Why Ikea Kitchens Are Awesome

Lets face it. Ikea is great but it is also considered, as Douglas Copeland so famously said in Generation X, semi-disposable swedish furniture.  Ikea kitchens don't fall into the same category as their furniture.

Ikea kitchens are by far the best stock cabinets you can buy.  The drawers have premium, heavy duty slides and the boxes are thicker and better finished than a lot of seemingly higher end kitchens.

That is my builder kitchen.  YES those are staples by the single screw.  These cabinets were made by now defunct Canac  Kitchens which was a division of Kohler.  They are LOUSY.  They were made with thin unfinished particle board, cheap drawer glides and cheap hardware.

Now a side by side comparison with my cabinets on the right and the Ikea on the left.  The Ikea one is a finished on ALL sides.  Its 3/4" thick vs  5/8".  The writing on the side of my old cabinet is so PRETTY -not. 

These are the drawer glides on my old drawers.  This glides are about $3 a set.  They only extend 3/4 of the way out of the box which makes finding things in the back of the drawer a challenge.

Ikea's drawer hardware is substantial.  Its heavy duty and is full extension.  

See, it pulls out ALL the way.  Yeah!