Want a custom kitchen without the expense?
How To Create A Custom Kitchen Out Of An IKEA Kitchen
Well a good alternative is to bling up an IKEA kitchen instead, so we use the IKEA framework and customise the finishes.
So, you get the look of a custom kitchen without the price tag.
In this blog post we’re going to share with you no less than 17 different custom designed IKEA kitchens.
It’s a mixture of renovations & extensions and each IKEA kitchen has been specifically designed for each situation.
And we’ve also got you covered for customised kitchen cabinets, worktops, kitchen units, kitchen islands and a load more kitchen design ideas besides.
One thing you’ll discover here is just how customisable IKEA kitchens really are and how you can tailor them for your home.
After you go through this blog post your brain will be exploding with IKEA kitchen ideas and you’ll be able to apply a lot of what you discover here to your own kitchen.
Let’s get going:
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 1 – Custom IKEA Kitchen Companies
(photo © Kokeena)
If you are looking for custom finishes for your IKEA kitchen and kitchen cabinets there are several large companies who specialise in doing that for IKEA kitchens & kitchen cabinets.
And each offer a different aspect of kitchen design.
One is Kokeena whose kitchen you can see in the picture above.
I love the purple tones of this kitchen and the light blue work tops and walls.
Another company is Reform who we will see later with a gold kitchen, yes you read that right!
Semi Handmade is one of the larger ones who we’ll also see later.
Plykea is another who specialise in plywood finishes. They really thought long and hard about that name!
For the more funkier designs there’s Superfront.
For minimalists there’s Norse Interiors.
An inexpensive ‘stick on’ options is Frontly by Prettypegs who sell finishes you simply stick on to your kitchen cabinets.
Husk is a Bristol based company that customises everything from kitchen cabinet doors to worktops to sinks & handles.
But of course, most kitchen carpenters will be able to customise your IKEA kitchen.
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 2 – A Very Clever Kitchen Especially If You Have SMALL KIDS
This IKEA kitchen has some interesting aspects that apply to every kitchen.
There are some really clever kitchen design tips here.
You’ll notice that there is lighting in all the IKEA kitchen cabinets & drawers which really brightens the place up not to mention makes it easier to find stuff!
They also have drawers pretty much everywhere instead of typical cabinet doors.
These are a great use of space and keep the place tidier as a result.
There’s also a ‘soft close’ on the drawers which means you just touch them and they bring themselves back into place.
They did need to raise the ceiling to fit everything in and the kitchen space really benefits from that.
They have an induction hob; a note here is that induction hobs don’t stain like an electrical hob and they heat water 53% faster than gas.
And finally, the cleverest thing about this IKEA Kitchen is that you’ll notice the microwave is down beside oven which does 2 things:
- Gets it out of the way and in your face on the worktops
- Is a good level for kids to use & nicely tucked away
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 3 – Bracketry As A Design Feature?
(photo © Tabitha Shakespeare for Tabitha Lane)
This IKEA kitchen cost $7000 to buy and construct.
The first thing that catches the eye is the blue-green storage units, they look just great.
And the colour works well with the pale timber floor and the dark grey kitchen panels.
The work space is very functional between the hobs and the sink.
One thing to note about this particular kitchen is that it uses the bracketry as a design feature.
The black shelf support brackets contrast nicely against the white tiles.
This could have been carried further throughout the kitchen, like having a black window frame up against the white jamb, head & sill which would make it look even better.
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Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 4 – A 2 Year Appraisal Of Their Kitchen
This is a nifty before/after video with a very modern kitchen design.
This IKEA kitchen has a really cool wine & beverage fridge with LED lights installed which looks fantastic.
The drawer doors are easy to clean and the whole kitchen is easily customisable.
It’s also got one of those corner sliding drawers to put pots & pans which is a great use of corner space.
The rubbish bins are nicely tucked away in a drawer too.
This IKEA kitchen looks really solid which is often a criticism of their kitchens but this clearly isn’t the case.
It could probably do with more lighting.
They have used more shelving because they have plenty of IKEA kitchen cabinets which looks good.
This video is a good case study on what someone thinks of their IKEA kitchen a couple of years after building it.
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 5 – Dark Grout Lines To Show Off Tiling
(photo © Satori)
This kitchen has a quartz work top which a great alternative to marble and extremely durable too.
Here’s a tip for cleaning tough stains from worktops: mixing baking soda with water will sort it out!
The dark grout lines between the tiles also give a nice separation line between the tiles and they look great.
The pink rug in the middle makes a beautiful contrast with the white kitchen and is a nice feature, although not sure how often they need to clean it!
