Hello! Amanda Holstein here with an update on how my IKEA Kitchen Cabinets have been holding up since my last post in 2020. To remind you, I’m an interior designer based in Mill Valley, California, and five years ago my husband and I began renovating our first home together. With a tight budget and the expectation of living there for 5-7 years, we chose to save on cabinetry by going with IKEA. Though the process was a bit of a headache, we were generally happy with the results and how our kitchen looked & functioned in the end.
It’s been 5 years since our renovation, including a global pandemic, so we’ve definitely put our kitchen to use with so much time spent at home. Here’s what we’ve experienced:
The Good News
Nobody can tell they are from IKEA
Our friends, family, and guests have always commented on how nice our kitchen looks and are surprised when I tell them our cabinets are from IKEA. To a more discerning eye, like a designer or contractor, you can tell the materials are more cheaply made since the doors feel much lighter than real wood. But generally, I’d say they blend in nicely and our kitchen looks elevated.
We love our layout
The way we laid out our cabinetry, using IKEA’s 3D Kitchen Planner, has proven to be super functional for the way we live our daily life. We love our pantry and trash-pull out, and I wouldn’t change or rearrange anything. So those 3 hours (and 3 hot dogs) at IKEA deciding on every little detail paid off.
They’ve been easy to clean
One thing I wasn’t anticipating is how easy the doors have been to clean. They have a really smooth finish that wipes clean with minimal effort.
The Bad News
Some doors & drawers have become misaligned
Many of the doors have slightly shifted out of alignment and feel flimsy. Our trash pull-out, for example, gets a lot of use and feels a bit unstable. You can easily shake it from side to side. In the above photo, you can see our upper cabinets are clearly out of alignment as well.
There is some chipping paint
Because some doors have come a bit loose/misaligned, they are rubbing against each other, causing the paint to peel in certain areas.
They probably can’t withstand kids
I don’t think they are durable enough for regular use with kids. I can’t imagine the drawers being strong enough to hold the weight of a toddler pulling down on them or the doors making it very long with teenagers slamming them.
Their customer service is very difficult
Unfortunately, dealing with IKEA’s customer service is a huge pain. If a piece breaks or is missing, I wouldn’t waste your time trying to replace it. We experienced so many issues that we ended up giving up, so one of our drawers is missing a side.
So, are they worth the savings?
For us, yes, they were worth the savings. Choosing IKEA cabinetry saved us a ton of money and we definitely don’t regret that (our cabinetry and appliance total came to about $6,500). Because we had a tight budget to renovate our entire 1800 sq foot house, I’d say saving on lower quality cabinets was worth it in our case as it allowed us to spread our budget over more square footage. We aren’t expecting them to last forever and we don’t have kids adding to their wear & tear, so they still look pretty good and function as we need them to.
My Final Recommendation
If you’re planning to use them short term, with no kids, and you’re doing a cheap flip or temporary renovation on a super tight budget, then yes they’re worth it. However, with a few more renovations under my belt, I’m now more likely to recommend something like Granite Expo which is slightly more expensive, and much better quality than IKEA, but nowhere near as expensive as custom cabinets. This kitchen cost $6500 in cabinetry and I would guess it would only be two thousand or so more from Granite Expo.
Just for fun, here is a before and after so you can see how the kitchen looked before the renovation:
Thanks for going on this IKEA Kitchen Cabinet journey with me! If you have any other questions or want to get in touch with me, you can find me at www.amandaholstein.com or on Instagram @amanda_holstein.
*Design and photos by Amanda Holstein
Hello! I have no experience with Ikea kitchens myself, but I do with other cabinets of theirs, and their hinges can be easily adjusted so your doors are properly aligned again! You can do it yourself, with just a screwdriver. There are videos on Youtube about how to do it!
Yes, IKEA cabinets can easily be adjusted! The cabinets I have have three-way adjustment options. The installer would have adjusted them upon installation and you merely need to do it again. It’s quick and easy with a screwdriver. On another note, my IKEA cabinets have held up for seven years without any issues or problems!
I was just going to write the same thing.
I have the same kitchen, but the older system I guess (built in 2011). Two kids. Have never considered the kitchen not sturdy enough for them. And it looks fine! Doors should be adjusted, the trash pull out is the worst for wear with chipping paint, but the rest is totally fine. I expect to keep this kitchen until we sell in 4-5 years or so, and let the next owner renovate.
100% agree with this. I have had my IKEA kitchen for 13 years with 2 kids and it’s held up really well. All of the wear and tear we’ve experienced has nothing to do with the kids, it’s definitely sturdy enough for them. Also, like everyone else mentioned, you can very easily realign the doors and drawers with a screwdriver. I personally would not consider this update helpful, other than knowing you’re going to experience some wear and tear on your kitchen, which I feel is assumed. The kitchen looks beautiful though!
