IKEA kitchens - yes or no?

[morebubblyplease]

We're doing up a wreck and will need a new kitchen. Can't afford kitchen design company and don't like the look of B&Q. I'm thinking matte white slabs (not shaker) or pale wood (not veneer). Does anyone have any experience of IKEA's kitchens and design service?

Our kitchen came from IKEA and we were really happy with the quality. I don't know if they have changed the design but the units we bought have no pipe space behind them. This means all pipework needs to be at floor level. This worked well for as as the kitchen was in a new extension, and gives us a lot more cupboard space but would be a PITA if you currently have a lot of pipes behind existing units

We currently have nothing, not even a floor, so that's really useful information, thank you.

Yes to both - loved the finish but a good joiner influenced that when they were fitted

Design service got me thinking about things I hadn't considered - I did tweak his end design so that all the drawers/false fronts lined up

Very cheap - also got some of the appliances as they have 5yr guarantees

I think I'm convinced. Thank you.

My best friend has had hers for 8 years and it looks and functions like new! No design service though; her Dh did it all.

I fitted my own IKEA kitchen 8 years ago. High gloss white cupboard doors. Still looks good. However, they've changed the size of all their units and I've read a lot of bad reviews about (non-IKEA) white goods not fitting so check on that.

My mum had one put into their house 5 years ago and it's great, still looks like new and was a fraction of the cost that our Magnet one was 2 years before. They have a red gloss one and it looks stunning and much more pricey than it was.

I've had two IKEA kitchens, one from the old range and one bought a year ago. Can't fault them on durability and quality. Fitting hasn't been a problem for the builders. The inserts for the drawers are great and there are so many ways to make the storage work. Plus all the inserts and drawers can be fiddled around with to your hearts content retrospectively after the units have gone in. For our last kitchen we got a wrap around work surface elsewhere that fit around the IKEA units which makes the units unidentifiable as IKEA. Also like the transparent pricing - no crazy bank holiday offers or 40% off cobblers. The price is the price.

We had issues with the pipes as above but best advice is get it fitted by someone with experience of fitting ikea kitchens. Our guy didn't and he got a bit grumpy :)

Love ours
The oven and job are fab

So if you have a kitchen where the pipes are behind the current units what do you do? Just not buy from IKEA? Surely it would cost a fortune to have all the pipes moved.

Our fitter just had to cut channels into the back (non visible) parts of the units to accommodate the pipes. It was fine but just confused him initially as its not the way standard UK kitchens are designed. Someone with experience fitting an IKEA kitchen will know how to make any adjustments.

I'm so pleased to hear all this. Our closest IKEA is one and a half hours away and I work full time so it's not the easiest option. Sounds like it's the cleverest though. Thanks for all the feedback

We love ours too. Everyone admires our units and is surprised when they find out they are Ikea!
We kept our existing washing machine and fridge freezer and the designer worked around them so they fit the perfectly. Storage is excellent, I love the pull out larder cupboard.

I have an IKEA kitchen. The fronts of all the cupboards are cracked and peeling, especially near the cooker. It was installed before we bought the house 10 years ago though.

I've had 2 IKEA kitchens and they've both been great. This is the first one, it was so cheap we could afford the glass worktop to make it look more expensive. I totally recommend them.

Look at yellow white- it's not what you imagine from the name, more of an ivory and has a beautiful gloss finish- hard to describe but less harsh and better tempered than white gloss.

We have an IKEA kitchen and IKEA oven and hob. I really recommend measuring your kitchen first and then visiting the store. They were really helpful, great value and everything was delivered on time. We didn't use IKEA fitters as their quite was very expensive, we used some local builders instead.

I'm not sure about the pipes behind cupboards, we have pipes against the walls behind the cupboards and our builders just got on with it, they never mentioned anything to us.

One thing I would mention though is the sinks don't have a pre-cut hole for the taps to go through, they have a tool for £10 that you can buy to put the hole through. This is so you can choose where you want the taps coming out.

I'm really please with the cooker as well it's soooo much better than our old cooker!

We had one at our last house and the carcasses and work tops were great but the doors were shit and the laminate peeled off several of the leading edges before the kitchen was a couple of years old which looked really tatty. Next time we're having an IKEA kitchen with handmade and painted doors.

Also.. The integrated dishwasher was dreadful.

I'm planning to go with measurements. Can't work out from their website if you book an appointment or just turn up. Seems biggest risk is peely doors, potentially. Wouldn't be a huge outlay to have the doors replaced at some point I reckon; the most important thing is getting the carcass right. I'm going for freestanding appliances.

They are pretty good, but if you have careless users leaving drips etc, the door veneers can start to peel and the substance inside swells. Other than that it's all about the fitting and ensuring holes for pipework are filled perfectly and sealed so mice can't climb in.

You need to make an appointment OP. Also, all kitchen cupboard doors do that unless they are solid wood.

Right, appointment required, and look after your kitchen. Gotcha. Yours looks fab, btw, 2timer. Thanks all.