Ikea Score

Its no secret in DYI home reno circles that Ikea is where its at for a good kitchen at a good price.  The best thing about Ikea kitchens is their drawer systems.

The big ugly orange kitchen in my house is a big time fail in the drawer department.  I have four TINY 17" drawers.  We have FIVE people living in our house.  To give you some perspective, we have NO junk drawer.  Try and find a pen in my house....I dare you.

That picture was taken with my phone which gives everything an odd blue hue.  It actually makes the cabinets look better.

The worst part of it isn't even these sad little drawers, its the even more sad little cabinet next too them.  Its only 11" wide but is an absolute volcano.  I double dog dare you to open it.....

I have lived with this pending explosion for ELEVEN years.  I have spent years dreaming of Ikea pot drawers and their delicious horizontal storage potential.

A few years ago, Ikea came out with a door style called Liljestad.  Although a dark brown stain, I had palpitations just thinking about it.  I pondered if the profile was a close enough match to pull out what I had and just slide in some pot drawers and paint the whole kitchen white.  By the time I decided last spring that, yes it was close enough, Ikea discontinued it.

Clearly, however, the Ikea gods were working in my favor.  Last week, a good 6 months after it was discontinued, I walked into my local Ikea and found, on clearance, one last set of Liljestad pot drawer fronts sitting in the "as-is" room.  Grand total:  $10.  I also scored drawer boxes for $5 each and a cabinet base for half price.

And so begins the transformation of my orange kitchen into a sleek white beauty.