Welcome to My DIY IKEA Kitchen Build Series — How It All Began
This is the first post in a whole series about my DIY IKEA kitchen build. I want to start at the beginning — why I did it, how I planned my IKEA kitchen renovation, and what I was dealing with before I ever picked up a tool. Because this DIY IKEA kitchen project was massive, and it didn’t happen overnight. Not even close.
The full build, part by part
- Cabinetry and surfaces
- Blum automation
- Storage
- Appliances and plumbing
- Smart tech and unique features
Costs and lessons: coming
The Kitchen We Inherited
So here’s the deal. We inherited an old kitchen that was built in the beginning of the 90s. Really outdated. The whole thing was put together with just stock cabinets from Home Depot on a very, very low budget. It didn’t have a lot of the things that most kitchens have, and it just looked and felt old. Tired. Done. It was the perfect candidate for a full DIY IKEA kitchen renovation.
When the kids were small, we couldn’t touch it. I mean, the scale of a kitchen renovation — you can’t do that with little ones running around. But years passed, and I finally said to myself and to my wife, we need to do something. This has to happen.
The Size of the Space
The kitchen itself is about 24 by 20. And then we have an adjoining dining area right next to it, which is another 20 by 16. So you know, it’s a big area. But it needed to be organized and completely redone. Not a facelift — a full gut and rebuild.
One Year Just to Plan
I wrote down the whole plan and started working through it. And it took me one year. One year exactly from the date I started writing the plan to the date I peeled the old wallpaper off the wall and actually started working. That’s how big this project was.
And here’s the thing — the kitchen is the most expensive room in the house, period. There’s appliances, countertops, cabinets, lighting, everything. The whole setup — the electricity it takes, the ranges, the microwaves, the sinks, the dishwashers — everything needs to be synchronized and work as one unit.
So in my case, I went completely detailed. I wrote down exactly what I wanted. How many dishwashers. How many refrigerators. What kind of refrigerators. What kind of kitchen style. Everything.
Why I Chose IKEA for My DIY IKEA Kitchen Build
As far as the kitchen cabinets, I went with IKEA. And here’s why — in my opinion, an IKEA kitchen is the most affordable, most practical, and most do-it-yourself kitchen system on the market right now. For a DIY IKEA kitchen build like mine, nothing else came close on value.
IKEA allows normal people, do-it-yourselfers like us, to get a section of cabinets that’s basically a universal frame. IKEA calls this system SEKTION — as in sections. They have the same frame for all of their cabinets, and then you build up on that frame whatever you want. The customization is unbelievable. You can put in modules, wall cabinets, refrigerator cabinets — you can even do panels on appliances that don’t have a panel so they look like kitchen covers. As far as door panels, door handles, drawers — it’s unlimited. And price-wise, they were cheaper than custom kitchens by a lot.
This kitchen, I just wanted to put my soul into it. I knew it needed to be done by me, for my family, for our needs.
Planning My IKEA Kitchen With IKEA’s Software
I went to their website and downloaded their software. They have a planning tool and an account system. If you create an account, you can customize your kitchen on IKEA’s kitchen planner and then save it under your account so you don’t have to start over every time. For a DIY IKEA kitchen, this planner is the single best place to start.
So I saved my plan, put my kitchen room and dining room dimensions in there, and I started playing with cabinets. I started putting them in just like Lego — placing cabinets on a desktop layout and seeing how they line up. Here’s a refrigerator, here’s a dishwasher and sink, and so on. It took me a while to figure out exactly what I wanted.
Opening Up the Space
In my case, I wanted to create a huge open area. The dining room originally had French doors separating it from the kitchen. I took them out. Opened the whole thing up — full open concept. Now it’s one big room with a ton of natural light and a lot of artificial lighting too.
I put a ton of lights in both rooms. I did a lot of LED channels, custom lighting work, all kinds of customization. The lighting alone was a big project.
Why It Took a Full Year Just to Prepare
This whole concept took me one year just in the preparation phase. Part of it was because this was right after the COVID years, and we couldn’t get some of the parts. Everything was on back order. I had to hunt things down, wait for shipments, find alternatives. It was a process.
The Refrigerators — Column Style
With the refrigerators, we decided I wanted the European slim ones — what they call column refrigerators. These don’t have a visible front. You cover them with the same IKEA kitchen cover panel so they look just like the rest of the kitchen furniture. It’s not aluminum, it’s not stainless steel — they just blend right in. You won’t even see that it’s a refrigerator until you open one.
We decided on a small column for a dedicated freezer and a 36-inch column for a regular refrigerator. And on top of that, we have another one in the mudroom — a small room off the kitchen that we call the mudroom or laundry room. That room also has a sink and a refrigerator. It’s basically a preparation room.
So for the kitchen itself, we’ve got a separate 36-inch refrigerator and another dedicated freezer column.
Two Sinks — Two Stations
We’re going to have two sinks, not one. One is the big main sink, and the other is a preparation sink that has knives, washout boards, cutting boards — all stored right there. Everything you need for prep, right at your fingertips.
Both sinks are by Franke, from Switzerland. Two Franke sinks.
The IKEA Cabinet Style
The cabinets are going to be handleless. Handles aren’t really my style. I like the minimalistic look — very clean, white kitchen. From the start, a white kitchen was always the vision. Everything white, super easy to clean, matte finish, not glossy. It has to be a very light concept, a modern concept, with light color countertops. Same approach for the dining room.
