Anyone use Ikea cabinets for the shop?

Teikas Dad · Jan 13, 2010

Looking at Ikea's website...their basic white cabinets are not too shabby looking and reasonably priced. The base cabinets have legs to keep the cabinet off the floor so sweeping or vacuuming under them is doable.
Anyone used them yet?

For the price it might be a quick way to get storage and a general workbench in the shop. I have a 4'X6' assembly table that I use for anything heavy duty. I'm thinking about these for storage and for a workbench for lightweight work.

gerryw · Jan 13, 2010

well i have a ikea kitchen, and they are well built.
I would figure they would hold up very well, 3/4" shelves and all.A stack of dishes is pretty heavy, and after 5 yrs i have no sagging
The hinges are very good quality.
A really good side benefit is the top cabinet installation system, basically its a horizontal track that you bolt (not screw) the uppers too..... so you reconfigure the cabinets by just loosening the bolts and sliding then along the track.

You can also just screw them to the wall but the track is a nice option

gerry

Chreese · Jan 14, 2010

Servus,

I don't know if there's a difference between the European and the US Ikea cabinets but those kitchen wall cabinets I bought in Austria are good in my opinion. Of course, you can build (or buy) nicer and probably stronger cabinets but I don't think that it is possible to build cabinets at a comparable level of quality for less money. In addition to the wall cabinets I already have in the shop, I plan to get more for the garage. If you wish additional strength how about using glue? Personally, I think that the fasteners should be sufficient but I felt better gluing the cabinets together.

Hope this helps,

Chreese

PS: I think that the hardware (drawer slides etc.) Ikea kitchen cabinets come with is fine.

gesoffen · Jan 14, 2010

I did a recent kitchen remodel and used some stock cabinets (middle to low price point, but I can't remember the manufacturer) and after having used Ikea cabinets in remodeling my wife's craft room/office, I wish I had used those in my kitchen as well. Cheaper, more available features, flexible sizes/installation, a brick-and-mortar store to view and purchase cabinets/accessories, easy support available down the road, etc.

As mentioned before, certainly better cabinets can be bought on an unlimited budget and better cabinets can be built. But for the money, Ikea's are pretty good. I'm looking into them for my garage remodel as my "cheap" option. For hobbyist use, they'd certainly stand the test of time. However, if you break something, chances are, they'll have replacement pieces available at the store or online.

specmiata · Jan 14, 2010

Ikea kitchen cabinets are quite good, especially for the money. Most if not all the hardware is Blum, and the laminate coating they use is very durable. I've done 3 kitchens and 2 laundry rooms with their cabinets and they all held up very well. The "standard" euro-sizing also makes finding accessories pretty easy.

toxicz28 · Jan 14, 2010

Your best bet, take a ride out to their New Haven store and check out the cabinets you're interested in. They usually have the cabinets, bookcases, etc. set up in the store so you can "feel" them. They have decent quality stuff.

Stuey · Jan 14, 2010

I LOVE Ikea's Alex units. They're not ideal for tools since they don't have full extension slides, but they're useful for other things.

SharkD · Jan 14, 2010

I put a collection of Ärlig White cabinets up along two walls in my attached, insulated garage in late 2008. They've held up well, including one 2-door, 30" wide cabinet that's been filled (and I mean filled -- there is no additional space to be found) with gallon and quart-sized paint cans, which are mostly full.

Box assembly took about a hour and a half, by myself and then it took another hour or so, with the help of my father to hang six wall cabinets and a corner cabinet, using the Ikea rail. A little shimming and tying the cabinets together, they were ready to go. The rail made it surprisingly easy to get the boxes in-plumb, even though the walls were fairly wavy.

All told, I felt like I got more than I paid for, even though the Ärlig's were the cheapest of the cheap. (Looking at the site, the low end is now called "Harlig," I'm not sure what they changed.)

I'll try to get a pic tonight.

PS -- Another plus -- there is a pre-built set of Ikea cabinets in the Google Sketchup online "warehouse" -- which made it easy to play around with various configurations before I spent a dime. (If you're new to Sketchup, the easiest way to "build" your shop in the computer is to draw/trace a plan view, then "pull" the walls up.)

SteveP · Jan 14, 2010

Also on the Ikea website is a home planner that you can look at and design your workspace using the various cabinetry. Gives you pricing too.

