IKEA vs Lowes kitchen cabinets?

[pdean]

Hi all,
If this thread already exists somewhere on this forum, please just insert link - I haven't figured out the search issue with this forum...

This would be for a small house, one 11' wall galley kitchen. We've done Lowe's but I understand IKEA is cheaper and in some ways better quality.

Also: IKEA is 2.5 hours away, Lowes .5.

Thanks for any input!

[Choices]

I think Ikea has a catalog- can you order online and have it delivered?

[Frugal Lizard]

Just installed some Ikea cabinets to supplement our kitchen.  They were fairly time consuming to put together but the hardware is excellent.  It was actually quite easy to install them.  We went with the cheapest doors because at some point in time we might paint them out.

[pdean]

Thanks, you two!

[Nate R]

I've installed 3 Ikea kitchens now. I haven't found a better value, always have to spend more to get better from what I've seen.

[MrSal]

I dont like Lowes cabinets/furniture ... compared to Ikea they look cheaper and much more outdated not to mention more expensive...

Ikea all the way.

Here's one of my mothers house

[Primm]

Another vote for Ikea. We did ours last year. Total cost, including plumbing and electricity, was about $6k (AUD). The equivalent from Bunnings (big box hardware equivalent to Lowes) would have been over $10k and IMO looked cheaper.

[Another Reader]

Neither.  Avoid particle board - it does not last.  No Nonsense Landlord, who also posts here, uses cabinets from these folks. No particle board.  I can't vouch for them, but the prices look good for what you get.

http://www.rtacabinetstore.com/

[Papa bear]

Neither.  Go find a wholesaler in your neck of the woods.  They will beat the price and have much higher quality. 


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[Rural]

I'll pile on with the neither. Find the wholesaler or do like I did and find a place that sells unfinished cabinetry and stain it whatever color you want. Then you get real wood, too.

Cheaper and better. I get sticker shock at what people say they paid at Ikea.

[paddedhat]

Due to pricing pressure from Chinese manufacturers, most builder oriented wholesalers will have a line of very competitive, all plywood construction, pre-assembled cabinets that run circles around Ikea, or any of the big box store's particle board junk. I have installed at least 6-8 kitchens using American made cabinets by "Wolf" out of Indiana. Great prices, great products. The concept of a "builder oriented" wholesaler is important. Wholesalers vary from outfits that work out of dimly lit warehouses, where the displays are a decade old, and covered in dust and miscellaneous junk, to gleaming showrooms with Range Rovers and BMWs in the parking lot, and the ability to spend 10X more than I ever have on a kitchen, while dealing with sales folks who act like they are selling jewelry at Tiffany's. I bet you can guess where my hillybilly ass is welcomed?

[Fishindude]

Most of the stuff I've seen come from Ikea would make better kindling than furniture, can't speak for Lowes.
Stay away from the thin particleboard stuff.  Get cabinets with solid hardwood faces and rails, and good plywood backs, shelves and sides.

[esq]

Seconding the wholesaler idea.  Much better quality, and you can find your own competent installer.

Lowes, Home Depot, Ikea - no, just no.  Expensive junk for the most part.  And you're taking a real gamble using their installers.

[lthenderson]

I recently did an office renovation and went to big box stores thinking I could find some nice cabinets. I was appalled at how horribly cheap they are built. I next went to a local custom cabinet retailer and was appalled at how expensive they were. So I did the next logical thing. I bought a book on cabinet making and some cabinet grade plywood and built my own. It was slightly more expensive than buying them from the big box stores but they look closer and are the quality of what you would find in the local custom cabinet shop. I doubt I will ever buy a cabinet again.

[paddedhat]

Seconding the wholesaler idea.  Much better quality, and you can find your own competent installer.

Lowes, Home Depot, Ikea - no, just no.  Expensive junk for the most part. And you're taking a real gamble using their installers.

LOL, truer words are hard to find.  I have a great installer who does a LOT of work for a big box store, but they tend to give him the complicated jobs and rework of messes they have already created, and/or are trying to avoid ending up in litigation with.  OTOH, I have seen big box installers who are only there since they have completely run out of options for making a living in the community. They no longer have a single contractor, builder, or supplier who will give them any work due to everything from incompetence, to dishonesty, to being frequent fliers at the county prison.  It get's even worse when you are unfortunate enough to sign a deal to have these kind of places do things like flooring or roofing installations.

