Love your Kitchen Series-IKEA Countertops

Okay back to real life,  I don’t have that kind of money to spend on countertops and that’s okay.   If you don’t like  your countertops but don’t have near that amount to spend either never fear you can still achieve a beautiful, custom kitchen.  Trumpets sound and enter IKEA countertops!

When we first moved into our home it had dark gray laminate countertops (pictured below).  They were in good condition but with cherry cabinets and dark gray tile floors I knew we were going to have to replace them  in order to lighten up the kitchen.

In our condo I had tried Rustoleum’s Transformation Countertops kit on our ugly laminate countertop.  Although I liked the outcome better than what we had before, I found the product difficult to work with and the results too obviously fake.  So much so that our realtor had us put in new countertops before we put it on the market!

So, when looking at options to change out our dark gray countertops I knew I wouldn’t be going down that road again.  Thankfully I came across Ikea’s Pragel laminate countertop line.  It comes in two sizes 73 inches for $59 or 96 inches  for $69.  I chose this white stone effect and have been very happy with it.

It might be hard to tell from the pictures but it is off-white with brown and gray specks.  It is heat and scratch resistant and has a nice rounded edge which helps conceal it true laminate identity.  After almost two years I’ve had no stains or dings or other problems with it.  So my review is that it’s a good, quality laminate.

If you don’t care for the white stone look they also have a black granite knockoff.  Get the look these kitchens.

Mineral Effect

Stone Effect

White or black not your thing ?  How about wood?

www.countryliving.com

www.ikea.com

Ikea’s thrifty Pragel line also boasts laminate wood effect countertops.

Walnut Effect

Light Oak Effect

I am not getting paid or have any relationship with Ikea.  I just love a steal of a deal and this is one of them!  Depending on your countertop total length you could get new, nice looking countertops for $69-$210.  Can’t beat that!

For a little bit more money they also have butcher block wood countertops.  The benefit of these is that you can stain them to your desired color and after they are sealed they can be paired with an undermount sink.  With a Numerar your looking at $169 to $500.  Not bad for beautiful countertops.

In my opinion the installment of these countertops could be done by even a novice DIY-er.  I’m usually really good about doing my research but for some reason I just assumed this project would take power tools I didn’t have  and that would be too expensive to buy.  Since I’m like batman and work alone I was worried I wouldn’t have the muscle power to carry and move the counter top around so I hired out (something I very rarely do).

The person I hired brought his teenage son to help.  It did seem like it was convenient to have a second pair of hands when moving the countertop around.   They cut the hole for the sink by placing the counter up on two sturdy buckets, one on each side.  At first he used a circular saw he brought but it gave out midway.  He timidly asked if I might have a saw on hand.  I told him apologetically that I only had a jig saw.  Much to my surprise he declared that would be perfect.  So he finished up cutting the hole with my $40 jig saw.

 Doh!!!  If  I  would have known I already had the tool I needed to cut the hole I would have done the countertops on my own and saved a couple hundred bucks. Oh well, doesn’t happen very often that I make that mistake and hopefully you will learn from it.  Save your money and install it yourself!  Here are some links for tutorials on installing Ikea countertops.

Anybody else want to share their experience with IKEA countertops?

For 9 More Insights on getting the Look for Less in the Kitchen, Click HERE.