IKEA Kitchen Drawers and Fronts Guide

There’s no doubt about it that putting together a new IKEA kitchen can be one of the most fun, rewarding parts of being a homeowner. That’s because IKEA offers some of the most modern-looking, innovative styles and designs you’ll find on the market today.

And not only that, but IKEA home design products are often significantly more affordable than buying from North American brands like Lowes or Home Depot. For example, where you can easily spend tens of thousands of dollars on a new kitchen from these brands, an IKEA kitchen will likely only cost you a few thousand.

So when designing your new cooking space with IKEA products, you’ll be able to choose from dozens of the year’s hottest styles, as well as being able to save yourself hundreds of dollars by mixing and matching IKEA’s home design products however your heart desires.

But when it comes to completing your kitchen with drawers from IKEA, you’ll have the choice between two options: MAXIMERA and FORVARA. 

Both types of drawers can be used as inner or outer drawers, or even as “drawers within drawers”. But since that explanation probably left you with more questions than answers, let’s take a better look at both MAXIMERA and FORVARA drawers separately.

When you take a look at a MAXIMERA drawer, one of the first things you’ll notice is that they have curved edges on the insides. These interior curves are designed to be used with the matching adjustable MAXIMERA drawer dividers from IKEA, which are excellent for allowing you to customize your storage solution in any way that you want.

MAXIMERA are top of the line IKEA kitchen drawers and are built from high quality materials including metal and durable plastic. Also, drawers hardware package includes a slam-proof, soft-close feature, which tends to be especially useful for people who have children in the house.

MAXIMERA drawers from IKEA are available in different width, height and depth and are designed to be used in base cabinets as well as kitchen pantries. They are designed for all IKEA base cabinet and pantry sizes, except 12” base cabinet and corner base cabinets. 

Please find bellow detailed size information.

MAXIMERA drawers for regular 24” depth and shallow 14 ¾” depth IKEA kitchen base cabinets and pantries

Sizes available:

15×14 ¾”

15×24”

18×14 ¾”

18×24”

24×14 ¾”

24×24”

30×14 ¾”

30×24”

36×14 ¾”

36×24”

Sizes available:

15×24”

18×24”

24×17 ¾” 

24×24”

30×17 ¾”

30×24”

36×17 ¾”

36×24”

Please note that there are no high drawers for IKEA shallow IKEA base cabinets. Also there are 3 drawers that are 17 ¾” in depth. They are used for a sink cabinet and are designed lees in depth to accommodate clearance for a sink P-trap

For 12” base cabinet IKEA offers special 2 level pull out. And in fact, 12” is the smallest IKEA base cabinet.

MAXIMERA pull-out for IKEA 12” base cabinet

Between the two options, FORVARA drawers tend to be more cost-effective. However, while they are cheaper, they don’t quite stand up to the same standards as MAXIMERA drawers. 

When choosing FORVARA drawers, if you want to customize your storage solution, you’ll need to purchase VARIERA interior box organizers separately. This tends to be a bit of an inconvenience since MAXIMERA drawers come with matching dividers. 

Furthermore, FORVARA drawers don’t have the same soft-close feature that you’ll get with MAXIMERA drawers. Plus, another big inconvenience with FORVARA is that they only open up about ¾ of their depth, whereas MAXIMERA drawers open all the way. 

While this might not be a huge deal for some homeowners, you’ll find these two features in most of today’s modern kitchens. So if you’re looking to create the most modern kitchen design imaginable, especially if its in order to sell your home, I’d suggest choosing MAXIMERA drawers.

All FORVARA drawers are designed to be used only with 24” depth cabinets

Sizes available:

15×24”

18×24”

24×24”

30×24”

36×24”

Sizes available:

15×24”

18×24”

24×24”

30×24”

36×24”

Please note that there are no High drawers in FORVARA drawers’ line

Whether you decide to go with a MAXIMERA or a FORVARA drawer system, you’ll need to finish your cabinet’s design by choosing stylish IKEA drawer fronts. And fortunately, when it comes to choosing your drawer fronts, you’ll have plenty of options of different sizes and styles.

