I see them all the time when the San Francisco Chronicle features a house with lots of pictures. At least they look like Ikea. If someone paid more, they got ripped off. These are houses as low as $800K and up up..

What gives it away as an Ikea Kitchen?

Usually the glass in doors.

I think most of us have seen some awesome kitchens done with IKEA. I don't think there is any question that IKEA is a great value. I've seen what APPEARS very expensive kitchens that perhaps could have been IMO reasonably replicated with IKEA. Many rave (and justifiably so) about how they were able do a wonderful budget kitchen remodel that truly looks and functions wonderfully.

My big question though is how expensive of a home have you actually been in that had IKEA cabinets installed? I definitely have hesitation in going with IKEA because I'm concerned with a possible stigma that may follow my kitchen remodel because of it. We have the $$ to spend more, but the stigma causes me to hesitate some.

Part of it will have to do with just which Ikea cabinets you choose, I think. To me, some of them did look very budget in their finishes, but others looked quite a lot like some of the more expensive lines that I looked at.
Another way to say it is, some of the more expensive lines really didn't look more expensive with their plastic-y finishes.
I have no experience with very high end homes--you might call a local real estate agent if you know one (I know that our neighborhood agent is happy to answer this sort of question)
Also, it really would depend on the neighborhood. When I lived in southern CA, the homes in the neighborhood were pricey (location, location, location!), but the neighborhood ethos(?) would totally have supported a great looking Ikea kitchen. Other neighborhoods in the area, probably not.

I just did an Ikea kitchen in a lower end flip. What I did not like at first was that in the uppers, you can see the mechanism that holds it to the wall, surrounded in a white box that says Ikea. A lot of people are okay with that and don't notice it, but me, being TKO, I notice and dislike details like that. In the lower end home, the cabinets were what sold the house and I think they were fabulous.

The finishes do look more plastic-y than an upper end cabinet. I too am wondering how expensive a home you can get away with them for re-sale purposes.

A friend has an upscale water-front home with cheap Chinese cabinets. I don't think people in our market are discerning enough to spot them. But Ikea stands out more that its "Ikea", as far as buyers go. Its probable depends on your market.

Another option a lot of people do is to combine the IKEA boxes but upgrade the doors and panels. Some companies specialize in this and make it easy.

Well, I've a friend who had the white Ikea Abstrakt cabinets. When they were selling the house (at above 1 mio), the appraiser thought it was an Italian designer kitchen. I don't want to post her MLS listing, but check out this Abstrakt kitchen:

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[Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by Edmonton Architects & Designers thirdstone inc. [^]

Here is a link that might be useful: [Abstrakt Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/lg-house-kitchen-contemporary-kitchen-edmonton-phvw-vp~454930)

Interesting blog by a kitchen designer on customizing IKEA cabinets. Too bad that the Tidaholm is not available anymore.

Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA kitchens

Our layout involves no uppers except for above the frig & wall ovens so seeing the rail should not come into question. Our kitchen will consist of five 36" wide drawers bases and and a couple of others (18", 36 sink, two 15"). Since most of the kitchen will below our waists with 4' of aisle space, I don't think the cabinets will get a whole lot of attention aesthetics wise.

The cabinet fronts we are considering as far as the look is the laminate gnosjo black ones which replaced the wood veneered nexus brown/black. Initially I was disappointed but when I saw them, do I dare say I thought they looked better. We would basically getting one of the cheapest doors they make to achieve the look we want. Paired with brushes nickels hardware though they really look nice IMO.

All that said, being so inexpensive scares the bageezes out of me. We're planning stone countertops, 3/4" hardwood throughout the house, etc. Are my cabinets going to stand out as the place I cheapened out?

If you are concerned, and are looking for a similar look, but with real wood, check out doors made by Semihandmade.

Here is a link that might be useful: custom doors for IKEA cabs

One of the Apartment Therapy bloggers did her kitchen earlier this year using the Semi-handmade doors - it looks amazing (see link below.) At the same time, the very detailed blogs about the process actually steered me away from Ikea simply because it made clear that I couldn't do this on my own, or in my house (with no garage or basement.) And I never found a reliable contractor in my area who was willing to use Ikea. But I think the end result on this blog would be a selling point to an upscale home.

I'm in the DC area and I do see kitchens in real estate listings all the time with what appears to be the brown Ikea cabinets, at hefty though not stratospheric prices. But this is a very weird real estate market - it's not uncommon to see houses get snapped up for a million or more with tiny, totally renovated kitchens, simply because they are in the right neighborhood/school district/etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Apartment Therapy Ikea Kitchen with Semi-Handmade Doors

What is the most expensive home you've ever seen an IKEA kitchen?

