IKEA cabinet parts.

[Paul Johnstone]

I guess this is just my opinion.

If you are thinking of going Ikea to save time, why not go a different way?

For me, assembling the carcass is the easiest and quickest part. I spend a lot more time making the doors and drawer fronts.

If time is critical, why not make your carcasses out of hardwood plywood and face framem them (since the OP wants that).

Then order your doors and drawer fronts from an "outsourcer".

Although, I guess if you are going to make your carcasses out of particle board anyhow, Ikea makes sense.

[Jon van der Linden]

Cover Caps with Blum name on them is Blum part # ZAA.330C.BT
You can also get them custom printed with your own company name.

I've been aware of this for a while. First saw this almost 10 years ago. It's very cheap and effective advertising, after all, if there is going to be a name there, it might as well be yours.

[Noah Katz]

I know I saw the Blum drawers on the Ikea site there awhile back but now searching for "Blum" yields nothing.

Any ideas?

[Matt Meiser]

From a pros perspective I'd guess IKEA doesn't save much. But as a hobbyist that recently did a kitchen I think they could be a good option. They save you a ton of planning and probably a ton of apace since you wouldn't need to assemble or even buy the boxes until you are ready. you can make fast drawers using a Kreg jig but you have to finish them. I'm not really convinced that particle board boxes are a bad idea other than maybe the sink base. IKEA's boxes don't even sit on the floor directly. I think I built better plywood boxes but it was a lot of work planning sizes, cutlists, cutting, drilling, dadoing, gluing, moving, etc. And that was with prefinished ply. Knowing the hardware is Blum is another big plus.

[Victor Robinson]

I know I saw the Blum drawers on the Ikea site there awhile back but now searching for "Blum" yields nothing.

Any ideas?

They don't label their drawers as Blum on their site. The drawers in the kitchen section of the Ikea site are the Blums (Rationell).

[Dave Lehnert]

I guess this is just my opinion.

If you are thinking of going Ikea to save time, why not go a different way?

For me, assembling the carcass is the easiest and quickest part. I spend a lot more time making the doors and drawer fronts.

If time is critical, why not make your carcasses out of hardwood plywood and face framem them (since the OP wants that).

Then order your doors and drawer fronts from an "outsourcer".

Although, I guess if you are going to make your carcasses out of particle board anyhow, Ikea makes sense.

One could do it that way but I would rather have my work show on the outside than the inside where no one would see it.

If time was critical guess you could just hire the job done and sell off your tools.

[Noah Katz]

Thanks, Victor!

[QUOTE=Victor Robinson;1486604]They don't label their drawers as Blum on their site. The drawers in the kitchen section of the Ikea site are the Blums (Rationell).

[Paul Johnstone]

One could do it that way but I would rather have my work show on the outside than the inside where no one would see it.

If time was critical guess you could just hire the job done and sell off your tools.

: That's true. I guess I didn't read between the lines. You want to do the doors/drawer fronts, but not the carcass.. Gotcha.
Be sure to post the finished work when you are done, regardless of how you do it..

[Jay Knoll]

Hi everyone

Haven't been around for awhile, but it's good to see the conversations continue.

Here's an example of what I did with an all IKEA kitchen (with a bit of combining elements for the island) I know its an old post, but thought it might be interesting to those who haven't seen it.

This was my first kitchen install and my woodworking skills were no where as good as they are now.

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=11042

Jay

[Jim Becker]

Funny all the responses to my post are talking about the quality of the items. Well, I never complained about the quality. I was complaining about the customer service.

I never looked at their kitchen cabinets. I might if we would ever redo the kitchen. But from previous experience it will be tough for me to walk through the door. I can understand missing a screw or nail but missing an entire piece is something one would expect at Walmart.

I actually did have one box a few years ago with a major missing component. The store cheerfully provided me with what I needed, no questions asked. I didn't even need to drag whatever it was back to the store. They opened another box and the piece was waiting for me when I arrived.

[Jim Becker]

Do they make anything out of plywood in the kitchen department or is it all thermo foil?

Some is thermofoil; some is veneered stock. Depends on the style you choose. The cabinet doors and drawers I used in our new laundry room have birch veneers.

[Jim Becker]

I guess this is just my opinion.

If you are thinking of going Ikea to save time, why not go a different way?

For me, assembling the carcass is the easiest and quickest part. I spend a lot more time making the doors and drawer fronts.

If time is critical, why not make your carcasses out of hardwood plywood and face framem them (since the OP wants that).

Then order your doors and drawer fronts from an "outsourcer".

This is a really good question. I think I answered that in my original response in this thread, but basically a large percentage of the doors and drawer fronts available do not come anywhere close to my "standards" for lumber selection for grain and color. That's a very important part of a project for me...choosing the lumber is the first step of the finishing process, in fact.

I do order drawer boxes for larger projects because making those is a huge time-suck, at least if dovetailing is involved. I get so little shop time as it is, so I choose to put most of my time into "visible" things when it comes to cabinetry.

That said, I don't disagree that building carcasses is not a big effort and I personally do that most of the time. A good part of that is because I build face-frame cabinetry but in a way that flushes the boxes with the inside of the face frame so I can use regular frameless Euro hinges for my inset doors. That gives a little less space on the inside of the cabinets, but there are also no hidden corners for dust and dirt to collect.

[Paul Johnstone]

A good part of that is because I build face-frame cabinetry but in a way that flushes the boxes with the inside of the face frame so I can use regular frameless Euro hinges for my inset doors. That gives a little less space on the inside of the cabinets, but there are also no hidden corners for dust and dirt to collect.

That's an interesting idea, but yeah, I can see how that would require a lot more precision than making the face frame oversized and flush triming the outside with a router bit. I might try that on my next drawer unit though.

I use Euro hinges with a base designed to screw on to the face frame, so that's not an issue for me.

[Dave Shute]

Are you doing these jobs for clients or for personal projects? The material of choice for me in case goods for solid tone has been Duralam. It does require you actually have to do the case work but you have a commercial finish on a domestic hardwood ply. You can also purchase prefinished plys in certain species to save on time. I never use melamine, spent years in a commercial shop working with that and plastic laminates. Appleply and Baltic Birch are also good for natural casework, more stable with really hard cores but more money too. Worth every penny in my opinion.