New cabinets - Buy the style you like + DIY painting or something close enough that's already white?

I think we're going to go with IKEA cabinets for the new house. Their system intrigues me and it seems like a cost effective solution to get almost what we want. The options are:

The Grimslov line - White thermofoil + MDF - Very thick shaker style cabinet

The Bjorket line - Wood colored birch - Thinner style shaker cabinet

If I could get the Bjorket line in white this thread wouldn't exist. However it doesn't and I'm stuck getting the MDF fronts which have a shaker style that's a little too thick for my tastes and feels a little more flimsy. Or I can get the birch cabinets which look exactly how I want but I need to deal with DIY painting and whatever associated drama will come with that. I think we can get a paintjob that looks good at the beginning, I just worry about long term. We would buy the white cabinets so all we would be painting would be the doors (15 doors to be exact).

The two options can be cycled through in this link (the 2 left most options) http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/metod_kitchen/designideas/20153_cosk09a/#room/20153_cosk09a/options/L1:LO1-10,L2:LO2-18,L3:LO3-10,L4:LO4-19,L6:LO6-20,L8:LO8-10,L9:LO9-1,L10:LO10-1,L11:LO11-13

I predict we will live in this house for 5 years and then it will become a rental property. We cook at home a lot and as such these doors get used quite often.

Long story short: How do you feel about the longevity of a DIY paint job on new cabinets from Ikea.

I would avoid MDF cabinet doors at all costs.

That said, when I painted my cabinet doors several years ago I took them down, stripped all hardware, sanded everything, and sprayed the paint on with the doors laid flat. Thinned latex gloss paint then a chocolate glaze wiped off to give it a French countryside look.

Held up very well.

If you want Ikea cabinet but don't like any of their stock doors, there are companies like Semihandmade and Kokeena that will sell doors and drawerfronts in a wide variety of styles. You still use the Ikea cabinet "guts" and hinges, etc.

after years of having mdf boxes with hardwood doors I would expand kyallroad's sentiment to I would avoid MDF cabinet anything at all costs. With use the hinge mounts will start to give way. At the floor level - mops and spills will take their toll. For paint grade - birch/poplar plywood boxes and doors from a nice tight-grained wood.

SEADave wrote: If you want Ikea cabinet but don't like any of their stock doors, there are companies like Semihandmade and Kokeena that will sell doors and drawerfronts in a wide variety of styles. You still use the Ikea cabinet "guts" and hinges, etc.

I've reached out to Semihandmade....the quote I got back made me quite ok with sticking with the Ikea doors. Plus I would likely have to paint them as well.

oldtin wrote: after years of having mdf boxes with hardwood doors I would expand kyallroad's sentiment to I would avoid MDF cabinet anything at all costs. With use the hinge mounts will start to give way. At the floor level - mops and spills will take their toll. For paint grade - birch/poplar plywood boxes and doors from a nice tight-grained wood.

I hear ya. For what it's worth it seems like the IKEA stuff is better designed than most. For instance, the bottom 4" of each cabinet is plastic so it's hard to wick water up from the floor. I would also go the extra mile and seal all joints.

I've got Ikea cabinets in the kitchen. I like 'em a lot.

I don't see a problem with paint. The Ikea doors will come to you without hardware, so they're easy enough to paint. And you can touch them up in the future if required, which you can't do with laminates.