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I'm starting this week with more kitchen talk...are you sick of it yet? Sorry. I have all these possibilities swirling in my head and writing them out helps me process and make decisions! In this post, I talked about a bunch of ideas we were considering for our cabinets. Well, I got a quote for painting them and it was a LOT ($2900, yowza). I could get more quotes, and I know it's possible to DIY the paint job, but I'm not sure I'll love the end result either way. Just being honest with myself. I also learned that refacing or getting new doors is even more expensive, in the $4,000 range (I haven't gotten an actual quote yet though). The other idea I tested was grey gel stain, which I think IS a doable DIY project. It's just...I don't know if I actually want grey cabinets. Plus any of those options means we're constrained to our current cabinets, which aren't the most efficient when it comes to storage. THEN as I was pricing things out, I came across two different types of white Shaker cabinets that are actually pretty affordable, similar to the cost of professional painting or refacing. Soooo my current plan is to get white Shaker cabinets for our pantry and island, since that's what we actually need in phase one. We'll leave the rest of the cabinets oak for now--unpainted, unstained, untouched. Then, when we can afford to get the rest of the cabinets, counters, and backsplash in one fell swoop, we'll do that (phase two). We would sell the old cabinets to make some money back, and our new cabinets would add resale value to offset the cost.
I know, another white Shaker kitchen...HOW ORIGINAL. ;P Too bad, I'm not a professional designer showcasing new trends. I'm creating a kitchen for our personal home, and Ben and I both happen to like light, bright, kitchens. White cabinets have always been my favorite, and they're classic, which means they're a smart choice for resale. Even with "budget-friendly" cabinets, it's still going to be a lot of money for us, so I'm not going to take a risk on something more "unique." We will probably go with one of these options, unless we can find something cheaper/better on Craigslist or a local store.
Option one: IKEA Axstad cabinets. These are a brand-new line at IKEA, and they are prettyyy: pure white with a double-layered Shaker style door, in a matte finish. For me, these would eliminate the "need" for Semihandmade doors, which would keep things simpler and save a little money. Pros: IKEA cabinets have great reviews and lots of options for inner storage. Cons: We'd have to assemble them ourselves, and we haven't seen them in person yet.
Option two: Hampton Bay Designer Melvern cabinets. We saw these at our local Home Depot, and really liked them. I did see some negative reviews for Home Depot's Hampton Bay cabinets, but these are the "Designer" series, so they should be a step up from the base level. They have some nicer quality features like dovetail drawers, soft-close, and drawer faces that fully cover the cabinet box. This photo is actually quite similar to what we're thinking for our kitchen in terms of layout (just no peninsula). Pros: Fully assembled, we've seen them in person. Cons: I can't find many reviews for the Hampton Bay Designer series. Quality could be iffy.
I still need to price out our kitchen in detail, but at a glance the pricing between these two is fairly comparable. So my question is, have you used either IKEA or Hampton Bay cabinets? If so, would you recommend them? What issues did you run into? Was assembling the IKEA cabinets a royal pain?
Which one of these would YOU choose?
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They both look lovely. Classic, smart, fresh and timeless! I think I would go with the ikea given the history of good reviews and the various options. Good luck with your choice!
We have just bought IKEA cabinets and were planning on using semihandmade white shaker for the fronts, but the AXSTAD line looks like it may be a viable solution on it's own.
What do you think? Stick with IKEA?
Well, IKEA will be cheaper & simpler. But the Semihandmade DIY shaker doors are all wood, and then you could choose the exact paint color you want (but it'll be more expensive & more work). So I'm no help! Either side has pros and cons.
Hi Aileen
We made the decision to go with all IKEA. The Axstad line is new and a strong improvement over the previous IKEA choices and similar enough to the Semi Handmade without the cost. The delivery time is a lot shorter with IKEA too. We have already started assembling cabinets. Would you like some pictures? I may have missed it, but did you make your final cabinet choice?
That's so awesome!!! I'm really happy to hear it. I ended up finding a local cabinetmaker with surprisingly comparable prices, so went with him! But I'm really curious about the Axstad still and would love to see photos. :)
Such a helpful post, I'm in the middle of researching these options as well! Ikea vs. Ikea + Semihandmande vs. Home Depot. We are wanting a shaker cabinet look as well, and are trying to work with a small-ish budget. I haven't reached out to any local cabinet makers yet, but I should since you had luck with it! Did you simply call around to a few local cabinet stores?
Thanks Lucy! The contractors we hired recommended the local cabinet store we used. I did look up a few other options as well, but felt good going with a company they had used over and over.
I just ordered the Home Depot designer melvern ones.. did you end up going with them? I’m so nervous cause I also could not find very many good reviews. I loved them in person at the store and it was in out price range. Hope they’re not junk!