Kitchen vs. Dining — Two Zones
My concept was to do the kitchen first and then switch to the dining room. We started calling the kitchen the “preparation area” and the dining room the “consumption area.”
The dining area still has appliances too. Over there we have a Miele coffee maker, a microwave oven, and a wine cooler — all stacked together, all white, everything matching.
And there’s a lot more going on in the dining area than I’m covering here. That room has another two sinks, full automation, a floating dishwasher, integrated art pieces on the walls, floating wine racks, and more. I’ll break all of it down in the upcoming posts in this DIY IKEA kitchen series.
The Miele Appliance Wall
In the kitchen, all the main appliances are by Miele. Here’s what we’ve got:
- A Miele coffee maker
- A Miele conventional oven
- A Miele food warmer and plate warmer
- A Miele combination oven — microwave and oven in one, smaller, 24 inches wide
- A 24-inch wide Miele steam oven
So we have four small 24-inch wide ovens by Miele, all in one row. Then we have another big conventional oven and a 30-inch wide food warmer. It’s a serious cooking setup.
The Plumbing and Water Systems
All the plumbing fixtures are by Grohe. Specifically, the Grohe Minta line.
We also have a sparkling water system and a refrigerating water system. Behind the cabinets, under the sink, there’s a whole hidden system that provides cold, filtered, and sparkling water for us. The water is super nice — all clean, all filtered with different kinds of filtration, and refrigerated too. We have three levels of sparkling water. There’s a CO2 tank under there, and the whole system is made by Grohe. It’s called Grohe Blue, and I wrote up the full install and two years of running costs in my GROHE Blue review.
We also have another system built under the sink called Grohe Red, which is a hot water dispenser. So the sink area is basically a command center. There’s a lot going on under there.
The Sink-Based Hand Dryer
I also ordered something from Hong Kong — a sink-based hand dryer. It’s kind of unique because I haven’t seen one like it anywhere. It looks like a commercial unit, but it’s actually made for homes. So whenever you wash your hands, you can dry them immediately right next to the sink without splashing water anywhere. That was one of those things I had in my mind from the beginning.
Dishwashers and More
We have two Fisher & Paykel dishwashers — one in the kitchen and one in the dining area. And there’s more — another warmer in the dining area too. There’s just a lot of appliances in this build.
My point is, with so many appliances and systems to coordinate, it took me one year just to get to the starting line. I needed to source all the supplies, all the electronics, everything.
The LED Fireplace
We also have an LED fireplace in the kitchen. It creates an absolutely beautiful environment in the wintertime. You can change the colors, set the mood — it’s a great touch.
The Bang & Olufsen Music System
And we have a built-in music system in both rooms, built by Bang & Olufsen. We have multiple speakers, all connected to a Halo remote that’s connected to radio stations. You don’t have to dial anything. When you come in, there’s a proximity sensor — you just push play and it’s playing your favorite music immediately on all the speakers. It’s seamless.
How I Got Here
So that’s the story of how I came to this approach. I came at it seriously, and it took me one year of planning. And when I actually started building, the new dream kitchen took me almost another full year to build too. So the whole process — planning plus building — took me roughly two years.
I was by myself. I had to work my regular job and then do this at night. Sometimes the light in my kitchen was on until three or four in the morning. I had to work all night just to keep making progress. But it ended up as a really nice, modern kitchen with a lot of great brands — Miele, Blum, Grohe, Wolf — a lot of famous appliances. We integrated all of them together, and we proved that a DIY IKEA kitchen can be a truly luxury thing if you build it the way you want.
What’s Coming Next
This is just the introduction post. I’m going to be sharing a lot more posts in this DIY IKEA kitchen series about how we actually built it — demolition, integration, lighting, cabinets, automation, appliances, and everything in between.
Follow along, and good luck with your own DIY IKEA kitchen.
Up next in the series: See how I turned these IKEA SEKTION boxes into a fully automated kitchen — Blum Aventos automation, appliance lifts, push-to-open drawers, and hidden storage hacks.
Also in the series: the fix for everything stored above eye level — a pull-down shelf for IKEA cabinets, with the measurements that decide whether it fits your SEKTION boxes.
Tools & Appliances in This DIY IKEA Kitchen Build
- IKEA SEKTION kitchen cabinets with Voxtorp doors (planned with the IKEA kitchen planner on Ikea.com)
- Miele coffee maker — kitchen and dining area
- Miele conventional oven
- Miele food warmer / plate warmer
- Miele combination oven (microwave + oven, 24 inch)
- Miele steam oven (24 inch)
- Miele microwave oven and wine cooler (dining area)
- 30-inch wide food warmer
- Column refrigerator (36 inch) and dedicated freezer column
- Mudroom refrigerator and sink
- Two Franke sinks (Switzerland)
- Grohe Minta plumbing fixtures
- Grohe Blue sparkling + filtered water system (with CO2 tank)
- Grohe Red hot water dispenser
- Two Fisher & Paykel dishwashers (kitchen + dining)
- Sink-based hand dryer (ordered from Hong Kong)
- Color-changing LED fireplace
- Bang & Olufsen speakers + Halo remote
- Custom LED channel lighting
- Wolf grill
- Blum cabinet hardware and mechanisms
- Cutting boards and prep storage at the preparation sink
- Original Home Depot stock cabinets (removed during the gut)
Related on Homeject: You might also like the free kitchen planner I built and kitchen-to-garage fiberglass door upgrade.
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