We purchased IKEA countertops for our farmhouse kitchen renovation. They were the most affordable stone countertop option that I could find, and they had the light and bright color options that I wanted for the fresh farmhouse look.
Choosing Countertops for our farmhouse kitchen renovation
When I started my kitchen renovation last winter, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go with butcher block countertops, stone or laminate. I knew I wanted something neutral that would work well with my farmhouse style, but I had to consider budget, durability and maintenance.
I ruled out butcher block fairly quickly because I was worried about having too much wood, since all the floors in my house are the original hardwood. I know wood floors and wood counters can look really lovely together, but our floors are heart pine, which have a naturally amber hue. I just knew they wouldn’t look right.
I knew I didn’t want granite, because I wanted to keep things very bright. Of course, I loved marble, but the cost was prohibitive.
Choosing quartz countertops
I did my research due diligence and decided a light colored quartz would be the way to go. They were slightly more expensive than granite, but in a kitchen with little counter space, I knew we could swing it. I liked that they wouldn’t need any regular care or upkeep, and they were supposed to be relatively indestructible.
Since we were able to restore the original hardwoods and paint the cabinets, I thought spending a little extra on our countertops was justifiable.
Shopping quartz countertops at IKEA
I priced countertops at several different places. After finding out about the prices of IKEA countertops, we decided to go take a look at the options there.
When I went to IKEA to look at the sinks, faucets and counters, I wasn’t prepared for so many choices. There were options for color, thickness and edges.
The IKEA countertops we ended up with are just over one inch thick. We went with the color ocean foam and we opted to not do the beveled edges. The color is a true white, not cream or ivory, with specks of gray.
Cost of IKEA Quartz countertops
They cost $69 per square foot, BUT, and this the exciting part, a couple weeks after I purchased them I happened to be at IKEA again and saw they were ON SALE! My heart sunk. They hadn’t even been delivered yet. If I had only waited a couple more weeks to order them, they would have been 15% off. Well, my smart sister said I should just go to customer service and see if they would honor the sale retroactively. They gave me the 15% back, no questions asked. I walked away with over $300 cash in my pocket.
Cleaning IKEA Countertops
One thing that was important to me, as a mother of four messy kids, is how easy they would be to clean.
I mostly only use water and a microfiber cloth to shine them right up.
I had a couple of rust spots from leaving wet cast iron out overnight a couple times, and it came right out with Soft Scrub.
I was kind of thinking I was stuck with the stains forever, but with a little dab of this stuff it came off without a problem.
IKEA quartz countertops review
I wasn’t used to hard countertops and, at first, we broke a few dishes. We are used to it now, so I haven’t broken anything in quite a while.
I am very happy with my quartz countertops from IKEA. I love that they are strong and easy to care for. The white color adds so much brightness to my kitchen. I would highly recommend them, especially if you can snag them during one of their kitchen sales, like I did.
Frequently asked questions about our IKEA quartz countertops
How thick are IKEA quartz countertops
Ikea quartz countertops are offered in 3/4″ and 1 and 1/4″ thickness. They typically go by centimeters and IKEA offers 2 and 3 centimeter options. We chose the 1 and 1/4″ (3 cm) for the cost savings. With the stone’s hard surface, they feel plenty substantial and durable.
How much are ikea quartz countertops
The cost depends on the thickness and color. The 3/4″ ocean foam IKEA quartz countertops that we bought for our home were $69 per square foot. They were running a 15% off kitchen sale, so we brought ours home for $60 per square foot.
We needed about 50 square feet total, so we spent about $3,000 on our new IKEA countertops.
Who installs ikea quartz countertops
The cost of installation is included in the price of IKEA countertops. We had the old countertops demo’ed, so the installation was pretty seamless.
How do you clean quartz countertops
I was a little intimidated by the bright white color of our new IKEA countertops, but I figured out pretty quickly that they are super easy to clean. I usually just spot clean them with a microfiber cloth and water. For a stubborn spot, lemon essential oil or Soft Scrub with bleach takes it right out.
If a spot still won’t come out, allow the lemon essential oil or cleaner sit for about 10 minutes before wiping it away.
Get the scoop on our entire kitchen renovation HERE.
