Tell me about ikea kitchens

[foodfairy]

I'm getting a new kitchen and working out if it's worthwhile spending lots of money (well relatively - can't afford designer or similar) or just going for ikea. We have a builder friend who is going to install whatever.

Going for a white gloss look and I can't tell much difference between ikea and others I've looked at from the front. Differences seem to be on the inside - slightly cheaper and noisier drawers etc. Less choice of cupboard sizes.

But have been told by people that ikea kitchens will only properly fit ikea appliances and I have strong ideas about these and don't really want ikea.

Anyone been here before? Thanks.

I have an Ikea kitchen and appliances from elsewhere. It wasn't a problem afaik - the units will accommodate standard sized appliances...

I went for Ikea because it was the best price. I would say that whilst the cupboards & drawers are quite sturdy, some of the finish does not seem as robust as I would like...

I have an IKEA kitchen with a mixture of appliances. Oven and microwave are Whirlpool (from IKEA), the hob isn't. They have such a massive range of sizes, they can probably fit to any shape or size I reckon. It certainly wasn't a probolem when we asked about the possibility of non-IKEA appliances.

The design service we received (free of course), was brilliant, they really knew what they was talking about, and not trying to get as much money out of me as she could.

Drawers are completely silent with those little dampners (?) to stop the doors banging. I love my kitchen, and 3 years in it still looks brand new. You could at least go and talk to them about your worries, it's free and non obligatory.

I love our IKEA kitchen too (white gloss). The drawers and cupboards are good quality and as MrsMills says, if you fit the dampener things they close with a satisfying sigh...

Only thing I would say is that we have had trouble with the worktop. It comes in standard lengths which were not long enough to do an entire worktop on one side of our kitchen. We ended up with a seam in the middle which doesn't look great. More seriously, the edges and seams cannot be left with water on them for any amount of time. Water seeps in and swells the edges/ seams - looks terrible. I was going to complain and try to get them replaced - thought surely the point of a worktop was you are going to get water on it?? - but read small print on website and they state that the edges/ seams do this and you must wipe worktop with a dry cloth immediately you get it wet to prevent it happening...

We have an ikea kitchen and its fine. Don't know why you would go for one double the price tbh (unless you wanted something really flash looking). Appliances are fine and drawers/cupboards are huge.

Thanks, think you've resolved my nagging fears. Ikea so much cheaper than elsewhere and having gone into the store again, I really can't see the difference.

asicsgirl, did you buy one of their standard worktops or the made to measure? The made to measure ones come in lengths up to 4m.

We have an Ikea kitchen and I'm very happy with it - it looks like a far more expensive one. We have the Adel Birch one - though I think they don't do that now. We needed 20 units as it's a big kitchen dinner. The units etc cost about £2000. We got a whirlpool dishwasher which 4 years on is still going strong. We got hob and oven off the internet.

My husband assembled all the units and our builder fitted it so we did it all for about £5000 - nothing else matched that in price or quality.

We had the same problem with the worktops and have a join but our builder did such a good job it hasn't been a problem. Though now I have discovered a specialist worktop place on a local industrial estate which could have got a worktop for me in just a day. And they have so much more choice and were reasonable priced.

So maybe look around for worktops elsewhere or use the made to measure at IKEA.