[KalseboKate]

Sure, I could have spent $2500 on Swills Pride or Crap Made cabinets, but my options for customizing would have been severely hampered by going with the "low end" selections this would have bought. No drawer dampers, chintsy hardware, stapled-together drawers, flimsy doors, etc. The level of finish was nowhere near what IKEA could provide with a little sweat equity.

Someone also pointed out to me that I would have had some serious "change order" problems and costs had I not gone Ikea. That's because we discovered a serious structural issue after demolition (too few studs under a dormer) that was remedied by busting into the pantry and installing a much wider than the former door "flintstone" or "stonehenge" archway . This structure made it possible to wrap the counter top around and make a 90 degree turn into the pantry area, for a total new countertop run of 70"! That meant another trip to IKEA to get a 30" drawer unit. So we made one additional $300 purchase and took it home that night instead of having to pay a penalty and wait and wait and wait.

And where would I have found out how to make a diswasher stall now that the 12" pull-out went around the corner with the 30" drawer unit? I doubt I could have just walked into Giantazilla Home Center, learned anything valuable about the task, and walked out with the panel I needed to do the job!

Put simply, the quality is better for the money. Even if that isn't an issue, the ability to be flexible when you discover things you need to deal with under your walls is worth a lot. Then there is the customization factor, should you be daring or even desperate!

[yankeelawyer]

Frankly, I think it depends what your alternatives are. If you are comparing IKEA with any of the brands in the big-box homestores, I would go with IKEA. If you are comparing it to an all wood cabinet custom job from a master carpenter, those might last longer. But they will cost a lot more and in either case if you mistreat the kitchen the doors / counters will show the abuse. I think you wil lbe hard-pressed to find any kitchen cabinet that will look like new after 20 years of hard use.

As an aside, I just received an estimate from a high-end (but not top, top) European company to do a kitchem that looks identical to the IKEA one I am in fact doing. Except that the Euro kitchen, all-in -- including counters, appliances, electrical and plumbing work -- was 95K.. Needless to say, the IKEA version, which will actually have custom doors in stainless steel, with all the same appliances and counters will be a small fraction of that, with enough left over to put a small addition on the house, or gut and do a major remodel of 3 bathrooms. And, the IKEA kitchen, once it is all done, will be comparable in quality to the kitchen I saw from the other company.

[kelly]

Thank you Yankeelawyer! In our kitchen, the cabinets were less than 10% of the total cost of the materials and labor. If we had gone with Poggenpohl- which is beautiful stuff, no question- we would have chosen precisely the same door we got with IKEA. If we had gone with Poggenpohl, the cost of kitchen would have doubled (I'm being conservative) and the cabinets would have been 50-60% of the total cost.

The cabinet doors are absolutely of better quality than those in a friend's McMansion, one of which their son snapped in two. A woman I worked with a few years ago had a party at her new McMansion, and one of the cabinets was missing a door. She told us that her husband walked by in cargo shorts and one of the pockets hooked the handle- and it ripped it off the hinges and the door came completely apart when it fell to the floor 12"below. The Target shorts were fine. That will never happen with a slab door!

I do not for one second regret using IKEA cabinets in this kitchen. But I can guarantee you I would have regretted spending more on this kitchen than we spent on our first house.

That and I think the kids will enjoy college.

[Florence Mitchell]

Thank you for all the responses. As I stated before, I am convinced. I will try to get my husband to see the light!

I have been digging through the forums, and have been intrigued and impressed with all the creative modifications people have come up with. That is an aspect of IKEA kitchens of which I hadn't been aware. I hope I can get a handle on all the possibilities as I do my planning.

I had already immersed myself in another cabinet manufacturer's offerings, and come up with a design plan that satisfied me. I am trying to transpose it directly to IKEA cabinets, and am running into a few hitches. I will describe those problems in another thread.

Thanks again,

Florence

[Janne]

Originally Posted by EvaPerconti

You might want to consider that none of the other cabinet makers have their very own member-supported independent fansite! That means a lot that people voluntarily participate well after their kitchens are installed. In contrast, there's not a lot of activity on, say, Millspridefans.com. In fact...it doesn't even exist!

Yeah that!

I think I spent about a month reading on IKEAFANS and boring dh to death with all the little things I learnt on here. Maybe he just agreed to IKEA so I'd stop reciting posts from IKEAFANS

Not only did my dh not like the idea of IKEA, he didn't like the idea of doing it himself. But after being shown photos of beautiful kitchens done by women on IKEAFANS he soon became convinced. And he got to go out and buy a couple of hundred dollars worth of power tools. What man can resist that?

[stacylu]

My hubby also had to be convinced but after visiting the store and seeing the amount of organizational options available he was much more open. Now, he loves our kitchen and happily did many mods that truly made our kitchen the most efficient for our lives.

[cibula11]

My buddy is building and looked into IKEA kitchen. He said that somewhere, maybe consumer reports, they were rated 3rd. I'd say that's pretty darn good.