What do I need to know about IKEA kitchens?

[EagleOrIgel]

As above really! We're planning to re-do the kitchen as the units are quite literally falling apart around us.
Is their service (ripping out old and putting in new) good?
What should we consider in planning and design? Any hidden tricks or hacks I should know about before we start?

[littleloopylou]

Following

[TheLightSideOfTheMoon]

I’ve been told that IKEA worktops aren’t all that.

Apparently the cupboard bits are really good but people are advised to get different worktops.

Was told this by a joiner friend who I was sharing my IKEA kitchen fantasies with.

(My kitchen is sound. I can’t justify tearing it out. But I really WANT an IKEA one…)

Get a sexy spice drawer and send me a photo. Ooooo, and a special drawer for knives!!

[mrswenthworth]

I had a cheaper plain one a few years ago. I would agree the worktop - we used one and it was a bit flimsy but we were refitting as cheaply as we could to get house in a good enough state to sell.

All pretty robust. I planned myself and we did need a couple of trips back to swap a few bits and some fittings but nothing major and down to my misunderstanding.

There is something about the channels at the back and the pipe work but it didn't cause us any issues.

[goingtotown]

There’s no void at the back for pipes & cables.

[EagleOrIgel]

but people are advised to get different worktops.
I'm considering this, because I don't like any of the ones on their website. I need acid resistant (hard water, vinegar to clean), heat resistant, scratch resistant etc etc!

[Frlrlrubert]

If you're not getting IKEA appliances and you want integrated you might need to consider a the fit of the doors, there are 'IKEA hacks' out there but our dishwasher took some trial and error.

[Elieza]

Their units are 3cm deeper apparently than other makes.

You can get a quote and it includes a nominal amount for fitting. But that’s not the final cost. That will be uploaded to the portal once they’ve been out to inspect.

They only had 40cm and 60cm units in the one I was looking at and I needed 50cm. Disappointing. Didn’t proceed.

[EagleOrIgel]

You can get a quote and it includes a nominal amount for fitting. But that’s not the final cost
That's good to know, thanks.

There’s no void at the back for pipes & cables.
How do you feed cables through then? I don't think pipes will be an issue, cables to the fridge might.

[JudgeRindersMinder]

Had one in my last house for 15 years and still good as new, including worktops, normal to fairly heavy family use. The people who bought it have changed the worktops as they were dark and they wanted a light colour, it has years left in it

[mynameiscalypso]

We have an IKEA kitchen with a Corian worktop - it looks great. We've had it about 10 years and it's still in excellent condition. We didn't have it fitted by them but by a builder so I don't know if that makes a difference in terms of how well it's put together though

[greenweepingwillow]

Having our Ikea kitchen fitted 3 years ago nearly finished me off! Most stessful experience EVER. My advice would be DO NOT use their fitting service. They outsource to different people and there is no overall co-ordination (eg one firm for the joiner, another for electricians etc) I ended up basically having to co-ordinate and project manage the whole thing and it was so stressful cause you have to keep calling Ikea to contact eg the electricians that haven't turned up ... again .... and then the plasterer to fix the large whole left in the wall by said electrician....then the whole thing runs over but the joiner can't stay because he has another job so you're left with half a kitchen for weeks...then the tiler cant come for another 2 months because you weren't ready by the day he was supposed to come etc.....It honestly made me unwell with the stress of it all.
Once in it was decent enough quality although the finish on the cupboard doors chipped quite quickly and the slow close mechanisms in cupbaords and drawers broke, and sides of drawers fell out etc.... so not great really.
Personally I don't think I'd ever go with ikea again.

[OrangeJuiceAndNoodles]

I loved my IKEA kitchen but I used my own installers and they said IKEA is the most awkward. Nobody could work out why the plumbing that came with the sink was so complicated. And one of my fitters had to take a drawer unit home with him to figure out overnight because the drawers didn't seem to fit in! (They actually did, but it was just a head scratcher).

My worktop was fine, but I was looking for a quick fix rather than something to last twenty years. So it depends what you are going for.

I was really impressed by the cabinets. All excellent quality. Not flimsy at all.

[Elieza]

When I got quotes from magnet, b and q, wicks as well as IKEA they were still cheapest. Even after like I mentioned previously they inspected and bumped up the fitting charges as the system only entered a nominal sum and things needed more work (like sawing up a cabinet to fit in a space exactly etc).

You also get charged £25 each to fit your existing non-IKEA dishwasher cooker and washing machine. I don’t know what they do re gas cookers. Presumably they are gas certified installers.

It takes a week tops from the installers visit to get the quote on the portal that you can accept.

The design online people are outsourced but do a video call so you can see the design before they email it to you/put it on the portal.

I’d pay the £30 or whatever for the installer to come out and measure himself. Rather than do myself. Then you know it’s right. (They do check at the preinstallation visit anyway).

My original quote was done by the online outsourced people and they gave me lights but neglected to include the transformers or something so the quote wasn’t right there either.

[Nahhh]

IKEA kitchens are great. The fitting service is a bit of a gamble though. I’ve had them put in in two different areas. The first was a great experience, lovely guys, very professional and they did a great job. The second was a disaster. They sent out one guy. After the scheduled week he hasn’t finished but they didn’t have anyone available to come back. I paid them to plumb in my washing machine and dishwasher but they didn’t do so correctly and my garden kept flooding. The cupboards were wonky and the worktops were even vaguely flush to the walls.
I’d recommend buying an IKEA kitchen but finding your own fitters.

