People often bag Ikea, and, especially in terms of their kitchens, think the build quality is poor, and the kitchens somehow substandard. I think it has to do with the cost, as well as a somewhat elitist attitude, but people who think themselves above the mass-market appeal that Ikea offers. I’ve actually always quite liked Ikea. Most of their stuff is well designed, and in some cases, well made. The first stuff we bought (before Ikea opened in Adelaide) was some crappy CD racks, and wasn’t that good, but it was only a few dollars a rack. Most of the things we have bought, especially recently, has been very good. So, having set the scene, we have bought about $7500 worth of cabinetry and doors for our kitchen. I’ve put together a few of the cabinets, and the rest of them are in the queue. One of the best things about going the Ikea route was that I haven’t had to deal with anyone, other than the person we gave the list of parts to, and the one who bought out the full trolleys. Because we had meticulously planned the kitchen, and it has some quite tricky stuff going on, it was much easier for us to come up with the design, and do all of the ordering. And from the conversations with the clerks in the store, it is a little unusual. There is a wide range of bits that Ikea do, carcasses of 300mm through to 900mm, as well as a couple of unusual sizes. If we had bought, or planned the kitchen before cutting the hole in the wall, then I wouldn’t have had to cut any carcasses to size, but because the space is a little less than desirable, I have to cut one of the units, and re-drill some of the holes. I need to remove 75mm, which is a bit annoying. Otherwise, it’s all easy, except for the fact that Ikea seem to have decided that side panels (made from the same finish as the doors/drawer fronts) do not extend to the floor, but are in fact just the same height as the cabinets, and we have decided the opposite. So, I have had to buy oversized panels and cut them down. At $90-$120 a pop, you don’t want to fuck up the cut! If you are playing at home, we have gone for the Abstrakt White finish, which apparently is the most expensive, and the new handles, which are called Annars. The benchtop, which we aren’t getting from Ikea, will be custom made a bit later. I really like the soft drawer closers, which allow you to push the drawer shut, and the last 10mm is a soft close, meaning no thump. I kinda think that the drawer runners have been designed to ‘heavy close’, just so you have to buy the soft close extenders. Maybe that’s just Cynical Matt poking his head out again. I’ve probably gone a bit overboard with the wall attachments. I’ve used big (ø12) dynabolts for the large larder, and ø6.5 ones elsewhere. The feet can apparently hold up to 125kg each, and I’ve used four on each base cabinet, but I don’t want to take any chances. All of the wall-fixed cabinets (and there are only three that aren’t, which go under the main table, and are only shallow wall cabinets I’ve modified to sit on the floor) are double dynabolted, and where possible I’ve also put a supporting piece (with dynabolts) underneath, above the skirting. Although this is probably a little overkill. We’d be able to do the whole kitchen, except we need gas connected for the stove, and are also having the gas pipe run through the roof to the heater in the lounge. We have all of the appliances, but we will do the other side of the kitchen first, until we have found a plumber for the gas. Know anyone?
Grey Gardens • Rufus Wainwright • Poses ★★
Can’t even remember where I found this - some blog or other. What’s kinda neat is that this is the company (Core77) that Jaq came runner up in a design contest in a few years ago. (Not strictly MacOS X, more OS 7/8, but there’s no category for that in my list…)