Now that the holidays are behind us, it’s time to start thinking about tackling the elephant in the room. You know, the one we’ve been skirting around for a while because it’s our biggest project to date. Yep, I’m talking about the kitchen.
For the past few months, we’ve been collecting a hefty amount of kitchen catalogs from local stores and online. Greg and I have both marked our favorite features, cabinetry, hardware and so on. At this point, we know what we like, and I thought I would share a bit of our decision-making process with you.
One of the biggest issues we had to tackle was that of our cabinet color. Well, I made it a big issue in my mind, anyway. As you know, I’m dreaming of a white kitchen. However, our house has dark floors and a lot of our furniture has a dark, espresso finish. So to help me make up my mind, I decided to search online for photos of white kitchens with dark flooring.
After a bunch of Googling, I found this photo from the 2010 IKEA Kitchen catalog:
It’s a little cluttered for our taste. (We’re not minimalists, but we do love to have a place for each and every item.) However, on the whole, Greg and I love the flow and “feel” of this kitchen. It’s modern yet rustic with a touch of traditional and a dash of vintage farmhouse chic. Of course it has my beloved white cabinets, and the dark countertops tie in with the dark flooring. There’s even a glimpse of dark furniture pictured in the back of the room.
Some of you might be thinking… “IKEA? Don’t you have to put all of those cabinets together yourself?” Why yes, yes we do. But that’s what makes IKEA cabinets so affordable. We’re not sure what the total cost will be yet, but looking through the catalog, we’re pretty certain it’s going to be a lot less than a kitchen purchased from one of the mega hardware stores or a specialty cabinetry store. For us, the price justifies the tedious installation in the long run.
Appealing as it is, the lower cost isn’t the only factor in our decision. What really makes us excited about possibly going the IKEA route is the combination of price and customization:
Customizing our own cabinets, drawers and storage options to our specific needs/wants will make using the kitchen very convenient and enjoyable. And the cost of doing that sort of customization, as compared to custom-made cabinets, is much, much lower.
The next step in deciding if want to go the IKEA route will be taking a day trip to our nearest IKEA (which happens to be about an hour and a half away from here) to take a closer look at them.
Do any of you have IKEA cabinets? Love or hate? If you could change up your current kitchen and customize something to make life easier, what would you do?
People doubt IKEA a lot of times because they are so affordable. In person I find that most of the lines do NOT look chin-sy in person. To me they look like good quality cabinetry.
Their newer lines even over the self close drawers, that don’t slam shut… If our kitchen wasn’t already remodeled when we bought our home, we would have totally went the IKEA route.
I would definitely do IKEA if we were doing our kitchen! They are so affordable but they look really nice. Some people think they are cheap, but they really aren’t. You just have to put them together
I love the photos you are using for inspiration! It’s so modern and traditional at the same time.
GORGEOUS kitchen inspiration!!!!!!
From what I’ve seen so far in your house, you know how to pick out finishes. So I think if anyone can make an IKEA kitchen look amazing (and more expensive than it really was), you can! I can’t wait to see what you decide!
Love the way your place is coming along- so cozy!
Growing up, my dad had an IKEA kitchen and I remember my dad had the “coolest” kitchen when no one even knew what IKEA was. Modern, classy, sleek, and more {red and glossy lol}. BUT, I remember I always thought I was about to break a drawer when I shut it, everything seemed flimsy. But you cannot beat the amazing space that IKEA shelves/drawers provide. He had the pullout one in the sketch above and it truly was amazing! I would definitely say yes to IKEA for cost purposes- but I’d say it’s more of a short term investment than a long term commitment… I’d definitely go in the store and see how you think it would hold up in your home. I’m thinking without any children banging it up too bad, you might fare well with the IKEA kitchen! Hope that helps a little!
We just remodeled our kitchen with Ikea this past summer and we love it! My dad is a contractor and was hemming and hawing about “cheap Ikea cabinets” in the beginning, but now, after installing and seeing first-hand the durability, flexibility, and features — he, too, is a believer! It was especially nice that we could return & exchange items (let’s just say we mis-measured a few times). I’ll send you an email with a link to our kitchen photos!
We can’t wait to check out the photos! Thanks so much
Let me know if you didn’t get the email and I can resend!
Hi there. I live in New Zealand and we don’t have IKEA here which is a sad thing! We’ve lived in our house for 15 years and only just did the kitchen up last year. We did have a really good layout so have kept that, just replaced all the cupboards with soft white (rather than an artic white, replaced the yellow bench with a mid grey one and it all looks fabulous – the one thing we did do which I just love is replace most of the underbench cupboards with 4 large, long and deep drawers – one takes all our plates, bowls etc. and they are heaven on s stick! Bless, Glennie
We have an IKEA kitchen and pantry – absolutely love it. When we bought the house the kitchen was remodeled with IKEA cabinets – it was great because we were able to get the new pantry cabs and bar counter cabs to match. The quality is there. You will get the same boxes from a big-box company unless you’re doing super high end cabs. Go for it. Enjoy the process, it’s fun. (also! love the ‘slow close’ drawers and, whenever possible, get drawers – so much better then lower base cabs. I heart ours).
I had IKEA cabinets in a past home. Even the white ones you are dreaming about (although yours might be the newer version). I loved the kitchen. I had the big pull out pantry thing that I adored. For me, I had a friend that worked at my local IKEA and they were remodeling and you could bid to win the floor model of the kitchen/cabinets (which included EVERYTHING i.e. under cabinet lighting, sink, faucet, countertop, and much more). Got the ENTIRE kitchen for about $700 (and it wasn’t a small kitchen and had left over cabinets). Best part was the cabinets were already put together and only had to buy a couple and put them together. Good luck!
Oh my dear goodness! What a deal! We will have to check into the bidding process for sure. Thanks for the heads up!