It seems like there are two groups of people when it comes to putting Ikea stuff together: those who enjoy it and those who want to rip their hair out during the process. We are firmly in the “enjoy it” category. But even then, staring at 143 boxes marked with words that have nothing to do with whats inside of them, is daunting to anyone. Before we started assembling our cabinets, we organized them into categories: cabinet boxes, drawers, door and drawer fronts and miscellaneous cover panels, hinges and legs. For the initial install, we were just putting together the boxes.
We decided to start with the biggest cabinet, the one that will be next to the fridge. It’s a good thing we started with this one because we realized our mistake right off the bat. You see, while we were planning and buying our kitchen, we didn’t realize that the cabinet sizes listed did not include the legs. We got an 80″ and a 15″ cabinet (totaling 95″) to flank the right side of the fridge which, in our minds, would have been perfect for our 96″ ceilings. However, as soon as we put the 80″ cabinet together, it hit us: Once we put the legs on this (which are just over 4″) the combination would no longer fit. And without legs, we won’t be able to pull out the drawers we had planned for the base of the 80″ cabinet. It wasn’t a fun mistake, but fortunately we had only put together the 80″ cabinet box so far–which runs about $110. We were able to return the 15″ cabinet we had planned to hang above that, the doors for the 80″ and 15″ and exchange it for a 90″ cabinet, which with legs on is the perfect height. The exchange cost us about $50 and an 8 hour round trip last Saturday for Chris. Woof.
While he was gone, I put together all the other cabinets myself. I got it down to where I could put a cabinet together in about 11 minutes. It was a little monotonous, but it was fun watching the living room fill up with cabinets as the day wore on.
Installing the cabinets was a breeze thanks to Ikea’s track system. Even though all the base cabinets come with adjustable legs, you still clip the back of the cabinets onto a track so they are guaranteed level without a lot of excess tweaking. So naturally, we installed the track first (on Chris’s lunch break!), anchoring it into every stud on the wall.
When we made the recessed cubby for the fridge, we made it about 26″ deep so the fridge would be flush. Knowing the upper cabinets are only 24″ deep, we added a 2×4 to the back before hanging the track system here so everything would be even once the cabinets and appliances were installed.
We were able to install the track and all the perimeter cabinets in one night and the island cabinets the next night. The island counters have to be anchored to the floor, which we thought would be a nightmare because of our tile, but it wasn’t too bad at all.
We started out by drilling pilot holes through the tile with a diamond tip drill bit made for the job.
Chris made a platform for the base cabinets to sit on that was the same height as the toe kick that came with the cabinets (just over 4″) and secured that to the floor through the pilot holes.
Then we just attached the island cabinets to the base with a couple of screws in each.
Seeing the kitchen altogether was exciting, but maybe a little underwhelming, too. Without interior fittings or doors and drawers or cover panels or countertops, it’s not much to look at.
But, as I keep reminding myself, all that bad office furniture brown (Ikea has this brownish option or white interior boxes and we thought this would be better for the black exteriors we have) will be covered with Ikea’s LAXARBY black cover panels and doors/drawers dressed with brass hardware. And, well, if you follow me on Instagram (@chrislovesjulia), you already know part of the countertops happened this weekend! We hope to share with you those along with finished off cabinets by the end of the week.
I’m a completely new to all of this and this may be a silly questions but why was a base needed for the island?
Because IKEA cabinets only have legs, used for when the cabinets are attached to the wall. In the middle of the room the legs are too wobbly and don’t attach to the floor, so we needed a solid base so the island wouldn’t move when someone leaned against or things like that.
Hi,
I’m just getting into an Ikea installation and thought you’d like to know that Ikea do offer a support system to supplement the legs – see
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/sektion-support-bracket-for-kitchen-island-00298406/
It’s basically a short piece of 2×4 (not exactly 2″ and not exactly 4″) with pre-drilled holes, a bag of hardware and a pair of metal brackets to screw into the floor and cabinets. You use multiple kits, the number depends on how many cabinets you want to join into an island.
Installation details at https://www.ikea.com/us/en/assembly_instructions/sektion-support-bracket-for-kitchen-island__AA-1295177-5_pub.pdf
Do you guys have electric in your island? If so, how did you run it through? I’m building a similar island from Ikea. All pullouts like you have. We are trying to figure out a way to attached the outlets into the island :)
We do have one outlet on the side of the island, across from the ranges. It’s in the top corner of our garbage can drawer. We found if we tucked it as close to the top as we could, our garbage cans could still fit when we close the drawer. But that’s all dependent on the use you have for the cabinets, and the space available. If you have drawers in every spot instead of a more open drawer for garbage cans, I think IKEA makes shallow drawers for their shallow base cabinets. You could try putting one of those in somewhere so that you have an open space behind it. Not sure if that would work, but something to look into!
I hope that helps! Best of luck. :)
We are getting ready to install our IKEA kitchen and as I am planning our built-in fridge and pantry area I noticed after seeing your post that you used a 24″ deep cabinet above the microwave. Can you explain to us what cabinets you used on the right side of the fridge? I installed a 15″ deep x 40″ high cabinet but I don’t like that it’s not sitting flush at the front with our pantry cabinet that is 24″ deep. Any help you can provide is much appreciated. Your kitchen is absolutely gorgeous!!
We used this one: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S29038559/#/S49038558
It’s meant for a microwave, and since we were putting in a built-in microwave, it worked perfect. It’s also the same 24in depth.
I am curious to how your cabinets are holding up after a period of time of using them. We are seriously considering designing an IKEA kitchen and I am concerned about the “wear and tear” after a period of time when compared to solid wood cabinets like the ones sold at Lowes and HD. Thanks in advance!
They are as good as new!!
LOVE your kitchen. Just a quick question in regards to finishing? What did you use as filler to close the space between your drywall wall and the cabinet? Did you just strip a piece of a LAXBARY cover panel to extend the cabinet and then continue with the LAXBARY toe kicker right to the wall?
Yup!