Same! Not helpful. How about acknowledging that they could fix the doors and prob drawers and have prevented the chipping. We have ikea cabinetry in our kitchen and used it to build a floating credenza. So sturdy
We used mid-quality cabinets (better than IKEA, nowhere near Stoffer Home) and only lived in the kitchen about 7 months after finishing it and I had to touch up the trash pull out half a dozen times. It’s a hard-working cabinet regardless of the cabinet quality!
I agree with regards to the trash pull-out. We have cabinets that are much better than IKEA in a second home that gets little use and the trash pull-out there is pretty shaky. I live in a rental with IKEA cabinets that are at least 15 years old and semi handmade doors that are a few years old and the cabinets have held up quite well. We have some alignment issues, but I think that was due to changing the countertops. We’ve had no problem with the cabinets and drawers standing up to two kids. I have a lot of appliances loaded into some big drawers and they’re still fine.
Yes, the trash pull outs do fall off the cabinet walls. I have had two places with IKEA cabinets and both sets the trash system failed. The cabinets around the sink don’t hold up well, with the enamel buckeling under the sink. Also as in my previous post, do NOT buy the wood countertops, they stain very easily and have to be sanded and resealed every 3 or 4 months to look sanitary.
Yes, adjustment is simple and easy, so no wonky doors and no chipped paint.😊
The ‘misalignment’ is easily fixed with a screw driver!
Love the long term update. Great content!! I’ve never Reno’d a kitchen before but am so interested in this behind the scenes.
I am a long time reader but have never posted. I thought it was important to comment here. My husband and I do have IKEA cabinets in the kitchen of our historic home. Our home was renovated with IKEA cabinets, likely not the choice we would have made, but it seemed wasteful to remove them. Plus, they actually look nice. While everyone has different experiences, we do have a toddler, and have zero issues with them. Our toddler doesn’t hang on cabinets but she does use them daily. The appliance cabinet we use for her is amazing. All the pullout drawers can be designed for use with children – easy access to their snacks, glasses and cups. More importantly, they are so easy clean. And while no one is mistaking them for wood, they are pretty durable – we have lived in our home for almost six years. Everyone that comes into our home comments about how pretty they are – even in our historic home.
Same deal for us. We bought our 1860’s New England house in 2017; it came with a basic Ikea kitchen in good condition that was installed in 2007. We didn’t love the Ikea look but we couldn’t justify the waste of tearing it out. Instead, we removed a set of uppers, tiled an entire walls, installed a historic fireback above the stove, upgraded the appliances, resurfaced the countertops, added new lighting and hardware, and painted the existing cabinets (inspo via the EHD Portland House kitchen). No kids, but we’re not exactly delicate people plus we COOK, and the 16-year-old cabinets are in great condition. I expect to get at least another 5-10 years out of them with some easy paint touch ups along the way.
The fireback behind the stove is such a great idea!
I want to see pictures! Sounds beautiful, Molly.
Yes! If you can, pictures would be great!
My experience installing an Ikea kitchen is that their customer service was excellent. Sure, you have to go to Ikea and wait in line, but returns and re-orders could not have been easier. We have been extremely pleased. There are higher end options available, but we chose a $10,000 Ikea renovation that actually happened over a $30,000 renovation that we would never do because of budget priorities.
+ a 365 day return policy!
Naming misaligned cabinets as. a Con seems to me like you don’t have many negative things to say, but felt complled to include negative aspects to seem balanced and objective
Personally, I do think that’s a con.
My 1930s home has original cabinets that are aligned correctly. I do want to replace them at some point (the drawers/sizes aren’t the most functional).
But I want to make sure I replace them with something of equal quality that will also last for decades to come – so I’m saving up.
If my 80 year old cabinets don’t need adjustments then I would hope new cabinets would last a few years before needing it as well.
The cabinets that need adjusting are frameless cabinets (not face frame and inset which your 1930s cabinets likely are) with European hinges. “European hinges are a type of concealed hinge that give cabinets a more simplified, streamlined look. European hinges use a three-way adjustment system, so once everything is in place, it’s easy to make the door fit. That means the screws can be adjusted to move up and down, in and out, and left to right. Many European hinges also allow for soft closing, so the doors don’t slam shut—a major selling point for homeowners. “
Agree 100%. I have custom-built cabinets and individuals ones get a bit out of alignment every now and then form use. That’s what happens with hinges. I feel the same about chipping. Painted cabinet finishes get nicks and chips. That’s not limited to IKEA products.
