A modern IKEA kitchen renovation in less than a month

An affordable makeover highlights this small IKEA kitchen

Anthony and his wife Daniela’s newly purchased 1950s home needed a lot of renovation before they could move in. They chose IKEA for their kitchen and IKD for their kitchen design, to help them stick to their budget and their timeline for moving in.

This was their old 10’ x 10’ kitchen, which had last been renovated in the 1990s:

And here’s the “after” shot, from the same view:

When I interviewed Anthony, he and his wife had been cooking in the kitchen for three weeks and were deeply in love.

Top 3 challenges for this IKEA kitchen design

Initially, Daniela had wanted the classic little white kitchen for her home. But as she and Anthony updated the other rooms in their home with white, they wanted to do something different with their kitchen. Enter IKEA’s BODBYN grey door.
They asked IKD to help them with these design challenges:

1. Getting the most out of this small, 10’ x 10’ space. The old kitchen was suffering from a lack of kitchen counter space and overall storage. Anthony and Daniela had their pots, pans, dishware and other kitchen items in storage. They were having trouble imagining where everything should go. And would the fixed IKEA cabinet sizes fit in their small kitchen?
2. Making sure the patient survived the operation. This 1950s home needed a lot of TLC during renovation, with emphasis on the T & L. One of the plaster walls was inadvertently ruined during renovations and needed to be completely rebuilt. Luckily, they were able to remove the soffit without issue, bring the cabinets up to the ceiling, and move appliances to create a kitchen work triangle.
3. Sticking to their budget. Like everyone else completing a renovation, the couple tried really hard to stay within their budget but outside influences interfered. IKEA Canada had a disappointing sale over the summer. IKEA offered a $50 coupon for every $400 spent – a far cry from the usual 20% off.

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Their final IKEA kitchen design

Only two things in their kitchen are not from IKEA: the sink faucet (Vigo) and the laminate countertop with carrera marble effect (Wilson Art).
Everything else is IKEA:

• FÅGLEBODA cup handles
• FÅGLAVIK knobs
• BOHOLMEN double-bowl sink
• RENLIG integrated dishwasher
• PRAKTFULL gas stovetop and oven
• LUFTIG exhaust fan
• FROSTIG stainlesss steel refrigerator
• VITEMÖLLA triple-ceiling light

Daniela is a real fan of the cabinets with the glass doors, one on each side, that “showcase dishware without getting messy” like open shelving does. The dual-drawer front base cabinet to the right of the stove holds one of SEKTION’s signature drawer-within-drawer combinations. It holds pots, pans, and cooking utensils.

The other drawer within a drawer is underneath the glass cabinet. Anthony especially likes the UTRUSTA pullout cabinet corner unit. It’s a new feature with SEKTION that doesn’t just turn, but pulls out of the cabinet, making it easy to get at items stored there.

Another Anthony favorite is the IKEA VITEMÖLLA triple-ceiling light fixture. He and Daniela visited several lighting stores, where they fell in love with this style but not its price. The VITEMÖLLA was a fraction of the cost of the upscale version. (Over here at IKD, we love that they kept the arched entryways from the original home design).

“The kitchen flows very nicely,” said Daniela. “We think the final design is a good balance of must-haves and nice-to-haves.”

Is your IKEA kitchen on a budget, too?

We can’t force IKEA to have a kitchen sale, but we can help you save money on your IKEA kitchen. If you like the little white kitchen, you could pay as much as $130 per door…or as little as $3. We help you find those less expensive options!

Even IKEA’s free Home Planner or four-hour kitchen planning service can’t do that for you!  

Our Design package is only $445, and we can design a hazard-free kitchen that sticks to your budget.

Check Out Our $445 IKEA Kitchen Design Package Today!