As far as Ikea, I can tell you that lots of people rent a van and make a weekend of going to get their stuff when they live far away. It's so worth it. How far away are you?

I am pretty sure IKEA will ship for less than $300 or so. I was going to use IKEA until I found out a member of my koi club is a cabinet builder.

Our last kitchen was half salvaged & half local custom cabinet maker.
For this kitchen we will be putting in Ikea countertops & we will be traveling 6 hours each way to get them. We can't buy anything comparable for the $ here.
Here in Canada, you have to order kitchen cabinets & counter tops in store to have it delivered, I don't know if it's the same in the US.

We are considering IKEA along with either MKFUSA brands Starmark or River's Bend. I haven't done a comparision price yet. The thing about lines other the IKEA is greater flexibility on sizes (27", 33" and so forth). IKEA can be pretty limiting but so many people have found a way to make them work. Also, you have to like the door styles or go with Scherrs for the doors.

We were going to buy from IKEA, but shipping was very high (we're three hours from the Atlanta store and considered driving, but then it wasn't guaranteed that they would have everything in stock; shipping for our $4000 of cabinets and countertops would have been over $1000). We ended up buying RTA cabinets online at BK Cabinets. We've gotten them all installed and have been quite happy so far. There have been a few very small issues with cabinet squareness (but that could be from assembly), and the soft close hardware isn't perfect on all the drawers, but the price was unbeatable for us. The same cabinets are carried by several other online RTA places for more, but I imagine quality is all the same between distributors.

DH built our cabinet boxes and any shelves, and we bought unfinished doors, drawer fronts, and even some of the drawers from a local shop. Then we finished them ourselves.

Ikea, with rev-a-shelf pull out spacers. The size limitations aren't as severe as you might think.

We are currently working on our third kitchen renovation (all done in different houses) and all have been done on seriously small budgets and 100 per cent DIY.

First two renos were done in Canada and we had we had great luck at the Paris Kitchens Outlet in Paris, Ontario.

Current reno here in the U.S. has been ongoing since April 2008 and is now at the functional but not finished stage.

After much research we made the trek to Lordstown, OH to the KraftMaid Outlet and on our second trip found a "complete" kitchen set that would meet our needs, our style choice and our budget. We also purchased a couple of extra cabinets, trim, moulding and pull out fillers there.

Originally the plan was to go with IKEA cabinets but I wasn't happy with the door styles. My procrastination/patience paid off as our kitchen cabinets costs were actually less than what IKEA would have been. The cabinets have plywood cases, premium stain, full extension drawers with self close, and included a super susan, double trash pull out and the baking center with double tier cutlery trays and built in kife block/cutting board and more.

We ended up buying laminate counter tops from HD for the perimeter and butcher block from IKEA for the island.

Of course once "everything" had been installed a couple of great high end kitchens popped on Craig's List. Too late for us but still a great source.

We are DIYing a total house reno- literally from jackhammering the basement concrete to replacing the roof! We are even replacing the aluminum wiring as we progress from room to room. My cautionary tale about ordering kitchen cabinets is- research your source as well as you can. We ordered from a new locally based company, who ordered RTA cabinets from China and then assembled them themselves. Would have been simpler if we could have done it, as DH had to take apart and redo almost all of them. Because many components were missing, they hired a local kitchen cabinet manufacturer to complete our order- long story short- he made so many mistakes- they fired him shortly before they went bankrupt. I had to hire another carpenter to finish the half-finished make-up job. That 'fix' has dragged on for months past the estimated finish date- he's on holiday now, so we hope he finishes the last few things this month. He was unable to perfectly match the original cabinets, and the delay was caused by all the trouble he was having with the staining and finishing.

Knowing what I know now, I will only pay with VISA- so that if the company/carpenter goes under without delivering material I will at least get my money back.

I wouldn't be too jealous of those with carpenter friends, there have been some who weren't so happy! A kitchen has so many bits and pieces that all have to work together so well, that the more I learn, the more I appreciate what good kitchen designers do. My DH is an engineer, and he has used his knowledge to get us out of many problems with installing this kitchen all on our own- he did all the electrical and plumbing too.