[Cranky]

You can order all different grades of cabinetry through Lowe's/Home Depot, by the way. It just depends on what you want to pay for.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

I ended up going through a Guy Who Knows a Guy to get kitchen cabinets in my last house. I was pretty happy with the cabinets and the price was way better than we were finding elsewhere.

The handles, though, we got at Ikea. We couldn't find such big, long handles anywhere else for that price. Here's how the kitchen ended up - I paid for the cabinets to be hung, but I installed the hardware myself. It was pretty easy because I could just pick the right place for the top screw, then let it hang to get the right spot for the bottom screw.

[MrSal]

Neither.  Avoid particle board - it does not last.  No Nonsense Landlord, who also posts here, uses cabinets from these folks. No particle board.  I can't vouch for them, but the prices look good for what you get.

http://www.rtacabinetstore.com/

never had a problem with them. my family has been using ikea for 20+ years and not once they have had any troubles... and to top it off IKEA offers 25 years warranty on their cabinets ...  you say they dont last but our experience has been quite the opposite ( and my parents live by the ocean and have them in their beach house as well)

No idea how Ikea is in the US but in Europe they are pretty sturdy and dont feel cheap at all... of course they have some cheap stuff too but the kitchen cabinets have not seen one that feels cheap or that degrades quickly

[Bourbon]

Neither.  Avoid particle board - it does not last.  No Nonsense Landlord, who also posts here, uses cabinets from these folks. No particle board.  I can't vouch for them, but the prices look good for what you get.

http://www.rtacabinetstore.com/

We ordered from a similar store - http://www.meikitchens.com/order/kitchen-cabinets/index.html  about 5 years ago. 

Later converted the house to a rental, but cabinets are doing just fine.  There were even cheaper options at the time online, but these had the style and cabinet options we wanted.  Plywood boxes, DIY install went well.

[jmras5]

Check out lily Ann cabinets. You have to put them together but it's easy and they are nice.

[CowboyAndIndian]

little_owl and big_owl built a basement. They used http://www.stockcabinetexpress.com/

Check out this link http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/from-zero-to-million-dollar-basement-(diy)/

I ended up adding the cabinets in my laundry room from here, quite decent for the price.

[Blindsquirrel]

   email these folks for a good deal also, have used them once and really liked it. www.kitchencabinetkings.com     support@kitchencabinetkings.com   If you want a better deal, get a commercial account at Loews and go to commercial desk. They sell the same stuff but way cheaper.

[HotPotato]

I think Ikea is great if you have standard cabinet size requirements, you can't customize the sizes at all. Lowe's a little more so (3" increments). I'm currently in a remodel and decided to go with Barker cabinets. You have to assemble them yourself but I've found it's really not too hard. You can customize just about everything too, in .25" increments. The boxes are solid plywood and you can upgrade the doors, drawers and such. My total kitchen was about 6k, the quote through Lowe's was 11k, neither including install (diy).

[Goldielocks]

I'll pile on with the neither. Find the wholesaler or do like I did and find a place that sells unfinished cabinetry and stain it whatever color you want. Then you get real wood, too.

Cheaper and better. I get sticker shock at what people say they paid at Ikea.

Agreed!  We can buy custom cabinets from  small shop wholesalers/ retailers for about 10% more than Ikea, using plywood and better construction (more material), and all the 1'-2" nooks and crannies used for storage -- not filler trim pieces.  Even a custom corner cabinet with an odd jut out on the wall....

[endleesss]

i installed an ikea kitchen my self, it's labor intensive, since you have to build everything your self. The lowe's cabinets are prebuilt, much faster to install. You're basically just bolting it to the ground and putting a countertop on it.

[Spork]

I have never bought Ikea cabinets... so no opinion there.

I have purchased KraftMaid cabinets from Lowes for a bathroom remodel.  Holy crap they were expensive.

I would recommend at least getting a quote from a local custom cabinet shop.  I was surprised (after seeing Lowes' price on a bath) how little an entire house full of cabinetry cost -- and they were well made mix of solid wood and plywood -- no MDF.  The downside is that they're unfinished and there is a lot of surface to sand.

[dess1313]

I have a built in sideboard i did with ikea cabinents.  I love the versatility of the different sizes and add ons.  I installed mine myself.  Very happy with the quality of it.

[pdean]

Update: we went another way.

As in, bought a different house with a nice kitchen.

So thanks, all!