These IKEA kitchen cabinets were framed! and they’re not guilty, they’re perfect.

Creating a custom look in your kitchen using IKEA’s panels

A kitchen design request we get a lot here at IKD is, “I don’t want it (my kitchen) to look like IKEA!”

We understand. Nobody really likes their kitchen to look cookie-cutter. This is where IKEA’s SEKTION is great for creating a custom, built-in look for your kitchen.

SEKTION panels have your kitchen cabinets completely surrounded

The answer is: panels. IKEA has really upped their panel game with SEKTION. We saw this as part of our IKEA Miami World Tour ’15. Can you spot what we mean?

These kitchen wall cabinets have RINGHULT doors…and RINGHULT cover panels covering the bottom, sides, and top to match. The cabinets are framed by panels which makes them look very built-in.

Here’s a closeup of what we mean.

We know IKD customers like a built-in look for their kitchen designs, so we were glad to see SEKTION go in this direction.

We found this in nearly every kitchen design in the IKEA showroom. Here’s another example of white cabinets with cover panels:

And another kitchen:

SEKTION cover panels make for a really clean kitchen design, don’t you think?

However, contrasting panels made these kitchen cabinets the star of the show

The white kitchen cabinets with their white panels were pretty. But white cabinets with BROKHULT panels in light grey walnut effect? Outstanding.

This is where we first noticed the look:

Here’s a peek at the rest of the kitchen so you can see why this design decision was made:

Such a gorgeous contrast between the light grey walnut effect and the glossy white. If you’re like us and can’t get enough:

How do you like this framed look for cabinets in your kitchen? Are we too excited?