A gripe I have with this IKEA kitchen is that the fridge isn’t recessed and sticks out quite a bit.
The white kitchen cabinets are from the FÖRBÄTTRA range.
This kitchen certainly isn’t as sturdy as the previous one and might not make the best option is you have a bunch of delinquent children!
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 6 – Stainless Steel Beauty
This is an interesting kitchen in that it originally had tiled worktops which made it look like a bathroom!
Am not surprised they changed it!
The new kitchen design is completely different.
The new kitchen design has made the kitchen panels stainless steel which reflect a lot of light around the kitchen and give it a professional kitchen feel.
The kitchen cabinet doors are custom made and the thing to get from this is that IKEA kitchens are very customisable.
This is quite a big kitchen space and the island in the middle breaks it up nicely and there is a good but useable distance between it and the sinks & hobs.
And like a lot of the previous kitchens there are a lot of lights in the kitchen cabinets & drawers.
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 7 – An Introduction to Semi Handmade On An IKEA Frame
(photo © A Vintage Splendour)
This IKEA kitchen is partial IKEA & partial Semi Handmade which is a company that makes custom finishes & doors for IKEA kitchens.
The kitchen cabinets here have an IKEA frame but have the Semi Handmade fronts which again makes the point that you can customise your IKEA kitchen anyway you want especially when it comes to the final look & style.
So you can get the best of both worlds, an IKEA frame but with custom finishes which saves you paying out for an entire custom kitchen.
Another good point this home owner makes is to draw up your kitchen.
Drawing your own plans is very easy and we cover how to do it in this blog post: How To Draw Your Own Plans
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 8 – DIY Kitchen With LOADS Of Personality
This IKEA kitchen is very much a DIY job and it highlights how personal kitchen design can be.
Again, this kitchen consists of a lot of drawers rather than doors.
It has a great spice rack drawer.
They went with open shelving on the top and the shelves have a nice rustic look which contrasts the rest of the kitchen.
The sink is a dual sink and the countertops are white concrete and I must say they don’t look like concrete at all, very nicely finished.
This kitchen does have a black window frame & it does look good against the white tiles, if they went with a dark grout between the tiles it would have looked even better.
I have to say I love the chandeliers and they look great and add a lot of personality to this kitchen.
How can you add personality to your kitchen?
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 9 – A Gold Kitchen?!
(photo © Reform)
Well I really don’t know about this one but again it shows how to make yourself a custom IKEA kitchen.
This kitchen has brass cupboards, side panels and handles and the caramel walls further highlight the gold cabinets.
The black worktop contrasts all this and sits well with the metallic finishes of the kitchen.
Not my cup of tea but it does highlight what is possible with a bit of imagination!
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Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 10 – The Kitchen Building Process
This is a good video that shows you the process of constructing an IKEA kitchen from start to finish.
Again, this one had a quartz countertop called ‘symphony grey’.
The kitchen design for this one goes for very straight and defined lines and it looks very symmetrical.
Everything is kept to a minimum and is very neat, the drawers keep everything nicely stored away.
There is a nice little nook beside the ovens for a coffee machine.
Altogether this is a nice kitchen but could do with more lighting and maybe a bolder definition & contrast of finishes which is something to keep in mind for your kitchen.
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 11 – Simple But Elegant
(photo © Laura Muthesius)
This custom IKEA kitchen is in a garden flat in a farmhouse outside Berlin.
The owners wanted a modern look without taking away from the rural setting and I’ve got to say they succeeded.
The cabinets are from the IKEA Metod and Laxarby collections but have been painted for a different look.
The induction hob is a Nutid 4 Element Induction Cooktop.
The colour scheme works well with its setting as this room gets quite a lot of natural light so the black cabinets work well.
They also contrast the white plastered walls and fair faced concrete floors.
It’s a simple but elegant look.
A question to ask yourself is how much light does your kitchen area get and how can you choose a bespoke colour scheme to compliment that?
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 12 – Pet Friendly Kitchen
This video will give you a great insight on what to consider when you design your own kitchen.
You’ll find that kitchen design isn’t rocket science at all.
They have gone for lots of horizontal lines with the kitchen cabinets.
They also created storage over the appliances to store stuff they don’t use too often.
They have carousel corner units for storing pots and pans.
This is a gas stove with an electric oven.
The countertop is concrete and the stainless steel double sink and fridge contrasts the white kitchen.
The dishwasher is nicely hidden away near the sink, you wouldn’t even know it’s there!
They do make good use of hidden drawers and the bin storage in in the central island.