We renovated our entire kitchen 5 years ago as well using IKEA cabinets (and countertops). We have 3 wild boys who are regularly in the kitchen and definitely make a mess, but like you said, the cabinets are very easy to clean. We haven’t had any negative issues at all and are still so pleased with how everything looks and has held up. We did make a couple of intentional choices when designing, though, that I feel has aided with that. We chose to get the no slam feature for the drawers (sorry I can’t remember the exact name for it) and the push to open and close feature for the cabinets. We also chose a dark color for our lower cabinets to help hide any mess, and the cabinets and drawers aren’t painted, so there’s no chipping of paint visible. Overall we’ve been very pleased with how our ikea kitchen has held up, but realize this may not be the same experience for everyone.
We installed our ikea kitchen 11 years ago. They’ve survived with almost no signs of wear so far. (The finish has worn some near the handle for the trash pull-out and I have found one or two chips. But we have a lot of cabinets!) We have two small children who use the kitchen, although we expect them to do things like not climb on the drawers or hang off the doors. (Any neither do any of the other kids who regularly visit us.) We do have solid wood doors, though. We had a few door and drawer fronts that we couldn’t get perfectly aligned to start with, but nothing has gone out of alignment.
Came here to say say thing, higher end IKEA kitchen install end of 2019 and two kids, we just recently moved out of that house (kids 2 and 5)and the cabinets were still perfect. We did the black wood stain so no chipping, a few cabinets came misaligned but we’re easily fixed. Also our kids did stand on the long handle bars sometimes, (not often) we stopped them but nothing broke! Only con i have is the interior msg under sink could have used some extra water protection cause a leak caused some bubbling (by garbage disposal)
msg?
I am going to second this. If you do get an Ikea kitchen. Make sure that your glasses and plates are completely dry. Quickly clean up water spills and above all else get a drip pan for under the sink. Or spring for a a PVC cabinet that mimics the Ikea cabinet that houses the sink. All the dry cabinets were fine and in great shape.
Also one of the best things about the Ikea cabinets is their mounting system.
Sorry, not a fan of this post.
The author offers cons based on the specific door finish they chose (looks like melamine) when IKEA offers many finish options. Further, the chipping is caused by misalignment which happens to all cabinets, including my beautiful, solid wood quartersawn oak cabinets. That’s used error.
The author further provides a con based on perceived sturdiness regarding children, which they don’t have. I know many, many people that have IKEA kitchens and kids and they’ve been thrilled with them. And then to close with what looks like an advertisement for a local kitchen store is off-putting.
I have to agree with you.
Yes, there’s something kind of stinky about this post. It goes against the experience of 99.9% of people I know with Ikea kitchens.
Agree! I had an IKEA kitchen in my old home and that thing wore like iron. After 10 years it looked pristine – the cabinets had less wear than the quartz countertops! It was so great that I put IKEA in my new home when we did a nice renovation (we put in top of the line appliances and IKEA cabinets, but special order doors from Dunsmuir). Three years with a toddler boy later and they are still absolutely perfect. This author seems like she picked the bottom of the line faces and didn’t even do the basic research to understand Ikea doors cans be adjusted with a screwdriver and two seconds of time. This article gives me the icks.
I, too, don’t think this is a fair review of IKEA kitchens, at least based on my experience. In 2011 I did a total gut job of the kitchen in my 1890s house and designed/built the new kitchen with IKEA cabinets, cabinet-based island, and IKEA’s chopping block counter. When I sold that house at the end of 2021, the cabinets were still beautiful and sturdy and blemish free. As another commenter said, they wore like iron; over the years, I only had to adjust the alignment of a couple cabinet doors. I spend about half my day in the kitchen and those cabinets got hard use. I loved how much I could get in every drawer and how easy it was to organize all my stuff. I’m now planning an IKEA kitchen for my condo.
This comment is so on-point. This “review” is not thorough at all and the criticisms are not specific to IKEA cabinets. There is so much more to IKEA’s kitchen systems (that they’ve been engineering and improving for almost 50 years) that make them a good choice for a lot of people. Aside from the price and interchangeability of the doors, IKEA uses extremely durable and expensive hardware and they offer thousands of options for customization. Unfortunately, this post sounds slapped together in a way that’s just not up to par with written content creation nowadays. It comes off as clickbait…enough so that I’m going out of my way to comment which I normally don’t. EHD is a really powerful publication and I hope one day they get someone who has a more through understanding of IKEA to write a more comprehensive review. Preferably a designer or a renovator who has overseen the install of many kitchens at different price points.
We installed Ikea cabinets in 2010. They were inexpensive and we were impressed by the 20 year warranty. We do have two very active kids but we have not allowed them to hang on the doors or drawers. My then 6 year old did manage to wrench the entire pantry door off in a fit of pique. He split the “wood” when doing so we had to improvise some repairs. You can’t tell from the outside though.
I wouldn’t actually recommend them. Or maybe just get the boxes and get doors elsewhere. The boxes seem fine but the doors are not. The veneer is peeling up in spots and there is chipping. I just don’t think that 13 years is long enough for kitchen cabinets to last. We will probably replace just the doors and drawer fronts at some point, but this seems incredibly wasteful to me so I’m putting it off. They are still allegedly under warranty, probably I should look into that? But again, I just hate the throw all of the stupid doors in the landfill and since they aren’t actually wood, it’s not like they can be reused for any other purpose.
