Despite launching halfway through covid, an Australian business offering the ability to customise your IKEA kitchen has been embraced and they’ve just launched custom door and drawer front sizes.
“We started our business halfway through covid and overall we have had a great response but it’s still quite a new concept in Australia,” says co-founder Suzanna Tauber. “We have exhibited at two shows in the past year and the majority of the feedback is still that people didn’t know anything like this existed. We’re trying to change that!”
While products to “hack” your IKEA kitchens and other units are quite common in the US, Customea is one of very few in Australia that offer fronts to fit IKEA, as well as custom sizes to fit other cabinets, in any Dulux colour, and all on a self-serve basis via their website. “Our goal is to make this type of customisation accessible for everyone,” says Suzanna, who started the business with her partner Mathieu Griveau, an experienced joiner.
The concept involves combining affordable IKEA (or existing older) cabinetry with custom doors, instead of going with a fully custom made kitchen, or the same IKEA kitchen as everyone else. It’s also an alternative to ripping out and replacing everything, which Suzanna says will save you save you around 30-to-40%. “You’re still able to achieve a beautiful finish, but save costs on the functional parts.”
Their most popular designs are the Slim Shaker, Shaker, French Shaker and Coastal. “We are seeing a lot of different greens as well as deep blues at the moment. Percentage wise we probably see around 50 percent of customers choose custom colours and 50 percent in a white