Ikea kitchens (hardwood, countertops, fireplace, Home Depot)

[EuroExpat]

Has anyone installed kitchen cabinets from Ikea? I like some of their modern styles (cannot stand oak cabinets anymore LOL) but am not so sure about the quality. Our furniture is about 60% from Ikea so I realize some things are great and some are just trash. The cabinets look nice at the store but how long will they last.. Any input?

[brikag]

My friend from ATL had his cabinets and drawers redone by Ikea. "SUB"-contractors were one of the issues. They had no concept of leveling a cabinet. Their concrete countertops leaned to the rear b/c the unleveled cabinets. When they corrected the problem (two weeks later) the cabinets began to buckle and split where they originally screwed in the cabinets into the wall. Needless to say he was out 7K until he threatened Ikea with a lawsuit.

As the saying goes, "You get what you pay For!"

Shop around in your local areas. There should be a dealer that does modern cabinetry!
Also look for renovation consultants. This is an example of what they do.
YouTube - Renovation Planners Check if there is a service like this in your region. We deal with ours everytime we need something done. We used them for our hardwood bamboo floors and our gas fireplace. Super satisfied. We suggested our friends to look into their service and everyone of our friends are very staified! We're looking to re-do our master en-suite. It will help in the long run! They are getting a lot of our business, and rightfully so! Good Luck!!!!!

[tonrob]

Our Ikea cabinets, only a couple of years old, are starting to have their finish flake and one of the doors keeps falling off no matter what we try to do to secure it.

I wouldn't buy from them again.

[Sandhills Guru]

I would not suggest them myself either. Strength issues with them as you can see by the one post. Spend the money you won't regret it.

[desertsun41]

Cheap cheap cheap cheap !!

I will stop short of calling them junk since you already bought other items from that Walmart Chinese store wanabe.

Anyone remember the old Mills Pride Cabinets that Home Depot used to sell? Basicly the same thing with IKEA. Very very soft particle board with a very thin laminate and edge banding.

Laminate does not always mean low quality as it will out last a plywood cabinet by a hundred years. Laminate is more stable then plywood, but get it wet and it is history while plywood will survive. Wany proof? Go to your local Lowes or Home Depot. Go back to the lumber dept and look at the piles of plywoods for sale. What do you see? All the top sheets of plywood are shapped like bannanas right? All curled in every direction. Now look at the sheets of laminate. Just the most perfect flat stack right?

Back to the IKEA. With almost all cabinet companies you have a particle board box and the faceframe and doors are solid wood stock of various wood species. IKEA is just a particle board box with no face frame and the same particle board doors. No face frame is the style in Europe, not here. The look will never catch on because it is ugly. That does not mean we dont sell some. I personally will walk away from an install of Euro style cabinets. Weakness of the structure of the box is one reason.

Your other issue is resale of your home. In a market like this you need every edge you can get. Having that cheap Swedish crap will hurt your sale. I promise you that.

Stick to the IKEA cafe and walk around the store. But dont buy anything.

For more information see my post at:
//www.city-data.com/forum/house...best-deal.html
Post # 7

//www.city-data.com/forum/houst...ml#post4075003
post #7

[EuroExpat]

Originally Posted by desertsun41

I will stop short of calling them junk since you already bought other items from that Walmart Chinese store wanabe.

LOL You are right to call it junk. In most cases I agree but we have surprisingly bought a couple of pieces of furniture that will most likely last forever. Our kitchen table will last a long time (made out of solid, thick hardwood)..

As the first person replying to this thread said, you get what you pay for. This is what I'm afraid of.. So I'll just look into companies that sell modern kitchen stuff in the area, thanks for the suggestions!