This post was shaping up to be a strange one. We were trying to hang Ikea cabinets in our laundry room and re-hook up the washer and dryer at the same time. By yesterday morning we were stuck halfway through both projects, and that was the best progress photo we had to show.
Luckily, over the last 24 hours a few last-minute pieces fell into place. We now have working appliances fully reinstalled — Sherry danced for twenty minutes with a joyful baby in her arms — and doors on all of our cabinets, which inspired more dancing and some off-key singing. I’ll cover the appliance installation details next week (connecting the overflow drain and washer pan took some fiddly effort), but today’s update is all about installing Ikea cabinets in a laundry room and what that taught us about using Ikea cabinetry for a future kitchen remodel.
We’ve been curious about Ikea cabinets for a while. They show up in a lot of magazines and high-end homes, and people generally have good things to say, but we’ve taken other routes before. In our first house we invested in custom cabinetry. In the second house we refinished existing cabinets and added used units from Habitat ReStore. Despite a lifetime of Ikea furniture, we had never tried their cabinet system. The laundry room felt like a lower-risk place to experiment and to learn whether their cabinets would be a good fit for a future kitchen project.
We started with Ikea’s online Kitchen Planner to map the space. It’s an easy, free tool for visualizing layouts and producing a shopping list you can print and bring to the store. We had to be creative with one item — the planner doesn’t include a dryer option, so I placed a dishwasher as a stand-in — but the planner helped us develop a clear layout before we went to the store.
At the store we consulted a kitchen expert who helped fine-tune our plan and recommended against a few unnecessary items, which saved time and money. She also suggested trim options to hide under-cabinet lighting, a last-minute decision we made to help us see and treat stains more easily. While browsing door styles, the Ramsjo looked promising online but in person had a whitewashed look with pink undertones. The Adel, labeled “off-white,” appeared closer to the solid white we wanted, so we chose that instead.
Everything was in stock, so within about an hour and roughly eight hundred dollars later, we were loaded up and heading home. The drive turned into an odyssey: after enduring typical rush-hour traffic, the highway was closed due to an accident involving a spilled hazardous material, turning a two-hour trip into something much longer. Still, we got the cabinets home and began assembly.
Assembling the cabinets is often the most dreaded part of an Ikea kitchen, but it wasn’t too bad for us. We assembled three upper cabinets and one lower cabinet. Doing the upper cabinets assembly-line style sped the process. The most tedious step was nailing the panels onto the back of each cabinet — about two dozen nails per cabinet — but it was manageable.
We were impressed with Ikea’s metal hanging rail system. Unlike traditional cabinets that are screwed directly into the wall, Ikea uppers hang from a metal rail mounted to the studs. That made keeping the cabinets aligned much easier. The rail comes in a longer length but can be cut to size; the instructions suggested a hacksaw, but a Dremel made quick work of it for us.
Deciding how high to mount the rail required planning. We’ll finish the cabinets with crown molding that matches the rest of the house, so we accounted for that height and the way the cabinets attach to the rail a few inches below the cabinet top. I marked the center point on the back wall, drew a level line across the wall, then added a second, higher reference line so the metal rail wouldn’t obscure the mark. We marked each stud so screws would anchor into solid framing. Our wall was fairly flat, so we could screw the rail directly into the studs without shimming.
With the rail secured, we slid in the bolts that support each cabinet frame. The empty frames are light, so one person can lift and hook each cabinet onto the bolts — Sherry handled one by herself. After each cabinet was hanging, we used the supplied clips and nuts to tighten the connection. The clip allows for small adjustments to level each cabinet. We clamped the cabinets together at the edges, drilled through the peg holes, and bolted the units together so they formed one continuous run without gaps. Finally, we snapped on white plastic caps to hide the hanging hardware.
After hanging the three uppers they already improved storage and functionality, though they still need trim, crown molding, doors, shelves, and wood filler on the sides to look finished. Adding the doors was straightforward: Ikea’s hinge hardware attaches with pressure and adjustable screws, so no awkward drilling was required. That said, the color of the first door style we chose looked creamier and yellower in person than we expected. It didn’t match our home’s Simply White trim as closely as we hoped, so we paused door installation and planned a return trip to pick up a different door style that better matches our trim.
By a lucky coincidence, my parents were visiting nearby and could swing by the store to grab the alternate door fronts, which was a huge help. The new doors are a noticeable improvement and look much closer to our home’s trim color. We also installed a base cabinet temporarily; it still needs to be secured to the wall and finished with trim, hardware, a countertop, and a toe kick.
There’s still a to-do list for the cabinets, but those smaller finishing details are what pull the whole project together. We’re excited to add warm wood tones, including a butcher-block countertop, to break up the white and to make the laundry room feel more finished and functional. And best of all, we can do laundry at home again — which feels like a major victory after a few chaotic days of installation and travel.