An unique alternative to built in cabinets is free standing kitchen cabinets. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, instead of being installed permanently into the kitchen, the cupboards sit on the floor and remains moveable. The units often have legs.
Ikea Free Standing Varieties
Ikea carries several free standing kitchen lines: Varde, Udden, and Bravad. You can combine drawer units with door and shelf units to customize the cabinets to your needs. Upper cabinets are available in most of the lines and are wall mounted. Open shelving is increasing in popularity and many of Ikea’s shelf units compliment the free standing units.
Save Money
With free standing kitchens, you save the huge expense of installation. Because there is no installation, your costs are simply the cost of the cabinets/island themselves. Planning for your budget is easy.
Another great advantage to free standing styles of kitchens is that you can take your kitchen with you when you move.
Considerations
You need to consider your flooring if you are moving from built in to free standing kitchens. Often the cabinets are installed directly onto the subfloor. When you take out your existing cabinets, the floor is bare and needs to be finished. You might be able to simply finish the lacking areas depending on what you have on the floor. If you have ceramic tile, hardwood or laminate you may be able to keep the flooring already installed and finish the missing areas.
First of all you need to be able to find the exact same product as what is on your floor. Check whether you can buy the same product in the amounts you will need. Matching up to the existing floor can be trickier for some materials than others. Ceramic tile is probably the easiest to finish. Cutting of the tiles is relatively easy and can fit into small or awkward areas.
Laminate is relatively easy to install, but the new planks need to be able to snap into the existing planks (most kinds have a tongue and groove or snap together mechanism.) Check if this is possible.
Vinyl flooring is the least possible material to replace the missing floor with. Because it is usually installed in one sheet, you may need to rip out the flooring and redo the entire area. If you have vinyl tiles then it will be easy to lay down what you need.
Hardwood floors may be a difficult task – not because of the installation process but because the wood may have faded or changed color over time. It may be impossible to match the color with new wood. However, you can consider refinishing the wood in the entire kitchen area to ensure an even color.
Free standing varieties of kitchens offer many benefits. Check with your local stores to see if they can be an options for you.