I’m here to say that we have had 2 IKEA kitchens (in two different houses) that we installed ourselves and they have both stood the test of time with 5 kids and 3 dogs. The cabinets are so easily readjusted that I cannot believe that made it in this article as a con. It totally should have been a pro. I have found their customer service to be fantastic, they replaced an entire section of doors that were shipped wrong with no hassle at all. This article sounds like you really didn’t put that much effort into addressing these very minor inconveniences and decided to let IKEA take the fall for it.
I’ll echo the sentiments of other commenters that my IKEA kitchen cabinets have held up remarkably well for 8 years with no signs that we’ll need to repair, update, or replace the cabinet doors anytime soon. They receive a ton of use everyday, including by my young son (who is making no efforts to handle them carefully or anything), and we have no chipped paint or other blemishes. They are in the exact same condition as when we purchased them. Thanks to their smooth finish, we just wipe them down when something gets splashed or spilled on them. They have been so incredibly low maintenance that even though they will likely be in our kitchen for years to come and we chose a classic style that suits our 1924 home, I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase IKEA cabinets again if needed. We get a lot of compliments on how nice they look, and no one has ever even questioned if they were real wood or from IKEA. And, as other commenters mentioned, the door misalignment is nothing that a screwdriver can’t fix in seconds. My only complaint would be that when we were renovating our kitchen to install these cabinets, the… Read more »
In addition to the comments here about the durability of the cabinets, I’d like to add how helpful their customer service is. Yes it can be a long confusing phone call at times. But we had the older Akurum system and had an issue with a door that we called about getting replaced. I was nervous because that line and set of doors had been long discontinued. Since they couldn’t replace it for us they honored the warranty by writing us a check for the value of the parts for all the cabinets. I was shocked! Yes we’d have to source fixes ourselves or do custom replacements, but the check was more than enough to cover it. And the only doors that really saw damage were the ones below our (non Ikea) farm sink that got dripped on and not appropriately wiped up by our tenants. The real downside to ikea cabinets is the assembly but id use them again in a heartbeat
Our IKEA kitchen is about 10 years old. The previous owners had done it as part of their renovation. They had a young daughter and three dogs. My partner and I don’t have kids but we do have one large dog. The kitchen has held up incredibly well. One part of the kitchen has white smooth glossy laminate cabinet doors. We also have frosted glass cabinets (Rubrik I think) in the other section. Both are so easy to wipe clean (no grooves or ledges for gunk to accumulate). All the cabinets and drawers are soft-close. Very functional, zero issues with alignment. They also installed very practical quartz countertops (they are a neutral, cream color–would it be my first choice? probably not, but it would be wasteful to rip them out and we like them well enough). The only part that looks a little worn is the white toe kicks. We’re too lazy to repaint or replace them but no one is down on the floor staring at them. We live in a very cool 1970s house so this kitchen fits in quite well–it looks modern but modest. (Said another way, even if I could afford a deVol or Henrybuilt kitchen,… Read more »
Your kitchen still looks great. The cabinet color matches the wall perfectly. Did you paint the cabinets and if so, can you share the color? And or can you share the color of your walls? Last question, did the wall color change when you initially put the cabinets in? The before picture looks more of a stark white and the after beautiful, creamy white. I’m curious about whether it’s the lighting or an actual color change. Thank you!
The two ‘cons’ are really not specific to IKEA cabinets. I have custom wood painted cabinets in my kitchen and they are out of alignment and scratched. You need to use the adjustment on the hinges to fit the alignment. For the scratches or dings – that’s going to happen to any painted cabinets over the years with heavy use. I touch up my painted cabinets every year or so when the dings are noticeable. Has nothing to do with the quality of ikea cabinets.
I do have ikea cabinets in our basement wetbar that is used daily by our kids and friends. They are not dinged at all. They were easy to install and are nicer than the custom ones we have in the kitchen!
This echos my experience exactly – IKEA kitchen in our old house that we’ve rented out, custom cabinets in our renovated dream home down the block. IKEA kitchen has had two sets of tenants, one with kids and the other with pets – no damage, no chipping. Looks great. Custom cabinets in our home – look gorgeous but have chips when my daughter scraped the vacuum along them, etc. that we’ve touched up. I wouldn’t trade mine for the others, but if we moved and started over I would definitely consider IKEA for my own home.
Ain’t that the truth. My 13k cabs chip a lot and I’m a single woman. I have to pull out the paint can every 6 months and hit the dings. I do think some of it is that they maybe didn’t prep for paint properly even though they were brand new, but dang knowing what I know now I’d go for solid wood with stain.
Granite Expo sells Milzen cabinetry. Be thankful you picked Ikea because Milzen cabinets would never outlast or beat Ikea.
I really appreciate the author’s assessment as well as those of the commenters’, (although some of the commenters could have been kinder — c’mon guys, our world is in desperate need of kindness!) It’s great to learn from others’ experiences, especially regarding big ticket design choices that most of us with limited budgets must weigh very carefully. Thank you team EHD.
I literally can’t find anyone being unkind in these comments. Disagreeing isn’t hate!
There are commenters saying the review is unfair simply because they had a different experience. It’s been called “stinky” and one person said the review gave her the “icks.” That does feel unkind. But you are right that disagreement is perfectly appropriate.
We bought an apartment in Portugal and it was renovated with Ikea cabinets so this was very useful. We figure if we get ten years out of them, we’ll redesign the kitchen at that point. I’m encouraged by some of the comments about the cabinets being able to be readjusted. We don’t have any kids so I think we’ll be fine.
We installed Ikea boxes with Semihandmade doors and drawer fronts in 2019 and we are still thrilled with our decision. Everything has held up enormously well, and the multitude of options allowed us to create a highly functional layout with literally zero wasted space. We have a teenager and we also cook from scratch daily, so the kitchen has gotten a ton of use…but it still looks brand new. Like many other commenters we had a great experience with customer service, both at Ikea and at Semihandmade. If you’re looking for a durable, flexible kitchen I would 100% recommend pairing Ikea boxes with one of the bespoke door and drawer front companies; the combo really allows you to have all the perks of Ikea cabinetry with basically any high-quality exterior look you could possibly want.
The author’s kitchen looks lovely and I appreciate her opinions, though I’d bump up her 1-5 year lifespan for the cabinets. The IKEA kitchen in my home was installed just before I purchased it in 2009 so it’s been 14 years now. I’m an avid cook and everything still looks and functions fine. I’d love to reface them because the Shaker-style door fronts clash with the rest of the mid-century modern home but I haven’t been able to justify the waste since they’re so darned sturdy!
I don’t feel this review is very fair at all.
I’ve had IKEA cabinetry for upwards of 20 years now. I had to replace the sink cabinet because of water damage but the rest of them are just fine – as are the interior fittings. A couple of heavily used drawer fronts have come loose but that was fixed by replacing the screws with ones slightly larger. As mentioned by other posters the door misalignment is easily remedied – and I’m honestly surprised to see it mentioned as an issue.
My good friend had a custom kitchen installed and has had repeated issues with chipping paint – to the point where the company replaced most of the door and drawer fronts at one point.
On the other hand – I’ve painted my cabinet fronts twice now and the reason has been boredom with the colour, not a chipping issue.
We installed our IKEA kitchen in 2008. We have two kids who are now in their late teens/early twenties and they baked and cooked and used the kitchen as much as we did. The cabinets and doors still look like new. The doors are super easy to adjust if needed. This requires a tiny bit of effort and is not a con at all. At one point we decided to switch out two solid door fronts for ones with glass. Customer service was fantastic. We are very happy with our IKEA kitchen still, fifteen years later. The money we saved was used for family trips and making memories. In my opinion we got the best of both worlds: a great kitchen and money for other adventures.
We have ikea cabinets in our kitchen that are 2 years old. The have pull-out drawers inside our large pantry cabinets and our 19 month old frequently climbs in and sits in the lower drawers, so I’m here to say that they can withstand kids 😉 surely he won’t be able to do that forever but for now, there are no worries about sturdiness! Ours have a non-paint finish (they’re “foil wrapped” I think?? Kungsbacka) and no chipping or peeling whatsoever!
Are there people installing cabinets with the intention of only using them for 1-5 years or for a “temporary renovation?” I know there’s a lot of talk about sustainability here in the comments and I don’t mean to pile on, but good grief that’s a lot of resources.
I was thinking the same thing! Please don’t ever advise something like cabinets for a short period of time!! That made my stomach turn. If you can’t get long lasting quality, wait!! That said, IKEA cabinets are incredibly durable. In our home we paired them with Semihandmade doors which is certainly my recommendation and an upgrade this person could make to their existing kitchen without replacing the cabinets. (The Semihandmade doors are INCREDIBLE, durable and ridiculously easy to clean). I have clients who have gone in a different direction and I am endlessly pleased with our IKEA kitchen. Furthermore, if you have some DIY spirit you can customize the sizes if you use doors from a third party (like Semihandmade). Most of all… PLEASE don’t choose cabinets you think you will replace in a matter of years. The waste of resources and money!!!
I came here like many others to say that I’m really surprised by this review! We installed our Ikea kitchen in 2016 and we LOVE it. We did Ikea partially for price but also for look. We have the voxtorp walnut effect. It looks perfect and it functions perfect. We have 2 boys and entertain regularly with no issues. I would recommend these to anyone without hesitation.
I’m so surprised you didn’t fix the misaligned door because it’s simply a matter of opening it up and finding which screw to turn just a little to bring it back into alignment.
Just another opinion- My bro-in-law is a master craftsman/finish carpenter and he highly recommended IKEA to us- “Countries all over the world use them with great results.” (He has built numerous kitchens from ground up by scratch- never using even a pre-made box once.) We are nearly 7.5 years in and still get compliments on our same styled/colored kitchen as above. Very easy to clean, functional, and high-use for a family of nine- seven kids age 10-18 at the beginning and now 17-25 with constant college and high school friends over. I bake all meals from scratch so my kitchen works really hard. As the author above said, I have one cupboard and one drawer out of alignment, but we could adjust if we wanted to. The garbage pull-out cupboard has always been flimsy and is no more so now- with all the teens and guests using it. I have one slice about an inch long when boys were playing some knife game while I was out… that is all the info I got from them. After traveling to five countries in Europe staying in Airbnb/VRBO in each, and having an IKEA kitchen in each, I am sold all over… Read more »
I installed a whole kitchen of ikea cabinets back in 2005. I’ve since sold that house, but I was in there a couple of years back when it went up for sale again. The kitchen was in perfect shape, 16 years later. They were solid wood doors. Ikea has many different door options made of different materials, so you can get high quality doors if you want. Drawer glides and hinges are all Blum, which are the exact same ones that are used on super expensive custom cabinets. I did a whole butler’s pantry as a galley kitchen about 5 years ago. It’s used more than my actual kitchen, and the kids are banging things around in there all day getting drinks, making snacks, etc. There’s literally zero damage to anything. As for the sagging doors in your article, your hinges are simply adjusted incorrectly. They take about 10 seconds to adjust with a philips screwdriver. Ikea cabinets, while cheap in the price department, are not cheap on quality. In fact, they are better made than some more expensive “custom” cabinets. When I finally get around to doing this kitchen, I will probably use ikea cabinets again. My friends has… Read more »
I’ve found this pencil super helpful for touching up our white cabinets & it comes in other colors too. Beautiful kitchen!
https://www.minwax.com/en/products/maintenance-repair-tools/blend-fil-pencil
Hi I also renovated a galley style kitchen in 1000 sq ft Condo. Although I didn’t assemble IKEA cabinets. I had a young carpentry apprentice do the work at the beginning of COVID lockdown. Some issues but in all he did pretty good 👍 I must commend him for a custom pantry along open space to right of fridge. I’m still in process of modifying the kitchen plan as done with IKEA assistants. Just to fill you in I installed a 24 ” induction cooktop under a MIELE smokey black kitchen hoood/fan. Fridge & DW also smokey black. Sink installed in corner (space economy) Note I DONOT have a stove or regular sized oven. Since I’m only one no need.. the toaster oven & MV suffice. I just got a NINJA combo air fryer oven. Sort of stuck with final backslash. Contractor to install 44 sq ft with beveled mirror tle(smokey black) expensive X3 cost of the$ 12.oo/sq ft. Looking atDIY even stick on. Issue I have us the concrete counter top too much brown like taupe where I wanted blue grey to go with marble like floor. Initially I wanted a black marble with gray white and rose gold… Read more »
Something about this feels off. The cons are not specific to ikea (all painted cabinets chip! The alignment can be adjusted with a screwdriver!) This reads like a paid add for Granite Expo.
Also saying to keep cabinets for 1-5 YEARS is incredible wasteful.
Came to say the same thing. The pitch for Granite Expo is a bit awkward.
I have had an ikea kitchen for 7 years with 2 children, and I can say that they have held up very well. I get compliments on my kitchen all the time. I would highly recommend them. 🙂
I chose an Ikea kitchen nearly 9 years ago, have kids (age 4 and 6 at the time), and my cabinets still look and work like new! I chose the smooth glossy (not painted) fronts, soft closures, pull out drawers for the kids to easily access their dishes and snacks, and a pull-out bin for garbage. All have held up very well with daily use, and I have not had to make any adjustments or repairs. The contractor who designed the kitchen and installed them really tried to talk me out of using Ikea, but after installing mine she chose them for her next project!
I have had the total opposite experience with our Ikea cabinets installed in 2007. They look brand new. They were the white Abstrakt high foil fronts. They are 95% pristine. We do have a couple of tiny, tiny nicks–but totally human caused and they have not worsened. Barely visible. The hardware all works great. Boxes themselves same as day they were installed.
We did a pullout garbage hack and that drawer front has needed tightening a few times due to heavy use and our kids who insist on leaning on it. But an easy fix. I think a lot has to do with how good your installation was in the first place. We did ours ourselves but my husband is a damn good carpenter. Our kitchen cost about $2200 Canadian back then and looking back that was a damn good investment. I’m ready for a stylistic change, but sadly can’t justify it with the cabinets looking as great as they still do 15+ years later.
