Faced with an outdated original kitchen with cabinets she was not crazy about, Ann knew she wanted to update the space. “Originally I was going to paint the existing oak cabinets, tweak them a little bit, replace a couple and try to create more cabinetry where a desk was [situated],” she says. However, it was at this point her handyman recommended using IKEA cabinetry instead, which she quickly began to research at her local IKEA – even starting a quick mock up on the IKEA Home Planner software. “I could see that an IKEA kitchen was definitely in the budget. Naturally, it was more than just painting and reconfiguring a few things in the existing cabinets, but it was so worth it!” she says. Although Ann knew how she wanted her IKEA kitchen to look, she also knew she needed professional design assistance. She explains: “I had created a design online with IKEA’s 3-D kitchen planner. However I wanted a professional to look over the design and complete or fill in the layout with the most efficient use of cabinets and drawers.” Enter IKD’s design team. IKD guided her as to where to put pullouts to place shelves and where cupboards would make more sense than drawers. This made her IKEA kitchen much more ergonomic and functional. “I trusted these professionals to know and design for basic storage needs and to add details I would not have thought about,” she says. Once the layout with IKEA LEHRYTTAN stained black cabinetry was established, Ann also hired MC Wood Works in Chino, CA to install her cabinetry. “The owner and installer, Michael, does nothing but install IKEA and has been doing it for 20 years. He was far less expensive than other installers and estimated a day to a day and a half versus almost five days that was quoted to us from other installers. He was fantastic,” she says.