[TheWayTheLightFalls]

Do all your measurements then make an app't with their in-store kitchen design team. 1) They are absolute wizards and know the products inside out and 2) if there's a queue to see them you get a voucher for coffee and pastry in the Ikea canteen for the interim .

I love ours. We installed quite plain cabinets (plus integrated appliances), then ordered a granite worktop separately, and added very bright tiling. Looks ££££ and is lovely to use. I'd find a very experienced installer (or they can install?) because our usual decorator bloke got there but took forever.

[uggmum]

I bought my IKEA kitchen 18 years ago.
Solid beechwood. It cost me around £500.
It's worn really well. I have just had it re-sprayed in dark grey and it's looks brand new again.

[PTW1234]

Having our Ikea kitchen fitted 3 years ago nearly finished me off! Most stessful experience EVER. My advice would be DO NOT use their fitting service. They outsource to different people and there is no overall co-ordination (eg one firm for the joiner, another for electricians etc) I ended up basically having to co-ordinate and project manage the whole thing

Exactly my experience, we ended up complaining and cancelling before work started, nobody could give me a timeline, or tell me what order things would happen, or what actually would happen e.g when is the existing kitchen being ripped out, how long will that part take, when will the units be delivered etc etc. There didn’t seem to be a single person who knew what was going on and we was told different things and different dates, it just got too stressful as we couldn’t plan for the inevitable disruption a kitchen refit would bring! At one point they told us we would have 4 weeks with just units and no worktops

[anotherwayout]

Another awful experience here. I used my own fitter but the units went together so badly, didn't line up correctly, doors chipped really easily despite being from their supposedly better quality lines, soft closes broke quickly. Plus it took ages to alter the doors so they lined up and closed properly. As a result it took a lot longer to fit than it should have given it wasn't a large kitchen, our fitted said he usually refuses to fit them as they're a nightmare, it's only because we know him he did it for us. We've had a lot of kitchens and have never had one that's so poor quality overall.

[Meloncurse]

We fitted our kitchen ourselves 10 years ago. Really pleased with it and it was a third of the price of the next cheapest quote. We got solid wood worktops elsewhere. What would put me off now is they no longer do 50cm units which can be a bit limiting.

Any kitchen fitter that can't/won't fit an Ikea kitchen is not one I'd be employing. A well trained monkey could do it

[PicardsFlute]

• The “IKEA fitting service” for our first attempt was just outsourced to some local (in our case rubbish) fitters, so you may as well shop around on that front.
  
• pipework needs to run under rather than behind cabinets…
  
• Second time we fitted one our builders cursed it every step of the way and vowed never to work with IKEA units ever again… I think they can be tricksy vs other makes if the fitter isn’t familiar with them (and our builders hated having to construct them all - they had underestimated the time required and therefor undercharged for fitting so were extra-grumpy).
  
• I’ve loved being able to reconfigure the inside of cupboards as our needs have changed (adding drawers/extra shelves etc). Super easy.
  
• We used third party doors, handles and worktops, so to look at it you wouldn’t necessarily guess it was IKEA. Doors were a faff though.
  
• we had real issues fitting an integrated non-IKEA dishwasher: their own door kit was a NIGHTMARE and basically didn’t work. Ended up having to order a weird specialist one (still from IKEA) over the phone, that isn’t listed anywhere on the website, and it still feels like a bit of a bodge. It’s pretty flimsy and has already broken and been replaced once.
  
• highly recommend pull out drawers for crockery/pans etc, rather than losing stuff at the back of the cupboard. Ours is basically all drawers!
  
• the cleaning cupboard pull out is rubbish - only but I wouldn’t bother with next time! Doesn’t accommodate much given the size of cupboard.
  
• we’ve used IKEA twice now for our kitchen, and I’d happily do it again. We had a few designs with other suppliers and IKEA was both cheapest and the best use of all available space.

[HighNoon]

We have an IKEA kitchen it's great. Got a local kitchen fitter to put it in, and they coordinated all trades. Also really recommend you use drawer units for the base units not cupboards. You can fit so much more in the same volume and you don't have to open a door, crouch down and peer in to find things. Open the drawer, look down and see stuff. Someone mentioned the spice drawer, it's a must! And Sainsbury's have pretty round spice jars that look fab in there.

[HighNoon]

Oh and if you can, put the units together yourselves to save on fitting costs. Our fitter was terrified by the piles of cardboard packages to assemble, as he was used to ready made ones. He was won round by the quality v price compared to Wren and such like.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

I love mine. It's 7 years old and still looks good - I get loads of compliments. Builders and kitchen fitters seem to hate them because there's no service void at the back, which means they have to chase pipes and wires back into the walls, but this makes the cupboards and drawers so much bigger it is definitely worth it. Just make sure that all the trades are pre-warned and know the difference between IKEA and, say, a Howdens kitchen. Plan the layout really carefully and get the best worktops you can afford (not the IKEA ones as pp have said) - then it is quite cheap long term to have new doors etc fitted.

I would definitely recommend the wide drawers, and I would say that the very deep drawer is twice as deep as normal saucepans so you're better off getting two medium depth drawers than one deep one.