Thanks for your reply waterchick. We do have children...something to consider. Kitchen looks beautiful!

Waterchik, did Ikea install the kitchen or did your brother hire an outside professional. Any idea what the cost was? Thanks again

He hired the company that Ikea recommended. But halfway through he fired them all....he is a perfectionist and unfortunately, they are there to install as fast as possible. They were installing the cabinets with gaps and not spending time to put shims in place. Overall, it wasn't being done the correct way any real carpenter/cabinet installed should. He had a contractor working on other parts of the house, so halfway through, he took over and finished the cabinet install. Something to consider....you get what you pay for :-) I have seen another kitchen in our neighbors house which Ikea installed and it looked lovely. So could just be my picky brother, or partly the luck of getting a less competent installer.

Cost for the install? Or cost for the cabinets?

For what it's worth, I plan to use Ikea cabinets when we redo our kitchen (and we have kids too). Unless this is your "forever" home, I wouldn't be afraid to use them. Most people live in a home for 7-8 years on average. So if your thinking this home will be a stepping place to the next, then by the time these cabinets start to have real wear and tear showing on them, you are likely not the owner of that home anymore. I would rather use $$ on nicer appliances than cabinets any day. Also as long as they are still sold by Ikea, you can easily buy a new cabinet face to fix dents etc. maybe even have 2 or 3 kept in the garage as spares should you find out they are going to discontinue that cabinet? Just a thought!

All great advice and information. Thanks for taking the time to reply and the detailed information. Sounds like you have done some research of your own. :)