Oh Yes, IKEA Can Do Upscale Modern Kitchens!

I paid a visit to IKEA on a rare day off, hoping I'd have better luck grabbing the attention of one of the kitchen staff on a weekday than a weekend. I didn't realize I was visiting right smack in the middle of IKEA's thrice-annual Kitchen Sale. Even for a weekday morning the place was mobbed with frenzied folks hoping to start a kitchen in time to lock in the 15% off. Waiting for my name to be called, I had ample time to walk through all the model kitchens and take note of things, such as the scale of the kitchen islands and smart cabinet organizers. There are things I definitely want, like the under-sink recyclables pullout and the drawer within a drawer silverware pullouts, which will allow me to do all deep drawers and no doors. It wasn't until I got to the doors, that the IKEA cabinet line gave me pause.

There's a trend in kitchen cabinet door finishes that bothers me, and that's seeing them get ever more "plastic-y" each year. It's something I noticed when sourcing glass-front uppers for our $3,000 kitchen refresh in this house before we moved in. Back when I designed my Brooklyn kitchen 10 years ago, this wasn't the case. When you bought a wood cabinet back then, it looked and felt like a wood cabinet. When I designed an IKEA kitchen for our country cottage six years ago, IKEA still offered wood door fronts, which I painted and distressed. These days, wood doors seem scarce. Is it a cost-cutting thing or are plastic-y fronts supposed to be more durable? I don't know, but some of the IKEA doors have a look and hand feel that I just don't like.

I came away with one decision made — I can go with IKEA cabinet boxes and I'm a fan of their organizational tools, but if I'm going with IKEA doors, it will have to be a modern design. Shaker is definitely out, because IKEA's version of shaker is like... 

... Barbie Dreamhouse shaker. And their so-called "wood look" slab fronts are even worse — let's just say it's no wood you'd ever see in nature. 

But their modern kitchen fronts, are not bad, especially the plain white slab fronts.

Voxtorp doors have built-in handles, which I love, love, love.

Ringhult doors are smooth and shiny. If I go with them I'd install push latches inside and I'd need no hardware whatsoever on the outside. That's a look that really appeals to the minimalist in me.

I did a thorough search online and I found quite a few good-looking IKEA kitchens with a modern aesthetic.

Were money no object, I'd hire Third Stone in a heartbeat to design my kitchen. As an amateur kitchen designer on a budget, I'll do the next best thing and duplicate some of his design elements. This kitchen has been shared over 100,000 times on Houzz, and the designer has been incredibly forthcoming in the comments section on exactly how he achieved this look, including tips and tricks for making IKEA cabinets look custom and built in. Everything here except the appliances are from IKEA.

So ... so far in my assessment of the two styles Transitional and Modern that I think would look great in our home, Modern is winning. But I haven't totally given up on the transitional style yet. Up next, a visit to the SemiHandmade studio in Brooklyn to see how much it would cost to have custom shaker cabinet doors (in real wood) made to fit IKEA boxes to achieve a look something like this IKEA/SemiHandmade kitchen designed by Sarah Sherman Samuel @ Smitten Studio:

Stay tuned for more details.