You know I am the world’s biggest proponent of doing things “the hard way.” But sometimes, I see these Ikea kitchen makeovers, and I think: They look pretty darn good and would be so easy, especially compared to spending five years hunting down vintage steel cabinets. Case in point, above: Jerry has embarked on a new project — buying midcentury homes in Pittsburgh and renovating them, as required and in period-sympathetic style, for rental. I like to show lots of different ways to go after your home remodeling projects. I have never shown an Ikea kitchen before. I think this could be a very practical and relatively affordable solution for many people. Read on for Jerry’s story, for more photos, and for more discussion of The Ikea Option. Do you have experience with these cabinets? Please share!
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Jerry writes:
Hi Pam,I have attached pictures of my first Mid-Century Modest Renovation. The house is a ranch built in 1963 that I renovated to rent to retro appreciators. So far that has been a bit of a tough sell in Pittsburgh, but I am not giving up. In fact, I am looking at a second property to rehab in the same manner. Many of the resources I used to refurbish this ranch came directly from info I obtained through Retro Renovation.Actually, aside from the kitchen not much is new. The kitchen was gutted, everything is new except the doorbell cover (Nutone). The pattern for the floor tile came from Retro Renovation.Ikea cabinets, glass back splash and fixtures (new). Boomerang Formica counter top. The only color still in the line (gray). I have also attached an image of the kitchen (before). The old metal cabinets are still down in the garage, but I am afraid this kitchen endured a bad 70’s makeover.Bathroom does have new sink, toilet and medicine cabinet. The cabinet came from Retro Renovation. The sink in a house brand, but I thought it looked a lot like some of the Crane models you showcased.The black and white tile is original as are the chalk fish above the shower (attached). The floor tile was original. It was hard to believe that the whole first floor was covered in this sherbet green sculpted carpet, even the bathroom. When I pulled up the carpet in the bathroom there was this beautiful white tile with black and grey specks. It took a bunch of stripping and scrubbing to get the old wax and carpet residue off, but it came out really beautiful.The drapes either came from companies you listed on RR (living room) or from cloth purchased at a local thrift store, thanks to my wife Mary Jo. All the furniture is mid-century, mostly purchased from two local stores Mostly Mod (no longer in business) and Retro on 8th both in Homestead, PA right down the street.The Lane bedroom came from Craigslist. The hardwood floors were refinished. Oh, and the house numbers came from Home Depot through information from one of the blogs you link to. All the light fixtures are new except the swags and the side-table lamp in the living room.Jerry
More info and more photos on this rental house in West Mifflin, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania can be seen at:
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Thank you, Jerry — what a lovely remodel, and way to go for your love of the midcentury modest and your desire to preserve and restore these homes.
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I really love the way you rearranged the appliances in the kitchen — the refrigerator looks great at the back now. The floor is terrific, and I know that many readers will love how you incorporated the glass tile backsplash. You also finished out the bathroom perfectly, and omg, that original floor! I sure hope you find an appreciative renter for #4201 — and for a long series of fixer-uppers to come. P.S., Go Steelers!!!!
Resources for this remodel:
- Ikea Akurum kitchen cabinets – now discontinued but Ikea usually has similar cabinet systems available see ’em here.
- Patterns for 1950s vinyl tile floors
- Formica boomerang laminate countertop, Charcoal
- Nutone 455FL medicine cabinet with side lights
- Barkcloth for living room curtains from Tonic Living
Let’s talk about the long-term quality
of Ikea and other stock kitchen cabinets today
Okay, peoples, now on to Ikea. It is pretty amazing, the selection of cabinets this company offers, including the many door styles and colors. The basic white sink cabinet I showed above is: $58. My gosh, my family can spend that much on dinner at an inexpensive Italian restaurant.
Glossy red over MDF — sliders in the case of the wall cabinet, above.
Hey, the door above ain’t too far from Avocado, so Ikea gets props from that. There are many colors and woodgrains, glass-fronts, too….
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Honestly, I’ve never written about Ikea cabinets before, for two reasons. (1) Because I always felt like other blogs had that territory well covered, and I wanted to plow new ground. And (2) Because I have these qualms about the longterm quality of these cabinets. Hey: I have my qualms about the longterm quality of Almost All stock cabinets you’d buy today “at low prices” from Big Box stores… and even qualms about “not so low priced” cabinets from a variety of sources.