All the plates and bowls are in a lower drawer which the homeowner finds easier.
And for those of you that have pets, there’s even a portion of this kitchen reserved for them!
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 13 – The Power Of Colour
(photo © Modern Kitchens Pro)
This kitchen cost $36,000 and took 3 weeks to build.
The kitchen cabinets used here are Tingsryd & Jarsta High Gloss Orange and the colour scheme works brilliantly together.
You’ll notice that the dining table & chairs match this colour scheme.
The timber floor also works well with it.
All in all, this kitchen shows a great use of colour and as with most of these kitchens the owner prefered using drawers rather than doors & shelves.
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 14 – Great Use Of Artwork & Mirrors
This video gives a few extra kitchen design tips here and mention a few things that haven’t come up before, and that’s the importance of artwork.
Choosing artwork that complements your kitchen is a great addition and can inject your personality into it.
What artwork can you put in your kitchen that says something about you?
Another good kitchen design addition is the use of mirrors.
Mirrors bounce a lot of light about the place and will make it brighter.
Another use of mirrors is to make your kitchen feel a lot bigger than it is.
They change the perception of size in your brain so make a great kitchen addition if you have a small kitchen.
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Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 15 – Cook Book Writers Kitchen
(photo © Faith Durand)
This kitchen is another IKEA & Semi Handmade hybrid and is in fact made for a cookbook writer so is more or less a professional kitchen.
And this article does cover what to expect when putting together a kitchen like this.
The work tops are marble.
The kitchen cabinets have a nice wood finish that is complemented by the blue island colour.
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 16 – Having Parts Of Your Kitchen Stand Out
This IKEA kitchen has to fit inside a weirdly shaped but big kitchen space.
It has a central island that is custom made from IKEA cabinets and it doubles up as a place to eat.
There is a coffee bar to the side which looks great against the black colour scheme of the wall behind it and really stands out against the rest of the kitchen which has a mixture of light blue plastered walls and white tiles.
So ask yourself, are there areas you would like to have in your kitchen that can stand out against the rest of it?
There’s a good example of that here.
There’s also a pantry with this kitchen that provides lots of food storage space.
Custom IKEA Kitchen No. 17 – How To Customise An IKEA Kitchen
(photo © Husk Kitchens)
So, to finish our list we can summarise what it takes to customise an IKEA kitchen:
1) Change your kitchen cabinet doors
2) Change your knobs, handles, taps, etc
3) Simply paint your cabinet doors
4) Go with an alternative worktop
5) Go for an inventive splashback
And the kitchen above incorporates most of these.
Incorporate these into your kitchen design so you can get that custom kitchen look without the price tag.
Bonus 01 – Why Buy An IKEA Kitchen?
As you might guess by now, we like to over deliver on our content!
Here’s a good video on what this guy found to be 10 big reasons to buy an IKEA kitchen for his home.
Always be well informed before splashing that cash!
Bonus 02 – IKEA Kitchen Impressions & Advice
This video gives you an appraisal on an IKEA kitchen 4 years after buying and using one.
There are a lot of nuggets of wisdom in this video you can take away and apply to your kitchen design.
Bonus 03 – 31 More Beautiful IKEA Kitchens
And if the 17 IKEA kitchen design ideas weren’t enough, here are another 31 to give you even more ideas for your home!
Bonus 04 – 50 Small IKEA Kitchens
Kitchen design is super super important for small kitchens simply because every square inch counts.
Here’s a video that will give you no less than 50 small IKEA kitchen design ideas!
Thanks for checking our Custom Ikea Kitchens post! If you have any questions then just pop them into the comments section below.
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Great blog. A lot of information about the ikea kitchen. Very helpful and informative ideas. Thanks for sharing.
Many thanks for checking out the article & the kind words!
Great blog post, very insightful and full of information and fantastic tips!
I recently had some renovations and improvements made on my home, and used a great company who helped with the interior design from start to finish. I’m so pleased with the results, I couldn’t recommend them more!
These are fantastic ideas, really creative use of space and light! I recently worked with Moretti Interior Designers to redecorate my home. I’m so pleased with the results, it has truly made my house my home! I would recommend checking them out yourselves!
Great share! Bespoke & semi-bespoke kitchens have become a popular choice now-a-days no matter what the size of the kitchen. A luxury bespoke kitchen is built to give everything one wants and needs, but with a complete personal touch. Since we do not get to change our kitchen often, it is important to get it customized by the best bespoke kitchen manufacturers.
I am totally blown away with the before and after photos. Didn’t know Ikea was this good.