I have a modest house in the SF Bay area (Peninsula) and thus it's insanely expensive. I've also seen Ikea in other expensive homes in this area.

I used Ikea cabinets in my recent remodel in both the kitchen and the upstairs bathroom. Just my opinion, but I wasn't crazy about Ikea's wood doors. I ordered the kitchen ones in walnut from SemiHandmade as in the link above. The bathroom is a discontinued door from Ikea.

I think one key to making Ikea look more upscale and/or custom is to use doors and handles from other suppliers, and cover any parts of the "birch effect" boxes that are visible with edge banding.

Also the kitchen cabinets at Ikea are completely different, much higher quality, than the furniture. I would definitely use Ikea again if I ever did another kitchen remodel.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea kitchen reveal on GardenWeb

I personally think the coolest thing about going IKEA is the ease with which you could reface a kitchen or even just replace a dinged up door or panel down the road. The idea of being able to switch it up when they come up with a new door or upgrade to a higher quality alternative door or change the uppers or lowers with ease is just really pretty cool. At least for commitment phobes like me...

We used IKEA cabinets in our new laundry room in a mix with our old kitchen cabinets (the only thing worth saving from our demo'd kitchen!) I can take photos tomorrow.

We also used the DOORS only in our new mudroom - our contractor/carpenter, build the framing for the cubbies and the broom cabinet and then we just popped the IKEA doors on and painted them. Saved us a BOATLOAD of money from what it would have cost for the mudroom cubbies and cabinets we have!

We got the ONLY model of door that can be painted easily - the RAMSJÖ. That is because it's real beech wood that is then paint or stained by Ikea to it's color. The rest are all factory-applied color that is thermafoiled/melamine foil or a polyester paint. Even painting ours, we had to sand it (well) first and use a good primer, but now you'd never know. The doors are a very good quality and weight.

That said, the INSIDE of Ikea cabinets - well - always look like the inside of IKEA cabinets. I'm a "real wood" girl and our house is a 1917 Colonial so I wanted real wood for my kitchen, but IKEA was great for the mudroom and laundry, particularly because the insides are wipeable easily because they ARE a melamine foil.

And, the drawers have a particular style to them - they are the metal and grey pieces with sides that don't come all the way up, which is just a certain look - and also means you usually need to use their "kitchen organizers" because others won't fit as well. But I sometimes end up buying those anyway, so that's not a huge deal.

The plus side of Ikea, is that they really have great options for specialty drawers and styles and inserts. I was really surprised. And the slow close hinges for the doors are nice, drawers pull nicely and have slow close, etc. I think they look really nice when all put together, and sometimes you see some feature in one at the store and think - Oh, wow - that's cool, why didn't I think of that!

BUT that all adds up - so when you are pricing, be sure you've got every little aspect covered. That's the tricky thing with it. I'd look and think - wow, that's such a good price, but then by the time the whole cabinet was done in terms of all the little add ons I needed, it was more than I thought! Definitely got up to similar to a cabinet ordered from Home Depot or Lowe's if you pick one of the standard doors (not the ones they sell on the floor, the nicer ones you order, just the basic doors.)

You need legs for the cabinet to stand on so you have a toe kick. Then you need to buy the toe kick. You need filler at the top and sides (so your doors don't hit the wall if you have cabinets next to the side wall) and possibly trim depending on what you want and your ceiling height. You'll most likely need side panels (if a side is exposed, or you go for a tall cabinet next to a set of uppers and lowers - and every shelf, hinge, attachable rack, ever drawer costs extra. It's pieced together so get a FULL estimate.

And, that sort of speaks to the big caution I'd have doing an IKEA kitchen - I'd consider having them build it. Building and hanging these suckers is a pain in the patooty. And, you'll want them built well so everything works as it should and it lasts. It will add on to your total but if you're choosing this option because of bigger savings, you can let go of a little to have them install it. I promise you - it would be WELL worth it.

I'll put some pics up tomorrow.

Hope that helps -
Alexa

P.S. The one thing I would note is that I don't think they have very good prices on their granite. There's certainly some ease to ordering it with them, but everything I saw there was priced for less with our local granite supply showrooms. So that's just something to think about - don't feel constrained by their choices and definitely get multiple prices from both Ikea and granite stores around you.

Here is a link that might be useful: RAMSJÖ Ikea door

Don't know how you got the idea that there is a stigma attached to Ikea cabinets. Everyone in the design and real estate fields are certainly aware by now that Ikea offers the best combination of looks, value and features. No other cabinets can match their price point and options.

