Our Ikea Kitchen (Only 3 Years Late!)

No more being a tease, it's full-monty time.  Here it is: our Ikea kitchen with the Nexus yellow-brown cabinets.  It was completed back in May & June of 2008.  I can't believe we've lived with it for over three years now. 

Except for the granite installation, my husband did all of the work himself, all the way down from ripping out and installing drywall (apparently, the old ceramic tile backsplash did not want to leave), on up to screwing in every piece of cabinet hardware.  You can see a "Before" shot and some of the process here on this old post. (Note: he's not a contractor by trade. In fact, he's plays a mild-mannered computer geek by day.)

I live in a very typical, newer (11 years old) builder-grade home, and everything about the old kitchen was builder-grade.  We didn't change any of the architecture or tear down any walls...it's just a typical u-shaped kitchen. Except now we like it much, much better.

I remember this part as being the biggest pain in the ass: installing that narrow top cabinet above the fridge.  Oy.  I recall the full weight of it resting on my husband's head and shoulders as he tried to wrestle it into place.  Evidently, the width of the front of this niche was narrower than the back. Fun!  And no, we did not go out and buy a new Subzero fridge.  It was free. FREE.

My father-in-law is an installer and repair guy for high-end appliances, and this was a "second" that a client didn't want.  (It had a couple of scratches and a small ding.) He drove it down from Oregon for us. That kind of windfall never happens to us, but this time, it did. 

Some other shots, from the top:

We created the island by putting two base cabinets back-to-back.  The front of the island, facing the family room, stores kids homework and craft supplies. The back of the island has two deep drawers.  The island, with the granite slab, is heavy.  Standing right next to it, I can feel a slight depression in the laminate floor from its weight. 

My husband was able to link all the under-cabinet lighting together, so that I can flick all of them on & off with one switch. (As opposed to going down the line and doing them individually.)  

The lighting fixture is also Ikea (no longer available).  I didn't want to go "all Ikea," but I liked this fixure...it kinda reminds me of the Capri pendant from Jonathan Adler.   As for the cheap matchstick blinds...those were supposed to be a temporary solution, but you know how that goes. 

 I love, love, love the backsplash tiles from Susan Jablon Mosaics.  They are definitely the "jewelry" and bling of the kitchen.  I love the shimmer created by just walking across the room.  You can see more of the sample tile colors, and read about me geeking out on them, in this post.  (I still have all those lovely sample tiles...what to do with them?)

Another view...

And another view, of the sink

And one last view. The door leads to my tiny laundry room, and then onto the garage. And no...this long counter is NOT always this clean.  This is where old homework and junk mail goes to die.

A final word:  I know the funny nose-wrinkle that some people get when you say "it's from Ikea."  That's a long debate for another day: custom-built modern design vs. affordability for the great unwashed.   But I will say: we've lived with the kitchen for over three years now; these pictures were taken just a few months ago.  Everything has held up very well...including those awesome drawer-closing dampeners that let the drawers glide silently shut on their own.  So cool. And I haven't mentioned the cost yet -- but this was easily under $15K. 

I have two children, (now ages 6 and 9) who are not careful about anything, least of all how they treat a kitchen.  If I had to do it all again, I'd make some different choices (not all that thrilled with the stainless sink, wish we a double wall oven, etc.).  But this is from a person who rearranges furniture a few times a year, so what do you expect?

In the end, I am still thrilled to look at it here, and know that we made this happen, ourselves.  Yay us!