About Plykea
We make handcrafted plywood fronts and worktops that transform IKEA kitchen and wardrobe cabinets into something you'd be proud to show off. The result is a kitchen or wardrobe that feels genuinely bespoke — because in every meaningful way, it is.
Plykea was founded in 2016 by two friends who wanted beautiful, well-made plywood kitchen fronts and couldn't find them anywhere. So they built a workshop and made them. Nearly a decade on, we're still making every piece by hand — now from our workshop and showroom at Here East in Hackney Wick.
Everything is made in-house at our London workshop at Here East in Hackney Wick. Each front starts with an FSC-certified birch plywood core, precision-cut by CNC and hand-finished by our team. Quality and sustainability are built into the process from the start — not added as an afterthought.
Our fronts are available in premium natural wood veneers — oak, ash, maple, sapele, and walnut — or faced with an extensive range of contemporary laminates from Fenix, Arpa Bloom, and Formica, all bonded onto the birch plywood core.
Our team will guide you through the whole process — from your first IKEA plan through to delivery. We'll build a free, no-obligation quote from your design, complete with a 2D visual so you can see exactly how everything will look before you commit. More detail on the process is on our How It Works page.
Our workshop and showroom at Here East in Hackney Wick is a glass-walled space designed by architect Erbar Mattes — surrounded by some of London's most innovative companies and institutions. We'd love to show you around.
Alongside our kitchen and wardrobe fronts, we make Ürtil modular shelving and customisable pantry units, and supply Bora downward extraction hobs and Quooker taps. Visit our showroom page to book a visit and discuss your project, or email hello@plykea.com — we'd love to meet you.
We strive to be as sustainable and environmentally responsible as possible.
Fronts feature a birch plywood core, sourced from an FSC-certified supplier and greener material choices include Fenix NTM, Fenix NTM Bloom and Arpa Bloom HPL. All are manufactured by Arpa Industriale, using 100% renewable energy. 18% of this from solar panels installed on the roof of the Arpa production site. Read more here.
Fenix NTM and Fenix NTM Bloom have the added bonus of being carbon neutral. Based on the total quantity of square metres sold monthly, Fenix will contribute to the reduction of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere through carbon offsetting projects. Read more here.
In addition, Arpa Bloom and Fenix NTM Bloom go one step further in sustainability and feature Bloom technology which has been developed to include 50% lignin resin. Lignin is a natural polymer found in timber and a waste product from the paper industry. This Bloom technology reduces CO2 in manufacturing by up to 26%.
Our packaging is 99% recyclable cardboard and deliveries are made by Zhero's 100% electric vehicles within London and beyond when distance allows. Where possible, deliveries are grouped geographically to further reduce our carbon footprint.
In-house production enables us to take proactive steps to reduce our waste stream as part of our commitment to sustainability. Off-cuts are donated to universities and design practices or are repurposed to create desktops for our sample sales.
Other waste is recycled and turned into particle board for the construction industry and we have ongoing product development via collaborations around how our sawdust can be used to create other solid materials, turning waste into beautiful objects. Contact us to find out more or if you’re keen to collaborate in a similar way.
We are proud to be a company that actively looks for more sustainable ways of working, and we will continue to seek out new avenues to reduce our environmental impact.