Many of the magazines you're likely reading have editors who installed Ikea cabinets in their own homes.

There are issues around their installation, however, and it needs to be done well.

Like everything else we do in our homes, a new kitchen ultimately reflects on the resale value. You can resolve the question for yourself by having a local r.e. agent come through to value your house, pull comps, and then discuss the value a new kitchen might add.

Even if you do, these days people buy and then modify for the style they want. Before we sold our apartment I had to renovate the kitchen and was cautioned that no matter what I did I might not get my money out of it because the next people just come in and rip it all out.

Of more concern is that the kitchen look like it belongs to the rest of the house and isn't a completely different style.

We are doing Ikea kitchen cabinets in our remodel. Using the Ikea cabinet boxes/drawers and having some faces built locally. I just didnt like their white shaker style door quality. The stained wood ones (same style but in the "black/brown") doors felt much nicer quality, so in the end, we are doing those for the island and white standard shaker style doors for the perimeter. With the 20% off coupon, it was a great deal.

We went to Ikea before re-doing our kitchen. Some of the cabs were great looking - specifically the shiny contemporary ones. I personally think some of the other finishes just don't compare to the depth of finish of higher end cabs. The shiny, plasticky finish on the traditional door styles looks a bit inexpensive to me.

I think the "stigma" you mention has to do with the reputation Ikea had 10 years ago. The company has upgraded its kitchens considerably since then. The drawers in particular are much, much better.

I had a Brookhaven (semi-custom line from Wood-Mode) kitchen in my last home. It was very expensive, yet the boxes were made from melamine-covered particleboard. I could not tell the difference between those boxes and my Ikea boxes in my new kitchen.

One of the selling points for Ikea is how easily obtainable and flexible the kitchens are. We had to adjust cabinet sizes, and in all three cases, we simply returned the boxes that we had already put together, received store credit, and got the correct sized box. There was no waiting, just go to the store and get it. We were under an extreme time crunch, so for us Ikea was the only option.

Personally, if I had both time and money, I'd use RTA cabinets like Scherr's or Barker, which make very nice cabinets, but they are still well below the price points for higher end lines like Brookhaven. If I had loads of money, I'd get custom inset cabinets from Crown Point, but I can only dream....

Another thing: It really depends on your style. There are LOTS of Ikea kitchens featured in Country Living magazine, and many of those houses are beautiful (and expensive), but there's a casual appeal to them. Ikea's wood countertops are more casual looking. I do not have a formal kitchen, so that look is perfect for me.

Akcorcoran, could you post pictures of your painted Ramsjo cabinets?

The other consideration with IKEA is that in Europe, they have switched the dimensions of the boxes, meaning that the new doors won't fit the current boxes, once the US converts, too. While this may take a while, one of the sale's people at my IKEA thought that they will most switch to the new boxes within the next 1-2 years.

I roughly calculated that the worst I'd be out if I absolutely HATE the gnosjo cabinet fronts is about $500. Since I actually like them especially with brushed nickel pulls, I might as well move forward.

Nosoccermom, I was confused with IKEA transitioning to new dimensions. Have they started in Europe? If I purchase mine now, will I be able to trade new IKEA fronts with the old cabinets? IKEA seems to change their things so much, it's hard to keep up with changes that may effect the versatility down the line.

I actually just took some today!

Our laundry room is painted Ramsjo doors on the Akrum full-utility closet (right,) then the other uppers are our only salvageable, glass kitchen cabinets. The entire bottom sets of drawers are all Akrum drawers with Ramsjo fronts, plus a blind corner cabinet. Then turning around the side it is an Akrum birch open cabinet with shelves for the laundry baskets. (And I used Akrum birch effect shelves inside the glass cabinets to match that instead of painting the original shelves.)

The paint really brought it together, I think!

And, here's our mudroom. Ramsjo doors on regular framed wood from our contractors. None of the cabinets are from IKEA. We painted it all to match our trim color.
(Please excuse the mess of back-to-school week!)

Regarding the point of most expensive kitchen done with Ikea: I personally have seen a 1.8M house here in SF Bay Area peninsula. I should, however, mention that, this is close to the median SFR home price in my area.

In pictures in SF Chronicle, yes it's common to see them in all price ranges, including 2.5M and higher.

My way of looking at this question is as follows: in mature neighborhoods where there is no HOA, the price of a SFH is mainly in the land, and where the land is located. Structure costs little especially if the house is old. In that situation Ikea cabinet will bring no stigma. Conversely, if your house is in a more recent development, then you might want to check in your neighborhood what the comps are. In general, it makes sense to do what other folks in your area are doing.

