Comparing Ikea Knoxhult Cabinets for the Laundry Room

I have pretty much decided on what fits best to give practical and uncluttered storage in my laundry room. But there are a couple of problems and I want to be sure before we start anything.

The corner base is giving me the most trouble in coming up with a plan I really like.

IKEA Knoxhult

The first thing that came up when I searched the Ikea website for “corner base” is the Knoxhult Corner Base Cabinet. It comes complete, like a piece of furniture. It has legs and a countertop that is ¾” wider than the cabinet.

Knoxhult is Ikea’s Modular kitchen series.

Ikea’s Modular Kitchen

A modular kitchen is a perfect alternative to a full-scaled kitchen renovation, with just a fraction of the installation effort. Choose between different flexible modular kitchen units at an affordable price. You can still personalize your modular kitchen down to the smallest detail.

The Ikea catalog says “Knoxhult is functional and easy to plan. Pick the combination you like, then choose appliances, sink, faucet, knobs and handles. Done!”

There are top cabinets in a few sizes. The bottom cabinets are more like furniture. They have feet and can be moved.

They are coated with foil “which gives a scratch-resistant surface that is easy to keep clean.” I don’t like the idea of a foil surface. I don’t think it would stand up nearly as well as painted wood.

Materials and Care

• Kichen cabinet/ Door/ Drawer front: Particleboard, Melamine foil, ABS plastic
• Drawer side: Melamine foil, Plastic foil
• Drawer bottom/ Back: Fiberboard, Acrylic paint
• Work top: Particleboard, Melamine foil, High-pressure melamine laminate, ABS plastic, Laminate
• Wipe clean with a soft cloth dampened with water and a mild dish detergent or soap, if necessary. Wipe dry with a clean cloth.

Underwhelming, but they aren’t charging a lot for them, so…

This year’s Ikea catalog says; “You don’t need a big kitchen to cook well. You’re all set with a few essential kitchen modules from our affordable KNOXHULT system, a small selection of durable pots and pans (and maybe some veggie balls in the freezer, just to be safe).

This is a laundry room, so no cooking, but I do plan to put in a freezer (on the other wall, not the walls we are planning here.

It shows this kitchen layout. This will only cost $632. I’m coming up with three times that price, so let’s see what we can do with these. And that’s including the sink and faucet, which I don’t need.

What’s included in the price?

Four wall cabinets with doors, one base cabinet with drawers, one corner base cabinet, one base cabinet with doors/drawer, FYNDIG sink, LAGAN faucet and BAGGANÄS handles/knobs.

This is what is in this room. There are other components available.

Knoxhult Kitchen

• Wall cabinet with door $39 W15×D12×H30″. 903.722.65
• Wall cabinet with doors $34 W30×D12×H12½”. 103.722.69
• Wall cabinet with door $49/ea W24×D12×H30″. 503.722.67
• Base cabinet with drawers $119 Countertop included. W15⅜×D24×H36″. 403.722.63
• Corner base cabinet $119 Countertop included. W48⅜×D24×H36″. 703.722.71
• Base cabinet with doors/drawer $129 Countertop included. W48⅜×D24×H36″. 603.722.62

Melamine foil. Requires Assembly.

The back of the catalog says that the Knoxhult Kitchen system is not covered by the Ikea Kitchen system limited warranty. All the other kitchens have soft-closing door dampers, Knoxhult doesn’t.

The Ikea Kitchen catalog says; “Knoxhult – Go for an almost instant kitchen” That sounds good.

The first photo there is even less expensive, only $364.34, including the sink I don’t need.

This is the photo from the Planning Guide. It looks more practical.

When basic functions and low price matters

To make it easy for you, we’ve already combined ready cabinets with doors, countertops, shelves and drawers. All have to do is to pick the finishing touches, like knobs, handles and appliances. If you bring it home from your local IKEA store in the morning, you can have it installed and ready for cooking a late dinner in the evening. On the next pages you’ll see what choices you have.

Let’s plan the laundry room with Knoxult and see what we get. Besides the corner, there are three sizes of base cabinets; 72” wide, 48” wide and 15” wide.

We can start with the corner base cabinet, the one giving me trouble. In white, that is only $119. It is 44” wide and 24” deep. It can be installed going either direction. The base cabinets are going to make an L, with about 59” by the washer and dryer and about 87” on the wall by the door.

I’m pricing them with white. Grey costs more, but not a lot more. The white ones have a smooth plain front. The grey ones have a prettier door.

If the corner goes on the washer side, I have enough space for a 15” base cabinet, which exists and costs $119. The 15″ base cabinet only comes with drawers. The blind base has a single door.

On the right wall by the light switch I will have 63” left. I have wiggle room, but not enough to put the 72” wide cabinet there. But the 48” and 15” give me 63”! Perfect. We are up to $486.

The 15″ with the drawers might be easier to get into if it is out of the corner. But since they are not attached to the walls, I can change my mind.

Knoxhult Wall Cabinets

Can we do the top cabinets? The photos show using a lot of open shelves, but I would kinda like to get away from that. I have open shelving now.

There are no corner wall cabinets. There are three widths. Two are 30” tall and one is 12.5” high.

• W24×D12×H30″ White 503.722.67 $49
• W30×D12×H12½” White 103.722.69 $34
• W15×D12×H30″ White 903.722.65 $39

They are certainly inexpensive, but to do anything with them I would need a lot of them.

I’m going to stop calculating this now and see if a different Ikea system will suit what I need better.

But, I know I can have this solution for the base cabinets. It fits the space and costs way less than anything else, especially since it is completely finished, top and all. If I change my mind later, they can be used somewhere else without any difficulty at all. Or I can sell them.