The Kitchen

Here’s the kitchen. It’s adjacent to the living room and my plan is to open up this space one way or another.

 

Isn’t it lovely?! Not. How I wish the original cabinets were still there and I could have made something out of it but with the space having been made over in the 70’s I’m afraid it’s poor quality and just horrid and must go.

 

There are a few original features which are pretty cool though, the original cabinet with sliding rippled glass doors on both sides and the serving hatch and kitchen door. I intend to save them but probably reuse them elsewhere in the house rather than keep them in the kitchen.  

This is kind of the idea:

1. Loose the wall and lay the same flooring in the kitchen as in the living room (will show you what floor that is tomorrow).

 

 

2. New kitchen. I like IKEA’s glossy white Faktum Abstrakt (above).
3. Add countertop under the window (a nook underneath for Mini and Bonus’ food dishes etc).
4. The dream fridge.
5. Our dining table. Martin is keeping our current chairs so I’m still hunting for my harlequin set…

Do you guys have any IKEA kitchen experience? What are their appliances like? I’m thinking of going with drawers instead of cabinets at the bottom for the most part, pros and cons?

The living room is up tomorrow!

Comments

[Nolwenn]

Good morning Benita,

I don't have any experience with Ikea kitchens, but a few friends and colleagues have one and they are all very happy with it.
We bought our kitchen last year and have drawers almost everywhere, I love them! You have a great overview of everything when you open them and it's much easier to grab things without kneeling down and searching for stuff hiding in the back.

I really like your cabinet with glass doors on both sides, it brings a lot of light and I think it looks "very Martha" :)

Can't wait to see pics of the living room!

[Kim B.]

I had a kitchen with drawers in the bottom cabinets, it was the best!! So much easier to access things, as Nolwenn says. If I had my choice and was building my kitchen, I would DEFINITELY install drawers.

[Anna]

I used to have that kitchen in my old house - it was fab and I really miss it.

It was such a small kitchen we actually turned the plinth at the bottom into a drawer and used one to feed our cat in! It was lovely to close the drawer and not have cat food hanging around when guests came over!

[Monica B]

Vi älskar vårt IKEA-kök. Har levt med det i två år, lagar mycket mat och använder det över huvud taget, men det känns ändå som nytt. Dämpare i lådorna var det bästa lyftet av alla (liksom det laserade, högblanka kakel vi valde). Jag har svårt att tänka mig att det hade blivit så hemskt mycket bättre med ett kök för 300 000 mer (jo då, vi tittade, om än inte på allvar, på olika alternativ). Vi valde inte högblanka dörrar dock med tanke på våra kompisars erfarenheter. Gillar ni att putsa mycket eller inte använder köket lika ofta som vi gör är det okej, eller om ni står ut med "fläckar" (blir ungefär som på speglar).

[Älvan]

Vi har ett kök med skåp ovanför och lådor nedanför köksbänkarna. Tror att det är Ikea. Det funkar superbra, och jag är mycket nöjd med det (det är skåp i vårt "nya" kök, vilket är lite synd...). För oss som lagar mycket, mycket mat har vi löst problemet med kryddorna på ett lite annorlunda sätt - vi har helt enkelt ställt alla burkar i lådan till vänster om spisen. Dock har vi fått märka alla lock (dymo for the win!) så att man slipper lyfta på burkarna.

Köket som det ser ut nu är ju verkligen gräsligt! Jag ser fram emot att se förvandlingen!

[Rattling On]

I'm for drawers as well. I've had 2 kitchens with them in. Access is so easy and they stop you pushing things to the back and then not using them. Easier to clean one at a time as well!

[Amanda @ willful/joyful]

Drawers would be a dream -- especially now with a huge pregnant belly. Not having to sit down to find things shoved into the back of the bottom cupboards would be so convenient. The only con I can see is not being able to adjust the height as needed to accommodate larger kitchen tools/supplies. As long as you have adjustable shelves in the top cabinets or somewhere else to put the too tall things you should be fine.

[Ness at Drovers Run]

I have a small kitchen in the house we're in now, and because the cupboards are so cleverly done - we actually have more space in this kitchen, than we did in our old house, where the kitchen was twice the size (but stupidly designed). I think the IKEA kitchens are marvelous, because they really make such great use of space - and of course they have all those handy organizing things for inside the doors and drawers etc. Can't wait to see how you 'make-it-over'. :)

[Denny]

I have an ikea kitchen. I love it! We assembled it ourself.
I think the drawers are a great solution!

[Wendy]

We have installed three IKEA kitchens and loved all of them. I also love our drawers in the bottom cabinets. To store objects that are too high for the drawers (and heavy) we installed 3 upper cabinets in the hallway just outside our kitchen. We put some IKEA Capita legs on them, screwed them together and now they are free standing. The upper cabinets are only 32cm deep and 100 cm high and they are cheaper than buying storage cabinets.

Also we installed Marmoleum in our entrance way and we like it alot. We picked the blue gray colour and there are no seams to pull apart or get dirty. We had a tile floor previously but we wanted to put Nuheat under it and we found that the grout lines got dirty and were hard to clean.