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I am not an expert on all the different kitchen cabinet manufacturers or even, exactly what to look for to ensure good long-term quality. When I was doing my aquamarine kitchen, I bought a Consumer Reports online subscription to see what they recommended. As I recall, key issues included looking for: Solidity of “the box” that that doors and drawers to screwed on to. Indeed, the doors and drawers on our 1975 cabinets were all falling off their cheap (clearly) particle board boxes.
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I have this expectation, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable: Kitchen cabinets should last virtually forever. Well-made 1950s wood cabinets did. My steel cabinets will. How long will these Ikeas — and other “affordable” kitchen cabinets made today — made today last?
This summer, Dear Husband and I stayed at a place on vacation that had an Ikea Akurum kitchenette — I took photos, of course, there it is, above. I just asked DH what he remembered about the cabinets. I knew he would remember, because I was all interested in them at the time and tortured him to look at them with me. His recollection, verbatim: “They were nice, they were stylish… but they were chintzy… you know… thin.”
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I don’t want to make anyone feel bad if they have these cabinets in their home. I think they could work very well for many people. They may last a long time — much longer than my fears suggest. And oh my gosh, the price for the style sounds fantastic. But will they last long enough and provide the solid “thump” hand-feel that would it would take to satisfy hard-to-satisfy me? I don’t think so, not to live with for the rest of my life. But for a carefully used single-, couple- or family kitchen, a rental, a mother-in-law apartment, a vacation house? Yes, sounds like Ikea is worth checking out.
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BungalowBILL says
I am beginning to think that Ikea cabinets have a place. We’re in a era where people redo their kitchens about every 10 years, so why buy cabinets that are going to last 100 years? I think Ikea fills a niche for those that redecorate often. You can change your style without breaking the bank. Plus, this is the part I really hate to admit, but I am getting to an age where a 50 year warranty isn’t going to mean much.
pam kueber says
This breaks my sustainability heart. Please don’t let’s renovate our kitchens and bathrooms every 10 years! There is not enough Earth for that to go around!
chris says
BB — I know! This crossed my mind too. We have a badly “remuddled” kitchen that is sort of driving us crazy. However — we have two kids in need of braces. A college fund that amounts to a piggy bank full of change. One car that is just hanging in there. By the time we are able to afford to fix up the kitchen, we will most certainly be getting the senior discount at Kroger! At that point, seeing 50 years out of a kitchen would be really optimistic! 🙂
Having said that, I agree with Pam that a person shouldn’t want a “disposable kitchen” either.
I think it comes down to each person being able to find the best quality they can get for their needs and their budget.
Sandra says
We did the same linoleum pattern in the ebay office! Love it.
Brian says
The bathroom floor is my favorite element, but I’d like to applaud Jerry for the new kitchen layout. The new configuration seems so much more open and workable, even though — horrors! — it’s not a strict “triangle” of workstations anymore. Know the rules and know when to break them.
Jill says
we also opted for Ikea cabinets when remodeling the kitchen in our ’52 ranch — it had suffered a horrible ’80s “remuddle” before we purchased — and I am very impressed with the quality for the money. The hardware is strong – and our contractor and the cabinetmaker who installed them had nothing but praises (I agree that the key is proper installation by a professional) we also had them somewhat reinforced in order to insure longevity but am confident they will hold up well!
miriam says
We moved into a (mid century) home three years ago and added an island to our kitchen from Ikea. It is great, well-made and with modern bells and whistles. We were able to customize it. As to building it: Ikea gave us the name of a company that knows how to build their cabinets. My husband stayed at home with the 3 men who came to build it and said he never would have been able to do it properly himself (and he’s good at this sort of thing).
Chris H says
Jerry has none a nice job and the house looks great. Few land lords would take the trouble to renovate in a period style.
I want to respectfully offer a negative opinion about the cabinets – they seem to me better suited to a “Euro” look than to MCM. I know the simple lines make one think MCM, and they certainly are a good option for this rental project, but something about them just says they aren’t “American”, aren’t “authentic”. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there is something “flat” about them. Even old steel cabinets or site-built plywood cabinets with slab doors had a rounded edge here and there. IMO they just don’t quite work for the MCM “look”.
They might be nice if you were doing an asian style theme in the kitchen.
That said, they are a very reasonable compromise (life is all about compromise) for someone who doesn’t have the time/money to look for vintage steel and needs to replace some cabinets.
