wall cabinets

[Jim Riseborough]

Anyone ever buy just the base cabinet from IKEA and then build doors? I can get the wall (30x30) with predrilled sides for 8$ right now. also have a 48" base cabinet for 15. I can adapt and build doors for them in the style I like, want.

Anythoughts?

[Ben Rivel]

Thats unbelievably cheap. What are they made of? Cardboard?

[Jim Riseborough]

Thats unbelievably cheap. What are they made of? Cardboard?
No, they are MDF and painted white. Its their old stock, so they are 65% off. The store near me still has quite a selection. I dont think I can buy the MDF and make them for this price. For the $200 i spend to outfit my garage, its worth it.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't do that. It's real MDF, not their usual chip board?

[Jim Becker]

I've thought about it after using the iKea cabinets in our laundry room. They are well made, use high quality Blum hardware (including the Blum metal drawers) and should be readily adaptable to the idea with careful measuring for size and hinges. Drawer fronts are slightly more complicated as you have to get certain size holes in exactly the right places to attach to the Blum metal drawer assemblies. (Lee Valley sells those metal drawers now, too, BTW) The reason I would consider for certain kinds of projects is speed, but I don't prefer their doors. It's not about them being bad quality physically...it's because like so many commercial doors, the material grain and color matches really bite.

[James W Glenn]

I redid my parents kitchen 20 years ago, with IKEA cabinets and pine slab doors. Cheap and cheerful. From experience, I can restate the obvious: Use a metric tape and rule. Even if no one else notices, I "minded the gap".

[Jim Riseborough]

The 30X30 wall cabinet was 8.10$ a piece. I can by 2-15" white doors with a melamine finish for $4.00, so for 12.10$ a piece, they are well worth it. Plus I know a guy who can customize them if need be, lol. im not sure what the cut list would be for one, but I would expect 1 cabinet per piece of plywood if I try and build myself, so figure I am saving at least 30$ a piece after hardware. Not to mention my time.

It might be a while, but once installed, I will try and upload some pics.

[Jim Riseborough]

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't do that. It's real MDF, not their usual chip board?

It have read the doors are MDF and the base is their chip board. Could be wrong.