I would think that if MKUSA accepts VISA and stands behind their product, that you should be OK. If pieces are missing or got overlooked (like toe kick covers for instance), will you be able to order those later?

If you are going to put on natural stone counters, then you have to be certain of proper support and levelling.

Installing a kitchen is not for the faint of heart, or beginner, but for the accomplished DIY'er it is a rewarding way to save thousands of $$$. OK- I realized I digressed from the original question- but my point is- I think- that save the money in the installation, but spend it on an established- reputable company.

We bought our Medallion cabs from a local kitchen design center, and installed them ourselves. This included ripping out a wall and major shimming as the floor was 1.25 inches out of level from highest to lowest points! In a previous remodel we used much cheaper IKEA cabs and were very satisfied with them.

We are using our existing boxes with a few custom modifications and Hubby is building new drawer boxes, doors and drawer fronts. There are some folks on eBay who do custom doors and drawer fronts. Their prices are quite good but Hubby wanted to do it himself.

hmmm... I'm fairly certain MKFUSA is reputable from what I've read on this site and I've been in contact with a rep there for quite some time now... It does make me nervous ordering online though. I thought about driving to IKEA in VA (I live in south/central NC), but I heard that it can be an all-day ordeal, and once it's all done they might not have everything in stock and some items might be broken once you get them home. THEN we'd still have to assemble them... I'm kind of set on semi-custom now because I've put so much time/effort into the design, and like remodelfla mentioned, IKEA seams a bit more limited for non-creative people like me. If I had the time/talent, I'd definitely do IKEA to save the monbey.

We are going with IKEA with custom door and drawer fronts.

We have all the boxes and fittings, but have changed vendors on the doors because the vendor I ordered my mullion doors from does not do the Blum Pattern B drilling I need for the doors, and I have since found a less expensive and more accommodating option.

I just need to order some "test" doors to be sure before I place the big order, and it will be done online.

Thankfully, I live 25 minutes from IKEA, since I have tweaked my design and need a couple different cabinet sizes not already in residing in my garage.

shelayne... can you share who your source for the drawer/door fronts are?

Shelayne, I'm planning on Ikea cabinets with custom door and drawer fronts. I've figured I had to go with Scherr's (not that this is bad at all - they've been great) because I know they have the boring patterns for Ikea. I've been interested in going to a local shop I know of, but didn't know how to described for them what I want.

So, how do you know that Ikea uses Blum boring pattern B? Is that something I can just ask for at a shop and they'll know what I'm talking about?

Thanks for any help and, like Remodelfla, I'd love to know who you're using.

Just Cabinets & Kraftmaid - they only sell cabinets - no install and no measurements.

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joann, above is the pattern you need for IKEA doors. There is one difference, and that is with the insert holes that flank the cup hole. On the standard Blum hinge, they are 8mm, but with IKEA they are 5mm. Apparently, it does not make that big of a difference as the larger cup hole is the most important one. I am sure that your local shop would be able to do that for you. This is the pattern you need for the Blum Integra hinges. You could also buy one of the cheap-o doorfronts at IKEA (the Arlig is $2 a door) and bring that to the shop as a template. That way you could be certain.

Remodelfla and Joann, I was speaking of AMZ Cabinet Doors, as Aaron told me that he could drill that pattern for me, and they have a large selection of door designs. I just heard of another possibility, but my contact is coming back to me with that info. If it pans out, and it is better info, I will pass it on to you, if you are interested.

I forgot to post the link for AMZ--

I see that since I last perused the site, the prices have risen just a tad. They are still good prices for the paint grade doors, which is what we are ordering.

Here is a link that might be useful: Door vendor

Another vendor to try is Cabinetmart. I have included a link below. Someone on Ikeafans was planning to use them. I don't believe they do the drilling for doors and drawer fronts but any handy person can do the drilling themselves using a sample door and drawer front from Ikea.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cabinet Mart