How much does it cost to change the fronts of an IKEA kitchen? Three kitchens costed line by line

“If I have made-to-measure fronts made, I will end up over budget.” It is the sentence that comes up most often on renovation forums, and it stops many projects before the first quote. So here are three real kitchens, costed piece by piece at our published prices, so you can do the calculation at home in ten minutes.

1. What you pay for, and what you do not

Changing the fronts of an IKEA kitchen is not the same as redoing a kitchen. The cabinets stay, the hinges stay, the drawer runners stay, the plumbing and appliances do not move. You pay only for the visible part.

That explains the gap with a kitchen retailer's quote: you are not comparing the same things. A complete kitchen from a retailer includes the cabinets, fitting, the worktop and sometimes the appliances. Here, you buy doors, drawer fronts and finishing pieces, and you fit them yourself in half a day.

All the prices below are our public prices incl. VAT in September 2026, smooth finish, every oak finish at the same price.

2. Straight kitchen, 2.40 m: €973

The most common case: one wall, four base units, two wall units. Typically a flat.

3. L-shaped kitchen, 3.60 m: €1,805

Two walls, a corner, more drawers. The most frequent configuration in a house.

4. Kitchen with tall units, 4.20 m: €2,986

The most complete configuration: two full-height tall units, a corner, and finishing panels on the visible sides.

5. Doing your own calculation in ten minutes

Take a sheet of paper and go round your kitchen, unit by unit. For each one, note three things: the type of piece, the width, the height.

IKEA METOD widths are standard: 20, 30, 40, 60 or 80 cm. Door heights range from 40 to 200 cm. Drawer fronts are 10, 20 or 40 cm high. So you do not need to measure to the millimetre: you only need to identify the format.

Then look up each line on our product pages, where prices are shown by size, with no configurator or form. The total you get is the price you will pay.

6. The three items everyone forgets

Finishing panels. Tall unit cover panels and island sides. They often cost more than the doors they frame, and they do not show on a plan.

Filler strips. Those vertical strips that close the gap between the last unit and the wall. Discreet but essential: without them, the line is not clean.

The dishwasher front. It is not an ordinary door and is counted separately, undrilled, because it fixes onto the appliance and not onto a cabinet.

7. Ways to bring the bill down

Do not change everything. Many projects cover only the base units, or only the side visible from the living room. The wall units of a closed kitchen can wait a year.

Skip the invisible panels. A unit side against a wall or wedged between two cabinets does not need to be dressed.

Cut to size yourself. Filler strips, plinths and panels can be cut with a circular saw fitted with a fine-tooth blade. A slightly larger standard size cut down costs less than a made-to-measure piece.

Keep your hinges. In a renovation, the existing ones can be reused: buy only what is missing.

Order in two stages. Nothing forces you to order everything in the same month. Finishes are stable from one batch to the next, but order a check sample before the second round.

Frequently asked questions

Do these prices include fitting? No. These are fronts you fit yourself, in about two minutes per piece. Two people can fit a complete kitchen in half a day.

Are the hinges included? No, and that is deliberate: in most renovations, the existing ones can be reused. You only buy the difference, from IKEA.

Does the price change with the finish? No. All seven oak finishes are the same price, size for size.

What if one of my sizes is not in the grid? Finishing panels are available made to measure on quotation. For filler strips outside the grid, we prepare a quote at €380 per m² incl. VAT.

How long between ordering and delivery? Allow 6 to 8 weeks for production, plus one week for delivery on average: everything is made to order, nothing comes out of stock.

Conclusion

A two metre forty kitchen in genuine oak comes to less than a thousand euros. An L-shaped kitchen, less than two thousand. That is not nothing, but it is not the kitchen retailer's quote most people dread when they ask the question either.

Go round your units before you give up. The calculation takes ten minutes, and it gives you an exact figure rather than a worry.

To go further: How much does a wooden kitchen cost?, FAKTUM or METOD: which kitchen do you have? and Using the IKEA planner to order

Luc Deniel, founder of Jacamar