IKEA METOD Kitchen - Help please - reviews/advice required

Simon&Sally

Hi All,

We are about to buy a IKEA Metod kitchen.

Please can we have your honest reviews if you have experience in buying this particular kitchen.

Regards

Sally

Doozergirl

Most people love the things. Fitters hate them. They cost less to buy than other kitchen but more to fit.

I've designed and project managed one for a friend over the last month and from that angle it's been a bit of a headache. The design tool will not work adequately for me so I had to go to branch three times to use it. The delivery company lost and damaged some stuff, I've been back twice again as some things weren't in stock on day 1 and had to be reordered. Then I had to take back damaged items and customer service on the phone couldn't find the order to replace missing items. The special delivery they ordered for me of missing doors was delayed twice. The tap is also damaged and yesterday when we pulled the blue plastic protection off the doors, two are high gloss instead of matt. So I have to go back again! I still have an outstanding item that they've done nothing about. I suspect that using distribution warehouse is more reliable than their instore delivery company.

That said, the possible legwork is really what you get for not being charged very much for a kitchen. It looks great and I think Ikea are great value for money if you aren't doing a freebie for your best mate and don't mind a bit of chasing if they do get it a bit wrong.

We have an Ikea kitchen. We were planning to live here for 6 months and have ended up here for five years. No issues at all with any part of the kitchen cabinetry, five year warranty on applicances has been useful and overall very pleased with it.

If you are on a budget, I don't think they can be beaten for value and quality.

System

tbh - I have had the opposite experience with this kitchen.
Kitchen was planned around using these units so all the plumbing and wiring was accounted for after removing the old one.
The fitting is simplified now with their wall runner system so it went up fairly quickly...
There was a couple of doors damaged in the post but I was able to sort that by phone and have replacements delivered so maybe that varies per store?

We went for the handless one (voxtrop or something) and all pan drawers - the kitchen was around 2k cheaper than we could find anywhere else for the arrangement we wanted.
It is annoying that you have to go into the store to order it as you can be waiting for ages, and you really have to check the order thoroughly - Like doozergril the guy had ordered up gloss finish doors and end panels for a few units which I luckily noticed prior to order and raised, he still managed to change another to gloss during the order so we had to get that changed. Check all the item numbers when they arrive and try to get it on site a few days before the fitter so you can make sure everything is there

rach_k

We paid the £50 to have somebody from Ikea come to the house and design the kitchen for us. It was money very well spent as we wanted to move some windows and doors around so having him there to look at our ideas, the light etc. was great and he made some really useful suggestions.

The ordering process was very simple after that, although we took a few months to get that far and some items were discontinued during that time but they just swapped them for the newer versions with no faff.

Delivery was fab - everything was there, it was on time and nothing was damaged.

We chose not to get the Ikea fitters to install it as we needed new windows and doors, rewiring, plastering, plumbing etc. After they've designed the kitchen for you, they apparently send out a fitter (or somebody else?) to check that the design will work practically, but that would mean having all the building work done first, then placing the order, waiting a few weeks for delivery etc and we didn't want to wait that long - once we ripped out the old kitchen, we needed the new one ready to install! Instead, we had our (excellent) plumber project manage it for us. He had a carpenter fit the kitchen who had not done an Ikea kitchen before. In hindsight, I would have requested somebody with experience to fit it, as it took longer than expected because Ikea does some things differently and he had to figure it all out! He did, however, say that everything seemed good quality and well engineered. The only thing he said wasn't good was that it was flat pack, but that's what Ikea does! When I was being impatient, I assembled some drawers myself and it was as easy as Ikea stuff usually is, so you could save money and time by doing bits yourself if you wanted.

We've only had the kitchen finished for about a month so I can't say how it will hold up over time, but it feels very sturdy and looks amazing. I'm probably biased but I don't think it looks cheap - I chose to go with Ikea because they did what I wanted rather than to save money.

Waterlily24

Our Ikea kitchen was fitted about 6/7 years ago and the units still look as good as new. Hubby fitted it himself, had a little mutter about the sink unit but it didn't take much to sort it out. I don't think I'd buy the worktops we bought from them again though. We didn't buy any appliances or the sink from them.

ST1991

Me and my sister designed hers. It did cost more to fit it but that's because the kitchen only cost around £1K.
Looks fab. Fitters made it easy work. Appliances work great!

OnTheCheap

Going through the same process myself. Just had my "home visit" today from the ikea installer who pointed out that the existing services in my kitchen are a bit of a nightmare, so likely to be looking at at least an additional £2k for a new RCD, sockets, removing a redundant waste pipe, and just generally sorting out the mess to make the cabinets fit.

I'm therefore probably reverting to splitting the trades out rather than using the ikea installer as i'm not sure that the £3500+ fitting fee on a £1200 kitchen is something I can happily come to terms with!

vansboy

Have used the previous Ikea range three times, Metod once and will do on current project.

As mentioned, on line Ikea planner is a bit clunky to use, won't work easily on Firefox, but ok on Explorer. Does let you price the items, as you go along - not any false % off prices either and usually interest free finance on offer.

Worth paying for delivery, instead of spending ages picking component parts and carrying home yourself.

If delivered items are wrong or damaged, customer services do have an authority to cover your mileage costs, if you need to return to the store.

Using their fitters is poor value, so find your own instead.

25 year (I think) cabinet warranty shows faith in product, but will need a long wait to see if it means anything!

You could do a lot worse!

VB

rosie383

We just fitted ours about two months ago and it looks great. No way would we have paid their fitting charge which would have cost more than the kitchen. Got lots of drawers rather than just shelves so that bumped up the price a bit, and took more time to fit.
We picked it up from the warehouse ourselves on the day as we have had poor service from their delivery people before and didn't have time to waste waiting for bits to be replaced.
Everyone has admired it. It definitely doesn't look cheap.