Hi Lisa,
Love your kitchen and your blog! What type of paint did you use to paint your cabinets and did you sand them all first? Yours were previously painted so maybe you were just able to paint over, I have outdated oak, so now as I type this I’m already second guessing. ?.
Hey Sandy! I just used cabinet enamel from Lowe’s. Ours were painted already, so the paint went over it really well. You may want to sand them a little.
Such an impressive blog and well defined about Trends in Quartz Countertops. Thank you for sharing it with us and keep blogging!!
Hi!
We are in the midst of re-doing a beach house (built in the 1800’s – Cape style) and we are looking for a reasonably priced countertop for our kitchen. We are doing open shelving up top with white subway tile and the lower cabinets will be Benjamin Moore Hale Navy. We came across the Ikea Quartz in Pure White — what are your thoughts? Does it look high end?
Thanks!!
Hi, I was wondering which shade/color are the countertops?
Thanks in advance.
What paint color is on your walls?
Annette Sept 19, 2018
Our kitchen walls are Benjamin Moore White Dove and the Dining Room/Living Room is Benjamin Moore Gray Owl. 🙂
I was wondering if I can get your honest opinion about ikea quartz countertop, and what is your experience the countertop? Does it stain, or chipped easily? Is it hard to clean the stains. We have light gray cabinet and we are considering doing ocean foam as well, I hope it goes with our cabinets. Reason I ask so many question is that I have kids and i want low maintenance as possible. Thanks in advance for your input.
Excellent choice! Quartz is always beautiful. Who did the installation?
They actually install them for you!
Hello, we are about to order an ikea quartz counter. We have the hittarp cabinets, which are off-white. We are going to order the ocean foam counter, but not sure how it will look with the cabinets. Do you think ocean foam would go well with off-white cabinets? We have been to ikea and looked at the samples with our cabinets, but it is so hard to tell with a little sample!
And I LOVE your kitchen!
Does your off white have more of a yellow undertone? If so, I would say no they wouldn’t match. If the undertone is more blue or gray I think they wold probably complement each other nicely. Thank you so much for your comment!
Oh no, they do have a slight yellow undertone. Thank you for your reply! I guess we need to revisit Ikea…really having trouble figuring out a nice counter color for these cabinets.
Hi! I love your blog and am also doing an Ikea kitchen. I have debated with quartz vs granite because of the price difference, but ultimately love the simpleness of quartz. Was the $69/SF installed? And, are you near an Ikea? I’m over an hour away from my nearest Ikea and they will be charging me a travel cost as well. Did you look at other countertop alternatives before settling on the quartz? If so, what were some of your favorites?
Thanks for any advice you can lend!
🙂 Lisa in Maine
Yes, that was installed. We also had to pay the extra travel feel because we live over an hour away. It still seemed like the most economical option.
Hello! This is my first visit to your blog!! I follow you on Instagram. We have granite in our kitchen that we remodeled 2 years ago. I don’t dislike it and its one of the lightest I could find, however my preference was quartz . Hubby was adamantly against all white kitchen at the time. Anyway, wondering what your thoughts are on putting this on a bathroom vanity as I have 2 bathrooms in line for renos! Grabbing a cup of coffee and off to read through your posts!!
I think it would be just beautiful in the bathroom. I feel like you can’t go wrong with white!
hello, lisa.
thank you for the post. your countertop and sink look divine. i will also purchase ikea quartz…if i can make up my mind between buttermilk and organic white! and i like the pencil edge but my mom wants bullnose for safety. no, she doesn’t live with me and there are no little ones other than my cats. question: were your countertops installed by ikea’s service or did you select a different installer? i ask because there are some who say installers may use plywood as an underlayment which seems right, but sounds like more work thanks again. ~karen
I did use IKEA and they did do the plywood underlayment because my house is old and uneven. They got it all level though and we just used some trim in front to cover the plywood.
What do you mean by trim? What kind of trim? Quartz or wood to match the cabinets? Do you have a close up picture for me to see? I ask because we are moving forward with our countertop change with IKEA and I don’t know how to fix this.
It is just a very thin little piece of wood that is an inch wide. So, I would say 1/4" by 1 inch. We just used the smallest thing available that would cover up the gap between the counter and the cabinets.