I am looking forward to seeing your new home with your mark on it!

[Judith]

Oh, this is so fun! I have no experience with IKEA's kitchens, but I do feel it's my duty to inform you that I'm so living vicariously through you right now. We won't be moving again for a good 20-30 years, so I appreciate being able to get my new house planning fix here with you :)

[ibabe]

I also have drawers in the bottom and cupboards with glass door in the top...I love drawers, are easier to keep in order and ikea ones have lot of posibilities.

[Kicki]

Vi bytte kök förra året till IKEA. Luckor högblanka vita Abstrakt. Stommarna blev också därifrån. Det är inte alls så mycket putsande på de luckorna som en del säger. Det är tvärtom enklare att hålla snyggt och fräscht.
I vårt fall var det främst plånboken som fick styra val av kök, men min pappa som är snickare och många ggr bygger kök åt folk säger att det senaste köket han gjorde, ett från Puustelli, inte är ett dugg bättre än IKEAs faktiskt. Hans erfarenhet från olika kök och där han tycker att skillnaden inte är stor alls, gör att vi känner oss mer än nöjda med vårt IKEA förstås!
Vi valde också enbart utdragslådor, inga skåp alls. Vi har både 80, 60, 40-
golvskåp med lådor. Allt får plats! Vi valde också ett väggskåp som vi har på
golvet för att det inte är lika djupt som golvskåpen. I den har vi lådor också. Det är ett tips om man har en del som inte kan vara lika djup som ett normalt golvskåp. Kolla in bloggen och välj Hemma-kök så ser du lite mera eller i min header ser man del av köket.
Grattis till bostads-köp förresten! Kul att få fixa precis som man själv vill ha det!

[Aleta]

We installed an Ikea kitchen about 2 years ago and have been really pleased with it. Just be warned, the shell cabinets are deeper than most so there is no space to run pipework behind -unless you fit the cabinets slightly away from the walls and then fit a wider worksurface on top. Definitely drawers! There are so many clever internal dividers at Ikea, they are a much more efficient use of space. But in particular, check out their larder cupboard, it's absolutely brilliant.

Oh, and we have the slimline Ikea (Whirlpool) dishwasher, also pleased with it. We would have liked their solid surface worktop, but Ikea insist you need to have the entire kitchen installed by them if you buy one, and we didn't have any faith in their fitters.

[Tatjana]

Hi Benita!

I have that glossy white kitchen, with the drawers instead of cabinets!
I simply LOVE it!!! They are very practical and I can fit just about anything in there. I do have one regular cabinet under the sink, to fit all kinds of cleaning products.

About the appliances: I have an Ikea fridge & freezer (it's huge for a girl on her own, but that's how I wanted it) and the cooker also comes from Ikea. I have no complaints yet! I did buy my oven elsewhere, but that's because I wanted a big one and I fell in love with it after looking around for quite a while. I wanted a smaller dishwasher, so I didn't buy that at Ikea either (though have discovered that they now do sell a smaller dishwasher and if I had known that a year ago, I probably would've gone for the whole ikea-package!)

Also, everybody told me I was crazy to go for a glossy white kitchen, but I really don't see the problem. Still don't and have been actively using my kitchen for a couple of months now. It's still beautiful and I still love spending time there.

[SewandKnit]

We did a huge IKEA kitchen two years ago and love it. The largest drawers are fantastic for storage but a little flimsy and wobbly feeling. Everything else is great though. I love all the extra inserts and so on that are available, it is so easy to keep it organized with all the dividers.

It was pretty easy to put together as well except for the counter top that was pretty tricky. We did the do it yourself oak counter in a u shape. Not quite happy with how that turned out...

[Robyn]

Your ideas are really great Benita! I like the idea of taking down that kitchen wall to make it into an open plan place. Isn't that wallpaper to die for? ;) I'm liking the look of your Ikea kitchen as well.

I don't have Ikea kitchen experience myself, but wrt cabinets? I have read recently that large/deep drawers are a LOT better than cabinets. It allows you to pull it all out and be able to get what's at the back a lot easier. I'm all for those in my one-day-own kitchen. I have 2 large ones in the current rental home where I store my pots/pans and the top one for plates/bowls etc. I have a cabinet that has pull out shelves which makes getting things from the back a dream, especially the bottom "shelf".

Looking forward to seeing what's coming tomorrow!

[Zosia]

I have more experience with bottom cabinets and limited experience with drawers at the bottom at my father's house. I LOVE the drawers for pots and pans and some other stuff too. Seems that the space is better utilized in the drawers. However, I would still keep at least one cabinet at the bottom for those taller kitchen gadgets or other stuff that might not fit so well in the drawer.
The white IKEA kitchen that you are thinking about looks lovely.

[Marianne]

The other day we had a discussion at work about Ikea in general. A co-worker bought a kitchen at Ikea and is very very happy with it. I didn't buy mine there 8 years ago and regretted it later (even though I love mine, but Ikeas would have been cheaper) As far as I know their appliances are by Whirlpool (at least in the Netherlands), Whirlpool is Philips. I don't think you can go wrong there.

