After living for a year with a "temporary" kitchen, we're taking the plunge. When we bought the house, there was really no kitchen to speak of -- no stove, no working dishwasher, a moldy 'fridge... it was pretty bad.
We liked the original Eichler set-up so much, we're keeping the original floorplan (with minor code-oriented changes, of course) which means no moving of major services (which is good). After insulating and drywalling the area -- an improvement over the original thin insulation and paneling -- we're set to install the new cabinets and countertops.
We chose Ikea's Nexus Yellow Brown doors which we're already used in the adjacent laundry area and master bath. The color pairs well with (or replaces) the original golden-toned mahogany panels and trim. There are many opinions out there on Ikea's quality, but after looking at a few options, I think they'll work well for us. In many cases, they're just as durable -- in fact they use Blum hardware which is used on much more expensive lines -- and definitely fits the budget. The entire kitchen (cabinets) clocked in at about $5K.
The most amazing bit is that the entire kitchen (save the doors which had to be shipped from LA) fit in the back of the truck... and Marty likes the new, open floor pre-install...
One word of wisdom for anyone contemplating an Ikea kitchen: when picking up the pieces, double-check each box for damage -- especially the large/heavy ones -- often this means opening them. Don't hope for the best here as Murphy's law will get the best of you. There's only a thin layer of cardboard between a nice sharp melamine edge and something hell-bent on damaging it (forklift, dolly, angry Ikea employee, etc.). We had to make several trips back because one of the larger pieces was damaged... and all of the same unit at the Emeryville store were also damaged. We ended up driving to East Palo Alto for the replacement.
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