Fanchon Flip Kitchen Progress

(See the full kitchen reveal here!)

From the moment I first saw the new IKEA Axstad cabinet face, I knew I would need to use it in a kitchen as soon as humanly possible.  IKEA has been stubborn and until now, hasn’t had a true white shaker style door. They’ve had some wood shaker styles. And some shaker-esque off white doors (grimslov – we actually used these in our first kitchen).

But now, they have finally done it! Axstad is truly the perfect white shaker. And to all you purists out there, no… it is not a “true” shaker door in that it has a minor decorative detail. As you can see it has a slight step-down profile. But I find that this actually elevates and differentiates the look, while still maintaining the clean straight lines of the shaker style.

In comparison to the Grimslov door, the Axstad is whiter and more matte. The Grimslov has a slight sheen to the finish (which probable aids in long-term durability) while the Axstad is a truer matte. This does give me some concerns about how it will hold up, but only time will tell. After the great disaster of the light gray Lerhytten door, I’m just praying that this won’t happen to my beloved Axstad.

I shared a little bit about the kitchen layout and design here. We opted to do a long island into the former eat-in kitchen area. And the rest of the footprint of the kitchen remained the same. I used the IKEA kitchen planner to plan out the different cabinets needed, and the process was super smooth. Ideally, we would like to get the IKEA kitchen sale discount on these cabinets. We’ve heard from an associate that the sale should be starting end of June.

HOT TIP: if you buy your cabinets before the sale with your IKEA family card, you can go back and get the sale price if it happens within 90 days after you purchase. OR: if the sale is now and you aren’t ready to buy, order the IKEA measuring service (which is credited towards the future purchase) and this will lock in your sale pricing.

We plan to go back and get the sale price retroactively when it happens (hopefully end of June). Although doing this way is a bit of a gamble, because who knows if there will even be a sale or for how much, it made it much more pleasant to order when there aren’t hundreds of people clamoring in to get their kitchen on sale.

Putting together the base cabinets was a breeze. We finished assembling them all in one afternoon. So, we got cocky… Actually hanging them and installing the doors, cover panels, and drawers still took a decent amount of time. You have to double check all your measurements, check for level, and then cut around any obstructions such as gas and water lines, or exhaust vents.

Nevertheless, I would say that we got this kitchen together relatively painlessly. This is our third kitchen renovation, and I definitely think it is getting easier each time.

We are waiting for the flooring to go down before we install the cover panels, so they can sit flush on the ground. Next we will be adding the hardware. It just came in the mail and I am ecstatically excited to see how they turn out!!!

I went with a very modern sleek pull that has a finger ledge. It’s called the Hickory Hardware Streamline Flat Onyx Cabinet Door/Drawer Pull. I chose some shorter ones for the wall cabinets, medium for the lower doors, and longer ones for the island drawers.

The appliances were all ordered during the Memorial Day sales, and are ready to go in after the flooring. And we went countertop shopping this week as well, we are close to deciding and ordering. Right now we are thinking of going with this white quartz with delicate gray veining. I would consider a more dramatic veining, but none of those have quite fit the budget yet… So for now, I’m pretty happy with this one. It’s $45 a square foot right now at our favorite countertop supplier: Factory Plaza.

Our electrician should be coming in next week to install the can lights and position the pendants. I also got the pendant lights in the mail this week, and I am equally pumped to see them go up. They were on a phenomenal sale at West Elm.

I feel like they are going to add some class and sophistication and play well with the ‘white-grounded-with-black’ look I am going for. Plus they are HUGE, which I feel like will add some oomph to the grandeur of the island (wow I am using some crazy words today!!).

And then finally, in an unexpected turn of events…. Someone planted the idea that we should consider removing the railing between the kitchen and family room.

Honestly, I hadn’t given it much thought and chalked it up to safety concerns. But for fun, I did a poll on Instagram to see if any of you would prefer to have it or remove it…. And holy moly, 90% of you said remove it!!! I was shocked at the overwhelming consensus. After talking to a few more people about it and finding no one who had safety concerns, so last night we followed your advice and took that sucker down!

I do think the space feels a lot more open now and easier to navigate. I’m excited to check it out in the day time though…

See the full kitchen reveal here!