Also, there are two distinct categories of people: those who love ikea and those who do not. So your future buyers could very well be the ones with a hangup. (This is if you are designing with a sale in mind).

However, if you are only concerned about the "prestige" factor of getting ikea kitchen in your house while you live in it (comments from friends, shrugs etc.).....then my advice is -- DON'T get ikea (btw, I love Ikea). The reason is that Ikea cabs, once opened, will SCREAM Ikea. They have a very distinct, European look. For that matter, even if you got custom European cabinets with Blum hardware, people will still ask if it's Ikea. If you are sensitive about how others will judge you for getting cheap cabinets for your expensive abode, then avoid them.

Regarding the point of most expensive kitchen done with Ikea: I personally have seen a 1.8M house here in SF Bay Area peninsula. I should, however, mention that, this is close to the median SFR home price in my area.

In pictures in SF Chronicle, yes it's common to see them in all price ranges, including 2.5M and higher.

My way of looking at this question is as follows: in mature neighborhoods where there is no HOA, the price of a SFH is mainly in the land, and where the land is located. Structure costs little especially if the house is old. In that situation Ikea cabinet will bring no stigma. Conversely, if your house is in a more recent development, then you might want to check in your neighborhood what the comps are. In general, it makes sense to do what other folks in your area are doing.

Also, there are two distinct categories of people: those who love ikea and those who do not. So your future buyers could very well be the ones with a hangup. (This is if you are designing with a sale in mind).

However, if you are only concerned about the "prestige" factor of getting ikea kitchen in your house while you live in it (comments from friends, shrugs etc.).....then my advice is -- DON'T get ikea (btw, I love Ikea). The reason is that Ikea cabs, once opened, will SCREAM Ikea. They have a very distinct, European look. For that matter, even if you got custom European cabinets with Blum hardware, people will still ask if it's Ikea. If you are sensitive about how others will judge you for getting cheap cabinets for your expensive abode, then avoid them.

They have started the transition to new system, Metod, in Europe (in April, I believe), but what's not clear yet is whether they will switch to Metod in metric dimensions in the US, too. And if yes, when.
Below a thread at Ikea fans web site.

Here is a link that might be useful: new Metod replacing Akurum?

I used Ikea in our mudroom as we couldn't reuse the old cabinets there. I bought those and our contractor installed them. When the kitchen cabinet lady came back to see the 3 cabinets she'd botched, she stopped and admired the Ikeas and asked who the manufacturer was. Pretty funny. So even a dealer might not know. Get what you want and don't worry about it. The next owner will rip it out anyway.

But one thing with Ikea. I wouldn't depend on being able to get more of anything bought at a particular time as their styles come and go.

The way I look at decisions like this

1) Emotions

If you had to answer purely based on how it made you feel, what do you want?

Do you want custom because you'd feel stigmatized by selecting Ikea?

There might be completely logical and valuable home purchase decisions that I could never make based on a purely emotional negative association from long ago.

2) Logic

Do you want Ikea because they provide such great organizational systems?
(My perception is you aren't just buying a cabinet, you are buying a kitchen organizational system.)

3) Value - Destroying or Creating?

Value change analysis for any major home purchase

Independent of 1) and 2) by selecting a specific Ikea cabinet for your kitchen,
Are you destroying value, or are you creating value?

To make this question tangible: if you were to post Option A or Option B here on gardenweb or in some other forum (like that HGTV home forum where people vote up or down pictures), would 100 people surveyed favor Option A or Option B?

If you pick a significantly non-preferred Option, you are probably destroying value in your house.

Ex: I'd guess that Ikea in this kitchen posted by
nosoccermom (My Page) on Fri, Aug 30, 13 at 13:42
did NOT destroy value in that home.

But a different Ikea cabinet would have.

I can make the right decision for me for any of the above reasons. I just try to explicitly understand why I'm making a specific decision.

homey_bird said: " If you are sensitive about how others will judge you for getting cheap cabinets for your expensive abode, then avoid them. "

I think that homey_bird meant avoiding the cheap cabinets, but I would lean toward avoiding the judgmental friends lol

cheers

Interesting thread!

We built our home 15 years ago and had custom built (and I mean a single guy built them himself) cabinets throughout the house. All solid wood. Book matched. No stain--let the natural beauty of the wood show!. Maple in the kitchen. Cherry in the bar area. Walnut in the kitchenette in the lower level. They are beautiful, no doubt. My husband is a hobbyist woodworker and is a total SNOB about cabinetry.

