IKEA kitchen cabinets pros & cons

[Jeff Cliff]

Hi,

I am considering IKEA kitchen cabinets for one of my properties which I will be rehabbing and staying in for a few years now and then renting it out until I am ready to retire in another 25-30 years.

unable to decide if IKEA cabinets would be a way to go for my needs? any pros and cons?

[Brit F.]

@Jeff Cliff, I've used them a few times.  Assembly is time consuming, and install can be a blessing or a curse.  The legs for the lower cabinets are easy to adjust and eliminate the need for shimming.  Toe-kick and the associated clips are flimsy and feel cheap - no question.  For uppers, shimming can still be required, such as behind the steel support rail if the wall is horizontally wavy, or at the bottom of the cabinet if the plastic spacer they include isn't thick enough.  Or, on the other hand, you might have to shave the plastic spacer if it's too thick.  Galley kitchens are straightforward, but U-shaped kitchens require some extra planning (or creativity/customization during install) because the steel rail used for the uppers pushes the cabinets away from the wall roughly 3/8 to 1/2" (not including shims behind the steel rail if required), reducing your available space on the adjacent wall.  Once the rail is up and shimmed, uppers go in really quickly.

The doors & drawer fronts are solid, and easy to replace if one is damaged.  Hinges & drawer hardware are easy to adjust.

No concerns with durability with either the boxes or doors/drawers.  However, in terms of quality control, I have seen differences with where the mounting brackets attach to the boxes, which makes it difficult to get neighboring boxes perfectly flush at the front edge - like a small lip between 1/32" to 1/16".  Granted, that lip generally will be hidden behind the doors/drawers.

Microwave install can get interesting because the uppers are so deep; the MW may need to be pulled away from the wall to provide clearance for the recirc vents at the top of the MW.

In the end, the Ikea kitchen system works, but install can be complex.  For me, cost savings on the cabinets is offset by the assembly & install time.  Nowadays, we've found other semi-custom cabinet suppliers we prefer over Ikea.  But, each time we do a kitchen, we'll still consider Ikea's options to see if they have something that works better than other options at the time.