Should You Use Ikea Cabinets in Your Home Renovation?

Ikea cabinets are a popular consideration for new home renovations so we thought we would share a couple of our experiences with these types of products. Clearly they seem to provide good value upfront, but they may end up costing you quite a bit more in the long-run.

For example, one client of ours was doing a kitchen reno where they already had Ikea cabinets, so it made sense to just buy some more cabinets from Ikea that fit the new configuration. However, the new configuration was a custom solution, not really suited for “out of the box” sizes from Ikea. In this case we installed a custom apron sink, and custom sizes and shapes with a butcher block waterfall counter top.

The pictures above show the custom apron sink and a pull-out wine rack being installed with Ikea cabinets

The biggest challenge was escalating costs for time dealing with the Ikea one size fits all style of ordering. The process (especially on line) misses pieces like gable ends, fillers, off standard widths, etc. The consequence is twofold; first, the installer is wasting time and charging money to go back and forth trying to complete the install without all the pieces. And second, either the general contractor or the owner end up going to Ikea’s kitchen design center (this is a half day process) to wait for your turn, work out the issues with the kitchen designer, get orders in, and hopefully pick up the pieces. So the lower cost of the cabinets is easily offset by high management and install costs equaling a typical custom kitchen supplier, but with twice the headache.

Speaking of installers, we contacted the Ikea store asking for the list of their approved installers and they gave us only one reference. That company did not return our calls. We found “Ikea installers” online and they end up charging around $100/lineal foot for installation–that doesn’t include any custom work! Also, good luck holding them to an install warranty or quality guarantee.

So, if you have a space that can take an off the shelf configuration, don’t mind the melamine press board material, and you have the time to go in and make all the arrangements, then you might just have the perfect project for Ikea cabinets. But, if you want real wood or custom work to be done, our experience is to go with a standard millwork company.