I have drawers for the cutlery and pots and pans underneath the stove. I don't have an oven but a combi microwave.
The thing with drawers is that you tend to bend over to get something, with cabinets you have to bend your knees. I think that is better for the back.

[Carlos]

As a matter of fact I have a horrible Whilrpool experience which is why I'm a little reluctant getting another appliance of theirs. When we moved in to the house we got a Whirlpool fridge/freezer and we had nothing but trouble with it but the worst part was the customer service when we complained... I'm hoping I'll just have to deal with IKEA and not WP directly if I do end up with their appliances...

[Carlos]

Thank you all so much for the kitchen comments, they are super helpful! What would I do without you guys?

[alex rae]

Hi, we had a new IKEA kitchen installed just before Christmas, in fact it is the same one that you are thinking of, white high gloss. Looks lovely!
We used their appliances too and are very happy, our oven started playing up on Christmas day though but they came round to fix it after we had reported it, something to do with the computer inside it or something. We choose an induction hob which I was pleased about, very quick and looks very sleek!
Good luck, sounds like it will look lovely!
Alex

[Britta]

Vilket härligt kök med mäklarspråk "stor potential". Bra idé att öppna upp även om jag gillar den lilla skjutbara glasskivan.

Vi valde ett helt vitt kök från IKEA men beställde specialritad bänkskiva i ek med "knivskåra" i bakkant och vitlackade täckskivor till skåpgavlar från ett snickeri när vi renoverade köket. Sen fick jag tjata mig till ett knallrött linoliumgolv som vi fortfarande älskar (efter drygt 6 år)! Vi kaklade en hel vägg och valde bort överskåp över diskbänken för att istället bygga en skåpvägg från golv till tak som rymmer allt från porslin till servetter och dukar.

[GIovanna]

let me chime in to say that drawers is the way to go! (I lived with 1-2 drawers in every single kitchen I had all my married life, though) If you maximize your space with them, you might not even need upper cabinets, which makes a kitchen look much more spacious.

[Anna]

I had an awful experience buying cabinets from Ikea, they were white but in all different shades of white...bugged me to death and I had to go back and exchange them like 2 billion times to get tit right. It's not perfect to this day, but I got so fed up and I can say that the ikea customer service wasn't on the same page as me for wanting teh same shade of white. "White is white." If I would do it again I would:
1. By everything from Ikea exept the cabinet doors. Assemble and then go back and buy all the cabinets at one time and check that they have the same "batch nr", so they come from teh same factory and same "can of paint". It's not automatically so just because they come from the same pile at Ikea.
2. Or buy the cabinetdoors from somewhere else with better quality, I've heared good things about http://www.pickyliving.se/Koksluckor/

Good luck! All the ideas for the kitchen looks awsome!

PS. Thought of a garbage disposal grinder (kökskvarn) or one of those taps that give you boiling water right away? I would love those, simplifys your life! (Garbage disposals aren't allowed in some municipalities in Sweden though)

[Messy]

I have IKEA appliances. They do the trick and have a good price. Since you don't like to cook anyway, check them out... (I would, by the way, get a combi oven and microwave. Saves sooo much space and a microwave on the kitchen counter is always annoying to look at, imo.)
I got the cabinets somewhere else, but I heard good things about them as well. I can imagine, as people said above, that the service is not as good as kitchen specialists, though.

[Messy]

Oh, and drawers, drawers, drawers! Just make sure you leave on or two normal cabinets for taller stuff. I know people who had nothing but drawers and no place to put the olive oil bottle. ;-)

The kitchen you want looks lovely. In fact, I want everything in that photo...

[Carlos]

Ok, so just so I'm getting this right; the kombi microwave thingy can be used as an oven so there's no need for a separate oven? I was going to get both but since I'm not into cooking much I'd love if I could skip one of them and I do use the microwave...

[kate]

we have put two ikea kitchens in...love them...and i second the drawers...would choose only drawers for all lower cabinets...so much better storage and access...we bought the range hood through ikea...have had no problems...can't vouch for any other appliances there...isn't the planning stage exciting?...looks wonderful!

[jja]

"I’m thinking of going with drawers instead of cabinets at the bottom for the most part, pros and cons?"

I have this white kitchen from the photo with big deep drawers, I love it! No cons from me.
Appliances are not from Ikea, there I spent money I saved buying kitchen from ikea.

" If you maximize your space with them, you might not even need upper cabinets, which makes a kitchen look much more spacious. "

This is what I have.:-)

[Carlos]

I'm not much into gadgets and haven't considered either of those. Now I do though :)

[Carlos]

Bra idé! Ska fundera om kortsidan kan vara skåp hela vägen och långsidan endast underskåp... Måste mäta hur många hyllmeter mina köksprylar tar!

