IKEA Cabinets or not?

[cornelia]

Definity not -if you want over 300K!!!- check out http://www.bazzeo.com/ made in the usa/ sustainable/ great looks/ anything you want
we did our new kitchen with this...Bazzeo as well designes the layout, they are trained designers and architects at the company.

[bbabich]

Is there an in between option? Is Bazzeo the in between?

I like the idea of the Ikea boxes and the scavolini doors... that is cleaver.

[Lo]

I came across this blog and it reminded me of this discussion (and my own position on Ikea) so I thought I'd post for all...
http://carolreeddesign.blogspot.com/200 ... chens.html

[bbabich]

Just ordered mine yesterday. Cant wait to see how this turns out.

[chadwentz]

Thanks for all the great feedback!!! I love this website!

[bbabich]

Here is another advantage to Ikea cabinets, you can have them delivered the next day. The installer I am working with will be putting them in early next week. I will eventually post some shots.

My quote from Lowes was 5 weeks!

[w+tdesign]

I planned out a kitchen using Ikea cabinets and came up with what it would cost using them. My contractor said he would beat their price using his cabinetmaker. I got custom cabinets for less than Ikea. We also had the ability to redesign the cabinets exactly the way we wanted (e.g., drawer size, specialty cabinet, etc.). This was the way they used to do it in the 50's and 60's.

[parkland]

babich, which ikea installer did you use? Were you pleased with their work? I'm in the planning stage with Ikea and am open to recommendations.

[bbabich]

So I used KP Home Solutions, Ken is great to work with, very friendly, very knowledgeable, and he added some touches to my kitchen that were unique which I really appreciated. I had the plan for the kitchen and working with Ken took everything to the next level. His craftsmanship is impeccable.

Having said that I had some challenges as well. The $100 per cabinet assembly fee was a bit steep, but I did not have the time to seek out an alternative. If I had more time (I had 30 days to complete the critical elements of my renovation before move in) I would have sought an alternative on that cost alone (a friend of mine knows people who do cabinet installs and fly through Ikea cabs). I enjoyed working with Ken, but you can find others who can do the work for 35%-40% less on the assembly. My constraint in this area was definitely time, so I cut a check. The second issue was that it was going to take 5 days to complete the kitchen. My kitchen is not that big and not that complicated, so what is typically a two day job ended up being 4 and only because my flooring contractor pushed on them to work a little faster as they needed to get into the kitchen.

Overall though, I am really happy with what Ken did with the kitchen; time and money is always the question, but that is something you have to reconcile.

Now on the Ikea side, you need to watch those guys like a hawk. The kitchen staff does not follow the process, does not follow through on tasks and does not follow up on anything, so if you do this through Ikea, then you will need to stay on top of them the entire time. They "lost" my paper work multiple times which added weeks to my project. I am still working through some issues from my project. Also, do not... DO NOT order the counters through them, do not use Artisan (their contractor), I paid for my cabinets and counters on May 15th and my counters will not be installed until June 21st. Like I said, we are still working through things... if you want more information, feel free to message me and we can discuss offline.

[John/Semihandmade]

I wouldn't get too caught up in comparing home price to the cost of kitchen cabinetry; just look for the most value for what you can afford. There is definitely no accounting for what people will spend money on - we've done 12K kitchen in 2 mil homes with 20k in appliances. Some people spend tons on electronics and lighting, at the expense of better flooring or even paint.

The fact is, IKEA makes a great base product - sturdy boxes, great Blum hardware - that is easily upgradable with custom doors and panels by an outside company like ours for about 30% more. The next step up from there is custom, for probably two or three times IKEA's cost.