judgey b*tch in the kitch

the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in a house, if not the most important room. It can make or break your appraisal and as you can imagine it weighs heavily on my mind! I’ve been doing a ton of research to learn about cabinets, what makes good cabinets good and junky cabinets junky you know, really scientific stuff. I’ve learned a lot but it’s also starting to creep into my social life. You see, I was at a party a few weeks ago with J and we were just two cool kids hanging out, having a great time, drinking few drinks. See:



we used to be so much cooler. i swear.



and then we migrated to the kitchen and that’s when it happened. I stopped judging the horrible outfits and douchy guys and started judging the CABINETS and kitchen lay out. Seriously, I pulled open a drawer to see if it was a quiet close drawer and I tapped on the door of the cabinet to see if it was real wood. I’m not proud of this and I think I need help or to just stop reading cabinet blogs. It’s embarrassing but the first step to recovery is to admit your problem. right?!

One thing that I did learn that I find amazing is that IKEA kitchen cabinets are actually a really good quality! You just rolled your eyes, right? People are so quick to discount those Sweds and I get it. I have one in my family and he used to refer to his ankles as wrists, “just turn your wrist down while kicking the soccer ball” and after I gave him the puzzled look he would say it again but only this time he would point to his ankle. Hilarious. After you get through the language barrier of IKEA and over the stigma that it’s all cheap you can actually find really great quality cabinets. All IKEA cabinet doors are 100% wood, bet ya didn’t know that!  Consumer reports recently did a review of the IKEA cabinet lines and IKEA cabinets came in 3^rd overall, behind the top two premium brands but well ahead of the big box (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) store brands. Basically unless you’re going for a custom wood kitchen (meaning the base cabinets are made of wood, sized to fit, and start at at least $35k) then every other option you’ll look at will consist of base cabinets made from pressboard or melamine, this goes for in-stock cabinetry and semi-custom cabinetry at Home Depot, Lowes, and even semi-custom kitchen companies.   Still not impressed, huh? Well what if I told you that IKEA cabinets have a 15 year warranty? What if I said that it’s usually cheaper to buy and install IKEA cabinets than it is to reface most cabinets? You guys are tough! Here are some examples

One thing they all have in common is that these kitchens mix the cheap cabinets with the expensive appliances. IKEA cabinets are good building blocks to a kitchen, but with all the money you save you should then use the money to buy better quality for the items get heavy use (ie. fixtures, appliances, etc.). Mix and match, ya know? It’s like creating a great outfit, just because all of your pieces aren’t super expensive doesn’t mean the overall look has to be cheap. Ya heard?

I’m going to sound like a complete hypocrite here but I am 90% sure we won’t be using IKEA cabinets in our house. The down side of IKEA cabinets is that they have limited types of wood (birch, oak), limited colors and limited door styles. As you may remember I really want off-white-ish and the only white that is offered by IKEA is stark white. We were looking at IKEA back when I was pretending to let RC have a say in things. So back then I did a ton of research and didn’t want it to go to waste I thought I should pass it on to you so they next time IKEA cabinets come up in conversation you’ll have a ton of stuff to say! It’s always so awkward when IKEA comes up in conversations and you’re at a loss for words..

chewy candy cars, doesn't that sound delicious?!

 

Side note, next time you’re at IKEA try the frozen yogurt, it’s only $99!!! Also, look out for the weird Swedish candy that I love. I spent a week playing soccer in Sweden when I was 16 and I ate about 2 bags a day (young metabolism and lots of running). They’re weird and taste like foam but I can't help but buy them every time I'm there.