Planning an IKEA kitchen comes down to eight key steps: setting your budget, measuring your space, choosing a layout, creating your IKEA design, selecting your doors and finishes, ordering your IKEA cabinetry, ordering your Ren Studio fronts, and coordinating installation.
This guide walks through the full planning process from first measurements to placing your order — including how and when to bring in your Ren Studio door order so everything arrives in sequence for a smooth installation.
Step 1: Establish Your Budget
Before you open the IKEA kitchen planner, get clear on your total renovation budget and how it’s allocated. An IKEA METOD kitchen involves several cost categories that are worth separating from the start:
- IKEA carcasses: The cabinet frames, drawers, interior fittings and hinges from IKEA.
- Custom doors and panels: Your Ren Studio doors, drawer fronts, cover panels and plinths.
- Benchtop: Benchtops can vary significantly in price depending on the material, size and complexity of your design.
- Splashback: Tile, glass or stone, installed by a tiler or stonemason.
- Appliances: Rangehood, oven, cooktop, dishwasher, refrigerator — these are separate to the cabinetry and can significantly affect the overall budget.
- Installation labour: IKEA carcass assembly, Ren Studio door installation, benchtop installation, tiling and any electrical or plumbing work.
Having rough figures for each category before you start designing helps you make proportional decisions rather than discovering budget problems after you’ve fallen in love with a particular layout.
Step 2: Measure Your Space Accurately
Accurate measurements are the single most important input to a successful IKEA kitchen plan. METOD cabinets work in fixed, modular widths — 20, 40, 60 and 80cm — so your measurements determine which widths fit where, and where the inevitable gaps and filler pieces need to go.
What to measure:
- Overall room dimensions: width, depth and height of the kitchen space, measured in millimetres.
- Window positions: the height from floor to windowsill, the width of the window, and the distance from adjacent walls.
- Door positions: the location and width of any doorways that affect the cabinet run.
- Plumbing and drainage positions: where the existing water supply and drainage are located — these can influence where your sink is positioned.
- Electrical points and appliance locations: where your oven, cooktop, rangehood, dishwasher and refrigerator will be positioned.
- Any structural elements: columns, exposed pipes, beams or wall returns that affect how cabinets can be placed.
If you’re not confident measuring the space yourself — particularly if the room has non-standard angles, multiple wall returns or complex plumbing considerations — it’s worth having a professional measure the space before you begin planning.
Step 3: Decide on Your Layout
With your measurements in hand, you’re ready to plan your cabinet layout. The IKEA METOD system supports all the common kitchen layouts:
- Single-wall: All cabinets on one wall. Common in apartments and narrow spaces.
- Galley: Two parallel cabinet runs facing one another. An efficient layout that can provide excellent storage and bench space in narrower kitchens.
- L-shape: Cabinets on two adjacent walls. One of the most versatile layouts for mid-sized kitchens — provides a natural work triangle between sink, cooktop and refrigerator.
- U-shape: Cabinets on three walls. Maximum storage and bench space. Works best in kitchens wide enough to allow comfortable movement through the middle.
- Island or peninsula: A freestanding or attached cabinet run in the centre of the space. METOD base cabinets can be configured as islands with the appropriate cover panels and plinths.
As you plan, consider how easily you can move between the sink, cooktop and refrigerator, while keeping the main circulation paths clear.
Step 4: Create Your Design
There are a few ways you can create your IKEA kitchen design:
- DIY using IKEA's online kitchen planner: IKEA's free, browser-based design tool lets you enter your room dimensions and drag and drop METOD cabinets and components into a 2D or 3D layout.
- In-store IKEA kitchen planning: IKEA offers free in-store kitchen planning appointments with its Kitchen specialists.
- Plan My Space service (recommended): Our expert IKEA design partner, Burra Design, will take care of the planning for you. With extensive experience designing IKEA solutions, they can help you create a considered, functional layout while finding creative solutions that make the most of your space.
Whichever option you choose, your kitchen will be designed using IKEA's online kitchen planner. Once complete, the planner generates a detailed plan showing each cabinet and its dimensions. This is exactly what you'll use later when placing your Ren Studio order.
For the DIYers, here are a few practical tips for using the planner effectively:
- Start with the sink position: Plumbing is one of the least flexible elements of your kitchen, so establish the sink cabinet position early and plan around it.
- Plan for appliances: Integrated appliances such as ovens, dishwashers and refrigerators have specific dimensions and installation requirements that need to work with your cabinetry. Check the specifications for every appliance before finalising your plan.
- Don’t forget cover panels and plinths: These are often overlooked until late in the planning process. Cover panels finish exposed cabinet sides and island ends, while plinths conceal the space between your base cabinets and the floor. You'll need these from Ren Studio so they match your doors and drawer fronts.
- Account for adjacent elements: Benchtop overhangs, splashbacks, rangehoods and other surrounding elements can all affect your cabinetry layout, so consider these as part of the overall design rather than in isolation.
