# Ikea cabinets?



## BusyBeeMom (May 15, 2005)

My relatives are renovating their seaside house and want an Ikea kitchen (white, Adel cabinets if that makes a difference). The architect is really pushing for custom made, solid wood cabinets (with price tag I'd say 4-5x more than Ikea).

Their concerns:
1. Price, obviously
2. Cleaning. The wood can't be cleaned w/a lot of water, etc., or you'll take off the finish. LOTS of people use the house, and some people don't know the fine points of housekeeping, and leave wet rags hanging over the cabinets, or use a cleaning product, etc. They have visions of investing a fortune in wooden cabinets just to have them trashed in a year.

The architects stated concern (I think mainly he is a bit snobby and Ikea sounds low-class to him):
1. It's a very humid environment and he feels the Ikea finish will lift up.

Thoughts? Anyone have experience? I have an Adel kitchen, but have no humidity issues...

Thanks!


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## lifeguard (May 12, 2008)

I think the you're right about the architect being snobby.

Although we do not have high humidity year round through the summer it is very humid & LOTS of people in our area (sorry, back home in Canada) have IKEA cupboards including ourselves. DH did a lot of research before we decided on them - they are surprisingly well built.


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## slsurface (May 8, 2007)

Although I don't have any IKEA cabinets, I have looked at them a lot - contemplating a kitchen remodeling. I think they the are likely to do very well in a seaside cottage. I'd gently remind the architect that he is working for you, not the other way around!


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## moderngal (Jun 7, 2006)

Yup- I think the Adel cabinets are great. A friend of mine has them and they look really nice. If we ever get around to re-doing our kitchen, I would definitely consider Ikea.


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## Bird Girl (Mar 12, 2007)

We have IKEA cabinets, and so far, so good. We actually have wood doors, but the boxes are the same for all door styles; they're particleboard. We are very happy with them, and they were very reasonable. I would happily go ahead with the adel--we considered that style, but managed to find a door style that was going on sale, since they were discontinuing it.


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## staceychev (Mar 5, 2005)

No A/C here, and the summer humidity isn't affecting my cabinets, but then again, they're less than 2 years old.

We've been happy with them. The only issue is that if you chip off the melamine foil, you can't really fix it. Of course, for Ikea prices, you could buy an extra set of doors to keep in the attic or basement!









Personally, I'm also comfortable with Ikea's environmental committment. We couldn't afford solid wood cabinets no matter what, but Ikea uses less formaldehyde than any other brand that uses particle-board/MDF.

And you can't beat the price. Our cabs (with 2 wood countertops and a sink) cost $2500. The same configuration in Lowes' lower end cabinets cost twice that much for just cabinets.


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## sunanthem (Jan 29, 2004)

oooh, Ikea cabinets...







... we've been looking at them thinking about going with them... do tell more....


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## LilWin (Apr 25, 2007)

We have an Adel kitchen from IKEA and it's great. No problems, not too expensive, works well. And because they still sell it, we were able to buy another cabinet a year later and are now thinking of adding another where we still have some space.


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## ellemoon (Mar 19, 2003)

Hi - we have Ikea cabinets - they are about 6 years old now and still holding up well. Really easy to install too!


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## SoHappy (Nov 19, 2001)

There are a ton of people discussing all aspects of Ikea kitchens at:
http://www.ikeafans.com/forums/kitchen-planning/


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## EviesMom (Nov 30, 2004)

Well... I have Ikea cabinets and I love them. Many architects have them in their own homes too. I suspect that the architect is not being snobby, he's being greedy. Often the architect's fee is a percentage of the full renovation budget. 4 to 5 times more for the cabinets=4 to 5 times more fee for him for the exact same work on configuration and layout.


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## kdabbler (Feb 19, 2006)

Our contractor friend recommended them as being the most economical, better than the easy order wood cabinets you can get from Lowes or Home Depot. We live in Massachusetts where the humidity only gets bad in the summer.

The way I see it their situation is 6 of one, half dozen of the other:
You'll be replacing the Ikea cabinets in a couple years due to traffic use, or you will be refinishing those fancy wood cabinets every few years due to abuse and improper care. Both are a PITA.


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## crl (May 9, 2004)

Ikea cabinets are awesome. And they come with a 25 year warranty last time I checked. They have some painted finishes and some laminate; I can't remember which the Adel are. I personally prefer a painted finish, because I am paranoid about laminate de-laminating, but your relatives would want to do their own research on that. We have some of the white, painted Ikea cabinets and I love them--installed last fall.

Check out the ikea fans forum (posted above I think) and the kitchen forum at www.gardenweb.com


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## flowmom (Feb 3, 2004)

IKEA cabinets have been compared to much more expensive cabinets and they've been found to be of comparable quality. They use top-of-the-line hardware and their materials have been heavily tested.

IME people tend to judge the quality of IKEA based on some of their "disposable" cheapo pieces of furniture -- but there's a lot more to IKEA than that.


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## redhen (Mar 30, 2005)

a bazillion high end homes I've seen in modern design magazines use Ikea cabinets


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## lilyka (Nov 20, 2001)

teh guy is a snob. get the ikea stuff. You will get at least what you paid out of it, and if ti does get ruined or if you decide you want to update in 10 years it won't be so painful to replace.

besides I day dream about an IKEA kitchen. . .


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## Leilalu (May 29, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lilyka* 
teh guy is a snob. get the ikea stuff. You will get at least what you paid out of it, and if ti does get ruined or if you decide you want to update in 10 years it won't be so painful to replace.

besides I day dream about an IKEA kitchen. . .

yep, same here







I agree. The guy is a snake oil salesman







The real stuff will still be a pain down the road. By the time you need to refinish you could have a new different set of IKEA cabinets.


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## ledzepplon (Jun 28, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *redhen* 
a bazillion high end homes I've seen in modern design magazines use Ikea cabinets

Yeah, I've seen them featured a lot in _Sunset_ magazine. One of the homeowners they interviewed in an article said something that really stuck with me--something along the lines of how most kitchens go out of style in 10 to 15 years, so why spend a fortune on the cabinets if you don't have to?


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## Rebecca (Dec 4, 2002)

When I think 'Ikea' I think particleboard, off-gassing and disposable college-kid type furniture. Everything I've looked at on their site has fiberboard or particleboard as a major component and those products just don't last long, especially somewhere there is a bit of humidity or potential for wetness.

I think the idea that your cabinets need a forklift upgrade (meaning it all needs to be thrown out after it's 'out of style' is a sad statement to the importance of fashion in our culture and lack of emphasis on quality, timeless pieces. That's the essence of sustainability, frugality and waste-stream reduction. I hate to think of putting in cheap, disposable, future landfill-items when there are other options. I don't think your contractor is a snob. I think he's practical. What looks nice in a high end magazine (where the suppliers of the pretty photos pay a lot of money for the advertising) might not last, just because it looks nice in a photo.


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