[joanser]

Hi!
I have drawers instead of lower cabinets and I love them. No stooping, or crouching down to see what's at the back. If I could take them with me to my next place, I would. Moving into a condo with all cabinets--no drawers. I'm sad about that.

I LOVE what you want to do with your place. I read your blog every day.

your fan in Texas!
Joan

[Monika Wright]

We have an IKEA kitchen we designed ourselves and it was so easy. We even assembled them, too. When the installers came to put in our Subzero fridge, they said that my husband did a better job designing the opening for that huge fridge better than professional designers. We love the drawers and it's all so easy to clean. Everything glides and works so well, we've not had to make a single adjustment.

Ours were purchased in Atlanta, the closest store to us, and trucked and they arrived in perfect condition...no damage. I was worried about choosing white since we live in the mountains, but it just opens up the room. My German cousins came to visit 2 years ago and did not even realize they were IKEA...my husband got a kick out of that.

Have fun!

[ModFruGal]

We also used the white Abstrakt in ours...love it..so easy to clean. We also put drawers on the bottom level everywhere we could and I'm SUPER happy I did. So much easier to see and access. The only appliance we bought from them was the overhead vent unit, and it's been great...no problems. Good luck..can't wait to see what you do..love your plan.

[tinajo]

I have Faktum Abstrakt in our kitchen and I really like it; the gloss is perfect and it´s easy to keep clean. I´d say IKEA´s kitchen is OK, we´ve had to adjust some of the screws after a couple of years but other than that it hasn´t been any trouble. :-)

Will be FUN to follow this - again congrats!

[Hope]

We had an IKEA refrigerator, cook top, and oven and were very happy with them. We were living in France at the time, so we only had them about two years. Great price and good quality!

[Juliette R.]

We put in our Ikea kitchen in 09 and I love it! We have all drawers below the counters/waist and I LOVE that. I am tall and hated getting on my knees to find stuff down below/in back. Even pots/pans/heavy ceramics do great in our drawers. I dread the day I leave my all-drawer kitchen!

We have all Ikea appliances and have no complaints whatsoever. Granted, we went with the 'nicer' versions of everything to be safe, but I love to cook and am thrilled with what we have. Since you say you don't cook a lot I would agree w/PP that you should check out the oven/microwave combo item. Saves space/money. Also, even if you go with a regular oven, think about putting up higher. I love this about our oven; it's easier to clean, easier to use.

We also used a corner lower cabinet with a pull-out lazy susan feature and it is AWESOME. I have tons of heavy pots and appliances in there and it's so smooth. Speaking of smooth--I love the drawer dampers and wish I had them on our doors.

Other faves: the pull-out pantry feature, the pull-out under-sink cabinet for trash, and the under counter lighting we have. love love love.

We didn't notice any difference in whites with our cabinets as a PP had mentioned. I mean, the insides are all white, but we covered all fronts and sides w/panels (we went with white), so it's all the same color now anyhow...

One thing I would change would be to get a white sink instead of our stainless steel. Our water is really hard and I'm always seeing every tiny spot and scrubbing it all the time and it makes me mental!

I think the key to a good Ikea kitchen is planning every single detail. I have so much kitchen stuff, so I wrote color coded lists and decided beforehand what items would be grouped together and where I wanted things, and then I picked the cabinets/layout that supported my ideal. Even in our oddly-shaped kitchen I am super happy!

If you search under 'kitchen' on my blog you can see ours.

[Judith]

Hi Benita,
I am so excited about your new house and your descriptions of the room layouts and love reading about your plans with the new place. Also I think that your current kitchen plans are providing the best use of that space and I love the openness. From my point of view you should go with the drawers because everything is accessible more easily. They are a bit more expensive than cabinets though.

I live in Germany and my kitchen is from Ikea (including the appliances). I have the glossy white Faktum Abstrakt front and it looks great :). I have been using this kitchen for almost two years now. Here is my Ikea kitchen review:

My stove is acceaptable. It's a standard Ikea Ceran stove which works for me. However I love baking and the oven is driving me crazy. It doesn't hold the temperature at an even level. Without an oven thermometer you never know what the results will be. I would never buy an Ikea oven again.

The dishwasher is not great but solid. It doesn't dry the dishes very well but I can live with that. I guess that's a fair compromise between functionality and price.

Although you seem to be wanting a fridge that is not from Ikea:
My friend has the Ikea fridge that looks like standard kitchen drawers which is great because you have easy access to all items in that fridge. And: you cannot even spot the fridge in the kitchen since it looks like all the other bottom drawer elements :)
[http://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/30199495]

The cabinets in my kitchen are very nice and I think they will last for a long time.

That's it. Hope it helps with your decisions :)

Kind regards,
Judith

[Querencia]

I'd go for the drawers over lower cabinets. When I was reading about highly functional kitchens and commercial kitchen and MY idea of a dream kitchen, one that's highly functional and efficient, pretty much everything suggested drawers over cabinets for the most part. The stated reasons being that it's fewer steps to do whatever you want to do. People will install pull out slides into under cabinets which essentially makes it a drawer. So why open a cabinet, pull out a pull-out and then get the item you want when you could just pull open a drawer. I'd probably prefer more of a mix than most kitchens have, since they are usually skewed towards cabinets, I can think of things I'd want in cabinets. Wow, I'm pretty passionate about this it turns out. I can't wait to see what you o with your home. :)

[Celia]

Ditto to everyone on the drawers, but don't forget to also get some of those pull-out cabinets (like this http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S89886671)
They're great as mini pantries!

