We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Not Terribly Happy with Ikea - Updated.
Options
tesuhoha
Posts: 17,971 Forumite
The honeymoon period is over!
My husband has taken this week off to fit a kitchen which we have delivered from Ikea. Apart from numerous problems i.e. the instructions being rubbish and the units needing reinforcement, we have just come across what seems like an insurmountable problem.
We will have high units on each side of the hob and three small units in the centre. Because of this we have to have end panels on each side on the tall units. The house is old with walls that are not straight so to get the units straight they all have to be lined up together and screwed together. My husband has discovered that the only connecting screws supplied are short as we need 60mm to connect two units and an end panel. We have looked online and have found suppliers who supply these screws but the delivery is a few days which we don't have as he has to go back to work Monday. They do not seem to be available in places like Wickes, B&Q or Screwfix.
On phoning Ikea they tried to fob him off, but they must use these screws to connect the panels in their display kitchens. The man on the phone told him to screw in from each end with an ordinary screw (my husband called him an f....ing idiot when talking to me, not him). My husband told him that we had just spent £3,000 on a kitchen and he is not going to make a botch job of it. What's more he's only got a week and cannot progress because of a small fitting.
The man told my husband to drive over and ask in Customer Services if they had this connecting screw (a round trip of 50+ miles) Eventually, the man who really just wanted to hang up and not bother, promised to check customer services if they had any of these screws so that his journey would not be in vain and he promised to phone back. That was three hours ago.
My husband has now gone out to Wickes/B&Q to see if he can find a 60mm screw which will fit into the existing connecting screw fitting.
We sat with an Ikea kitchen planner on two occasions when ordering it. Is it inconceivable to think that we might have needed the screws to fix it together? Or are the end panels not to be fixed on each side?
Its like we've got your £3,000, now f... off.
Just a rant.
My husband has taken this week off to fit a kitchen which we have delivered from Ikea. Apart from numerous problems i.e. the instructions being rubbish and the units needing reinforcement, we have just come across what seems like an insurmountable problem.
We will have high units on each side of the hob and three small units in the centre. Because of this we have to have end panels on each side on the tall units. The house is old with walls that are not straight so to get the units straight they all have to be lined up together and screwed together. My husband has discovered that the only connecting screws supplied are short as we need 60mm to connect two units and an end panel. We have looked online and have found suppliers who supply these screws but the delivery is a few days which we don't have as he has to go back to work Monday. They do not seem to be available in places like Wickes, B&Q or Screwfix.
On phoning Ikea they tried to fob him off, but they must use these screws to connect the panels in their display kitchens. The man on the phone told him to screw in from each end with an ordinary screw (my husband called him an f....ing idiot when talking to me, not him). My husband told him that we had just spent £3,000 on a kitchen and he is not going to make a botch job of it. What's more he's only got a week and cannot progress because of a small fitting.
The man told my husband to drive over and ask in Customer Services if they had this connecting screw (a round trip of 50+ miles) Eventually, the man who really just wanted to hang up and not bother, promised to check customer services if they had any of these screws so that his journey would not be in vain and he promised to phone back. That was three hours ago.
My husband has now gone out to Wickes/B&Q to see if he can find a 60mm screw which will fit into the existing connecting screw fitting.
We sat with an Ikea kitchen planner on two occasions when ordering it. Is it inconceivable to think that we might have needed the screws to fix it together? Or are the end panels not to be fixed on each side?
Its like we've got your £3,000, now f... off.
Just a rant.
The forest would be very silent if no birds sang except for the birds that sang the best
0
Comments
-
Why dont you just fix the units together with 50mm screws.Fix through the side of each unit into the end panel.Then take them out and fit the bolts when they arrive.
http://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/Search/275273
http://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/Search/275273
Next day delivery.They also do a 70mm screw you can cut down if needed.
Not rubbing salt in the wounds but I've never rated Ikea, not the easiest kitchen to fit for the DIY er ..0 -
The screws do NOT go right through the decor panels. You screw through the carcass side into the decor panel. It only goes about half way but is sufficient to hold it particularly when they are all in place. From the outside it then looks finished as part of the unit..
Actually they don't need reinforcement because they are designed to be screwed together using the threaded sleeves and screws provided.
If you walls are that wavy then you would have a problem with any suppliers cabinets.
Its all very well to say the instructions are pants and may look so (being a pile of pictograms) but if you steady yourself and read them carefully you will see how it goes together.
