Buy a lidingo door and try glazing it. (and post your results so I can see without having to try it myself :-). If I were doing it, I'd divide the door into four sections and experiment with a different formula on each section.

I think I saw an article where a person used gel stain on white cabinets, instead of the usual brown paint mixed with glaze, and the results looked good too.

Not sure if you've seen Redrange's kitchen, but she had her Ikea cabs painted. This is one of my all time favorite kitchens, and I'm not really a "color" person. I think slateberry had a very good suggestion. The doors are certainly inexpensive enough that you could wast a few experimenting on them. Or maybe Ikea has a "scratch and dent" area where you can buy some damaged doors to test. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Redrange's Painted Ikea Cabs

I didn't remember Redrange's kitchen was with Ikea. It is a great example of what can be done. Karena, there are two all-wood doors that come to mind, besides the ones that are plain panel, including the one Redrange used--and besides the mostly-wood dark-brown version of the white Lindingo already mentioned (Lindingo's plastic coated but the treatment suggested is one I considered myself)). Redrange's apparently is the one with a simple recessed panel and is the one people paint when they want a fairly true Shaker look. The other is a pine door (with what I think is an amazingly ugly finish, but obviously the Ikea people see it differently) that would give a more rustic feel with a rubbed cream finish over the knots. Both worth considering, but a lot of people save money on the Ikea innards and drawer systems, then finish them with custom doors--ordered from a place that can match Ikea's measurements and nonstandard hardware drillings. If ordered unfinished, the prices can actually be less expensive than the higher end of the Ikea line.

>Lindingo's plastic coated

No, that's Adel White. Lidingo and Stat white are painted finishes

Another popular traditional door style for painting is Tidaholm Oak, but I suspect it may be as inexpensive to get custom doors as to use those (many people buy the cabs from ikea and get the doors from scherrs or other places to get a style they like). The actual boxes/hardware aren't expensive--most of the cost of the cabs is in the doors.

Sorry, Writersblock, and thanks. We have Lindingo in our master bath, and I like knowing it's painted. I was thinking plastic because it's very glossy and looks as durable as it is (actually very like Adel but warmer, without the grayish tone). It's very pretty but does't quite say "California" French to me. I actually was going to do a glaze over it, but the brown carpet I put down throws so much brown reflection that I ended up not.

malhgold - OMG; thanks for pointing out Redrange's kitchen! It is absolutely gorgeous--how creative--love the different colors--if only I could borrow rerange's painter. I actually want a turquoise blue on the cabinets facing the dining room. It would be custom color in most cabinet lines. I'm wondering, though, what the cost was to have the painter paint the cabinets.

Writersblock - I never would have thought of getting the doors elsewhere either. I don't know much about IKEA just yet, but I did visit the store just today. I loved some of the modern looks, like the vibrant red and the stainless steel, but it wouldn't fit in with my decor.

Rosie - thanks for clarifying. I just invented the word "California" French because it really is my interpretation of French and of course, I'm a Californian. I lived two years in France and Belgium early on in my life and I love French furniture especially those "escargot" feet!

slateberry - I'm so bad at painting; however, I dislike my current oak cabinets so much I did think about painting them.

Thanks to all of you; I appreciate your help!

I have a kitchen's worth of Ikea Lidingo patiently waiting to be assembled and I'm (hopefully) going for an old world look.

At first I was going to paint the doors a cream color and then glaze them, but the prep work was enormous. On a whim, I took a door and painted a light line of Minwax Polyshades (a one step stain and polyurethane finish) around the moldings using an artists brush. It doesn't look half-bad against the white door, and so far the Minwax accents appear pretty durable - I can't scrape or scrub anything off, but of course this is not a true test of kitchen durability. I guess time will tell (I'm a short-cut kinda gal...)

Other things that I'm attempting for the "look":
- several glass doors
- lotsa crown molding (painted w/ BM simply white & glazed w/ the Minwax)
- building a plaster-look range hood out of drywall.
- adding corbels
- adding furniture feet
- modifing a cabinet frame to have a plate rack on the bottom and a shelf for display on top. Ikea does have a plate rack cab but it's a double rack and doesn't work for me. I'm just going to cut a bunch of wood dowelling to fit the cab.

Wish me luck :)

Dawn

FYI...Scherr's is one of the companies that will make doors for IKEA cabinets. Several people in the past have posted here that they used IKEA boxes & Scherr doors & drawer fronts with great success...and much less expensive than going with even stock cabinets by other manufacturers.

HTH & Good luck!

dawn_t: Pictures PLEASE! I'd love to see how that polyshades looks. Which color did you use, and how wide was the artists brush? And by the line around the moldings, did you mean in the crevise/edge area?

Yes, Dawn, I wish you all the best in your painting project and I'm looking forward to seeing the old world transformation of the IKEA cabinets :-).
P.S. You can see my before kitchen here and the color scheme I'm trying to incorporate into my new kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Karen's Kitchen Project

Someone, maybe writersblock?, posted these links to film clips about upgrading Ikea cabinets. Maybe you'll find something useful in the film clips. I think they said the clips will not play on a Mac.

Here are a couple of video links about upgrading the look of ikea cabs:

http://www.cityline.ca/video/2007/08/khachi_ikea_kitchen_makeover_cut1.wvx

http://www.cityline.ca/video/2007/08/khachi_ikea_kitchen_makeover_cut2.wvx

Hi Slateberry & Karena,
We're in the slooow process of DIY whole house painting & flooring, but I'll post pics when I start assembling the cabs.
Still not quite sure how to tackle the curves of the range hood that I'm envisioning, but I'll keep experimenting.
Karena your choices are beautiful!

Dawn

Did anyone recommend the Ikeafans website?

-sarah

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea Fans

Dawn: I'm glad you could see the beginnings of my picture album and thanks for the kind compliment :-). We have done quite a few things ourselves around our home, mainly landscaping. I also want a sheetrocked hood that gives an old world feel without paying for plaster.

bbstx: thanks for those videos; I just wish the designer/contractor went into more detail about how he got the cabinets to look that way. It wasn't clear to me if he used the plain old IKEA doors or went with something else.

Sarah: thanks for the link to the Ikea Fans.

I am in the process of pricing out kitchen cabinets in the Wellborn and Cabico line. I just hate the whole pricing process; the manufacturers just make it so complicated.

I love this web site--I feel as if some of the posters here have a PhD in kitchen design!

Those are ikea lidingo doors in the video. Plain old.