We often get clients who are interested in using Ikea to build out their kitchen – and why wouldn’t you? Ikea is known for clever furniture hacks, smart organization solutions, and budget-friendly prices.

Are Ikea cabinets the right option for you?

Well, that depends! Done right, Ikea definitely provides a low-cost, DIY-friendly, fantastic alternative to the traditional cabinetry-company options. But at some point, the system just isn’t the right choice. How do you know when it’s not the right choice for you?

Having put together a few Ikea kitchen designs for Seriously Happy Homes clients, I’ve found some red flags that tell me we are going into dangerous territory when a client *thinks* they want an Ikea kitchen. Today, we’ll talk about one of them: apron front sinks. Beautiful, but tricky!

RED FLAG #1: So you want a farmhouse or apron-front style sink?

Isn’t that Kraus sink above just gorgeous? But if that is the look you are going for with your Ikea kitchen – think again.

That’s not a combination available with the Ikea system.

That’s a 33” wide, single basin, white, under-mounted farmhouse sink. At Ikea, you can have a 37” double basin, or a 25” wide single basin, and it will have a top-mount lip.

That’s the thing with Ikea. It’s like shopping at Costco (and Costco is GREAT!) But if you have your heart set on a certain and very specific brand of mayonnaise in a certain sized jar, then shopping for it at Costco is silly! Same with Ikea – it’s made to work as a system and limit all the choices you have to make. If that’s not you, then you’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. So you’d better be ready to hack the system (which takes time, creativity, and (often) money).

So, if you’re set on having an apron front style sink and are planning to use Ikea cabinets, we really recommend you use one of the four apron front sink options available through Ikea or – honestly – consider going with non-Ikea cabinetry.

Why? It’s a long answer, but here is the short version: Installed badly, you’ll have gaps and holes and rough-cut edges around the front edges of your farmhouse sink, like what the homeowner below discovered when they first DIY installed their farmhouse sink and had to reach out for help on what to do next.

Ikea sinks and Ikea cabinets are meant to go together, making it DIY friendly. When you start trying to mix custom with non-custom you get into hack-territory and all I can say is you need to have a handy, patient, and creative contractor. It IS possible to go outside of Ikea to source the apron front sink of your choosing. The install just requires some out of the box thinking and clever craftsmanship! That means money, and if the reason you are going with Ikea is to save money, you may be defeating your goal!

IKEA’S FARMHOUSE SINK OPTIONS

So, understanding that Ikea gets along best with Ikea, then figuring out if their farmhouse sink options will work for you comes down to two factors: the sink base cabinet size you want, and your preferred number of sink basins.

Ikea offers 2 different styles of aprons front sinks: a white ceramic option (the HAVSEN) and a stainless option (the BREDSJÖN). Each style comes with just *two* size options (the smaller is a single basin and the larger is a double basin, or split sink). If you’re set on having a larger sink with only one basin, that’s not a possibility with this line.

I’ll share more on sink base cabinet sizing in another post, but what’s important to know now is your sink size dictates your cabinet size, and that is especially true with farmhouse style sinks. If your kitchen layout or storage would be optimized with a very specific sink basin size, think hard about if the Ikea solution is the right fit (literally lol) for you. If not, then consider a standard under-mount sink (which can be sourced outside of Ikea and puts fewer limits on your cabinet size).

UNDER-MOUNT OR TOP-MOUNT?

Let’s say you definitely want that apron front and you’re happy with Ikea’s size options and product reviews – yahoo! Now take a quick second to review how the sink will look and function after being installed.

The white apron front option is installed with a little ledge around the counter surface. Similar to how a top mount sink sits on the counter itself. While that can look beautiful, it does present a few more counter-cleaning-challenges than an under-mount sink would (i.e., you can’t just wipe your crumbs directly into the sink). Conversely, the stainless steel Ikea apron front sink option *only* comes in an under-mount option (which is what most folks want these days, so that’s great!). Like many farmhouse sinks, note that they also protrude away from the cabinets themselves – if you have tight aisles in your kitchen, make sure those extra inches won’t impact your kitchen flow.

So that’s red flag #1 – you not only want a farmhouse sink, you want a *specific* one. Is Ikea right for you?

It just comes down to how clever you are trying to get with your kitchen, and how clever, creative, and patient you (or your contractor) is willing to be. And remember, cleverness takes TIME, and time (when it comes to paying a contractor) equals MONEY. And that’s the tipping point you’re watching for – when your cool idea will actually cost more if you try to hack a system, instead of going with a custom option. Even if it doesn’t cost you more, you may never get the finished result you’re looking for. If you need help figuring out how to execute your cool ideas, we can help through a Design Helpline!

Watch for another post where I talk about cabinet size options with Ikea – the key ingredient to figuring out if you can Tetris-together the kitchen of your dreams with Ikea solutions. Until then…

May your home (And your kitchen) always be happy!