I suspect you need to chill, have a stiff drink and think it all through step by step before continuing becaue I think you are creating most of the difficulties yourselves by not so doing. Sorry to be blunt.
CheersThe difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits. - Einstein0 -
The screws do NOT go right through the decor panels. You screw through the carcass side into the decor panel. It only goes about half way but is sufficient to hold it particularly when they are all in place. From the outside it then looks finished as part of the unit..
I'm reading the OP as having full height units with a decor ends fitted together with 3 shorter units in between so they could be fixed all the way through .Maybe a photo or two may clarify.:D
Example: Tall unit say 720 high, full height decor end on one side,attached to 3 shorter units, then decor end then last tall 720 high unit.0 -
Yes you could be right. Agreed a pic will help uunderstand exactly what they are trying to do.
CheersThe difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits. - Einstein0 -
I had the same problem some time ago. You can buy longer screws which will fit, look in the nuts and bolt sections of the stores, I'm sure I got mine in B&Q. I had to buy a pack and ditch the nuts if I remember.Herman - MP for all!
0 -
The screws do NOT go right through the decor panels. You screw through the carcass side into the decor panel. It only goes about half way but is sufficient to hold it particularly when they are all in place. From the outside it then looks finished as part of the unit..
Actually they don't need reinforcement because they are designed to be screwed together using the threaded sleeves and screws provided.
If you walls are that wavy then you would have a problem with any suppliers cabinets.
Its all very well to say the instructions are pants and may look so (being a pile of pictograms) but if you steady yourself and read them carefully you will see how it goes together.
I suspect you need to chill, have a stiff drink and think it all through step by step before continuing becaue I think you are creating most of the difficulties yourselves by not so doing. Sorry to be blunt.
Cheers
I just suggested this and he said well if its a fraction out you will notice it, so how do I line it up. He also demonstrated how flimsy the whole thing is even though he has used glue for the units and used battens at the back of the units.
He's not really a DIYer as works in the building trade and he has put in kitchens before. Also he sees the kitchen fitters in action on site.The forest would be very silent if no birds sang except for the birds that sang the best0 -
I had the same problem some time ago. You can buy longer screws which will fit, look in the nuts and bolt sections of the stores, I'm sure I got mine in B&Q. I had to buy a pack and ditch the nuts if I remember.
Strangely enough he has just come back with the wrong screws from Wickes so is off to B&Q.The forest would be very silent if no birds sang except for the birds that sang the best0 -
leveller2911 wrote: »The screws do NOT go right through the decor panels. You screw through the carcass side into the decor panel. It only goes about half way but is sufficient to hold it particularly when they are all in place. From the outside it then looks finished as part of the unit..
I'm reading the OP as having full height units with a decor ends fitted together with 3 shorter units in between so they could be fixed all the way through .Maybe a photo or two may clarify.:D
Example: Tall unit say 720 high, full height decor end on one side,attached to 3 shorter units, then decor end then last tall 720 high unit.
You are correct.The forest would be very silent if no birds sang except for the birds that sang the best0 -
I just suggested this and he said well if its a fraction out you will notice it, so how do I line it up. He also demonstrated how flimsy the whole thing is even though he has used glue for the units and used battens at the back of the units.
He's not really a DIYer as works in the building trade and he has put in kitchens before. Also he sees the kitchen fitters in action on site.
Oh dear. That attitude sounds familiar. I can envisage him furiously wobbling and shaking pieces whilst almost shouting it just won't work.
Suggest he gets one of the professional fitters to do it.
It's never as easy as you think from watching somebody else do it who does it as their living.
And you won't notice if he seals the join.I could dream to wide extremes, I could do or die: I could yawn and be withdrawn and watch the world go by.Yup you are officially Rock n Roll
0 -
Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »Oh dear. That attitude sounds familiar. I can envisage him furiously wobbling and shaking pieces whilst almost shouting it just won't work.
Suggest he gets one of the professional fitters to do it.
It's never as easy as you think from watching somebody else do it who does it as their living.
And you won't notice if he seals the join.
He doesn't shout and he's fitted three kitchens before. I don't think you know what I'm talking about, its not a join, I'm talking about lining up the units so that they are all perfectly level. They have to be fixed together.The forest would be very silent if no birds sang except for the birds that sang the best0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.1K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.7K Spending & Discounts
- 244.1K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177K Life & Family
- 257.5K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards