Kitchen Cabinets From...Ikea!?

I have been investigating different sources for kitchen cabinetry over the past few months.  My main challenge is that I have champagne taste on a beer budget... and I'm not talking about fancy, craft beer.  I want quality and durability, but I don't want to pay for it.  I'm being totally reasonable here right?

My top two contenders right now are Cliq Studios and Ikea (what!?).  Yup, that's right my friends, I said Ikea. Let's start with Cliq Studios.  They area semi-custom cabinetry provider based out of Indiana (though I understand there is some question if the cabinets are truly made in America).  They have a wide range of cabinetry options and the cabinets come factory finished and assembled.  They are extra unique, in my opinion, because they offer an inset cabinet option - their Austin style.  My quote through Cliq Studios, including toe kicks, crown, etc. was about $4,500.  Not bad...especially for inset!  I ordered a sample door and I noticed that there was a finger print in the paint finish.  Now, look, I know it's just a sample door.  BUT - if you have quality control issues in your promotional products that are designed to get you sales, what happens to the quality after the sale is already made?

The other issue here is that I want to run my uppers to the ceiling and top them with crown that runs around the cabinets and the ceiling continuously.  Like this:

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The trim in my home is a bright, pure white and the Cliq Studio cabinets are more of a creamy white.  It contrasts enough that I would have to switch up the trim color in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, the crown and baseboards in the kitchen run straight through the hallway and up the stairs without a break or division, so this means that I will have a weird color differential.  Obviously this is a "me" problem and not a Cliq Studios problem, but it's still an issue nonetheless.

I considered the Home Decorators Newport cabinets available through the Home Depot for a hot minute, but I didn't like the lack of customization options available and I could not find ANY reviews of these cabinets online.

I have been seeing lots and lots and of Ikea kitchens and people raving about how much they loved them, how easy the kitchen was to assemble and install, and how high quality and durable the cabinets are.  The challenge is that I just didn't care for any of the door styles - they are all either too modern or cheap looking to me.  Then I explored some custom door and drawer from options, through Semi Handmade or Kokeena.  Here is an absolutely gorgeous kitchen through Semi Handmade...

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So I logged on to Ikea's kitchen planning tool and designed my little heart away, coming up with a great layout.  I was stunned with how affordable the Ikea boxes, hinges, drawer slides, etc. were.  Then I sent my specs to Semi Handmade and Kokeena, optimistic that I could beat my current quote through Cliq Studios.  But....no. Both of the quotes were REALLY expensive.  Even for completely unfinished doors!

By this point, I was actually kind of stuck on the idea of going the Ikea route.  Ikea uses Blum hardware, which is the kind of hinges and drawer glides used on very high end cabinetry and both the hardware and the cabinets come with a 25 year warranty that is...get this...transferable to future owners of your home.  How cool is that? While they offer a fairly limited range of cabinet sizes, the interiors of those cabinets are highly customizeable for very little added cost.  So I kept on looking and then stumbled across this blog post from Sarah from St Paul Haus and her fabulous kitchen.

She used Ikea cabinets with custom door and drawer fronts and achieved a very custom looking kitchen with a great vintage feel through a company called Scherr's based out of North Dakota.  So I basically decided to rip off Sarah's kitchen entirely (no really, but kind of) and contacted Scherr's for a quote.  It could not have been easier - I simply sent them my Ikea item list and they sent me back a quote.  Let me tell you - the pricing was FANTASTIC!

Since Scherr's makes each door and drawer front from scratch, they are able to make some custom tweaks for my kitchen that I think will make a huge difference and eliminate Cliq Studios from the running.  First, I am stacking 15" cabinets on 30" cabinets, but I don't want them to look like it...  I want the cabinets to look like this:

Not like this:

To get that effect, I would have a 45" tall door made with borings for hinges at 4 points that correspond with the hinge locations on the cabinet frames.  Since these are full overlay doors, you will never know that they are two cabinets until you open the doors!  Pretty tricky, huh?

The other nice thing is that I am able to customize the actual construction of the cabinet doors.  I received a quote for the 409 door style for the uppers that has a cross rail.  Typically the rail is placed in the middle, but I asked them if they could place the rail 15" from the top on all of the cabinets instead of the middle, and they said that they could.

Scherr's can also paint the doors whatever color you want.  The only downside is that having Scherr's paint the doors costs as much as it does for them to actually MAKE the doors.  It's still affordable, but I can paint them myself for a fraction of the cost.  I just don't think I can justify forking out the cash even though it would be great to having them painted and ready to go...

I took a trip to Ikea last night to look at their product in person and I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with the quality.  I also fell madly in love with this sink:

The challenge is that I am also madly in love this this faucet:

And sadly, the two are not compatible.  Thankfully, there is still time to sort out all of the details.  However, here is my current "mood board" for the kitchen:

Going for a light, bright and clean look with brushed nickel hardware, white shaker cabinets, and classic carrara marble counters and backsplash.  I haven't completely determined the wall color, but I know that I want it to be almost white.  Currently leaning towards Dove Wing by Benjamin Moore.

