Creative Use of IKEA Cabinets

I thought it might help to explain why it is that, although we are remodeling contractors, we offer an IKEA kitchen design/planning service. We offer this service to ensure that our (potential) remodeling customers have a truly optimal layout. The service also ensures that the remodeling requirements and costs to achieve the finished result the customer wants can be planned out knowledgeably. It's a really worthwhile service I recommend without reservation.

Why do I "sell" this service to people who call? It's simply because we know, after hundreds of IKEA kitchen projects, that having a expert installation contractor AND a pro designer on your team. will get you a much better kitchen. One key is their ability to use IKEA cabinets creatively.

The IKEA software enables you to place cabinets along the walls of a kitchen. A 30 inch cabinet fits in 30 inches of space. It has 3 drawers or two shelves, etc., all the standard IKEA cabinets, as seen in their catalog.

A kitchen designer who is expert with IKEA cabinets, knows how to use these cabinets in many more ways than the software allows you to do. He knows how to avoid installation problems, such as when six feet of cabinets in six feet of space creates a problem (e.g., the oven door won't open) that holds up your installation for days while you re-design and exchange cabinets or appliances. An expert IKEA designer knows how to mix and match component parts and can customize cabinets to elegantly solve design issues in a particular kitchen.

I could not overstate how many more options you have with IKEA cabinets than you might realize, using only the standard cabinet sizes and configurations, and the IKEA planner software or their catalog's cardboard design kit.

Using these cabinets creatively, alterations to cabinets or to the kitchen itself can be proposed. Have a contractor who has years of experience with IKEA kitchen cabinets provides you with the immediate knowledge of what the alterations involve. If you think it'll cost a lot to move your sink to the other side of the kitchen, you may not even consider it. If your designer proposes this and at the same time, an expert installation contractor gives you a price of $200 to run the plumbing lines, well, your dream kitchen may start to come into view. And this is a real-life example.

Here are two more quick examples of recent projects in which the creative design of IKEA cabinets and expert planning service resulted in a much better kitchen remodel than the customer ever expected to achieve:

1) Lovely smaller home in Altadena. Customer wanted kitchen remodel. Designer and contractor went out for planning service appointment. Upon inspection and based on customer budget and their "dream kitchen" ideas, it was worked out that removing a small wall between kitchen and laundry area and moving the kitchen to current dining room location and dining room to kitchen location would result in a much larger and lighter living space that would serve the homeowners needs much more than the small, closed-in rooms they had. The cost of wall removal, electrical and plumbing, new lighting and even moving a large picture window from dining room (view of neighbor's house) to kitchen (backyard view), was well within the customer's $15,000 budget.

2) A customer in Brentwood had gotten a quote of $36,000 to remodel three small bathrooms. Customer wanted a European look. Our designer drafted layouts with IKEA refrigerator cabinets altered to fit into narrow bathroom spaces, and customized with drawers. Minor plumbing alterations were needed. We completed the three bathrooms for under $9,000. Fabulous, European-style bathrooms.

Bottom line: spend a bit on professional design and include an expert installer/contractor on your planning team. In Los Angeles, just call us. Elsewhere, we can do your planning via email, but make sure you bring an expert installer in once you have the design work done, to ensure everything comes together just the way you envision it.

Susan

About IKEA Cabinet Quality

Almost every potential customer that calls our office asks us about the quality of IKEA cabinets. We're in an interesting position in that we don't SELL these cabinets (we don't sell anything for that matter, we only provide service), and we yet promote them in an indirect way.

It could be construed that we promote them because we install them. In other words, you might think that we encourage people to use IKEA kitchen cabinets for their remodels in order to create more business (designing and installing).

I keep this in mind when I recommend that a customer who is undecided at least makes a trip to an IKEA to look at their cabinets. Our purpose never has been to promote any particular product. What we sell are skilled remodeling services performed with integrity. So why do we narrow our focus to IKEA cabinetry?

It's really simple and probably obvious. Over the course of 30 years of remodeling work, and seven years installing kitchen cabinets. we've had to conclude that, for the majority of homeowners on a moderate kitchen remodeling budget (say under $20,000, although half that is common), IKEA cabinets are simply the best choice.

In terms of quality, a hands-on comparison would prove to most homeowners that IKEA cabinets meet or beat cabinets costing 2 to 3 times as much, the big box store offerings. The same is true, as far as we've seen with over 600 projects, with durability.

This is not to say there are no other great cabinets on the market. I love Venicia, Kraftmaid's European-look line. with sizes and options you can't get from IKEA. But the price tag on a kitchen layout priced with Venicia can be three or even four times the cost of IKEA cabinets. Is it better? In terms of quality, we don't think so. Does it look better? Maybe a bit if you're a dedicated student of line and form, but not enough, for a majority of homeowners, to justify spending $28,000 on cabinets when $7,500 would buy the same layout from IKEA.

I don't know how the IKEA corporation manages to sell this quality cabinet at the price they do. I just know that the completed kitchens we've designed and installed look amazing and the homeowners, one for one, are utterly pleased. I know of none who feel they compromised with their choice of IKEA cabinets.

This said, starting with these beautiful, high quality and affordable cabinets, the secret to a beautiful remodeled IKEA kitchen, is to enlist the help of a professional designer to work out the optimal layout, and a professional, expert contractor for installation. These can make all the difference. Those displays at IKEA were designed by pros and installed by pros. It's not just the cabinets.

So, I guess I'm always selling.

Hope this helps you,

Susan

IKEA Cabinets for Bathrooms

I wanted to mention bathrooms. We spend a lot of time on kitchen design and installation using IKEA cabinets, and might forget to discuss IKEA cabinets for bathrooms.

We've installed quite a few cabinets, kitchen cabinets that is, in bathrooms. These cabinets are mostly 24 inches deep (although there is a 12 inch deep option for some). For many bathrooms, this is just too deep, the room is too narrow or small. So the key is to design with knowledge of cabinet alterations. A skilled installer can cut back the depth of the cabinet while keeping it structurally sound. A skilled installer can make cutout for plumbing, and can even make alterations to the drawers so that they work with plumbing fixtures.

With this know-how, you can use the many styles of kitchen cabinets for a bathroom. One of the most elegant we've done utilized refrigerator cabinets for bathroom sinks. These were hung on the wall (no legs). The look was really amazing but it did take a team of designer and contractor to work it out. In Los Angeles, we can do this for you with IKEA cabinets. You can have a European style bathroom at a fraction the cost you'd pay for European style cabinets.

There are also designated IKEA bathroom cabinets. Their quality is similar to the quality of their kitchen cabinets but engineered differently. You have many fewer choices but it's easy to plan with them because of this. Just get the bathroom cabinet 3-page foldout that shows the cabinet styles and sizes and options.

Just wanted to mention bathrooms. Add some tile trim, some nice lighting, and you can have a beautiful bathroom to come home.

Susan