[kodavanty@gmail.com]

Hi,
First off just would like to say that this is a great site for all things IKEA and a great bunch of knowledgeable people.
I had just started thinking about remodelling my 15 yr old kitchen, and was thinking about using IKEA cabinets (Adel MB). However, upon searching the web, I saw some concerns about durability (swelling when wet, screws coming off etc [these are not covered under warranty]?).
So, I was wondering how long have some of their people here had their IKEA kitchens. Also, does anyone know what the Adel MB cabinets/front doors are made of?.
Thanks a lot to all you people in advance.

[kelly]

I can't really answer your poll because it implies that I've had problems with my IKEA kitchen! I have had a run of 8' stainless steel IKEA cabinets for 2+ years, and for 7 months of that they have been my main kitchen while I put in another kitchen upstairs. They've performed beautifully, even after being moved around. No swelling, no screw issues, nothing but happiness! Oh, and compliments from people with Bulhapt kitchens...

[NBeth]

No major problems and recent install, so we'll see about the future. But for the money I'm convinced we got the best deal. Have you checked the quality of the big box cheap cabs? And the price? eek! Plus we could do this ourselves, which saves the most of all in this high priced labor market.

But I will be taking the recent advice of a member on here to caulk around the inner seams of our sink cabinet--don't know why I didn't think of that earlier. Sinks & associated parts can leak (and in our case, it's not an Ikea sink, so no blaming Ikea). The only part of the cab that's vulnerable is the back, where the particle board is exposed, so I'd want to protect that area by preventing water from running that direction.

Adel Med Brown is birch: a veneer panel and solid frame.

[wd40]

Same here: I can't answer this poll since I have never had any "major problem" on the almost two years since our kitchen has been installed. Same thing for other installations that we made.

Besides, the problems that you described could happen to any poorly installed kitchen, regardless of who manufactured the cabinets.

[kodavanty@gmail.com]

Good to hear that the kitchens have been holding up . And thanks to all who replied so far.
One last question. Are the Adel MB solid frames made of MDF or plywood or particle board?.
I hear particle board is the cheapest and least reliable followed by plywood and MDF.

Thanks again for everybody's time.

[NBeth]

Ikea is a totally modular system, so your door choice has nothing to do with the boxes they'll be attached to. All kitchens use one of two available colors (white or birch) of boxes or frames: they are 3/4" particle board with a melamine sheathing. Particle board is dimensionally stable and very strong: the cam lock system holds the box tightly in shape and the melamine protects the particle board from moisture etc.. Yes, there's cheap crap made from it too--you have to look at the engineering to decide what's worthwhile.

The internal parts (drawers, hinges, etc.) are Blum, a fancy schmancy European firm.

And the door and drawer fronts vary: some are solid wood, some are solid and veneers (like Adel MB), some are painted MDF, some are veneered particle board, and the very cheapest are melamine over particle board. Each is inexpensive compared to competitors of the same type.

You can mix and match to your heart's content!

One way to approach Ikea is to buy a simple cabinet (like a wall cab), assemble it, and install it. See how you feel about the engineering as you work with it. You might, for example, buy a 24" h x 24" w wall cab to mount over your toilet (up high). You'll get a ton of room for stuff and you'll get some experience with the system. Or do the same for the garage. I think a wall cab is a great demo of Ikea's advantage because (in the N. American market) the suspension rail is so cool. Studs don't line up with mounting points? No problem: you mount the rail on available studs on a level, then slide the mounting points to wherever you need them! Plus you can get a whole set of cabs on a single rail.

	W definition W is a wall cabinet designation, as in W18, can be a stand-in for Wide, or when followed by a / stands for With.

	H definition H can be a stand-in for Height or when followed by *** can have an entirely different meaning.

[Tigratrus]

One quite thing to bear in mind that most North American customers wouldn't even think of:

IKEA cabinets are designed predominantly for the European market, and when you sell a house in Europe, the vast majority of the time you take your cabinets *WITH* you when you move. Yup. Believe it or not...

So IKEA cabinets are *designed* to be put together, used for years, then disassembled, moved and be put together *again* and used for many years more. They are designed to meet the engineering and materials criterias of the most stringent markets that they sell in, in many cases that's Germany.

Particle board is actually an excellent material for cabinets, depending on the *grade* of particle board. It's dimensionally stable (doesn't expand/contract with humidity level changes) and can be very precisely machined to exacting specifications. There's a tremendous difference between cheap particle board and good particle board, trying to lump them all into a single category is a bit like saying that *all* Imported cars are cheaply made and unreliable, which we all know would be a gross misstatement.

The thing about particle board is that it's VERY strong in compression, but weak for sheering loads. IKEA as a company excels at using things effectively to extract the most benefit from the minimum cost of the material, and the AKURUM / FAKTUM line of cabinets is probably one of the highest quality lines they manufacture. If installed and used as designed, they're rock solid and will likely outlast you appliances handily. The beautiful thing is the easy (and I mean DEAD simple) replacement of doors. Snap off the old, snap on the new.

If you're selling a home with an IKEA Kitchen, you can provide prospective buyers with a catalog of door styles and tell them that you'll replace all the cab's for a fee... You could make quite a profit that way I imagine, few folks would know how little you needed to do to make it happen.

And as mentioned above, the BLUM hardware (particularly with the new integrated softclose BLU-Motion) is very high end they are some of the best drawer glides and door hinges available on the market, and you get them with IKEA for a *fraction* of what you would pay elsewhere.

James

	Faktum definition Faktum is the European equivalent of Akurum; that is, the fitted, frameless, component kitchen cabinet line, which when paired with door and drawer fronts as well as interior accessories makes up the full kitchen cabinet system.

	Akurum definition Akurum is the North American equivalent of FAKTUM; that is the fitted, frameless, component kitchen cabinet line, which when paired with door and drawer fronts as well as interior accessories makes up the full kitchen cabinet system.

[cinmabar]

I can't answer your poll as there is no choice that fits me. I had Ikea cabinets for almost 17 years before replacing them with new Ikea cabinets. The cabinets were still beautiful and in great shape when we took them down. They survived kids, teenagers and a none to gentle husband. They now reside in a friend's kitchen and she is thrilled with them. The only reason I replaced them is the door style was no longer available and we were moving a wall and door so we ended up with more room for more cabinets.
I did look around at other stores and brands for cabinets but when it came down to it Ikea just could not be beat for the quality and price.

[erikakn]

Like cinmabar, I went with a new IKEA kitchen when expanding my old IKEA kitchen wasn't possible.

I used the previous IKEA kitchen for seven years. Overall, the quality was good but the kitchen was poorly designed. The seven-year-old cabs are now being reconfigured in a new kitchen for my sheep farmer sister-in-law and her husband.

We saved all the cabinets except for the sink cab. It was a bit of a mess and not worth saving--especially since everything had to be redrilled for their plumbing.

Proper installation and a good layout are just as important as the quality of the cabs.

Our new kitchen is predominantly Adel MB with some Abstrakt White in the mix. We're about 99% done with the remodel (the last few details have been dragging for a month) but we're thrilled with the results so far.

Good luck!

Erika

[kodavanty@gmail.com]

Thanks again all you guys for your detailed responses. Really appreciate it. I'm slowly gaining confidence about using these cabinets . I really like the way they look.