Ikea Kitchens - to do or not to do?

MissWhitehouse

Ikea kitchens are a good compromise if you are working on a tight budget and don't need it to last too long. They do lack the sophistication of a lot of other manufacturers, particularly continentals like Rational, Keller or Poggenpohl but they are cheap and providing your expectations aren't too high are fit for purpose. It's also true that lots of good fitters won't get involved because of the basic nature and lack of flexibility in their cabinet sizing and construction. Also of course if there is any building work I don't believe Ikea will get involved either. Always check out other options before making a commitment.

leveller2911

MissWhitehouse wrote: »

They do lack the sophistication of a lot of other manufacturers, particularly continentals like Rational, Keller or Poggenpohl

The only advantage that the "Continentals" have is they are more flexible with carcases sizes ect but lets be honest here they use the same Egger board to make their carcases from as the cheap, volume manufacturers here do.
In fact the last Poggenpohl kitchen I came across had 15mm carcases, basic hinges without even softclose and it wasn't 5 years old. The only decant quality part was the worktops...

A 10' x 5' sheet of Egger board costs around £40 and you can easily make 4-5 carcases from 1 sheet.

pauljoanss

Have just finished fitting IKEA kitchen for daughter and would not recommend for the following reasons:-
1. New system of hanging from rail on wall is problematic if walls not good. If mounting from floor then do not have to worry about walls, except for work tops. We returned all rails unused. Option of using feet is available but poor quality, plastic feet which keep falling off every time you move units.
2. There is NO space behind units for services, all other units I have ever fitted have a 75mm gap for pipes etc. We had to move gas pipes to run on floor under units and waste pipe from dishwasher has to run full length across back of a 1200 corner unit and interferes with a rotating corner carousel device.
3. Not particularly impressed with quality of units, backs not much more then stiff cardboard. When cutting holes I thought I needed a powered jigsaw but soon found out a Stanley knife cut through easily. After one night against slightly damp wall, backs had become warped from moisture intake. Trying to level a 1200 unit found jacking up various feet moved the thing in and out of square all over the place.
4. Last job (while waiting for 4 late delivery doors) was fitting the plinth. In my experience this should have been an easy (clip to legs) and satisfying job, really giving a solid look to the units. But NO, the plinths are a pathetic 80mm high (mine are 130) and set back about almost 150mm back from the cabinet fronts and consequently they are virtually invisible and do not add that solid finishing touch I had expected. Also, being so far back, they interfere with the integrated dishwasher (Whirlpool) and now will have to find a method of spacing this one forward.
So warning, these units have several non standard features which are not obvious when ordering. I strongly feel that IKEA should give warning about no service space at rear of units. Note, this has the "advantage" of giving more space/depth in units, but is this really useful space, in my experience it can be difficult to get stuff at the back of my standard units and stuff just tends to get "lost" there.

jennifernil

Personally, I would prefer to have the extra depth in the units to use.

No experience of the new range, but have used dozens of the old style ones. If a purchaser just takes the time to look at the units displayed in the store, the construction of the units is obvious. You can see there is no service void at the back.

I am not really taken by the new, lower plinth height.

DRP

jennifernil wrote: »

Personally, I would prefer to have the extra depth in the units to use.

No experience of the new range, but have used dozens of the old style ones. If a purchaser just takes the time to look at the units displayed in the store, the construction of the units is obvious. You can see there is no service void at the back.

I am not really taken by the new, lower plinth height.

Agree with this (we built an 'old' ikea kitchen about 5 years ago).

The extra depth was useful and we didn't have to move any of the existing services for water, gas etc...

ic

I'm another who is happy with the size of the cabinets, when fitting the cabinets I was able to run all the pipes underneath.

new_owner

I have just fitted an new Ikea Kitchen by myself. did not find it an issue. took about a day to assemble all the cabinets/draws etc and a day to fit.

The rail system is good and easy and someone pointed out it does not matter if the walls are not flat. The only thing I returned was the plinths as they were plastic and I wanted lights on mine so I used some wooden ones.

The backs are hardboard and are the only letdown but for the cost it beat everything else. I picked mine up in two cars instead of having it delivered.