Design phase

IKEA in Canton, MI

I love IKEA. Every room of our house has at least one major piece of IKEA furniture, and it has all held up very well - so of course we were nearly certain that we'd get our kitchen cabinets there too.











Sometimes I feel like an IKEA apologist - I've talked to people who have a strong negative impression of IKEA products, but no actual experience with them. However, we've been very happy with all of our IKEA furniture, and the assembly is actually kind of fun. Our friends who have IKEA kitchens are also all happy with them. We also like the modern styling and clean lines. It is interesting to see which side of the fence people fall on when we say we're planning an IKEA kitchen. 

For due diligence, we got a quote from a local contractor who had done kitchen renovations for a few friends and acquaintances. For $25k, they would replace the cabinets and the counters, and add another cabinet on the outer edge of our peninsula. No new appliances, no change in the layout - we were not impressed, and the proposed design seemed even more awkward. They were definitely not interested in IKEA cabinets either.

We started using the IKEA kitchen planner and came up with some preliminary designs - tear out the peninsula and add an island. I have some gripes with the software, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn't so bad. These observations helped preserve my sanity:

• If you make an error, it is usually faster to just open the file again (without saving) than using the undo function
• When you've clicked on an object, don't unclick until the object outline is green

I found a few helpful resources/examples online:
IKEA Kitchen Remodeling Blog 
    the free eBook on budgeting for an IKEA remodel was helpful, as were the blog entries
The Kitchn - an IKEA remodel
    a nice overview of the process by a couple on the East Coast

Ultimately we decided to pay for the Individual Kitchen Planning Service ($199) through IKEA. We considered just getting the measurement service, but based on our own measurements, we knew that maximizing our space would be a challenge. We knew we didn't want to make major structural changes (i.e., we won't move walls or windows). Our planner (Scott) was helpful - he figured out how much of the soffits we could actually remove, and was able to incorporate customized cabinets (e.g., 10" wide) when needed. Definitely money well-spent.

We needed to keep the soffit on the north wall (it contains a large drain pipe for an upstairs bathroom), and we want to keep the section on the east wall to allow for venting the microwave to the outside. 

Here is our final design - some aspects are similar to the perimeter of our current layout:

Top view

North wall

East wall

South wall