How can I make an Ikea kitchen look more expensive?

[Glitterfish]

We're fitting a new kitchen. Ikea design is best we've seen and we're happy with most aspects of it. However I would like advice on how I can improve to make it appear more expensive/ attractive/ appealing?

I really wanted solid wood countertops but everyone is advising me against due to maintenance etc. Ikea wooden laminate looks good but will I regret going with solid wood? What about quartz? It's an old house so I don't really think quartz is in keeping but can't think of other alternatives?

We've picked cup style handles which are lovely and suit but I'm not sure if I should go with brass and brass tap or brushed steel. (We're not integrating fridge which is brushed steel).

Any advice welcome 🙏

I have laminate wood worktops and they’re really easy to care for, look great and are durable. Real wood looks great but aftercare can be a pain.

I’d match handles and tap to your stainless steel fridge, I think consistent metal finishes look really sleek. The main thing though is that the kitchen itself is well fitted and finished. The most expensive units will look cheap if they aren’t fitted properly.

I’ve had wooden before and I wouldn’t do it again. I don’t personally like quartz but on a similar price point to quartz is granite which we’ve just gone with. There’s always compact laminate?

I can answer this one! When I was looking at kitchens 20 years ago I noticed that IKEA used EXTREMELY expensive tiles in their display kitchens. Specifically I recognised a shimmery metallic mosaic tile from Fired Earth.

Extending my investigations into kitchen design I found that using everything from one supplier really pigeonholes the design. You will have an out of the box 2026 IKEA kitchen rather than a timeless design. It's like dressing head to toe in one designer, fashionable but not necessarily stylish forever.

I picked high gloss IKEA cabinets, got handles from B&Q, ceramic tiles that I liked and settled for a solid surface worktop. The solid surface worktop market has expanded exponentially but back then it was Corian or pretenders. I went for Avonite because with Corian the white speckle I wanted was three times the price over the plain white, and Avonite rep called just when I found that out! You will not regret a solid surface counter and splashback. It was expensive but it has lasted so well and still looks good.

We have an ikea kitchen we had bespoke baseboards fitted by a carpenter and lovely tiles. We also couldn’t decide on a worktop so got the wood look laminate as it’s so cheap and thought we would swap over when we found something we really liked - we wanted solid oak, we had this in our old house and with a bit of TLC it looked great after 10 years. However the laminate actually looks fine and I love that it’s completely bomb proof! We stayed in a house with posh stone worktops and I couldn’t cope with how noisy everything was

Don’t worry about it, keep it clean and uncluttered, that’s how a kitchen looks stylish

I would recommend either laminate or quartz ..I would choose quartz if in budget as definitely looks more expensive..
We ran out of money so went for laminate which has been fine but def looks cheaper and starting to look scruffy 8yrs on .so looking at quartz ..
I think upstands look good too but thats a personal choice and would depend on height

Think about your tiling.. /splashback and colours .. tiles don't need to be expensive but choose classic styling... B&Q had some good looking tiles..

I didn't tile at all and used a clear glass splashback behind the cooker and sink and just painted it all white as wanted a cleaner look

I think things like non plastic sockets and switches help. A good flooring - decent tiles and a sensible grout colour - not white which looks dirty easily.
A good quality table and chairs and considered accessories but not excessive clutter.