Teikas Dad · Jan 14, 2010

Cool! Thanks for the input.... :thumbup:

anybody want to guess where I'll be going this weekend?

toxicz28 · Jan 14, 2010

Teikas Dad said:
Cool! Thanks for the input.... anybody want to guess where I'll be going this weekend?

New Haven?

Teikas Dad · Jan 14, 2010

toxicz28 said:
New Haven?

Good guess!

NotEnough · Jan 15, 2010

I considered them when we were building our house, but the builder wouldn't let me. Do some google'ing. It was 4 yrs ago, but there are some people who had posted modifications to the cabinets to beef them up.

My only concern with them was the particle board bodies over time. I do love all of the door options, the hardware,and the look (modern contemporary stuff for us).

houstonhusker · Jan 25, 2010

SharkD...can you post pics of your setup? I'm looking to purchase the Harlig ones this weekend and I'm curious what they'll look like. I'm planning on installing all Ikea cabinets for my workbench and storge...

metalwork · Jan 26, 2010

IKEA is having a lot of in-store blowouts right now. Their aluminum louver roll-front cabinets are at $75 from $250. Much stuff discontinued and will phase out by April.

tdoty · Jan 26, 2010

They have some screaming deals on white countertop and a really good price on a beechwood "butcher block" counter top too. I'm thinking about it!

Tim D.

manansal · Feb 4, 2010

i bought these recently. they seem ok. i'm not gonna put anything super heavy in them.

tfro · Feb 4, 2010

I just put up 8' of the cheapest white cabinets from ikea in the garage on the household goods/sports equipment side. I'm happy with them, but I'm not sure if I'll put them on the other side of my garage where I keep tools and car parts. They don't seem like they will be the strongest of cabinets so I'm nervous to load them up with too much weight.

houstonhusker · Feb 4, 2010

Manansal, those are good looking cabinets...what's the name of them...might be interested in getting some of those...

manansal · Feb 4, 2010

houstonhusker said:
Manansal, those are good looking cabinets...what's the name of them...might be interested in getting some of those...

they are "besta burs" and were $99 a piece i think. they are around 6 ft long and around 10-11 inches deep and tall.

they are particle board and glossy laminate.

Jack Olsen · Feb 4, 2010

manansal, did you paint them, or did they come red?

charged9250 · Feb 4, 2010

We need pics of the Ikea cabinets!! LOL.
Thinking about installing some also.

manansal · Feb 4, 2010

Jack Olsen said:
manansal, did you paint them, or did they come red?

they come in different glossy colors. red, white....i think yellow also.

HAMAR · Feb 5, 2010

http://www.ikea.is/categories/530/categories/530/products/5787

The price for '' Besta Burs'' in Iceland is $250

But they look good :thumbup:

Rockytop · Jan 8, 2012

Greetings from the Far north.
I'm happy to see that I'm not alone in the idea of using IKEA cabinets designed for the storage of Electronic equipment/CD as a garage storage unit. These wall mounted units cost me $100 each at IKEA, come in Red, White or Black. I like the high gloss finish and the soft opening hardware they have; also I like the different look for garage storage.

I elected to invest in nearly all IKEA cabinets for my garage storage plan. I used simple unfinished pine cabinets (four paired in two's) from the IKEA bedroom section and finished them myself to save some $. These were $80 each. I also purchased two sets of single row kitchen cabinets (the least expensive I could get at IKEA) for either side of my work bench. 1 3/4 " Maple bench tops came on XMas sale from Grizzly Tools in Bellingham; rolling tool case below came from Costco ($499.00 ouch). Simple sliding hardware in that unit could be better but rolling drawers with bearings were not in the budget as they seem to come at a $premium$.

This set up is 'green' and needs much polishing. My plan here is to use the right hand lower IKEA cabinet to store a shop vac coupled with the Amazon available iVac automated vacuum switch to collect dust from a future miter saw. I used the IKEA shelves from this same cabinet to extend the height of both IKEA cabinets to make the total bench height of 43" which is my personal optimum workbench height (elbow bent at 90 degrees to floor). This worked well and matches the cabinet perfectly; however it now requires I build two custom drawers in the voids left in the upper cabinet extensions. None of this would have been possible without the assistance of my father; who steady like a train; sharp like a razor steered me away from disaster on several occasions.

