchen designer if Traemand could do demo and said yes but she would recommend we use another contractor as Traemond’s demo can be more expensive. We just hired a contractor to do it and it was not expensive. I think the installation for our little kitchen was only one day, then we had to wait awhile for the quartz to be measured, fabricated and installed. DH just reminded me that when the cabinets were installed the Traemond peeps checked with me every step of the way, gave me options if, for instance, the cabinet could be a little closer to a window, showed me the parts of my walls that were out of plumb and how there might be a tiny gap behind a cabinet that could be caulked, etc. I definitely felt in the loop every step with them, there were no nasty surprises. We had had the flooring removed on demo day and after the cabinets were installed we had a contractor install the new flooring. I definitely envy people who use a kitchen designer who will then hire and supervise the various contractors cuz it’s hard to hire and supervise a demo crew, an electrician, a plumber, a flooring guy and a backsplash tiler and not have something go amiss. (For us it was the backsplash.) But we were on a budget and the stress was annoying but not overwhelming.

Patricia Colwell WOW those kitchens are gorgeous! You are very talented ❤️

Thanks for your help! Your kitchen is beautiful. I'll book the in-store planning session I cancelled and get my plans in order. I appreciate everyone's comments and see that you can start with basic building blocks (SEKTION) and create an amazing kitchen that'll knock your socks off!