Designer Fronts for Ikea’s Cabinet System
After flying under the radar for years, this secret is starting to go mainstream: using Ikea’s base cabinet system and fitting it with higher end, better looking fronts.
First, why?
The base Ikea system (called ‘Sektion’) is a great product to begin with. It comes in a wide variety of dimensions and configurations to fit nearly every space. It’s very affordable. The hardware items (hinges and drawer slides) are expertly engineered and manufactured by Austrian company Blum. And it’s very affordable. You’d be hard pressed to find a better value when it comes to cabinet boxes. Are there shortcomings? Yes, we will get to these, here and in later posts.
Does it look good?
The great thing is that the majority of a cabinet isn’t seen. The top is covered with typically a stone (granite, marble, quartz, etc), laminate or wood countertop. And the other high visibility area is the actual cabinet front. Ikea’s standard portfolio of cabinet fronts are . . . functional. They do have a large number of designs and colors. Unfortunately, getting the beauty of a real wood front is not an option from Ikea, and most do not have the designer touch. Enter a set of companies offering a better option.
What options are there?
In the US, there are three main players for getting better looking fronts for the Ikea cabinet system: ‘Reform’, ‘Semihandmade’, and ‘Walnut and Oak’.
Reform - A Danish company that partners with a number of designers to create a portfolio of 11 designs. The designs span a number of palettes but overall lean sophisticated. A portion of the options feature real wood, an option not available with Ikea. There fronts are made in Eastern Europe, which means longer lead times and a few quirks, but a quality product overall.
Semihandmade - Based in California. By far the biggest selection of colors that can be used across six different styles. Semihandmade has partnered with a couple of relatively well known designers (Sarah Sherman Samuel) and CLJ on two of their styles. They use a different construction method for most of their fronts, fusing a thin layer of plastic over an MDF panel, with less focus on real wood.
Walnut and Oak - Based in Seattle, this company has focused their portfolio on three designs that were the result of working with Seattle area architects and designers. Their designs lean more modern, highlighting the beauty of real wood. All of their products are made in Washington.
We will go into more detail on a later post on the pluses and minuses of each of these companies. But collectively, between the base Ikea Sektion system and the options from these companies, customers can celebrate that they’ve got a path to a beautiful, inspiring, designer kitchen at an affordable price.
Elevating the Ikea cabinet game to create that designer kitchen