Installed a white IKEA kitchen in 1997. About 10 years later I chose to update; there was nothing wrong, but I wanted some glass cabinet doors and soft-closing drawers (repurposed the old doors in a workshop). Did not change any of the cabinets. A couple of the doors closest to the window had yellowed a bit, which we had not noticed until we bought the new glass doors, so we changed those out along with the cover panel. Did not change anything on the island. Raised 2 kids and 2 dogs in the house. Heavily used kitchen. Cabinet boxes were still structurally perfect when we sold the house 23 years later. The heavily used drawers in the island (adjacent to the stove) with their original fronts were clearly showing wear by then. Issues: Island sink cabinet was damaged by a water leak at the valve. We had not been as careful storing things in there as we should have been. The kitchen sink pipe froze/broke while tenants were in the house; water ran into the undersink cabinet and then into the basement for 2 days Cabinet was destroyed. We bought a new cabinet and used the pieces to basically rebuild… Read more »
We did our IKEA kitchen in summer of 2011- so coming up on 12 years. I can’t say enough how great this kitchen has held up. We have 5 kids & the youngest was 3 & the oldest 14 when we put the kitchen in & it has held up exceptionally well to the wear & tear of a family of 7. All the pull out elements are still going strong- yeah for two huge pantries on either side of the fridge. We did the old Adel doors in medium wood so I can’t speak to paint coming off. We also got IKEA appliances(which were actually GE appliances) as part of the sale to get larger percent off. I don’t know if I’d do that again we have had to replace the stove, dishwasher & fridge. If financially possible I’d go for better appliances than what they offer at IKEA. I’d absolutely do IKEA kitchen again.
We used IKEA cabinets in 2016 for our kitchen reno. No regrets! We ordered doors elsewhere as we wanted to paint to our specs. But we ended up with a fabulous kitchen which was still going strong last we heard. We think the kitchen had an enormous influence on our ability to sell our home quickly.
I’ve been an EHD reader long enough to recognize when a blog post is a thinly disguised fishing expedition for a product partnership. The countdown to a follow-up post about how Semihandmade saw this and asked her to partner on a refresh with $10k worth of free cabinet fronts and Rejuvenation hardware has begun!
haha – i wish!!! semihandmade, my emails are open 🙂 – this is just a genuine review from a contributor
Love to see all the love for Ikea kitchens here in the comments! I grew up with an Ikea kitchen installed in the early 80s; it still looks great (fronts are solid wood and some have been partly refinished a few years ago) and function perfectly. One amazing thing about Ikea is that things are mostly consistent throughout the years—so if something needs to be fixed 20 years down the line, most likely it can be.
In my current apartment, I have an Ikea kitchen installed by the previous owners. Love it. Like another commenter, I would ideally change the fronts because they’re not my very favorite style, but they’re in perfect shape so it just seems wasteful. We have two young kids, the kitchen is the center of the apartment and gets a lot of use. Yay Ikea kitchens!
I’m not going to touch on the disappointing content of the review, because I see it’s been covered adequately by previous commenters. I just have to say that while the kitchen looks lovely, the pendants above the range are a total “wtf?” for me. I can’t even imagine how gross the glass globes get after a lot of cooking. Maybe I’m just more messy than the author, though! 😉
I too struggled with the usefulness of this update. I did pull up AH’s recommended cabinets on GraniteExpo’s site. They are based in CA and one of the only sources of the Milzen cabinets recommended. The main differences I see between IKEA and Milzen (without dealing with doors given options like SemiHandmade for IKEA): – Milzen have solid wood boxes (IKEA has composite). Composite versus wood boxes seems to be an ongoing debate in cabinets, which mainly occurs in the US. – Milzen’s site claims a limited warranty for 10 years. Anyway, AH explaining how she has used GraniteExpo since her IKEA kitchen and giving the reasons why Milzen cabinets are worth 2k more to her than a similar IKEA kitchen would have helped us (those at our house) understand this recommendation. I am left with the sense most cabinetry is comped on EH, and I doubt IKEA comps cabinetry. Having lived with one and installed a second IKEA kitchen, we see IKEA kitchens have positives and negatives. – IKEA Sektion cabinets were very cost effective for us, even with a carpenter involved for install. – IKEA has a limited warranty for 25 years (and it is likely IKEA will… Read more »
My ikea cabinets have held up beautifully for over 10 years. This review does not seem genuine. Trying too hard to find cons — come on, misalignment that can be corrected with a simple screwdriver!
We put in IKEA cabinets four years ago~the second time we have in a home~ and love them. We did all drawers~no cabinets which is a game changer for organization and ease of use! Would do it again in a heartbeat!
