Monday, September 8, 2008

My Almost Finished IKEA Adel Medium Brown Kitchen

If my hard drive hadn't crashed, I'd be able to put up a before and after shot. Oh well... I was going to tile the backsplash, but decided against it since the counters had a built in backsplash and I felt like the tile would have made everything too busy.

The pantry in between the oven and refrigerator has a swing out door, but it keeps hitting the oven. I'm going to convert it to a pull out soon. I also need to finish putting on the handles and attach the cover panel to the microwave cabinet. Unfortunately, the IKEA wall cabinet cover panels are significantly longer than the cabinet itself (so if you use an under cabinet light, it would be long enough to accommodate the coordinating moulding strip). Once I cut it to size, I'll put it up.

I sill wish there was a way to make the island a foot wider, but it's okay, I still love it. You know you set your kitchen up correctly when you can find everything you need immediately because it's all in the perfect spot. And for all the cooktop-in-the-island-naysayers...I love mine! My daughter stays on the side to help me cook. I can watch her (or the TV) while I'm cooking. And I cook everything high heat, and haven't had any splattering problems.

I wanted these very deep window sills so I could fit my herb pots. The carpenter built them so strong that I can actually stand my 30 pound child on top of it with no problem. Unfortunately, I didn't factor in the faucet but thankfully found the perfect one by Moen. High enough to fill deep pots, but low enough to fit under the window sill. I also was unable to use the Swanstone sink I had (anyone wanna buy a like new sink?) because it was a smidge too big, so I had to use my old Kohler cast iron one. Always have a plan B.


Laminate counters are very easy to seem together. (Can you believe these are stock Home Depot counters? Much glossier than the Lowes postform counters.) I used the ledger boards that came with the IKEA plinths (toe kicks) as build up strips and simply screwed the counters down with the IKEA screws that came with the cabinets. Have someone hold the counter down while you do it. For the seems, I screwed in one side, used the glue that came with the miter tie bolt package, had someone push the two pieces together and screwed them down. Nice tight seem, no big deal. I also went over the seem when everything was dry with a bead of clear caulk and and wiped it in to fill in any unlevel spots in the glue.

Obviously, there's still a bit more to do. It's just nice to finally have a fully functioning kitchen back!

I love having a dishwasher.

I'll write more about the Jenn Air island hood later, but holy crap that thing rocks!

I made pizza and scones and was able to roll out the dough directly on the island. I'm glad I changed my mind and went with the butcher block. And for anyone you doesn't believe in the durability of laminate, I've had nothing but laminate all my life and I've never had a problem...and believe me when I say I don't baby that stuff. And as a DIY, ridiculously cost effective.

When drilling the holes for the handles, you need to be in the mood to do it. If you're tired and sick of doing them, chances are you'll screw it up. It's better to deal with handless fronts than to try to patch up a bunch of mis-drilled holes later.

So what do you think? I didn't post a pic of the kitchen from the front because I didn't finish the back of the island yet. I have a plan....you'll just have to wait and see!

8 comments:

  1. seriously? no one has posted a comment yet? looks great - i've been back to your blog several times for reference. tell me - have you had any trouble with the butcherblock countertops? we're considering them, but i am worried it is too much wood in our kitchen - wood floor, wood ceiling, wood cabinets wood countertop. i'm also worried about going to laminate OR countertop as we've had tile and have been spoiled - we put everything on that thing! any input - you can respond here, i'll check back.

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  2. Thanks! I get a lot of lurkers and random people, but not a lot of comments. Who knows? lol

    Can you have too much wood? Hmmm...I don't know. What I do know is if you look around your kitchen and it makes you smile, who cares if other people think it's too much wood? They don't have to see it everyday! Follow your heart, not the crowd.

    I love the butcher block b/c I bake a lot, but you either have to Waterlox it and not cut on it, be super meticulous about cleaning it, or get used to some stains and scrapes. I chose the latter and am much happier for it.

    I wouldn't put a hot pot on it (but I wouldn't put one on anything w/o a trivet) but I love laminate. I think it gets a bad rap. Cleans easy. Relatively inexpensive. I've cut an apple on it and it survived. I've left pools of water on it and pools of bleach on it when I got a stubborn stain in it, and no problems.

    Granite's on it's way out. Unless you love it, don't bother. Go w/ laminate if you like it and if you sell your house, then spend the money putting in whatever's trendy at the moment.

    (I checked your blog out, OMG your son I seriously one of the most gorgeous kids I've ever seen! Those eyes! Wow)

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  3. Your kitchen looks great! We used the same cabinets in our house, so I have a question for you. I have to little ones of my own, so I am constantly cleaning my kitchen. I have run onto some trouble finding a way to really clean the cabinets. I have to scrape dried milk off with my fingernails. Do you use a product on your cabinets, if so what do you like?

    Thanks!

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  4. Thanks! I have to say, I haven't had any big issues cleaning them (prob b/c I almost never do b/c I'm lazy lol) but I swear by those magic erasers. OMG! Seriously, those suckers are pretty awesome. Not so cost effective, but if if you keep one on the side just for your cabinets, I bet you'd get a lot of use out of it. Plus they have them at the dollar store now. I'm all about a good deal! Hope that helps :)

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  5. I like the kitchen! I just moved into a new apartment and looked at the exact same countertops at Home Depot. How did you secure the countertops to the cabinets? -Ryan

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  6. I'm not sure if my last post stuck, but I'll try it again :) I was looking for some great pics of these cabinets and found your site. I immediately sent them to my husband. The thing that we are stuck on is what counter tops to get.

    I think laminate is the way we will go. We went to home depot, but don't know if it would be easy for us to install ourselves. Do you have instructions/steps on how you tackled it?

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  7. I never saw that last comment! I wasn't ignoring you Ryan, sorry.

    Laminate is super easy to install. I used all four feet on my base cabinets, so I had the ledger board (kinda like furing strips...maybe 1/2"x2" strips of wood) leftover.

    You put the laminate on top of the cabinet w/ the ledgerboard b/t the two and screw it in. I think screws came with the cabinets...maybe. You need two people though, b/c someone has to push down (or sit on) the top so the screw catches it.

    I'll try to take some pics and post them. I never thought to do it. The only issue I had was that my walls weren't flush and I had to stick backer rod in the space and clear chaulk on top of that. Looks a little odd, but no one's noticed yet and it's been over a year lol.

    Good luck and I hope that helps!

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  8. What color is your tile. I am doing my kitchen in medium brown as well and was thinking of doing my tile similar color to yours.

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