Blinging up Ikea

WHEN Alsun Keogh of Nusla Design began renovating a New York City loft for a bachelor last fall, she took him through Manhattan's temples of kitchen design, including the Boffi and Bulthaup showrooms.

They admired the silky glide of drawers and caressed counters and studied design details. Ms Keogh said: "He'd say 'I love this', and I'd go, 'This is a $100,000 kitchen'. For a guy who doesn't cook, it was maybe a little much."

When her client hesitated, she began searching for other options. Online, she found Reform, a young Danish company with an ingenious money-saving solution - cabinet doors, panels and counters designed by some of the world's foremost architects that could be used to disguise economical innards from Ikea - in other words, designer kitchens with premium finishes at a fraction of the usual cost.