An IKEA METOD kitchen has good bones. What gives it away is usually not the cabinets but the finishing: exposed cabinet sides, gaps at the walls, a plinth that doesn't match, and fronts that look like everyone else's. These are the hacks that close those gaps, each with the part that does the job.
1. Replace every front in one finish
Doors, drawer fronts, cover panels, fillers and plinths ordered together, in one profile and colour, read as one kitchen. All of them are in our METOD range, made to IKEA's sizes and drilling. Start with the full range of custom doors for IKEA METOD kitchens.
2. Use cover panels that can be trimmed to fit
Our METOD cover panels are made larger than IKEA's, so your installer can scribe them to uneven walls and floors for a tight fit. A painted base end panel (62 × 80 cm) is $300, a full-height panel (62 × 240 cm) is $850 and a fridge cover panel (62 × 240 cm) is $1,000, as priced in October 2026. Browse all METOD cover panels and plinths.
3. Pick the sheen
Our standard paint finish on painted doors and panels is matte (10% sheen). If you would rather have satin, semi-gloss or gloss, leave a note at checkout.
4. Match the plinth
A plinth (kickboard) in the same finish as the doors makes the cabinets look grounded rather than sitting on legs. Painted plinths are 240 cm long and come in 8 cm and 15 cm heights, at $115 and $205.
5. Close the gaps with fillers
Filler panels bridge the gaps between cabinets and walls, or between cabinets and the ceiling, in the same finish as your fronts so the join disappears.
6. Choose a profile IKEA doesn't make
Arch, Round Shaker, Coastal, Finger Pull, French Shaker and a full family of Shaker frames: our painted profiles give a METOD kitchen a shape you won't find on the standard fronts. Our Shaker vs flat guide helps you choose.
7. Go two-tone
Give the island, the tall cabinets or the wall cabinets their own colour or a woodgrain. Paste your saved IKEA plan into the 3D Kitchen Planner and click any front to try a second finish on your own kitchen before you order.
8. Add open shelving and appliance cabinets
We offer a small set of fixed-size cabinets for the spots METOD doesn't cover. Open cabinets in NAVURBANâ„¢ for display shelving run from $400 to $600 depending on size. For 90 cm appliances there is a 90 cm oven base cabinet at $400 and integrated range hood cabinets from $300. See the METOD appliance cabinets.
9. Upgrade the handles
Handle holes are drilled on site, so you can choose any handle and place it where you want. Our handles and knobs include timber pulls in oak and walnut and metal handles in brass, brushed gold and matt black.
10. Top it with stone
We also supply Caesarstone Mineral and Porcelain benchtops. In the U-shaped METOD kitchen on our How it Works page, a 20 mm Caesarstone Mineral benchtop was $4,445. See the range on our benchtops page.
For the full step-by-step, from IKEA plan to installed kitchen, read how to plan an IKEA kitchen with custom doors.