[moemoe6434]

Somebody help!

I made the second trip (2 hours) to the nearest ikea to place my order this weekend.

I had a few questions for wroker#1 working in there and he spend several hours with us though we could tell he was not the most knowledgable and was practically making up asnwers.

So anyway worker#1 walked away for a while for a break or something and I noticed worker#2 was much more knowledeable than worker#1 so I called him over.

After only 1 minute of looking at our plan, he noticed a fatal flaw: Our actual cut out for our window is only 25" from the wall. He said the wall corner piece is 25" wide and will then need a 1/2" cover panel on the side to finish it. Thus the 1/2 cover panel would actually be covering the window!

When I asked him if there was any other wall corner peices he said no, crushed we packed our stuff and left.

I was pretty disappointed I wasted so many hours driving down there and working with people for so long to finally find out that it will not work.....

I wish they made a 24" wide cabinet like kraftmaid... Or I wish Ikea's cabinets were built like Craftmaid's cover panels actually make the cabinet sides flush, meaning the sedges stick out.

[DMarie]

Hi,
I was a Kitchen Planner at IKEA and can probably answer most of your concerns with IKEA cabinetry.
One major difference with IKEA cabinets is that they are frameless as opposed to the face-frame system in the States.

This difference effects the layout and the need for cover panels.
I have designed many kitchens with all types of challenges and if you can attach the layout, I could review it.

[moemoe6434]

Here is the layout, note the corner cabinet in the uppet left and the windo are both at 25" from the corner.

Thanks!

[zeuss]

Don't get down. There is always a solution. I"ve taken a look at your plan and there are solutions.

First, there is nothing magically effecient about having an angled corner cabinet. There is no reason you can just have a cabinet that ends on the outside wall and doesn't turn the corner on the window wall. You don't lose that much space and the window looks so much less crowded that way. I'll do it up on the planner for you to see.

[zeuss]

Here is what I mean. Also, I would suggest swapping out the cabinets with doors and shelves for drawer units.

[moemoe6434]

Zuess, good suggestion though I should have prefaced that the corner piece was is a requirement... More for appearance sake than the additional storage space. per the boss

Why do you prefer drawers to shelves? I honestly find more wasted space with the drawers due to the mechanicals of the drawers.

We are going to opt for drawers in the pantry though.

[zeuss]

If you polled anybody here at Ikeafans about drawers versus doors/shelves, you'd get an overwhelming response for drawers. The Ikea drawers are not what you're used to with drawers. They use the Blum hardware that is a premium upgrade on even the most expensive cabinets. They are in a class by themselves and are changing the way we use kitchen storage space. You can check out what Blum is doing with kitchen design at www.blum.com, but they have an in depth anaylsis of the advantages at www.dynamicspace.com

no shelves in the lower cabinet

You may have nothing against shelves in bottom cabinets - but your back sure does.
The use of shelves in Base cabinets is poor in ergonomic terms: It makes it very difficult for you to find items since you don't have an overview of the entire cabinet contents. Quite often you will find that you have to bend or stretch to locate items you are looking for. It is not uncommon to find yourself having to remove some of the contents at the front in order to get to the items at the back.

Then you add the cool dividers and things you never thought you could store in drawers becomes possible. People store all their glasses and dishes in drawers where kids can get at them to set the table. Coffee cups or tall stock pots - it can all go in drawers. Just ask the Ikeafans what they like about their drawers and you'll get tons of great ideas.

[zeuss]

Also, I suggest the 24" wall cabinets have 2 doors because people find the wide 24" doors have a tendency to bang you in the head.

I narrowed down the cabinet on the right of the window to give the window even "breathing space". With a nice window treatment, you might like the "look" of the space better without a corner cabinet.

Please, please reconsider Kraftmaid. You won't get the Blum hardware and other goodies, plus you'll pay more!

[dalbrough]

I have to jump on the drawer band-wagon. I have all drawers for all of my base cabinets except for my sink. I have a very small kitchen and it is one of the best things we did in our kitchen.

I truly love it - I can see everything and I am so much more organized - we even have one drawer dedicated solely to dog food.

Drawers are amazing!

You can see all of my drawers if you want if you click on the link in my sig line.

[moemoe6434]

Originally Posted by zeuss

Please, please reconsider Kraftmaid. You won't get the Blum hardware and other goodies, plus you'll pay more!

I'd rather use Ikea but like I said, the wall corner piece is a deal breaker for me. If they have a solution that uses a wall corner peice I'd use Ikea in a heartbeat. Why be so inflexible with the cornerpiece? When I started to look into other brands I notices they sold not only 24" wall corner pieces but also 21".

Yep, it seems to be about $600 MORE for Kraftmaid with current promotions (10% off and $750 GC) but the advantage is that they will atleast come already put together.