Then we bought a vacation/retirement home in northern CA a couple of years ago. Renovating it now. Here's how I looked at it.
- The boxes for the kitchen cabs need to be solid, well built
- If I get frameless boxes, I have the choice of changing the doors if I want something different down the road
- I want a decent amount of options for designing the space, but I have long ago decided that I never will be a professional cook, and I don't need every single design feature (those of you who cook a ton deserve those clever design details!).
- I wanted high end finishes (counter and backsplash in particular).
- We have to spend a lot of money on the rest of the renovation and I didn't want to spend so much on the kitchen that I limited what we spent on other areas.

So, we looked at IKEA. Don't be scared by the furniture. The cabinets are totally different. When we looked at what we could pay for IKEA cabs relative to other cabinet manufacturers, it was easy to say yes. We considered custom doors, but in the end we decided to do the doors with IKEA too. DH and I assembled and hung a lot of them. He is VERY handy, and he has said many times that it's all about the installation if you are DIY. We found a local former cabinet maker to finish the installation (we had to travel back home). Interesting thing is this guy, who is an amazing cabinet maker, said he can't stay in business doing cabinets any longer because he just can't compete with IKEA (this may be more true in CA than other parts of the country).

Now, when I compare the kitchen in both homes, one doesn't feel more "high end" than the other. They are simply very different. Both look custom built. When we sell our current home, will 90% of the buyers out there realize the quality of our cabinets? Nope. I'm sure someone will walk in and say "I can't wait to paint these wood cabinets white". LOL!

I will say that working with IKEA is easiest if there is one near you. The people in the stores seem to be very knowledgeable and eager to help. During their kitchen sales it is busy, so go on a Tuesday or Weds. And there is a learning curve when it comes to ordering. What made our process a PIA was doing it from a distance. I won't go into the gory details!

Good luck with your decision!

Ann, that is funny! In my neighborhood I don't think most people walking in would notice a high quality cabinet from a cheap Chinese cabinet. When you are in the business its different, and when you are building a kitchen and research, its different, because you teach yourself what a great cabinet is. I have solid mahogany and I think you are right- the buyers might want to paint them white!

I was assembling cabinets yesterday for my second Ikea kitchen. The first one is in our main house, and after over 8 years of usage the cabinets are still in perfect condition. And the look still seems fresh and stylish. The second kitchen is in our new beach place, and as I put together the drawers I was admiring the quality of the Blum hardware and the solid heft of the finished cabinets. They are precision-made.

If you're concerned about a stigma, pick up a copy of Dwell magazine. I'm always tickled by how many of the fabulous, architect-designed homes in that mag (and Elle Decor, too) feature Ikea kitchens and products.

All this feedback has been VERY helpful.

If IKEA does indeed change over to the metric in the US, I'll either have to get doors made by another or pull everything out completely. I'm thinking though, I'll be happy with what I have.

My alternative wasn't custom cabinets but just a pricier line with nicer finish cabinet doors. With our layout though, the cabinets aren't going to get that much notice anyway.

I like laminate counters but my DH cringes and believes I would cheapen our home by putting it in, and he's probably right. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't cheapening our home by using IKEA and it sounds like I'll be fine. Most of the homes that have sold in the neighborhood since we've moved in have the same thermofoil white cabinets with arches we have. Having the new kitchen layout will make me happy and increase the value.

MareLuce - your explanation of the process of making decisions is VERY helpful!

We went to ikea to see their kitchen cabinets we noticed when the cabinet doors are closed you can see the white shelving is this normal I don't like that look I just want to see just the cabinet doors .

If you use white boxes you might be able to see some of the box if there's a contrasting dark door. You can buy edge-banding in the color of the door to place on the visible part of the box to effectively hide the box. Also if you purchase doors from other suppliers, the doors are sometimes made slightly larger than the Ikea doors so they cover more of the box. Semihandmade doors are this way.

I have dark walnut doors with birch boxes and see the box on either side of my dishwasher. I'm going to put edge banding there at some point. It's easier to apply edge band before the doors are attached.

I did my last house's kitchen - 12 years ago - with high end appliances and IKEA cabinets. I love to cook, so I spent the money on the appliances. I was so happy cooking on a Wolf 60" range and I never regretted getting a more modest range and better cabinets. The couple who bought that house four years ago still love the kitchen and it is still in tip top shape. Cabinets cost me $4500 on their 20% off sale.

I noticed the same with the upper cabinets at IKEA, but it seemed only the glass door cabinets had that gap between the doors.