The ASPUDDEN series
Opening the door to innovation
At IKEA, we're always looking for better ways to improve our products and work smarter. Thanks to a special production technique, the ASPUDDEN kitchen series opens the door to more design possibilities, with a focus on materials and quality – at an affordable price. There’s more to these kitchen doors and drawer fronts than meets the eye.
At IKEA, we love a challenge, especially when it involves making better use of materials we already have. It’s part of our heritage, stemming from our frugal Småland past of making the best from limited means. One of our latest goals was to create a range of modern, elegant wood kitchen fronts with a thin frame, with innovation and efficiency in focus.
Less is more
ASPUDDEN is a kitchen series designed by IKEA designer Sarah Fager. Characterised by its minimalist design, ASPUDDEN features fronts with a thin, elegant frame that creates shadows and adds a unique, crafted feel. The fronts come in a light grey and dark grey-green*, with matt white coming to stores soon.
“When designing the ASPUDDEN kitchen series, I aimed for a sleek, minimal and timeless look – something you’ll be proud of for years,” explains Sarah. However, as all fronts in the ASPUDDEN series come with a 25-year guarantee, it may even be decades.
Could the less-is-more philosophy apply to materials too? Traditionally, our fronts are made from medium-density fibreboard (MDF) for its smooth surface finish and superior machinability for three-dimensional design details. However, MDF leaves room for improvement when it comes to optimising raw material usage and tightening our carbon footprint, so the question was: could we be more efficient, while making the kitchen fronts even better in terms of design, quality and value?
*Dark grey-green and matt white is not available in all markets.
The ASPUDDEN series of doors and drawer fronts has a clean, timeless look.
Some of the advantages of the new technique is an improvement in the quality of the edges and a more durable finish.
Time for a change
We’re always looking for smart ways to make the most of wood, so when it came to developing the ASPUDDEN kitchen series, we gladly took on the challenge. In a partnership between the IKEA Test and Development lab in Älmhult and our long-term Italian supply partner 3B S.p.A., we began to explore the benefits of particleboard as a material- and cost-effective alternative to MDF.
But particleboard isn’t without drawbacks; “The real challenge was to use a material like particleboard instead of MDF for the three-dimensional frame design of the ASPUDDEN range, but particleboard doesn’t allow milling to create the decorative details,” explains Francesco Giusto, Research and Innovation Manager at 3B S.p.A.
“The real challenge in developing this product was not putting new technologies into production, but the way we use the existing ones. We mixed typical technology from 3D door manufacturing – which is a batch process – with processes that come from flat lamination, which is a completely different production flow. There were also many parameters to ensure all the surfaces of the product looked good from an aesthetic perspective.”
Innovation on all fronts
After a year of testing and sampling, 3B came up with an innovative solution – a production technique using a particleboard base made from 100% recycled wood, with a thin high-density fibreboard (HDF) frame, which is then wrapped in a thermoformable plastic foil that is molded using heat, into a seamless cover. This produces a superior finish and smoother edges, as well high resistance to moisture and humidity.
Innovation can be costly, often requiring new technology and tools, but the beauty of fronts in the ASPUDDEN kitchen series is that we were able to integrate the new material into the existing process, saving time and money. “In the beginning, we started the project creating membrane press doors in MDF, just to be on the safe side, but behind the scenes, 3B was trying to use particle board from the start of the process, to understand if all the parameters and limitations were right prior to production,” explains Irene Del Savio, Product Engineer at IKEA.
The doors are sprayed with glue, then the foil laminate is applied with a giant vacuum membrane press.
“3B is a very strong partner for innovation and development. In fact, I would say that for IKEA, 3B is one of the most important development suppliers we have in this category area. ASPUDDEN is just one story; we’ve had other stories before, and will hopefully have more in the future.”
A lighter footprint
With sustainability at the heart of the project, the use of recycled materials was a top priority. For the ASPUDDEN series, 3B uses particleboard made from 100% recycled wood content. Particleboard has a lower CO2 impact compared to MDF, and by using more particleboard and less MDF we we achieved a substantial reduction in the product's overall carbon emissions**. The plastic foil is also made from minimum 80% recycled PET.
If you’ll pardon the pun, the success of the project has opened the door to using the same process for even more fronts for other IKEA storage systems around the home. For example, KRUKMAKARE doors and fronts as part of the BESTÅ system.
The lower impact of ASPUDDEN is another step in our sustainability journey. Like many of our innovation projects, the aim is not only to blaze a trail but to forge a well-trodden path for other manufacturers to follow – to pay it forward for the planet. “IKEA is our first customer bringing this innovation to the market with an important range like ASPUDDEN, so we’re grateful for the trust. IKEA has created a clear path in terms of sustainability that is helping to push forward this kind of innovation across the industry,” says Francesco.
**Product emission reduction is based on 3B's internal cradle-to-gate validation, which is not third-party certified.
“At IKEA we use design and engineering to come up with beautiful and innovative solutions. And with our volume and scale we can standardise our production, invest with our suppliers and ultimately, offer affordable, quality solutions to our customers. ASPUDDEN kitchen fronts is a perfect example of this.”
Time to re(in)novate your kitchen?
The ASPUDDEN series is available in IKEA stores and online, along with a wide range of knobs and handles for the perfect finishing touch.