Interior Designer's Love Letter To IKEADecor Girl

If there is one constant in my job as an interior designer it is using and recommending products from IKEA. Nope, not a lick of coin changes hand, no freebies, inducements or other wise. IKEA doesn’t even know who I am, but I recommend and use many of their offerings. I do it right along side $12,000 sofas and other expensive (but worth every dollar) item we put into an interior. Shameless, nope, smart – very. We care deeply about spending our client’s money wisely.

WHY?
Because for my money and our client’s money, IKEA products work.

They perform
They last
They look great
They have style
They are idiot proof if assembly is necessary
They are inexpensive, not cheap

TRUTH Most people I’ve heard poo-poo IKEA as being low-end, cheap, or poorly constructed, when I ask, have never used IKEA. They usually tout someone else’s story, minus the details. OR They have the “its not made in America” bug up their a$$, of which many of those products fall short on every point outlined above. I’m not dissing made in America, if the product stands the test for quality, design, performance and cost, fine. If not, ~~spend~~ waste your money however you want.

IKEA KITCHEN Cabinets

Love them, built them myself, had them in my own kitchen and have used for clients. If the standard IKEA cabinets work for your kitchen and are styled appropriately for your home, wouldn’t you appreciate saving more than 50% of the cost of typical standard kitchen cabinets? Yes, they last and perform and if you have a problem (we had some warped doors) they’ll make it right.

Ready, now I’m gonna sin and sin big. Due to the customization needs in my current kitchen, we had to use semi-custom cabinets with a 100% custom Lisa Blue finish. We spent upwards of 3 times the cost for our Downsview kitchen above. Here is comes… the basic box which makes up the cabinetry and some of the working hardware – pretty much the same as IKEA. My personal experience, my viewpoint, if an IKEA kitchen works for your kitchen design – go for it, the quality and durability equals the pricy options.

IKEA BATHROOM Cabinets & Sinks

This is our daily use bathroom, installed 1 1/2 years ago, still looks and performs as brand new. Yes, I’d do it again.

IKEA DRAWER & DOOR Knobs & Pulls

Sorry but when we are talking daily use hardware for the kitchen or bathroom, it doesn’t need to be fancy and it certainly doesn’t have to be expensive. Twenty dollars or more for a handle for a cabinet, when you need 15 of them, is silly. Nobody knows what one paid for a knob on a cabinet drawer, nor do they care. There are more important places to spend money in a home, handles aren’t one of them.

IKEA LIGHTING Love, love, LOVE IKEA’s lighting. It is fresh, witty, creative, stylish, current, useful, and costs nothing next to a similar item from some name brand designer lighting company. In almost every room of my home, IKEA lighting has a place. Floor lamps, desk lamps, pendants, cable lights, ceiling fixtures – we’ve got all of them and they last. (Can’t say an IKEA fixture almost burned my house down, however another well known manufacture’s lighting did.)

IKEA STORAGE BOOKCASES & OFFICE FURNITURE See comment above, replace “lighting company” with furniture company. I’ve got cabinets, bookcases and desks I’ve taken apart, put back together and moved from coast to coast. The case goods are great, have numerous options are incredibly sturdy and one can do a home office for the equivalent of a week’s grocery bill.