Your opinions Re: Ikea kitchens please

[GinaFB]

I am considering ugrading the kitchen in our property.

I do not want to spend a fortune as I am pregnant (and have lots to buy!!) but I would like to rip out what is there, and freshen the whole room up as the kitchen that is there is very old and tatty.

Can anyone who has bought Ikea kitchens tell me what the quality is like compared to say Kitchens Direct/Moben/B&Q/Homebase?

I will probabaly pay someone to fit it for me either someone local or the Ikea fitters (although this looks very expensive). Has anyone else done this or have most done it themselves?

Any tips & advice would be great!

I have fitted several ikea kitchens and they are actually really well made and designed.get a local carpenter to do it and buy appliances seperately.Their oak worktops are great the beech terrible.

I've got an Ikea kitchen and I think the storage solutions are great. I also have the oak worktop which looks lovely 3 years on. Ikea kitches are handy really handy in that if a door gets scratched or damaged, you can replace just that relatively cheaply - no need to buy the whole bloody unit as some manufacturers insist. Not being able to run pipes etc behind units as with conventional kitchen units ends up being an advantage as everything is within reach when something goes wrong.

I do think you have to accessorise cleverly so it doesn't look too Ikea-y though.

we had an ikea kitchen in our last house and i (personally) think they are the same standard as any other high street brands.

we had ours fitted by ikea (they outsource it) and they were absolutely fine too!

lalalonglegs can you explain some more about not running pipes behind units? that sounds very odd.

Most UK kitchen units are 500mm deep allowing 100mm behind each cabinet and the wall for pipes. Ikea cabinets are 600mm deep so sit against the wall meaning pipes have to be plumbed inside them. Makes it slightly fiddlier to plumb (have to drill out holes between cabinets etc) but, ultimately, I think it makes life easier as access isn't an issue in the event of a leak.

We've recently installed an IKEA kitchen, we're very pleased with it, seems very good quality and liked how flexible the choices were. Also think the finish quality is better than B&Q.

Can i ask how flexible the appointments for fitting are?
If you choose the units and do the planning how soon can they come and fit it?

Loving ours but it has only just been installed. We used a local fitter found through ratedpeople website and he did a good job for half what our builder would have charged and 1/4 of what ikea would have charged.

We put ours in 5 years ago and it still looks great - no problems with anything.

The oak worktops are fantastic too - love 'em!

About 2 years ago we added another run of wall units and it was so straightforward to just go and buy the extra bits we needed, though we did need to replace the handles on the whole lot as we couldn't get more to match the original ones.

I'd definitley recommend them, though I agree with lalalonglegs re the pipes, and fitting etc.

we went for Ikea - but wouldn't use their fitting service, as too expensive. Better to get a local kitchen fitter (then you're not paying Ikea surcharge). We also got his contacts on a worktop - cheap deal!

Quality and design of Ikea is good, once you get your head round the unit depth issue.

Next time (about to renovate another house), might go for a Wickes kitchen. Good value, improved design and easier to order/collect etc.

But wouldn't discount using Ikea again.

Good luck!

They don't fit them themselves, it's an outsourced and over priced service. Get a local kitchen fitter to do it, it's much cheaper! It took them about 4 weeks to have all our units and bits and bobs ready for delivery, but it depends on what you order - some of the designs are carried in store.

yes remember their cupboards are deeper so you need a wide worktop
and they put flexzes behhind or something

Really pleased with our units in our utility room - get bashed about and abused and still look fabulous and still work!

As lala says they differ to most cabinets made in the uk - so you also find that your wall needs to be quite straight!

Also IKEA outsource to some rather expensive (that was kind...more like rip-off) contractors and we've had friends who've been quoted double the cost of the kitchen to install Get a local fitter to do it - you'll save a fortune.

Ikea told me £700 for 6 units and worktop and local fitters told me £1,000

Maybe i asked the expensive ones.