Ikea Cabinets

jshape · jshape's Garage

Anyone here had any experience with Ikea kitchen cabinets? I'm thinking about installing them in our cottage. Pricing wise they seem to be about half of what the Home Depot ones seem to be. Any comments or complaints about their quality, ease of assembly, etc., would be appreciated.

Jim727 · 01-03-2007, 06:49 PM

Everyone I know that has Ikea kitchen cabinets likes them. Note: not all are created equal. Take a look and choose according to the app; they can be a great value.

fastpat · 01-03-2007, 07:06 PM

Not exactly kitchen cabinets, but I found Wine Racks America pretty interesting.

Joeaksa · 01-03-2007, 08:09 PM

If you are going to buy Ikea anything, spend the extra bucks and get their better range of articles, as well as put them together with nails, strong glue and clamps.

All in all their products are not bad but if they are just screwed together as they come, they tend to not last as long as some other furniture. Done correctly they work well and are good value for their money.

VINMAN · 01-03-2007, 08:47 PM

I have the Ikea Kalsebo Beech cabinets in my kitchen. I'm very happy with them. But as Joe said, I did the same and glued them also.

livi · 01-04-2007, 12:00 AM

Generally IKEA´s products are of much better quality these days. When the founder, Ingvar Kamprad (now among the richest men in the world, came up with his idea in the dark woods of Småland (part of Sweden), the quality was ridiculous. It was a coined phrase in Sweden that IKEA equaled bad quality. In two senses. It braked easily and above all was a joke to assemble. There would be pieces missing, like screws and stuff. Furthermore, when and if finally assembled - it would look like something your six year old made in wood shop.

It is all much better now though..you will not find one home in Sweden without something from IKEA.

Isabo · 01:19 AM

Thanks to my daughter I've become quite expert. Ikea kitchens are probably the best value around but not the best quality. I would strongly recommend choosing the better quality ones from Ikea, be sure to check front, side and back! Look at the way the drawers slide and the doors hang, open and close. Remember that the quality of assembley will affect the end result and the ones you are looking at in the store are assembled by staff that do it all the time.
I've seen some bathroom cabinets with cardboard backs. The quality of the chipboard can be iffy but shouldn't give any problems unless you disassemble and reassemble later. We've never had any problems with missing parts and two women managed to assemble several kitchens, wardrobes, bits of bathrooms and countless pieces of furniture with the tools provided, a drill and a multitool. So it really isn't that hard - we did have all the plumbing ready and had a plumber do the dishwasher etc.

jshape · jshape's Garage

Thanks so much for all of your replies.

Joe and Vinman, I had heard from other sources that glueing and nailing were a good idea and appreciate your confirming that concept.

Isabo, we are going with the higher grade of Ikea so hopefully the quality will be as expected.

Thanks again for your help - the breadth of knowledge on this forum never ceases to amaze me!

I'm actually looking forward to the project.

VINMAN · 01-04-2007, 05:05 AM

The original Ikea cabinets from way back were not standard American sized. I remember a bunch of years back putting in a set for a buddy of mine, and we had a hard time with matching them up to his appliances. The newer ones were retooled to our standard cabinet sizing. So if wanted, you can match them up to existing kitchen cabinets.
Im still in the process of doing my kitchen. The wife changed the configuration around about six times already.

Joeaksa · 01-04-2007, 05:07 AM

John,

Grab some longer nails and wood glue and along with some clamps and spending some extra time assembling the items correctly and you will be a lot happier with the products. Cost is less than $10 and its well worth it.

One last thing, if you have never put anything Ikea together, please do a trial fit on things before nailing it together. Cannot tell you the number of times where I got most everything together only to find that one piece was 180 degrees out and had to take it apart again. Course putting things like this together late at night after a few beers might have helped things as well!

Joe A

Jim Richards · 01-04-2007, 05:13 AM

I bought, assembled and installed Ikea kitchen cabinets in my wife's study. She wanted extra storage (very precious in a condo) with a countertop surface for some of her craft work, and this solution fit her needs perfectly. They look modern which fits in well with our overall interior design.

Moneyguy1 · 01-04-2007, 11:02 AM

Just oe suggestion:

There are screws and fasteners made especially made for particle board construction. I personally prefer using screws wherever possible for two reasons:

1. They hold in particle board better than nails

2. When used with a good wood glue, they eliminate, in many cases, the need for pipe clamps sonce they do tend to act as clamps themselves.

Try to discern whether the face frames are "real" wood, as well as the doors. There is a lot of info about cabinet construction on the internet, and homework is advised.

LakeCleElum · 01-04-2007, 11:37 AM

For my cabin, I took very accurate measurments to a local cabinet shop. Got the real deal (oak) in a beautiful finish for about $2,200. I hauled it over the mountains myself and did the install. Had them installed in 2 days including doing the formica countertops and hooking up the plumbing.....Made for a very happy wife....