Ikea kitchens anyone?

Mrs_Z

Hi there forum members -

Has anyone got experiences of Ikea kitchens? Any good/bad points would be welcome. Also, has anyone used their kitchen fitting service?

We're thinking of getting an Ikea kitchen but I've heard that some of their parts are ackward to fit in english homes. On the other hand, I'm thinking that if we were to use their fitting service, they'd be doing them for a living so surely it can't be a huge problem.

Any feedback would be welcome!

System

forum search will give you plenty of information, this topic comes up once or twice a week

sunshinetours

The main issue is non standard size parts on certain things and the fact that the units usually don't have a "cavity" at the rear which can make pipe and utility fitting trickier. As above plenty of info in here if you search Ikea kitchens

Fred56

I bought and fitted one back in 2004.
Pro - Excellent drawer boxes, nice finish (I bought one of their most expensive fitted kitchens)
Con - There is no service cavity behind which we are used to in the UK. It just mans you run your pipes underneath and it yields more space inside the unit. The cabinet sizes did not match the design size with each being about 3mm short. This was a real problem because the worktops were made to measure with edgings and were therefore about 12mm too long. I had to make up filler pieces to cover the ugly gaps. The door in one corner was hinged the wrong way and I had to fabricate a post to hang the right way. A few pieces were missing on delivery and many pieces were damaged in transit. When I saw the delivery guys throwing stuff around in the wagon I just had to walk away. The damage was no surprise. I tried to check off each piece as it came in but the drivers refused to wait. The smaller missing and damaged pieces were provided by the store - a 100 mile round trip and we had to do it several times. The made to measure work top was damaged and although Ikea agreed to replace and deliver it the delay was another 6 weeks. Of course we had a fitter engaged to do the work so he put in the units and we waited - with no functioning kitchen. Obviously the fitter had to charge more for the return visit. Then the worktop started to pop apart where the edging was attached. It was clearly defective. We complained to Ikea who sent out a 'fitter' to examine it. The guy was rude and arrogant. Ikea had real choice other then to order a replacements for the two faulty sections. We waited and waited. We got a call from the delivery company but it did not arrive and eventually they confessed that they had lost it. Ikea refused to provide another after that and sent us a refund for the faulty pieces of worktop. So, after spending thousands on a kitchen, suffering excess costs for the fitter's time and months of inconvenience all we had we a defective kitchen. Great.

Would I buy another - not in this lifetime.

unlucky67

Love my ikea kitchen...been in almost 2 yrs... Couple of things - no space at back of cupboards for 'services' - pipes etc therefore you want to avoid places where the washing machine waste pipe etc will have to run behind the cupboards...or you have to run them through the cupboards... Non standard sizes - so use their work tops (I didn't and it doesn't hang over far enough at the front - few mm out - ok but could be better...) All ikea 'wood' - birch etc - will go darker in the sun - looks ok but could cause problems if you wanted to replace a door etc in the future... For me - I don't like the bar handles with the overhangs - always catching myself on them -but that would be true of any kitchen Also drawers with bar handles look like ladders to children who want to climb up.... currently missing one because it snapped off... I think my grundtal under counter lights are faulty - have to give them a tap sometimes to make them come on - Ikea say I'm the only person with this problem...other people on Ikea fans have had a similar problem - took me more than a year to tell Ikea (so obviously not that bad...) but no longer guaranteed... As for fitting - didn't use them but do a search for their fitters (Ikea fans?) - apparently can vary from area to area...

avantra

Yes, we just have one installed.

I had an argument with the other half about which units we should get, I wanted Crown and she wanted IKEA due to the extra size of the wall units. You see, our kitchen layout is poor as we have three doors and a huge window taking almost the entire wall.

She took me to Ikea to have a look and TBH the quality was as good as any other Kitchen we saw in other places like Crown, Howden’s and Wicks.

This removed my doubts about quality, the design was easy with their online tools and ordering plus delivery was without fault, all parts and bits were in and in perfect condition.

We got our carpenter to fit the units and with all the other men involved (sparky, and plumber) we paid 50% less comparing with the installation quote from IKEA.

I must point out that we bought our appliances and worktop elsewhere as Ikea didn’t have what we needed. The kitchen look great and it is very user friendly in terms of design.

Points to keep in mind, the units are deep and go all the way to the wall so if you have anything on the wall like gas etc’ you will need to either keep it attached to the wall or chase it in, we opted to build a very narrow service gap by attaching the base units to some thin strips of wood. You can also rearrange your utilities under the units behind the plinth.

If you buy a non Ikea worktop make sure they are over 62 cm wide, so what is known as a ‘Breakfast bar’ at 67 cm cut down to 62 cm should be fine in an Ikea kitchen.

I found out that like any other kitchen, a competent fitter is the most important bit, if he/she is good they will overcome any obstacles, we ordered too many side panels but our carpenter managed to fit them in to a narrow gap left on the side of the last unit which we now use to store trays and cutting boards.

Price wise buying Ikea Saved us about 50% over Crown.

telsokari

i had one installed in my new kitchen last December. It's been fantastic. took the guy 2 days to fit it with no issues.

The only issues i had were two wrong parts being delivered and the Wood worktop is splitting in parts despite using the Ronseal wood worktop treatment.

the wrong parts were replaced in one visit with no issues. i would def recommend them again

ic

I fitted a kitchen myself. All delivered on time, and I had no trouble fitting it. I found one drawer front was damaged, I contacted Ikea and they replaced it for free. Bare in mind that if you live local to a store, many of the parts are also held in store - its mainly the more expensive fronts that aren't - so if you do have any trouble you should be able to pop back to the store and swap straight away.

snagglepuss16

we live in a rented house with an ikea kitchen, i dont know who fitted, but i wouldnt of wasted my own money.
one double cupboard on the wall fell off and with the weight could of killed my son, only had holes for fixing at the top. Also the kickboards, one is a curved shape? therefore doesnt fit properly, and the clips that they use to attach these fall off really easily, meaning the kickboards fall off all the time.

However on the other hand, maybe it was just poor fitting.:rotfl:
Personally though i would avoid!

welda

Put ikea kitchen in 2 year back too, no issues with it at all, I designed it so dishwasher/washing machine are at either side of sink unit for water and waste purposes, I only had to alter gas pipe to run below units to supply gas range cooker.

I made my own worktops, MDF clad in stainless steel, so no issues there.

What was really handy for me was, I was installing myself, I purchased base units first, then installed, I then purchased wall units after base's were in place, not that money was an issue, I only parted with funds for base units, less clutter laying around house too, then bought remainder when I was ready for them.

I did make sure Ikea were not going to discontinue range I chose in the near future, would I buy from them again, yes I would.

:beer:

Waterlily24

My hubby fitted our Ikea kitchen, he did moan about there being no space at the back but dealt with it OK. We didn't buy the cooker etc from I kea as I wasn't too keen on them.

I love my kitchen, we found them very helpful, the store was quite a distance away though.