Kitchen Cabinets on a Budget
Is it just me or does it make your head spin when you start the process of a kitchen renovation?
We were hoping to get the kitchen cabinets on a budget, and everywhere I turned in my search brought me to Ikea cabinets with replacement semi custom solid wood door fronts from companies like Semihandmade or Nieu. Lets dive into what I thought of the Ikea kitchen planning services, and why we ultimately decided on another cabinet company.
IKEA
It was overall very simple to start the kitchen planning process with Ikea- you have the option of self measuring the space or paying $79 for an in home measurement. We chose to have an in home measurement simply for ease of time. Once the kitchen measurements were uploaded, we had the choice of using the kitchen design tool from home or booking a free appointment with one of the Ikea kitchen designers.
We decided to schedule an appointment in person because we wanted to be able to get a feel for the cabinets before committing to the purchase. It was an easy process working with the kitchen designer, and he was very helpful brainstorming different options with our very small kitchen layout. After trial and error with several different kitchen design options around centering our kitchen sink, we realized that we had to choose between centering the sink OR having peninsula seating. Once we knew we had to choose, it was an easy decision to have the eat in kitchen option that allowed for a more seamless transition between the dining room and kitchen. I guess you could say the house won that battle.
Once we settled on the off centered sink, Ikea had one corner cabinet option that we could use to maintain at least a 10 inch countertop overhang for peninsula seating. The corner cabinet option was the biggest reason for not going with Ikea for our cabinetry, but let me dive into what we liked and did not like the Ikea cabinet option.
What we liked about IKEA cabinets:
hidden drawers within drawers allow for a higher level of organization if planned well
all Ikea cabinets are perfectly tailored to fit the organizers that are sold separately at Ikea
soft close doors and drawers
Reasons we did not love IKEA cabinets:
the lack of face frames on the cabinet boxes
the corner cabinet was poorly designed- there was lack of equal support distribution with the design and we were told it had a 40-50 lb weight limit
pot & pan drawers additionally had a low recommended weight limit that we were told would not support our cast iron cooking pans
cost was more expensive then we thought considering the additional cost for new semi custom wood doors and custom cabinetry paint
original house layout was prohibiting us for checking every box on our wish list with the available cabinet sizes
particle and fiberboard box design
full assembly required
Ikea kitchen cabinet proposal
You can see the large profile of the two corner cabinets that limits many additional cabinets in the main kitchen area.
After we decided that the Ikea kitchen design was not going to work for us, we started to think through other in stock cabinet options.
We were most interested in an in stock option because
we are impatient - we did not want to wait for a custom or semi custom kitchen to be designed and delivered. Our time at Airbnb 3 is dwindling, and we do not want to live without a kitchen for longer than we need to.
cost - a custom or semi custom kitchen would be a higher expense
we are comfortable with the process of design and installation
Home depot / Lowes
We went in person to look at the Project Source stock cabinets at Lowes, but Hampton Bay stock cabinets are the comparable option at Home Depot.
What we liked about “big box” stock cabinets
solid wood construction
cabinets come fully assembled and ready to install
cabinets come unfinished which allows you to have them painted or stained for a more custom look
appeared cost effective but we did not do a full cost comparison
What we did not like about “big box” stock cabinets
side mount drawer slides lacked stability
no soft close slides or hinges
no choice in door front style
“Big Box” stock cabinets
I liked that they were unfinished so that you could paint for a more custom look; however, the lack of quality slides and hinges were the reason we looked for other options
Cabinets to go
Finally, we stumbled across Cabinets To-Go in my search for in stock cabinets, and we were very impressed when I went to look at the cabinets in person. The process with Cabinets To-Go was very similar to Ikea in that you have a kitchen designer that helps to build the kitchen plans with you. The kitchen designer was very knowledgeable and helpful to put together the best combination of stock cabinets that would work in our space using the measurements we already had from Ikea.
What we loved about Cabinets To-Go
several different in stock door front styles including the shaker style that we preferred
a paint color that was similar to what we were planning to have custom painted
quality solid birch hardwood frame and solid wood doors
full overlay face frames
high quality soft close drawer slides and European style hinges
many customizable additions and organizers available for purchase
cost effective, especially since we did not need to buy separate doors or have the cabinets custom painted
“ready to assemble” with minimal assembly required
Cabinets to go
our creative kitchen design allowed us to have 6 more drawers than the Ikea cabinet option, and the corner cabinet is heavier duty with greater use of space.
If you have a functional kitchen in your home, I think that purchasing new doors from a company like Semihandmade or Nieu is a great option for updating a space with a fresh coat of paint. If you are like us, and really need to rework the space for functionality, I would definitely recommend Cabinets To-Go for full cabinet replacement. We will report back on the rest of the process with delivery and installation, but I am very happy with the less than 3 week delivery time and only $249 delivery cost.
I am so happy I stumbled across them in my search.
this is where we started-
The upper cabinets and built in stove really closed in the space. We are excited to have a more seamless transition between the dining room and kitchen with this renovation.
Who is ready to see this transformation?
