Comparing Costs of IKEA Kitchens with Custom Cabinetry

Solutions for saving on your IKEA cabinetry purchase

We’re often asked if cost wise it’s smart to go with IKEA cabinets rather than custom kitchen cabinets in your IKEA kitchen. Our answer is always yes! Not only will you achieve the same look and style, but your kitchen design will get all the cool functional storage solutions that IKEA offers.

To support our case, we took IKD customer Mike’s IKEA kitchen design and translated this into IKEA cabinetry with custom Semihandmade doors and Home Depot’s Thomasville cabinetry.

Following is a brief cost analysis of these options. This will not only provide you with clarity about the distinctions between IKEA versus custom cabinetry, but will give you information about available IKEA custom doors as well.

It will also be extremely beneficial as you’ll have a real example of differences in costs. Understanding IKEA pricing can really benefit your kitchen design bottom line.

Sounds good, right?

Let’s take a look at how you can start saving today!

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An IKEA Kitchen

IKD customer Mike wanted a contemporary, white kitchen and required a lot of storage. He really wanted IKEA shaker cabinets and a blue island for a pop of color.

We selected IKEA AXSTAD matte white fronts for the perimeter and AXSTAD matte blue for the center island to achieve the look and function he requested.

Mike’s design features a pull-out for trash, a tall cabinet with internal roll-out drawers, wide drawers for pots and pans, and internal drawers to maximize cabinet space.

After adding matching panels, molding and toe-kick, the total for Mike’s IKEA kitchen was $6,127.61

As you can see, with IKEA you’ll get functionality and style for a reasonable price. One limitation is IKEA’s restrictions on front sizes (available in 15”, 20”, 30”, 40” if you’re curious) which somewhat limits customization options, but overall, of course, IKEA provides a stylish, budget friendly option.

IKEA with Custom Doors

Now let’s apply some custom doors to Mike’s design and see how the cost compares.

For his design we kept IKEA frames and added Semihandmade fronts. To achieve the same look we selected Supermatte Shaker White for the perimeter and Supermatte Shaker Night Sky for the island.

This still retains the style of the space and doesn’t compromise on storage either as we’re keeping IKEA inserts. This costs $10,664.61 which represents a 42% difference to using only IKEA cabinetry.

To us, the main benefit of this option is you get all the functionality and dependability of IKEA (such as with its internal drawers, pull-outs, wire baskets, adjustable shelves, etc.) while also achieving a custom, high-end look and of course, higher quality fronts.

Semihandmade can provide custom sizes for IKEA hacks too. This is fortunate because IKD has been recommended by The New York Times as a design resource for customers considering custom doors for their cabinets.

And we pride ourselves in providing IKEA hacks to maximize your space’s potential.

Home Center Solution

Now let’s check costs on a Home Center’s cabinetry option compared to IKEA cabinetry.

We used Home Depot’s Thomasville cabinetry. These cabinets feature plywood construction as well as solid wood drawers and shelves. For this estimate we considered a shaker-style maple door painted white for the perimeter and the same — painted in blue — for the island.

This enables Mike to retain the desired color scheme and sensibilities he wanted. To provide similar organization and storage solutions, we added a waste basket pull-out and roll-out drawers for the pantry cabinet.

The total for this Thomasville kitchen is $16,930.88 – compared to his actual design, that’s a 64% difference.

One distinction with a Home Center’s brand is you get different storage options and a wider range of cabinet sizes but it will require a higher budget.

Our design team will guide you to the best cabinetry for your IKEA kitchen. Determining costs and budgets and cabinetry choices can be overwhelming.

We certainly get it.

That’s why understanding the differences associated with your IKEA cabinetry purchases will take a lot of the stress – and added cost — out of the equation for you.