Amanda, thank you for this in-depth review! I really appreciate all the detail. I have never had an IKEA kitchen but your review tracks with all the IKEA kitchens I’ve seen in other houses and Airbnbs: definitely affordable (which is awesome), looked great if new, didn’t always wear well after several years, and didn’t have the weight or heft of a traditional wooden kitchen cabinet — which is not something that everyone needs, but I’m a nerd about it. And, it’s fascinating: the difference between your review and all these comments is a perfect summary of why I AGONIZED over whether to use IKEA cabinets a couple of renovations ago. Every IKEA kitchen I saw tracked with your review. Every time I searched online, I found all these people who just LOVED them (like in these comments). I felt like I was getting conflicting information and I couldn’t figure out what to do! For example: my experience with IKEA customer service has been pretty universally awful, but here in these comments are a bunch of folks who loved it! In the end, we all have our different experiences and we each do what’s best for us. Good for them, not… Read more »
Such a bizarre review. We put in an IKEA kitchen fifteen years ago before we had kids. A decade and a half later, after multiple kids hanging on them, banging them closed, even using the drawers as a stepstool to reach the counter…they legitimately look the same as when we put them in. Any misalignment is VERY easily adjusted with a screwdriver. They have a fantastic warranty and the customer service for any damages or broken pieces is unlike any other company I’ve dealt with. Does the author have a partnership with the kitchen company she links to?
I just stopped in to say it’s too bad you pulled out the old cabinets. Looks like they were original and likely custom built on site and with real wood. Updating those with new paint and pulls/knobs along with new counters/sink/faucet and appliances/lighting would have saved even more money.
That said, I think your kitchen turned out beautiful and you should be proud of your hard work.
I don’t know what your cabinet budget was, but we redid our kitchen in 2019 and we purchased the cabinets from RTAstore.com. through a little mix up I was sent unassembled cabinets, but I found they were easy enough to put together even with my rheumatoid arthritis. Their customer service was very on spot and sent replacement parts when I discovered there were some warped boards or missing pieces and 4 years on for the most part they’re doing very well. Our cabinet costs then was around $6,200. The hardware which was not included ran I believe $54. And everyone thinks they’re high end cabinets.
So I wonder if this is perhaps an installation issue? Our cabinets we installed in 2015 right after they switched to the new style and there has been zero sagging at all. 8 years and I’ve got a couple stains which are mostly my own fault and one drawer front I need to do an insurance claim on but zero issues with sagging or alignment or being sturdy. Our trash pullout is definitely our most used and still works great even heavily loaded down. Plus we have a 3 year old so…. I find this review interesting.
Would I put ikea cabinets in a forever home where I could afford custom? Probably not because I want specific things they don’t offer. But would I do it again? 1000% yes unless I had at min 60k to spend.
I have really enjoyed reading all these comments! I so appreciate this community – especially hearing from so many people who’ve had and used IKEA kitchens over so many years. I want to second the commenters who said that even higher end (higher than IKEA is perceived I mean) solid wood painted cabinet doors chip, show water damage and can become misaligned and need to be adjusted. In our last house we had midrange semi custom wood cabinets painted white and had little chips and nicks within 3 years. The kitchen and bath place we used to supply and install these was great – they worked with the manufacturer, replaced a couple doors for us and got us a kit to touch up any future spots. So regardless of what cabinets you used, it’s worth going back and asking your cabinet supplier if you have paint chipping sooner than expected – they might step up! But in any case, know that painted cabinets do do this. I also want to share that long before I was aware of how many IKEA Pax wardrobe hacks are out there, someone suggested to me we use the Pax system in our bedroom and… Read more »
I love our ikea kitchen we installed in 2018. I did not pick the trash pullout as I remember opening those at the store and always thought they were flimsy. But so they were at other cabinet showrooms stores.
Figured over time that would happen to any kitchen. We ended up using a corner unit and installing a trash can lazy Susan with 3 tall trash cans (recycling, compost and trash). And that has worked super well.
I ordered doors from a different place, and wished I didn’t ordered shaker styles for the bottom drawers and fronts. They’re such a pain in the butt to clean. The ledge just collects liquids, dust, grease, etc. But I have the option of replacing since since there are so many vendors that make bespoke doors for ikea kitchens, another plus!
I do however have shaker style IKEA Pax doors for our closet and that cleans really easily. I mean no grease there, but nothing sticks to it.
We re-did our kitchen over 5 years ago. If you only spent 3 hours picking up your stuff once you had your list, you were very lucky. My husband was there 6 hours, just waiting at the pick up area. We live 3 hours away from the nearest store, so it was a 12+ hour ordeal. Your assessment is identical to ours. Our trash cabinet is wobbly (but I still love it), and I will add that we had to use some spacer boards to cover gaps between the stove and cabinets that were flush. Those lasted about 6 months. Our kids are grown but I agree these cabinets would not withstand kids.