[xin]

I don't have Ikea kitchen, but one of my friend bought all her cabinets from Ikea and installed them themselves. She said it was not very hard at all. Their kitchen looked fabulous! I think they did get their appliances and countertop from somewhere else though.

I would love to have drawers instead of lower cabinets. I am tall, so have to bend down very low if I want some pots down there. We bought our house from the builder 6 years ago, it was brand new. But very stupidly designed, it's too small, has almost no space for pots and pans! We had to buy an island just for that reason! We are probably moving to a new house in a couple of years, so not going to do anything about this kitchen. But definitely thinking about Ikea kitchen for our next house. This is so good, I can learn so much from your process.

[Sarah Gilmour]

Oh, what a beautiful kitchen! Congratulations on your new house! How exciting!

We have the IKEA Faktum Abstrakt front and we really love it. We don't have any cabinets, but we have drawers on the bottom. The drawers are easy to put together - it's a lot of work but it's super-easy. And the best thing is the dampeners that go in the back of the drawers - it's impossible to slam them shut! You close them and they go the last centimeter or two by themselves, very slowly. It's AWESOME.

We also bought an IKEA dishwasher (I think it's called Renlig d60), which I kind of regret because it's badly designed. There aren't enough spokes on top to hold the glasses in place, so when you pull open the top shelf, the glasses slide and often fall down. I had a heavier glass next to a wine glass and the opening of it caused the heavier glass to crash into the wine glass, breaking it. Boo. Not a huge deal but it's really quite annoying.

[France]

Just to chime in that we've installed four IKEA kitchens now, and wer super happy with all of them. My mom's was the first, and 20 years later (oh, my, feel kind of old all of a sudden), it's still in perfect condition.
I have no experience with their appliances, though.
Regarding the combination oven, they are fantastic. We bought one for our previous kitchen due to lack of space: we chose a SHARP one, essentially because this was the only brand at the time that made them big enough that you could cook a chicken in it (40 litres), and we've been very happy with it, but I'm sure other brands do them too. FYI, when looking for them, they are sometimes under the "microwave" category, but the description would say something like "combi, with convection and grill".
I tried linking to mine to give you an idea, but it seems to exist only on the French SHARP website and I couldn't find it on the Swedish one. Sorry!

[Vicki K]

We remodeled our kitchen two years ago - and one subject I haven't seen discussed yet is the kitchen sink and faucet. My choice was a single basin large farmhouse sink. I love it! It accommodates large cookie sheets and pans for soaking and washing beautifully. If I want to wash smaller items I have a plastic bin that I set inside the sink.

My faucet is a single handle control because I didn't want to have so many holes drilled into my countertop. I absolutely love it. The nozzle detaches to become a sprayer. Having one control means I can hold a container in one hand and control the faucet with the other. It's very efficient. I only have 2 holes drilled in the countertop - one for the faucet and one for the garbage disposal button. I like the clean look it gives!

[Gillian]

We have some bits of IKEA in our kitchen. The sink and the stove and then a few smaller things. The sink I love, the size and shape is fantastic. It does scratch a bit which isn't great, but mostly that is my kids being hard on the sink surface. The stove is TERRIBLE. I hate it. It resets the clock every time I use the broiler and it has a loud fan that goes off all the time even when the oven is off. Terrible. We had originally planned on a much better stove but decided instead to spend more on the dishwasher and under counter fridges and I am sort of glad we did, but I still hate that stove....

Love the white kitchen. We knocked down the wall between our dining and kitchen and it changed everything. So much nicer.

[Caro]

I second this suggestion. I have a pull-out cabinet like this next to my stove. It holds oils and vinegar and soy sauce etc. I love this pull-out and I regard it as one of the best decisions I made in my kitchen.

However, I also have one under my expresso maker/tea kettle etc. It was meant to hold coffee, tea, cocoa etc but it is a little too narrow to be completely useful for that. The usable width is narrowed quite a bit by the internal mechanisms. I still love the mini-pantry idea, but I've had to use it differently than originally intended. In fact, I wish I had one more to use for petfood and pet supplies (flea preventor, nail clippers , fur combs etc.) which don't have a good home in my kitchen.

Anyway, consider these, but if you do use them, make sure the usable internal size is sufficient for wht you intend to use it for.

[christina]

Yes, drawers! Do it. I love mine.

[Anna @ D16]

I don't have IKEA appliances, but I do have an IKEA kitchen (about 5 years old now), and it's been amazing. Really wonderful. I fully anticipated it being "temporary" (I figured I'd move it to the basement to use it as hidden storage down there), but it's proven to be incredibly durable and practical in so many ways. I really couldn't be happier.