Step 5: Choose Your Door Profile and Finish
Once your layout is confirmed and you have your IKEA plan PDF, it’s time to choose your Ren Studio profile and finish — the elements that transform your IKEA flatpack into a designer space.
If you haven’t already ordered finish samples, now is the time. Seeing the actual material in your own kitchen — in your light, against your walls and floor — before committing to an order is an important step in making a decision you’ll be completely satisfied with.
If you’d like personalised guidance on which profile, finish and hardware combination is right for your space, our Style My Space service is a 45-minute virtual design consultation with our in-house designer, covering finish selections, profile recommendations and complementary materials like benchtops, splashbacks and tapware.
Step 6: Place Your IKEA Order — Removing the Fronts, Keeping the Hinges
When you place your IKEA carcass order, there’s one important step that’s specific to Ren Studio customers: contact IKEA before completing checkout and ask them to remove all fronts from your order that are being replaced by Ren Studio products. This means:
- Cabinet doors
- Drawer fronts
- Cover panels
- Plinths (kickboards)
You won’t need any of these from IKEA, as your Ren Studio pieces replace them entirely. Removing them from your IKEA order reduces the cost and avoids the waste of fronts you’ll never use.
Critically: keep the door hinges in your IKEA order. Ren Studio doors are pre-drilled to suit IKEA’s hinge system, and the hinges are not supplied with our products. Ordering them from IKEA ensures you have the right fittings for installation.
Step 7: Place Your Ren Studio Order
With your IKEA plan confirmed and your finish chosen, you’re ready to order your Ren Studio pieces. You can order directly through our online shop, selecting each product by profile, finish and size. Your IKEA plan PDF (which lists every cabinet by number and dimension) is your reference for matching each cabinet to the corresponding Ren Studio door size.
If you’d prefer not to work through the matching process yourself, our Create My Order service does this for you. Share your IKEA plan and our team will put together your complete Ren Studio order — matching every cabinet, cover panel and plinth in your plan to the correct product.
Once your order is placed, manufacturing begins. Lead times vary by finish (currently 4–7 weeks depending on your chosen finish — always confirm with us directly as these can change). We recommend not booking your installer until your pieces have been received.
Step 8: Coordinate Installation
A successful IKEA kitchen installation typically involves several trades working in sequence. The general order of works is:
- Electrical and plumbing rough-in: Any electrical points and plumbing connections that need to be repositioned should be moved before cabinetry is installed.
- IKEA carcass installation: The cabinet frames are assembled and fixed to the walls. This is a job for a professional flatpack installer — getting the cabinets perfectly level and square is critical for the doors to hang correctly.
- Ren Studio door installation: Once the carcasses are installed and level, your Ren Studio doors, drawer fronts, cover panels and plinths can be fitted. Doors and drawer fronts are pre-drilled to suit IKEA hardware, while cover panels and plinths are cut and fitted on site as required.
- Benchtop installation: Your benchtop supplier or installer will advise when templating and installation should occur. For stone and other made-to-measure benchtops, templating typically takes place once the base cabinets are installed, level and secured.
- Splashback and finishing works: Tiling, painting and other finishing elements go in last.
We have a list of recommended installers with IKEA and Ren Studio experience on our Install Services page. As a general principle, a professional installer who knows the METOD system will deliver a significantly better result than a general handyperson who doesn’t — and is worth the investment in a project of this scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to finalise my IKEA plan before contacting Ren Studio?
Yes — a finalised IKEA plan is the starting point for your Ren Studio order. The plan tells us which cabinet sizes are in your kitchen, which determines the exact door sizes you need. If you’re not sure your plan is finalised, our Create My Order team can review it with you.
Can Ren Studio doors fit non-standard IKEA cabinet sizes?
All standard IKEA METOD sizes are covered by our product range. If you have non-standard configurations or modifications, we can manufacture custom-size pieces — contact us with the dimensions and we’ll advise.
How far in advance should I order my Ren Studio doors?
As early as possible once your IKEA plan is confirmed. Our production lead times range from 4 to 7 weeks depending on your finish. Ordering early means your pieces arrive before your installation date rather than creating a delay. If you’re planning a renovation for the September–December peak period, order well ahead — lead times typically extend during this busy window.
Can I change my IKEA plan after ordering from Ren Studio?
Because every Ren Studio piece is made to order, changes to your IKEA plan after your Ren Studio order is placed can’t be accommodated without a new order for the changed pieces. Get your IKEA plan fully confirmed before placing your door order.
Start Planning Your IKEA Kitchen
Whether you’re at the very beginning or partway through the planning process, we’re here to help. Use the IKEA kitchen planner to start your layout, or reach out to our Plan My Space service for professional planning support. When you’re ready to choose your profile and finish, order samples first — and if you’d like design guidance, Style My Space is the place to start.
