[monica greer]

hello! i am so glad i found this site. i want a new kitchen (i have an original 1960 kitchen). i like what i see at ikea. those of you who have an ikea kitchen, are the price quotes on the pages accurate? did you end up spending more than planned? is an ikea kitchen a good option to upgrade for a future resale (in 4-5 years) or am i cheaping out?

thank in advance for your input. it is greatly valued.
monica

[GardenOfDarwin]

Hi Monica! Welcome to IKEAFANS! I'm going to move your thread to Why IKEA? so that it gets the attention it deserves.

Susan

[NBeth]

Put in lots of full extension soft close drawers and cool stuff like that, swap out fronts at resale if your family has been particularly abusive or your tastes don't fit the market, and market your kitchen as "euro style": you'll get lots of ooohs and ahhs from most people. I think this is particularly true if your kitchen is not huge and fancy in other ways and needs to maximize its resources. I was recently looking at a "upscale" but small condo with "upgraded" kitchen and honestly, I was not impressed. There was so much waste and awkwardness and I knew I could do it better with Ikea, probably for less! I would not pay for that kitchen: I'd rather buy a fixer!

Note re. swapping fronts: you may not need or want to do it at all since some people use theirs for decades. But some people want ultra modern in a traditional neighborhood, or their dog takes to gnawing on the doors, and they need a quick fix to market the house. Go to Ikea; buy a set of doors and drawer fronts in a classic style like Applad (or Nexus, for the 60's look) for very little money; take one afternoon to snap hinges and connections in and out (very easy when you know the trick) and presto change-o, new kitchen! To me, knowing I can do that is worth something right there, even if I never do it.

Our final pricing was very close to estimates, btw. The planner is not perfect, however--so allow a little fudging room for safety.

[yankeelawyer]

I am nearing completion of a high-end remodel of my kitchen and although the overall cost was not low by any means, using IKEA cabinets saved a lot: the difference in price between those and the Euro-designer cabs I had considered paid for my sub-zero and my Viking range.

Recently, when one of my contractors walked in and saw the cabinets, the first thing out of his mouth was a pronouncement that I was "brilliant" to have picked the IKEA cabs, His company remodels many, many 7-figure homes and he said that he recently completed a 200K kitchen whose cabinets came from a very well known high end cabinet maker -- that uses MDF boxes very similar to IKEA's. That particular customer apparently had no clue that at that price point one might expect some spectacular custom wood boxes, but in any event the point was that they could have economized a lot by getting the same thing from IKEA. And he said that the IKEA hardware (by Blum) was far superior to whatever that other company used.

I do not have plans to sell my house in the near future but at the same time I think kitchens are a big investment and I would not spend money on something that would in any way cause a problem for me down the road. I have no concern whatsoever about going with IKEA over the aforementioned upscale Euro company. We are in fact doing a very contemporary kitchen in a colonial house, and (admittedly, to my surprise), people's reactions to the design have been incredibly positive. As NBeth pointed out, even if some day I felt a more traditional look would be more marketable, I need only change the doors out (note that we also installed the filler pieces in such a way that they could easily be swapped out as well for ones that match any new door style- they are all on brackets that can be unscrewed from inside the cabs).

The other thing to consider is what your other options are. Frequently when I have seen this topic brought up, it is almost presumed that the debate is between IKEA and a really high end company. I am not going to tell you that IKEA is the same as a bespoke all-wood kitchen that is kitted out to the max. It is not. But kitchens like that can easily cost six figures,

I do believe you will not find anything comparable to IKEA at its price points, and that IKEA cabs are far better in terms of both design and construction quality than many, many brands that cost double. Even my mom, who is somewhat of a kitchen snob (and spoiled by her own custom Smallbone and St. Charles kitchens in the past) has not stopped raving about IKEA kitchens since her friend dragged her to IKEA a month ago for a second opinion on her kitchen design. My mom called me the same day to tell me about her "discovery," not realizing that the kitchen we are in the midst of building (and which she has not seen yet) is IKEA also. Seriously, I cannot imagine a potential buyer being more finicky than my mom is about brand-name, quality, and design.

Finally, in terms of durability, I believe that IKEA cabs will survive (and be in good shape) long past the point another remodel would be necessary. The fact of the matter is that kitchen design generally does evolve, and even more traditional looks become dated over time. The kitchen I ripped out (made by a fancier company than IKEA) had oak cabinets with raised panel doors that were in beautiful condition. They did, however, look like they were stolen from the set of Knot's Landing in the 80s (despite the fact they were circa 1998). Had they been IKEA cabinets, at least I would have had the option of simply replacing the doors for a whole new look (the refacing options that were available to me were not good and costly).

I have attached a pic of an IKEA kitchen that I found in a magazine. I think it illustrates nicely what can be done with these cabinets. While a potential buyer may have a different personal style, I have a hard time believing a kitchen like the below one could be the subject of any legitimate griping about lack of quality or brandname.

[yankeelawyer]

Below are some more examples of IKEA kitchens.

[Essiesmom]

I think the selling point for me was doing some research. I went to Lowes and had someone there do a plan for me. The final price and the cost of each additional interior fitting blew my mind.

I went to IKEA and found that many of those extras were included. Even choosing one of the more expensive door styles (Ulriksdal) I am saving a ton.

As for it costing more than the quotes...if you do a plan in the planner you will be able to calculate pretty accurately the price of your kitchen.