Buying an IKEA kitchen on-line?

[Pannacotta]

I am toying with the idea of buying an IKEA kitchen as I need to replace our kitchen asap and am on a very tight budget.
But we live a good 1.5 hour drive away from the nearest store.

Am I mad?

Does anyone know or have experience of buying/ordering on-line?
Is it even possible?
I have had a look at the IKEA website but cant find any info on how to go about it.
I am also worried about what would happen if anything went wrong or parts were missing.
If I do go with IKEA I was thinking of using their design/planning service to make sure all measurements etc are ok (odd shaped room and am an IKEA kitchen virgin!).

TIA

[Potterer]

I live within 3 miles of an Ikea, know it inside and out and have just bought a kitchen from them and I would honestly say, you need to visit the store to get them to check over it.

They had to make a few corrections on mine, nothing to do with my plan just the number of legs allocated by the computer was slightly wrong, it gave me a plastic box thing to put under the sink cabinet which I didn't want (in case of a leak) and we double checked the amount of plinth, cover panels, etc.

For example depending on the hob I chose it dictated whether I would need to put cover panels on the bottom cabinets so that the wall cabinets still lined up otherwise they would have been 2.8cm out. You can't see that on the online planner.

This also is the 3rd kitchen I have planned and I am anal thorough in my research. Not Ikea ones though, from 2 other companies, this is my first Ikea kitchen.

It must be gutting when you live so far away but it is informative to speak to someone in the know.

Our delivery had a few items missing and a couple of slightly damaged things, we returned these with the delivery man and they arranged another delivery by telephone about 2 days later.

Plus if you buy in store you get a £100 voucher for every £1000 you spend so I got £300. I'll be using that once the kitchen is installed to buy interior fittings.

Hope that helps.

[BeastsOnToast]

I planned and ordered an IKEA kitchen online for our cottage in Norway being in UK ourselves. The kitchen adviser was very helpful (emails back and forth) and came with nice suggestions art side panels etc that I had not thought about. I was also an IKEA kitchen virgin. Ours was delivered and our brilliant builders received it, and installed it. I think thanks to clever measuring planning and mostly clever installers our kitchen is now wonderful. It could have very easily worked out a disaster though.... I am certainly more of a wuss now that our home kitchen needs replacing and I have been planning this one online and we have been to IKEA once and will probably need more time and thoughts still. Sounds like it might be an idea to use their planners, if you are worried about getting the sizes wrong. Also they might have some clever ideas? Good luck and happy planning.

[flow4]

CAN you actually buy an IKEA kitchen online now? You couldn't when I got mine, just under 3 years ago. :)

[Pannacotta]

Thanks for the replies.
Beans did you use the planning service when they come to your house?
That would be useful for me I think as its not an easy room to work with, difficult angles and lots of nooks and crannies.

Good luck with your new kitchen Potterer, am sure I would spend far too much on Swedish sweeties etc if I lived 3 miles from IKEA!

[BeastsOnToast]

Beasts not beans . A much more exciting way of having breakfast I think... (And beans was already taken...)

No, just used their online planner. Was a bit scary, since we were in UK and house in Norway. Couldn't exactly run to see if I measured it correctly. In the end I was only 1 cm off on a high cupboard that now cuts slightly into the window frame instead of ending next to it. And we ended up with these plastic bins under the sink that potterer was talking about .

I was lucky though as our kitchen was very straightforward: an L-shape and not too big, but with high ceilings. Unlike the kitchen I am trying to design now. Have you looked at the handmade kitchens in Christchurch? They have cropped up a few times over the last weeks here on mumsnet and I have asked them for a quote (I like the look). Not anywhere near us though so not sure how that would work out.

[Pannacotta]

SOrry Beasts I misread your name!!

I realised after I posted that it was a sill question since you mentioned Norway. SOunds like it all panned out well in the end though.

I have looked at Handmade kitchens, but, like you, they are nowhere near us which puts me off too.

I will check out some local places and see if I can find something decent but cheap...

But will try and find out about the planning service, the IKEA website is hopeless though, no details on how to make an appt even.

[myron]

We did it but we did visit the store at least twice to get our plan checked over thoroughly before putting in the order. Like yourselves, we lived 1.5 hrs' drive away from the nearest IKEA. It is more hassle but we made a huge saving (thousands so definitely worth all the petrol runs) on the units/doors/handles - spent £4K and got £400 discounted off plus took advantage of the 24 mth interest free credit period. (Also allowed us to splurge on worktop and appliances elsewhere - I didn't compromise on my quartz worktop for instance). My carpenter installed it so I didn't even have to do the DIY bit of building the carcasses. Remember it's the pan drawers that are pricey - and I have 12 units of them (probably an over reaction to other kitchen plans from Howdens and Magnet who gave me 2 measley pan drawers for twice the quote!). I think it all depends how big your kitchen is and how much the savings would be to see whether it is worth your while. I was project managing our build full time and did loads of recces to visit suppliers to check out stuff albeit normally within an hour's drive. You will inevitably need to return/refund/exchange stuff so bear that in mind.