The Kitchen Renovation, Part 3 - The Cabinets

When the hubby and I began this kitchen renovation journey, we knew we wanted white or light colored cabinets.  We also knew we wanted a linear kitchen (think galley but replace one of the walls of cabinets with a long island).  In order to get an idea of what this project was going to cost, we decided to get quotes from a variety of places.

The quotes from the big box and custom builders were comparable, ranging anywhere from $12,000-15,000 for the cabinets alone.  While this may sound reasonable to some, I was shocked by the premium price for mid-grade cabinets.  

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On a recent trip to IKEA in Atlanta, we spent some time wandering through the kitchen area.  We were surprised by how affordable an IKEA kitchen could be.  The classic design and clean lines of the Adel door fronts in off-white seemed to suit our style best. 

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After fiddling on IKEA's kitchen designer, we were able to create the kitchen design we wanted for a fraction of the price.  All of the cabinets for the layout above plus the sink, handles, and countertop for the cabinets against the wall (I'll tell you about the butcher block I ordered for the island in my next post.) was a mere $3800.  

The hubby and I decided to order our IKEA kitchen through a local company called ModerNash.  For around $500 they made the eight-hour round trip to Atlanta two weeks in a row in order to retrieve all the items on my list.  I happily paid an additional $40 delivery charge to have the mountain of boxes delivered to my door.  I think it was money well spent.  

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While the fine gentlemen at ModerNash offer assembly services, I opted to handle that myself.  The cabinet boxes were easy to put together.  I think I had all of the boxes assembled in under two hours.

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IKEA sells legs that can be attached to the bottom of the base cabinets to raise them to the proper height.  Since our contractor was already going to build a base out of 2x4's to securely attach the island to the floor, we decided to forego the legs altogether and build a base for the cabinets along the wall as well.  I will post a picture of the base in my next post.

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While our contractor installed the cabinet boxes I assembled the drawers, attached the rails, added hinges and hung the doors.  It was surprisingly easy.  The simple act of assembling the cabinets ourselves saved a full day of labor.  

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One other tidbit, which I promise to talk about more later, was our decision to use lumber to cover the ends of our cabinets and wrap the island.  IKEA sells cover panels, kick plates and trim in finishes identical to the cabinet doors but they are a bit pricey.  Using lumber allowed us to design our own crown molding, plus it gives the kitchen a custom look.  

By the way, with a little searching online I discovered that Benjamin Moore's Paper Mache is an exact match to IKEA's Adel door front.  

Next up, the kitchen island.  Stay tuned.  

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To read all of our kitchen renovation posts click here.  

Part 1 - Demolition
Part 2 - Floors and Ceiling
Part 4 - The Island
Part 5 - The Lighting

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*** The opinions expressed are my own.  The fine folks at IKEA, ModerNash and Benjamin Moore have no clue I exist. I purchased the cabinets and paint and paid for delivery services with my own hard-earned cash and have not been compensated in any way for my review.