Wow, where to even start on this post?? There has been so much planning on the kitchen design front that it’s hard to know where to begin. The whole design has gone through many iterations, but I think I can safely say that it started here with this kitchen by Cortney Bishop:
Since we bought the Hoarder House, the Good Vibrations house by Cortney Bishop Design has been my ‘spirit house.’ Kind of my design muse or inspiration for the feel of the Hoarder House. So, naturally the kitchen design began here. We ultimately decided to let the wood floor flow throughout the kitchen (as opposed to using tile for durability against water). And then I was set on light gray cabinets, specifically I was dying to use the new Ikea door fronts that just came out, Lerhytten in gray:
FINALLY, Ikea had a light colored shaker door option!!! Well, as the time got closer to start planning the kitchen cabinets, I went to the Ikea kitchen planner to put in my pretty gray shakers. Much to my dismay…. they were no where to be found on the Ikea site!!! Like poof… gone!
So I turned to the ever trusty google and asked, “What happenned to the Ikea Lerhytten gray cabinet fronts?” Which ultimately led me to this very helpful Reddit thread. There I discovered that the cabinet fronts I wanted and loved were discontinued until Spring of 2019 because the finish was failing. I guess at this point I should be grateful, because a lot of people in the thread had already started their kitchens and installed the Lerhytten gray fronts. What are they supposed to do? Return them and wait for the new version for six months??
Anyway, that option was out… so back to the drawing board! Next I explored the custom cabinet fronts for Ikea cabinets from Semi-handmade and similar companies, but they all significantly increased the price of the cabinets unless you painted them yourself…
Strangely enough, even though the light gray Lerhytten face was discontinued, the black version of the door continued to be available… So then I took a rabbit trail and considered doing black cabinets. Chris and Julia did similar black Ikea cabinets and their kitchen looks amazing! I pinned like a million kitchens with dark to black cabinets trying to convince myself on the look…
Ultimately I realized the ones I felt ‘good’ about were actually just a dark grey that were pretending to be black. And the real black ones were not quite right to me for our space. Somehow I came upon this kitchen, which really helped define exactly what I wanted for our space:
It’s the OH HI OJAI kitchen by Amber Interiors, and isn’t it everything?? After seeing this, I knew I wanted to do slab up the wall behind the range, dark grey cabinets, open shelving flanking the stove, and a white box range hood. Finally, we were making progress… But how? How to get those dark gray shaker style cabinets without breaking the bank??
In a last ditch effort I began scouring the web for other RTA (ready to assemble) kitchen cabinet companies. I fully expected them to cost WAY more than Ikea, but at this point, not having to paint our own doors was worth a bit of an up-charge.
I happened to stumble upon The Cabinet Spot, and to my surprise they offered inset shaker cabinets in 3 color options. Budget companies offering inset cabinets is pretty rare, so I was intrigued. Still doubtful that it would be at a reasonable pricepoint, I added all the cabinets to my cart that I would want for our kitchen…. And surprise, surprise!!! With the 25% discount it was the exact price of an IKEA kitchen… and it had real plywood boxes.
People, I feel like this is the discovery of a century! I mean, I will hold my final judgement until the cabinets are in, but I am pretty darn excited. Not only do I get my dream inset cabinets, they will be budget friendly and I do not have to paint them myself. Hooray!
The sample came in last week, and I am over the moon happy with it! It’s such a nice gray without being too dark. And the inset style is just amazing. I think it’ll pair nicely with our flooring too. What do you think?
We’re planning to order them this week which is pretty exciting!!! I’ll have to show you the layout soon and all the fun I had designing this kitchen in Sketchup. 😉 What do you think? Have you ever searched far and wide for the right cabinet option? Have you heard of other well-priced RTA cabinet companies?