The best kitchen advice I can give you is to have lots of drawers on the bottom instead of doors opening up to a large space. Having six huge drawers in a small kitchen has made such a big difference in the amount of usable storage space I have -- so much so that I'm able to have open shelving on the top, which I love.

[Marta]

I would knock down the wall but i would keep the existing kitchen layout in terms of keeping the counters, in order to get some space where you can put some tall stools (as the ones you actually have in your kitchen) and have breakfast. Perhaps you could put some wood or other material on that surface facing the dining area.
I couldn't find any better pictures, but I hope you get the idea:
http://www.forstercucine.com/img/high/perla-zebrano-1.jpg
http://www.varaia.com/images/upload/prodotti/72.jpg
I always have the feeling that open kitchen are nice, but if you have a kitchen/dining/living room area going all trough it's better a place where you can hide dirty dishes and pots visually, until you don't do the cleaning... It's just an opinion :)

oh, I just noticed you have a radiator under the window, but you probably already payed attention to that. Sorry for being so nosy :)

[Carlos]

If my white Smeg is still no where to be found the integrated fridge/freezer is my other option :).

[Caro]

I love your plan. Opening up that wall will be wonderful. And a warm & cozy catfood nook is such a sweet idea.

In the short term, if you need to wait for the dream kitchen, painting those cabinets white, changing the hardware and getting rid of the wallpaper would make it not so bad. You're really lucky that the backsplash and the countertop and the floor are fairly neutral. I had to live with a faded strawberry pink laminate counters and backsplash and dark red, faux tile vinyl flooring for a while.

In fact, I could even see the wallpaper being kind of cool and retro with everything else white, though I don't think there's any chance that the cooker could ever be charmingly retro.

[Carlos]

I'm sure they are great I just think they look really weird pulled out?! I think as far as pantry space I'm more for a normal cabinet but I'm going to take a more proper look at IKEA next time!

[Peta]

I don't have an Ikea kitchen but I do have and recommend drawers instead of cupboards. Our kitchen is very small but I managed to fit everything in it!
We lived with our old kitchen for quite awhile before renovating and I'm glad we did. My initial ideas of how I wanted the kitchen changed in that time.
Are you planning on doing all the changes before or after you move in?

Look forward to seeing the living room tomorrow!!
:-)

[Carlos]

I have considered keeping cabinets there but I'm thinking that having the table right next to the "bar" will feela bit odd.

[Cross stitch]

For more personal experiences with IKEA kitchens see this web site and use its search functions. At the top-left of the home page there is a link to "Other forums". There is one dedicated to appliances, one to plumbing and another to organizing the home. See you all there!

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/

[Carlos]

I am planning to get it done before we move in simply because I need to do the bathroom and get a plumber in to change out the whole main drainage thingy and it's best that that all gets done once and for all instead of having them do the dirty work twice and us living through it once.

[Carlos]

That's great, thanks!

[cessan]

Hej,
ditt drömkök ser riktigt bra ut! Vi har ett IKEAkök sedan tre år tillbaka och är överlag nöjda. Vi har lådor istället för bänkskåp och det är jättebra, man får bättre överblick. Vi har även micro, inbyggd diskmaskin och fläkt från IKEA. Vi har luckor Solär, vi tycker att deras handtag är något grunda och lite svåra att "tag tag i".
Lycka till med kökbyggandet!

[Melissa @ HOUSEography]

definitely go with drawers just make sure your pots fit. All-clad pots have particularly long and high handles! Ikea has the cool plate holders too which are sooo neat!

http://houseography.blogspot.com/2011/01/cooking-investment-pots-and-pans.html
http://houseography.blogspot.com/2010/06/island-party.html

[Peta]

I can definately see the advantages of that! Living through renovations can be traumatic!
;-)

[Donna]

When I redid my kitchen I went will all drawers in the bottom. Love them...it is so easy to access everything. You just pull open the drawer and you can see everything that is there. I love my drawers!

[Imke]

Dear Benita,

I have a question for you that doesn't really have to do anything with this post. Since your ate the "paint goddess" - I would love to know what kind of paint you are using for your paint projects. I have used acrylic paint in he past for furniture but it is not very durable or stain resistant. I would be thankful for a short reply.

Thanks
Imke

[Jessica (Goodbye, Small Heart)]

Drawers underneath definitely! We did that when we remodeled our last place and it was so much more useful and a better use of space. We did keep one small cabinet for things like baking sheets and cutting boards. IKEA kitchens are nice, especially for the price!

[Tabby]

Hi Benita,

I've just discovered your blog & have spent the last 3 weeks reading all your posts right from the beginning! We've had an IKEA kitchen since 2005 & it's great. The drawers are fab, run smoothly & never stick. We have them instead of cupboards and I've never regretted the decision.We have their Whirpool appliances too (built-in microwave & dishwasher) and so far they've also been fantastic value.

[Blake @ Salt, Teak & Fog]

My kitchen is 100% IKEA abstrakt (love the glossy white, too) and we also have all IKEA appliances (minus fridge, which was out of stock). They work super great (we cook a lot) and they were a snap to plan the space, since they're totally modular to the cabinets. I think you'll like!

[Carlos]

I don't like water based paint for furniture as it dries streakier than oil based paint and doesn't seem to harden as well. Oil based paint is getting hard to find over here though as it's being phased out.

[ann]

i had deep drawers put in my lower cabinets for my pots and pans...so much easier to dig out. the best thing i did for my kitchen.

[Goneril]

can't wait to see this come together. great choices!

[Marta]

yes, that's a possibility... when you'll have the measures it can be checked. It's just professional distortion (i'm trying to be an architect :)
Anyway, congratulations on your new home! I'll be so exciting to follow all the works!

[Laura]

We just installed an IKEA kitchen last November... and have been LOVING everything about it ever since! We almost paid someone $1500 to install it... until we realized how easy it is! I'm sure you, Willie, and a helper friend could do it!

[Stina]

Hi!

I've got a white abstrakt ikea kitchen and I absolutely love it! 1 1/2 years in and it still looks fabulous!

I would def go for the drawers on all bottoms except perhaps under the sink (we installed drawers under our laundry sink and had some issues with fitting the plumbing, so we went with doors under our kitchen sink to avoid issues with the dishwasher hoses etc). We have a corner cabinet with the big lazy susan which is an awesome choice too!

I also have two of the pull-out pantries and one regular door pantry with pull out drawers for all my kitchen gadgets (yes we have a huge kitchen). Although I don't mind the pull out pantries, I would just go for the regular door pantries with drawers inside if I was to do it a second time. The pull-out ones were trickier to install and doesn't really give any added benefit - but definitely get the pull out drawers in the pantry - drawers rock!

We got our appliances elsewhere as we were advised the quality of the Ikea ones was not awesome, particularly for the oven (and I love cooking). We got BOSCH built in oven and microwave and they fit perfectly in the tall cabinet meant for ikea oven + microwave. We got a big single bowl sink which we bough elsewhere, but Ikea has since released a very very similar one + the ikea faucet with a pull out spout (not the chunky one)- I'm not sure how I ever lived without a pull out spout!

Have fun planning your kitchen! I'm almost jealous - I LOVED playing around with the ikea kitchen planner tool and then seeing it all come together the way I dreamed it. We did go to see a professional kitchen planner (which they often do for free) after playing around with the ikea planner. Though he gave us some amazing ideas we hadn't though about, the price was far too high for us - so we just integrated and built on the new ideas in our Ikea plan and got our dream kitchen for 1/2 the price!

- Stina:)

[Robyn :)]

I love 70s decor, but that is a little too much LOL!! Your ideas sound fantastic.

[Alex in DC]

I'm so looking forward to what you end up doing!

[r8chel]

I have no doubt that your kitchen will look even better than those amazing IKEA kitchens! And since it's so funky right now, the "wow factor" of your before and after pics will be tremendous!

[Romeoandjewels]

We have the IKEA Faktum (Akurum in the US) White Abstrakt and love them! Very good quality. We have the drawers on all lower cabinet and they rock! I can see everything in the cabinets, nothing gets lots. We even have super heavy things in the lower ones and they work great. Make sure to get the soft close doors, they really do add to the luxurious kitchen experience. :) Good luck - so excited for you!

[Christine]

Hi Benita,
I love, love, love drawers - definitely go with them! Also, you must post your layout to the US hosted site "Gardenweb". Yes, I know, "post a kitchen to a Garden site??" :-) They have a Kitchen forum located here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/. Many Kitchen Designers and home remodelers post and answer questions and are wonderful at sharing all of their experience with Kitchen layouts. If you post this picture they'll give you a ton of feedback. There is also an appliance forum and you could post about the IKEA appliances. Lastly, here is a list of who actually makes each brand's appliances so you'll know who you're actually getting no matter what! http://www.appliance411.com/purchase/make.shtml.

Congratulations!!!

[jill]

We installed an IKEA kitchen 4 years ago (Akurum) we have used it HARD and it's held up beautifully. Drawers are a must. We purchased a few wall panels and cut them up to trim out tops of the wall cabinets. Gave them a custom look. I have a friend that used the IKEA boxes and made his own fronts. He used MDF bases and wrapped them on all sides with white formica, looked crazy cool and was indestructible. My favorite thing about using IKEA is if a door front gets damaged I can get a replacement easily. Can't wait to see what you do!

[Molly]

I also have an IKEA kitchen and I've helped friends choosing IKEA kitchens, too. I really can recommend these. At least in Germany there is no other manufacturer offering this quality and all these choices and possibilities for the same price. Go for it!

In addition to or as an alternative to drawers I recommend sliding wire baskets. These are cheaper and you have even more flexibility.

I've written about this here http://www.katzentisch.com/2009/07/kitchen-storage-space-base-high.html and here http://www.katzentisch.com/2009/07/kitchen-storage-space-wall-cabinets.html

Never ever I'll have boards in my kitchen base or high cabinets!

