I think white kitchens in general are really popular but the wood options are really nice as well.

Adel Medium Brown is really popular. And ramsjo blackbrown.

Johnbh on ikeafans does super ramsjo kitchens. Here's a two-tone one.

I think one thing hurting IKEA's wood kitchens recently is that the adel birch and beech took on a whitewashed tone that wasn't as universally appealing as a natural wood tone. They got rid of them and now have a new natural birch door, Orsa. I just took a bunch of pictures of the Orsa recently and think it will be a great choice for those looking for a neutral wood kitchen. I predict it will be very popular although I would have looooved a birch slab. A gal can dream...

kitchen designers are usually employed in a kitchen showroom setting... or sometimes a local lumberyard that has a kitchen sales department. Big Box stores employ "designers" but may not all be certified kitchen designers...they can be quite adept and have good knowledge of their product lines and how to use their computer system to get you a drawing and price list rather quickly,even on a walkin basis. What do you want from a designer? Ikea kitchens in "white" work out in lots of styles of homes..... might be why it's a default choice......people should put effort into individualizing their Ikea kitchen....is that what you are hinting at? After all, they saved a ton of money by doing Ikea.Some Ikea kitchens are well thought out and wonderful. Some people just want a good basic kitchen at affordable price and other issues beyond that are not important. A good kitchen shouldn't be so daunting as to overwhelm and confuse and expend all one's resources-mentally and economically......Ikea options are limited but might make it easier and therefore complete the project in a kind of efficient/ straightforward /quicker fashion, and that's nothing to scoff at.There's something for everyone these days.

Perhaps you see so many white IKEA kitchens because they are one of the most affordable way to get a white kitchen.

When we installed white IKEA cabinets sixteen years ago it was the only affordable way to get the white kitchen we wanted. At that time, white cabinets were a significant upgrade and cost about 20% more than comparable wood cabinets. When we found that the white painted cabinets we wanted were out of our price range, we turned to IKEA for our white kitchen.

Now most cabinet manufacturers have more white options. But IKEA is still a great value.

i had no idea white was more expensive! Thought it was the other way around. I was more concerned that it might indicate that the wood options weren't as believable or pretty as white. I am knocking out walls and reconfiguring the space so I probably need a designer or architect. It just sounds like big bucks. :)

It's big bucks; even a budget kitchen is. :)

Ikea has discontinued some great doors. Anyone remember their Hallorum (or something like that) door? I think it was discontinued cuz it was made by kids or something.

I think they dropped the corrugated-ish oak one too.

They're good cabinets if they fit your spot and even better if they have a door you like.

The last time I looked at IKEA cabs a few years ago, the white was the finish that would have worked best in my house. I have dark oak floors and a lot of stained wood trim and none of the IKEA wood tones were complementary. That, I think, is another reason the IKEA white (for that matter, any white) is so popular, it matches well with existing wood elements.

For standard cabinet lines, painted finish is an upcharge over stained.

If you're knocking out walls and reconfiguring space, you'll definitely want either a KD with good design sensibilities for the space, not just the kitchen, unless you're confident in your own design abilities. Load-bearing walls going down, you should get an architect in. IMO the design phase is where the project succeeds or fails, so architect/KD expense is the most important investment.

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Great pictures, robotropolis. It looks like Ikea has some more wood finishes than the last time I looked at my local showroom. I picked up a white base cabinet for a garage sink because I liked the simplicity and affordability. I think white kitchens in general are very hot right now (and have been for a few years) and Ikea certainly provides an affordable, quality option. Additionally, their wood stains were (at least when I looked) somewhat limited, so if you didn't find a wood stain that you liked, it's hard not to like white if you really want to go Ikea. In the past I liked Adel Medium Brown best of all the wood, but from robotropolis's pictures, I'm seeing more wood colors that I think I like even better.

The grey next to the birch (sofielund) is cool looking but is a laminate, as are rockhammar and gnosjo.

Orsa birch
Adel Medium Brown
Ramsjo Red brown
Ramsjo Black Brown
Lixtorp (medium brown oak)
are all wood veneer or wood and all look good.

Of those, Ramsjo black brown is probably my favorite but adel medium brown is very lovely.

Ramsjo white is also pretty but has a slight pink whitewash undertone.

White is really popular here, if that's where you are seeing a lot of them. As far as the wood tone versions, there is a recent thread where someone was having trouble with all the finger prints. I think it was on the IKea's. There might have been some other comments in there on them, versus the white. Some people opt for the frames and get doors elsewhere.

for those of you referring to "white painted cabinets" are you sure they are painted?

"Paint" seems to be a universal term around here for any coating.

Thanks

Some of the white IKEA doors are painted mdf (Applad, Lidingo, Stat), some are thermofoil (Abstrakt, Adel), some are coloured lacquer over solid wood/veneer (Ramsjö).

tbo123 -- good point about the importance of being precise.

16 years ago we wanted white painted wood cabinets. We couldn't afford those at the time since we were on a strict budget. We chose IKEA white thermofoil cabinets instead. They served their purpose well for 15 years until we replaced them with the real white painted wood cabinets we had always wanted last year. The IKEA cabinet boxes held up so well that they could be repurposed as cabinets for a neighbor's basement when we renovated last year.

some are coloured lacquer over solid wood/veneer (Ramsjö).

Do you mean by any chance Rubrik, rather than Ramsjo? Ramsjo looks like wood to me.

Speaking of lacquered IKEA, I understand they only have two colors (red and light blueish) in the USA, but many more choices in Europe. Can anyone confirm? I really want high-gloss flat-front cabinets, but certainly not red or light blue, so I don't know that IKEA is even a choice for me. The companies that make doors for IKEA cabinets only seem to make wood ones (and I want a factory-finish anyway).

There is a white Ramsjö, made of white satin lacquer over birch.

Regarding doors we have in Europe, we have high-gloss white, cream, grey, red or black (those are not paint, but melamine foil), and satin white, pale grey, grayish turquoise, pale green or red.

It should not be that complicated to get custom lacquered doors in the colour of your choice, sized to fit IKEA cabs. The simplest way would be to buy white Applad doors and bring them to an automotive paint shop or an industrial paint shop.

Ikea has had other colors like green and dark blue (linjar), but those come and go, usually just for a year or two.

The new Metod line rollout showed a lot of very colorful doors, but so far in Scandinavia (the only place it's for sale yet), they have more colorful box interiors than colorful doors.

Here is a link that might be useful: bright boxes

If we had done a white kitchen we likely would have used Ikea to save money. I think the white is one of the best looking of the IKEA cabinets. Whereas some, like the ramsjo red brown, looked lesser quality to us - the center panel almost seemed to have a contact paper quality to it.

Ramsjo white has some kind of a color, well, white, over real wood.

In terms of abstrakt, the lacquered or at least gloss line, they have white, cream, grey (very attractive) and I think they still have some acid green as well. Not in all sizes. Then in the rubrik which is less shiny they have pale turquoise.