# IKEA vs. Home Depot Kitchen Cabinets



## trotter (Aug 9, 2005)

We have been slowly remodeling our house for over two years. I have been living without cabinets for way too long. DH wants to buy the ones from home depot that you stain yourself and I want to buy IKEA ones. Although he does like the idea of putting the cabinets on legs. We are also considering the butcher block counter top.

Can anyone tell me what they love about the IKEA cabinets and butcher block? Are the cabinets roomy? Our old ones were really small and barely had enough room for the plates.

I would probably have to order them online, I think the closest IKEA is 10 hours away and Home Depot is only an hour. I am afraid to order them without seeing them first. Has anyone ordered cabinets online from IKEA?

TIA for helping me decide.


----------



## trotter (Aug 9, 2005)

I just found this other IKEA thread http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=647610 and it sounds like it would not be worth it to ship cabinets.

But I would still love to hear your stories about IKEA cabinets. Would it be worth a 10 - 13 hour trip for them?


----------



## crl (May 9, 2004)

IMO, IKEA cabinets are much higher quality. I think they are often cheaper--you can download the kitchen planner from the Ikea website and price out your exact kitchen. And they are meant for DIYers so they are supposed to be much easier to install. They are also frameless which is good for storage. I'm not sure if you can order them online? I think you can fax in an order and then go to pick them up? Anyway, you might check out the Ikea fan website at www.ikeafans.com (not totally sure if there is an "s" in there, if this doesn't work try www.ikeafan.com) and the gardenweb kitchen forum at www.gardenweb.com for more information.


----------



## lisalulu (Jun 15, 2005)

I don't have any first hand experience with them but a friend of mine bought some IKEA cabinets and hasn't liked them-that they weren't that well made. But she said they don't sell these particular cabinets anymore and they were the cheapest line they had. It kind of makes sense to me. We've bought cheap stuff at IKEA and mid-priced stuff. The cheaper dressers that we have got didn't last more than a couple years but the stuff that cost a little more has held up well. I really like some of the IKEA cabinets. I haven't looked at the stuff at Home Depot.

You know I was just remembering that Consumer Reports did a review of kitchen cabinets sometime in the last year-ish. I am 99% sure they reviewed IKEA and that is was fairly favorable. Maybe you can track down a copy somewhere.


----------



## melissa17s (Aug 3, 2004)

We have a Varde freestanding cabinet and the butcher block counters. I really like our cabinet- we use it as an island. The back is melamine, which is the only thing I would like to change, but I think we could add a birch plywood veneer some day. The counters look nice, but I wish we had a different material around the sink area because the water really dries out the wood, which means I have oil it more often then the rest of the counters. Plus, I am looking into get a small section of stone for rolling doughs.

I agree that there are degrees of quality, but with Ikea, you get what you pay for. The Varde series is quite nice with easy to pull drawers. Ours are large enough to have silverware and spoons on the top, plates and bowls in the middle, and pans and chop blocks.

We had to pay for extra for shipping... I think $300.00 was the minimum because they had bring it by semi- so got lots of other things, too. We are only 3 hours from an IKEA- maybe 250 miles. You may want to check with local cabinet makers and kitchen supply places because they may have a nicer option than home depot. Our main cabinets are recycled from my grandpa's farm. They were still in good shape and the house was going to be torn down. We stripped the doors and stained them green. The main cabinet is still brown. We got drawer pulls from IKEA that look better then the out dated originals.


----------



## runes (Aug 5, 2004)

we redid our kitchen with ikea cabinets and we love them. we got a higher end model (they're white) and they look fabulous. i especially love the lower cabinets, there is a half-moon thing that they put in so that i can pull it out to get pots and pans which really optimizes the space under and next to the sink.

are you going to install them yourselves as a diy project? it's certainly doable if you and your partner are handy at all, just remember that the measurements are done in metric.

we had granite tile counters put in so i don't know about the butcher block, although i've seen them in the store and it looks nice, it's a more rustic look and as long as you maintain them properly i'm sure that they would be fine.


----------



## Sharlla (Jul 14, 2005)

Is there a surplus store nearby that sells unfinished oak cabinets? We do and they are charging the same price for solid wood that Lowes is for veneered particleboard.


----------



## trotter (Aug 9, 2005)

Thank you for all the replies. We will be putting them in ourselves. The butcher block won't be by the sink. We put the sink in the island my dh built and poured a concrete counter top. Now we just need cabinets beside the stove and refridgerator. He wants to build them or buy home depot ones, but I want cabinets that are finished and easy to install so it gets done, I am tired of not having enough cabinet space.

I don't know of any surplus store near by.


----------



## crl (May 9, 2004)

You might check out Craigslist for cabinets too. Just a thought.


----------



## snanna (Dec 30, 2004)

We had this same quandry when choosing cabinets for our kitchen last year. What put me over the edge (besides the fact that the Ikea cabinets just _look_ so much better than the ones from Home Depot/Loewes) was the relative environmental safety of the Ikea cabinets-- they offgas way less than comparable products, and this was a concern for me. It wasn't easy to get this information, oddly, and I only got their brochure about it when I asked at the store.

If we had had a less tiny and awkward space, we definitely would have used craigslist. Nothin' better than used, in my book. There was lots of great stuff, some of it never installed, available when I looked.


----------