Very excited to have settled (for the most part) on the layout and cabinets!  More updates soon.  I am working on a DIY of this lovely bone inlay dresser to serve as the buffet in my dining room this weekend. 

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If it goes well, I will be sure to share the process and details!  Also, these photos are courtesy of Studio McGee's blog.  If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it if you're into a bright, clean and classic design aesthetic.  

Sincerely,

Kitchen Nightmares

No I am not talking about the TV show with the angry, British chef.  I am talking about my kitchen.  It's BAD and it's on my radar for our next major project in the house.  Before I can get some serious quotes for cabinets and countertops, I need to nail down the layout. This is easier said than done because I am working with a space that is just shy of 12' x 12' with two doorways, a 3 ft radiator and a 5 ft wide window.  The typical solution when you've got a kitchen like this is to knock out a wall an expand.  Not an option here - I've got a stairwell on one side, a bedroom on another, the porch, and then one exterior wall (which, even if cost was a factor, we couldn't push back because the neighbor's house is too close).  I've made peace with the fact that I am not going to have an 8' island in the kitchen or a 36" professional range; I can live without those things no problem.  The question still remains - how the heck can you fit a functional, upscale kitchen in less than 144 sq ft!?  Oh yeah, and keep the budget around $10k?

Here is the existing footprint:

As you can see from the layout alone, we've got some issues here. We currently have an apartment size refrigerator basically floating under a 36" fridgetop cabinet.  Further, the fridgetop cabinet is 12" deep, instead of 24" deep, sacrificing precious storage space and making items stored in there practically unreachable.  Our range shares the same "floating" affliction as the fridge with almost a foot of unused space between the dishwasher and range.  What you can't see from this layout is that we also have 30" uppers.  Our ceilings are nearly 9' - who in their right mind would just have 30" uppers!?  Finally, we have a countertop microwave which is eating up valuable counter space.

Having used this kitchen for the last year, I have a list of a few things that must change to make this kitchen work.

• More cabinet storage.
• More (usuable) counterspace.
• Either put the microwave in a base cabinet or put it over the range to free up counter space.
• Replace fridge with either side by side or french door model.

Some things that I would like to change, but aren't musts:

• Switch gas range to electric (I can hear chefs everywhere screaming, I know).  I just prefer electric cook tops and they are much easier to keep clean.
• Eliminate any "blind" cabinets because I find them not to be very functional.
• Install a light over the sink.  Right now we just have one overhead light.

There are actually a few things that I like about this kitchen, believe it or not:

• The placement of the sink and the dishwasher.  I would like to keep these elements in the same location.  I especially like the sink underneath the window.
• The deep, sink bowl sink.  Since we have a dishwasher, the only things that I typically hand wash are pots, pans, and the crock pot, so this large, open sink works well for this purpose.  I would not want to switch to a double bowl sink.
• The original back door with transom window - that is totally staying (duh).

I've toyed around with a few options. The first and probably most functional option would be the u-shaped kitchen.

This option involves a few rather expensive modifications.  First, the radiator would need to be moved to another wall.  Next,  I would need to run either a new gas or electrical lines to the range and OTR microwave in their new location.  These changes will cost me about $1,200-$1,500.  Yikes! That's almost the cost of new countertops!

We could stick with an L shape, and swap the fridge and range.  This expenses would be fairly minimal as there is already electrical on the wall where the fridge would move to from the range.  There is actually also a gas line and electrical on the wall where the range would move to.  The gas line runs to the range upstairs that we have yet to take out, so we could just use that line and stub it out for the range on the main floor.  This doesn't add a whole lot of cabinet or counter space, but it is certainly more functional.  Having counter space on either side of the range is a HUGE improvement and the OTR microwave frees up even more space.  The money saved on mechanical changes could be put towards higher end finishes, like marble counters? :)

The next option would be to basically keep the same exact layout I have now, but better planned, and add a "buffet" type area on the empty wall.  While I don't love the range being next to the wall, the extra 12" of counter space and a small cabinet there would provide some extra elbow room.  The buffet I am particularly jazzed about.  I would do a 24" cabinet in the center with a reduced depth of 18" inches and two 12" side cabinets at 15" inches deep, and then a curved, decorative countertop detail, like this:

I would stash the microwave either in the buffet or in the base cabinet next to the fridge.  I think this is my favorite layout, but I worry that even with the reduced cabinet depth, it might feel like the buffet is impeding the walkway.

One other variation:

If I added the buffet, I am not sure that it would be worth the expense of swapping the fridge and range location, though I would much prefer the range in this location.

Ah, so many choices!  Would love input from anyone out there in blog land! :)

Sincerely,