[Molly]

Oh, forgot to add, my appliances are not from IKEA. The quality of these didn't convince me. But it is no problem at all to combine standard appliances from any manufacturer with an IKEA kitchen.

[Carlos]

I know I could do it but I'm afraid that if I want to get the bathroom and kitchen done in two weeks I'll probably thank myself after for getting installers to do it.

[Carlos]

I'm afraid I don't like wire baskets at all... I don't like the idea of things poking through and I don't like cleaning wires. I'm a solid drawer girl who wants to wipe smooth surfaces :).

[Judith]

Nice :)
I'll keep my fingers crossed for the white Smeg though. It's so much cooler and I'd really like to see it standing in your new kitchen

[Anna]

Just thought of an other kitchen idea (that I like, don't know if it's your style though). Get a cheap microwave and hide it in one of the cabinets. I personally don't like showing off all the electric appliances and this idea saves you money too!

[Carlos]

That idea crossed my mind too :).

[[email protected] Cabinets]

your Kitchen cabinets looks good and I am also thinking to install new one in my kitchen. Please share more new photos of your kitchen cabinets. I am eager to see that.

[Imke]

Thanks, Benita.

[kate]

just read the comment about the sink...yes...i love my ikea enamal farmhouse sink too...my cat too! http://youwannawhat.blogspot.com/2011/02/today.html
it might be what i like most about the kitchen...(but the lower drawers on the cabinets are a close second!)

[Nancy]

Another variation of the peninsula is a kitchen island. They are a bit more visually open since you can walk all the way around. I love them for their practicality as it reduces the size of the work triangle and makes it easier to work in the kitchen. I use ours for approx. 80% of the prep work when cooking. We had a counter overhang with stools (fom IKEA) at our last house and loved it; and you would still have plenty of room for the table. In our current house, we bought a couple of lower cabinets that matched the existing kitchen,(both drawer units, but you already know that everyone LOVES drawers) and then clad the outside with bead board.

I can see why you would love the visual aspect of having the open kitchen, but for me there wouldn't be enough counter space or it would be too spread out. I suppose this is something that you could add afterwards anyways. We never anchored ours to the floor. Oh,oh, oh,... you could mount the island cabinets onto industrial castors instead of using a plinth for a lighter, funkier look! (Just a thought.)

Just throwing this idea into the mix! Can't wait to see the final results.

[April]

Benita, is the lamp in that kitchen picture also an IKEA fixture? I love it, but I'm not seeing in on their website (at least not in the U.S.). If you have any info about it I would love it!

And for what it's worth, I agree with everyone that lower drawers are the way to go. My parents just redid their kitchen this way and my mom LOVES it!

[Carlos]

I can't see it on their site either so I'm guessing it might not be IKEA :(

[Caroline]

Definitely use drawers instead of doors for the lower cabinets. I am studying Interior Design because, like you, I am very interested in well-organized, functional spaces. Not having to kneel in front of a lower cabinet to reach the pan you want is great!
Regarding the pull-out pantry, I believe the mechanics take up too much space, as another reader mentioned. And, you are right, they are ugly. I am not sure about the Ikea pantry pullouts, but a lot of the ones I have seen here in the US have vertical spacing that is not adjustable, leaving a lot of wasted vertical space that I would prefer to fill with additional shelves and then group items by height. My pantry is a tall cabinet with 4 pullout drawers, and I will eventually add 2 or 3 more to fully utilize the space.
This is so exciting, Benita! Plenty of excellent design blogging!!! I was sorry that you couldn't stay in your lovely home, but I know how much you will enjoy making another very lovely home! And I know you embrace the challenges of doing things affordably, which is so much more interesting than just solving design problems by throwing a lot of money at them!

[Caroline]

Oops, I forgot to mention that I would definitely have an island or peninsula where the kitchen wall is now. Having to do all the prep work with my back to the open concept space is not appealing to me, or sociable. The island also provides a serving counter when entertaining - and a nice social spot for doing gingerbread architecture! I agree, you don't need a second eating area, but then again, if you had a stool, a friend could sit at the counter with a glass of wine while you finish getting dinner ready...

[April]

Oh that's too bad! Is that picture from an IKEA catalogue, or another source?

[Carlos]

Oops, I forgot to name the source! I googled and found it that way. I'm afraid it doesn't say where the image came from in the forst place. I kind of assumed it was from IKEA... http://www.housetohome.co.uk/products/type/furniture/kitchen/IKEA_ABSTRAKT_high_gloss_kitchen_384.html?subslug=

[Kristin]

whoa.... lots of comments here so this may have already been said. I have drawers in most of my bottom cabinets and LOVE them. Having said that, some are deep and great for things like my tupperware that I just throw in. But I also have one cabinet that is pull out shelves (with aprox 3-4 inch lip) instead of full drawers and it's nice to have a mix of both. For example, I have the pull outs for all my baking supplies and it's easier to see stuff and get to it than a big deep drawer. Happy kitchen designing!