Jerry, nothing personal. Great job on the rental property.
pam kueber says
Hi Chris, I hear what you’re saying about the flat slab doors. I think that in some midcentury modern homes you did get that look. Also, as you know, this site is not prescriptive about having to be authentic … sometimes close enough is darn good enough!
Chris H says
Pam
I hope my comment wasn’t too negative. I agree, they are close enough, and they look pretty good. A very reasonable alternative to authentic MCM cabinets. I wonder what other handles/pulls are available – maybe that would help them look a little more “period”.
pam kueber says
I think there are lots of choices of what to do for handles, but I didn’t look at that closely. Get a plain MDF slab — add chevrons?
Ana says
Pam, you’re right about the slab doors. In my former mid-century neighborhood in Austin, all of the original kitchens had slab doors like the IKEA kitchens. To open them, you felt for the grooves along the tops or bottoms (or added hardware). The main difference was that the hinges weren’t completely hidden. See below:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/102587830277269220184/albums/5341675886453743905/5341689510339439298
I refreshed my kitchen sort of the way Jerry did. (He did an excellent job.) My cabinets were in great condition so I just freshened them up with white paint. The yellow marble Formica counter was in bad shape (scorched spots, rippling) so I replaced it with IKEA butcher block and white sink. The Formica went up the walls, too, so when I removed it, I just went with white subway tile as I planned to sell it and needed something neutral. I had kept the original almond (?) gas stovetop and wall oven as they worked perfectly and found a really inexpensive floor model almond refrigerator. (The guys at Sears were like, “You want the ALMOND one? Why?”) You can see part of the color scheme in the aqua soffit — the colors in the kitchen/dining area/den were aqua, olive, yellow and white, though I neutralized it quite a bit before selling (though a lot of things, like flooring, had been done by the owners of the estate before I bought it). Here’s the other side of the kitchen/dining area:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/102587830277269220184/albums/5341675886453743905/5341676932153321042
pam kueber says
Your remodel looks great!
Ana says
Thanks! I loved that house. The layout was perfect and extremely flexible with tons of storage — it felt much bigger than 1,200 sq. ft. And it was ridiculously energy efficient because of how it was sited on the lot and because of the shade from the old trees. Unfortunately, though, the neighborhood began to have a lot of problems — rising crime (break-ins, home invasions) with little police presence. It’s gotten better now, I hear, but at the time, living alone, the stress got to be too much.
The house got a lot of offers — everyone loved that many original details, like the turquoise bathroom tile, were intact. All the realtors said it was a selling point so there’s hope for the other modest mid-century houses out there. I think if more people do things like Jerry, being sensitive to a home’s character while updating, then the houses will appeal to more people and get them excited about preserving what was so great about mid-century homes.
Jerry Coltin says
Thanks Chris. I didn’t take it personally. I was a bit reluctant myself to go with Ikea. I have a good friend that is a cabinet maker. He put Ikea in his historic log cabin renovation. He convinced me they were the best way to go.
You can’t argue with the cost. The construction is surprisingly solid. They have style and a good look though not completely period. still more period than anything else out there. They have really great features that can be added like pull out shelves for corner cabinets. The hardware is first-rate with soft closing doors and drawers.
I am pretty happy with the stuff myself. I had hoped to find an original kitchen that I could restore, but there wasn’t much to salvage here.
Tom Zoebeein says
Jerry,
I currently rent my house, a small bungalow home, and if I lived in Pittsburgh I would absolutely rent that house. But right now I can walk to my office, Pittsburgh is a little too far for a walk from Bel Air MD! So Jerry don’t doubt yourself, what a great idea!
Jerry Coltin says
Thanks for the kind words Tom. Wish you did live in Pittsburgh…
Birgitte says
I love IKEA. I have had 3 of their kitchens in various places we have lived, including where we live now. Their kitchens are wonderful and practical, and according to my not-so-careful husband, “Gil-proof”. If these kitchens can stand up to him, trust me, they will last.
The last apartment we owned before moving where we live now, was 99% IKEA. It looked like a magazine cover and we doubled our money when we sold including the renovation.
Unfortunately, we live 8 hours away from the nearest IKEA now.
Allison says
Consumer Reports rates Ikea cabinets rather high. That’s why I picked Ikea and they don’t disappoint. One MUST follow the directions when building them and use all of the parts, correctly, and install them, correctly. That “correctly” part trips up a lot of people.
Trina Bobrowski says
My Uncle is a contractor in Chicago, and said that the hardware on the IKEA cabinets are super strong.