To the right of this set up there are pipes extending from the wall; these lead to exterior hot and cold water hose bib connections for future outdoor shower and washing whatever with hot water outside. The wooden skiff has no idea what she's in for. A hot water scrub! This will be framed with more cabinets and a stainless sink/cleaning table for processing game, cleaning fish and the like.

I'm now looking for IKEA or similar cabinet for the opposite wall in my new construction 32x40 for the storage of everything one acquires while surviving Alaska year round. Tall (8'+) upright cabinets with large doors to conceal the disaster within. Thanks for looking.
RTop.

scotstern · Jan 8, 2012

I used Ikea Cabinets in my shop and they are great. The quality is fantastic and they are reasonable priced.

TurboBlog · Jan 8, 2012

First off, scotstern Wow! What a setup!

Here's my Ikea cabinets. I bought them used and find them to be very sturdy and good looking too. Here's a couple photos, for more install photos, check out my website here:

magnusk750 · Jan 8, 2012

Just watch out that you dont buy the cheapest plastic legs, they are used when there is a closing board in front of the legs. If the space is left open they are too weak. Maybe they tell when buying, just thought I'd mention it.

PT Doc · Jan 8, 2012

Great p car. Oh, someday.

jhelrey · Jan 8, 2012

I used Ikea cabinets because the owners had them in the laundry room and I redid the space.

35mm · Jan 8, 2012

We put an Ikea kitchen in our last house. I was shocked at the quality for the money.

Also, at least the boxes are made in the US. My wife's cousin runs the line where they are made.

kbs2244 · Jan 8, 2012

Well. I am going to swim upstream a bit here.

I have nothing against kitchen cabinets.
I have them in the kitchen.
In my library as book shelve bases.
And in the laundry room.

But there is no way they would survive in my shop.
I have tried them from all kinds of manufactures in all kinds of styles.
Including Ikea.
They were take outs from remolding jobs.
Some very high end and only 2 years old.
They just don’t make the cut.
Now I just give them away.

Even the narrow 18 inch ones cannot handle a shelf full of canned good without going to added shop quality roller guides.
It seems the heaviest load they were designed for is a dozen steak knives.

If you are putting away soldering irons and such, fine.
But they are not designed for the weight of a lot of steel tools.
The shelves fall and the bottoms come out of the drawers.

paranoid56 · Jan 8, 2012

still a work in progress

just put up 6 ikea cabinets on the back wall of my garage.

Hoologan · Apr 26, 2013

I just finished my home office using IKEA kitchen cabinets (AKURUM) and I have to admit, they are NICE. My grandfather was a cabinet builder his whole life, so I know what quality cabinetry looks like. These are not those, but they are nice, nevertheless.

After doing my office, I thought about how they would work in the garage and that's how I found this thread. Overall, I would not load the drawers too much as one of the previous posters mentioned, but for the hobbyist, they would be great in the garage. You really can't beat them for the price, IMO, and they go together so fast it's almost ridiculous. After one weekend, I would still be designing the base cabinets and getting the drawers all lined up, but with these I had eight boxes installed and finished in one weekend and one evening after work. I even built some bases to keep the cabinets as low as possible rather than using IKEA's available legs and made my own steel brackets to support the work surface. I'm strongly considering using them in the garage after this.

It's important to note that their kitchen line is far superior to their general storage junk.

Jay Sco · Apr 26, 2013

You can't bring up a 14 month old thread without posting pics. So get some up in your garage and show us how they look!

mpraddict · Apr 27, 2013

I put in Ikea cabinets in the garage a couple years ago. They're very nice, but I wouldn't use them on the shop side.

Vvmvbb · Apr 27, 2013

---hung some inexpensive Ikea Cabinets that I like. Spray painted the doors Rustoleum Sunrise Red and added the rail handles. I think it came out pretty good:

Wuaname · Jul 22, 2014

Bump to an old thread. Any recent uses of Ikea cabinets in the garage?

justin1795 · Jul 23, 2014

another option may be if you have a habat for humanity store. I purchased a cabinet for my trailer there.

mikethestig · Jul 23, 2014

I put 3 of the cabinets in my woodshop, kinda nice since they hang on a rail so they are easy to put up by yourself. I would have put them in the garage but I found a 10 ft kitchen set top and bottom on freecycle for nada it even has the lazy susan in the corner cabinet the easily stores gallon and quart bottles and a few spray cans too

Anyone use Ikea cabinets for the shop?

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