When it comes to IKEA drawer front sizes they are differ in width and height. So in fact are 5”, 10” and 15” in height, whereas width is in a range between 15” to 36”

Please look at IKEA kitchen drawer fronts sizes bellow

5” Height Drawer Front

18”x5” IKEA drawer front with AXSTAD dark gray finish

Sizes available:

15”x5”

18”x5”

24”x5”

30”x5”

36”x5”

10” Height Drawer Front

18”x10” IKEA drawer front with AXSTAD dark gray finish

Sizes available:

15”x10”

18”x10”

24”x10”

30”x10”

36”x10”

15” Height Drawer Front

18”x15” IKEA drawer front with AXSTAD dark gray finish

Sizes available:

15”x15”

18”x15”

24”x15”

30”x15”

36”x15”

Many of IKEA’s drawer fronts come complete with a gorgeous finish, which makes them stain-proof, moisture-resistant, and smooth to the touch. Plus, all drawers and fronts are backed by IKEA’s industry-leading 25-year limited warranty

With that said, let’s take a look at just a few of IKEA’s most popular drawer front options.

AXSTAD is one of IKEA’s most popular finishes. Available in either matte white or dark gray or dark blue, AXSTAD drawer fronts have soft, sumptuous lines and an inset panel to add a bit of extra style to the design. 

Complete with a foil finish, AXSTAD drawer fronts are perfect for giving your cabinets either a traditional or a modern-looking feel to them.

RINGHULT drawer fronts come in a stunning, high-gloss white color, guaranteed to look breathtaking in virtually any kitchen.

Excellent for those who want a minimalist style, RINGHULT features clean, crisp lines, making them ideal for a more modern-looking cabinet design.

Available in off-white, gray, or dark green, BODBYN drawer fronts are perfect for adding a simple, yet luxurious touch to your kitchen. BODBYN drawer fronts are made with a solid frame, completed by a beveled interior panel. These are ideal for an extremely distinctive, timeless look and feel.

Plus, like many other IKEA kitchen products, BODBYN IKEA drawer fronts have a smooth lacquered finish, which ensures that they’ll remain moisture-resistant and stain-proof for all the years to come.

Finally, for a simple, yet surprisingly stunning way to finish your cooking space, IKEA’s GRIMSLOV drawer fronts are made using a basic frame and an inset front panel, completed by a gorgeous foil finish.

Like all IKEA drawer fronts, GRIMSLOV fronts are moisture and impact resistant, as well as being extremely easy to clean. 

Of course, these are only a few of the drawer front options you’ll have to choose from. In fact, IKEA offers dozens of different styles, all of which are sure to look amazing in your new kitchen. 

So, once you decided with IKEA drawer front styles, the next step will be choosing the drawers layout that fits you best. Considering that IKEA offers drawer fronts in three different height namely; 5 inch, 10 inch and 15 drawer front and taking into account that IKEA base cabinets are 30” height we have plenty layout options available. So in fact you can go as many as 6 drawer per base cabinet or even more if you decide to add drawers to your panty. So lets take a closer look and see on some popular drawer layouts:

IKEA cabinet with six MAXIMERA low drawers (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with 3 low and 1 high MAXIMERA drawers (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with 1 low, 1 medium and 1 high MAXIMERA drawers (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with three MAXIMERA Shallow medium drawers (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with three MAXIMERA medium and one low hidden drawer (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with two MAXIMERA high Shallow drawers (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with two MAXIMERA high and one low hidden drawer (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with MAXIMERA medium drawer and two doors (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with three MAXIMERA Medium hidden drawers and two doors (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with MAXIMERA high drawer waste sorting (ikea.com)

IKEA cabinet with MAXIMERA medium drawer and space for a microwave (ikea.com)

These are just some of the possible options of how to position IKEA kitchen drawers within the cabinet. There is much more options available. Try to design your IKEA kitchen using IKEA kitchen planning tool and you will see all possible drawers’ layout you can get with IKEA drawers.

As you can see, both MAXIMERA and FORVARA drawers are an excellent way to finish your brand new kitchen cabinet design. Both are versatile drawer systems that allow you to add interior dividers for a fully customizable storage solution. 

In the end, if you’re looking to save as much money as possible, FORVARA drawers are going to be the best option for you. 

But on the other hand, if your budget isn’t a problem, then I’d suggest going with MAXIMERA drawers simply because they’re nicer and come complete with more high-quality features, such as being slam-proof and opening up to the full depth of the drawer. 

Having trouble deciding which drawer system is best for you? Or, maybe you’re interested in learning more about your pricing and installation options? 

Then don’t hesitate to reach out and get in touch with us today. Our team of highly-skilled kitchen design specialists is one standby, waiting to hear from you!