Startup company Plykea has launched a series of birch ply doors and worktops that can be attached to IKEA's Metod kitchen cupboards.
The wooden fronts are created to fit perfectly to the original fittings, and are designed to appeal to those working within a limited budget but wanting different finishes to those provided by IKEA.
Plykea offers doors in both wood and formica-faced ply, as well as wooden spacer panels that can be placed between cupboards. A range of handles are available, including brass pulls as well as cut-outs in round or rectangular shapes.
The company was set up after founder Tim Diacon renovated his kitchen and struggled to find bespoke cabinet doors in the material he wanted, and for an affordable price.
He teamed up with Adam Vergette – a furniture designer and former head of production at furniture brand Vitsoe – to manufacture fronts and worktops that would seamlessly fit IKEA's base cabinets.
"I assumed it would be fairly easy to find a company supplying ply fronts for IKEA, but to my surprise couldn't find one when I looked," said Diacon, whose design-it-yourself dildo company Made to Pleasure was previously featured on Dezeen.
"We went to IKEA and bought one of their cheapest fronts, measured them precisely including all the drill holes, and then CNC-ed our fronts."
Plykea currently only supplies extras for IKEA's Metod cabinets, but has had several queries about extending its range to work with Faktum cabinets and also the furniture giant's Pax wardrobe system – although it intends to focus solely on kitchens for now.
"IKEA makes great quality mass-manufactured furniture," Diacon told Dezeen. "This naturally restricts the choice of materials they make available in their product range. What we add essentially is choice."
"Kitchens these days are more often than not the central hub of the home and we're finding that people want to spend a little extra to get something of higher quality, that's more unique or personal," he added.
IKEA – which emerged as the most influential design brand on Dezeen Hot List – recently collaborated with Swedish textile company Bemz for its Tom Dixon-designed Delaktig sofa bed, which is intended to accommodate third-party add-ons.
Bemz already specialises in providing covers for IKEA furniture, and as part of the partnership will design a series of accessories for the furniture.
A group of Danish architecture studios including BIG and Henning Larsen have also hacked the furniture giant's kitchens, updating them with custom handles made from seat belts and copper panels.