Anyone got an IKEA kitchen?

[jasper]

I did ask about kitchens a year ago and am still dithering!
I really like some of the IKEA ones and they do seem very reasonably priced but have heard some bad reports about their customer service in general ( bits missing from flatpacks, being put on hold on the phone for ages). Don't mind putting up with a bit of nonsense if I end up with a nice kitchen.
Any experience?

Mine was a nightmare. They are also hard to fit with no 'service channels' behind them to leave space for plumbing etc, apparently.

aloha, do you remember the name of your kitchen?Was it worth it in the end?

Jasper, we have put in three IKEA kitchens in the last 7 years - in different houses! They are very good value for money as are much more solidly built than some of their other furniture. A consumer resport a year or so ago (can't remember, but it might have been in Which?) rated them as one of the best for quality. As long as you like the fairly limited choice of cupboard doors or worktops you're fine. And they don't do the all-singing-all-dancing type of corner cupboards that I'd have if I could spend a few more ££s.
Having said that, we've never had one fitted, as dh is a dab hand at diy, so I can't help you on that side of things. I even managed to impress everyone by assembling 10 cupboards myself with the electric screwdriver - so they really must be foolproof! But I think fitting the sink etc is a bit trickier. We also don't live in the UK and from what I hear, IKEA has its customer service and general quality control sorted out a lot better in Belgium/Germany/Switzerland. We haven't had a any missing bits in flatpacks for years now, and I read the recent I-hate-IKEA thread with horror and disbelief!

We've had two B&Q kitchens in our last two houses, we were going to go for IKEA last time but B&Q had recently revamped their range and we really like one of the kitchens that they had. Haven't been lately (although spent lots of time dreaming about what I would do with the kitchen here that we cannot afford to replace at the moment) but they may be worth a look. We certainly haven't had any problems with B&Q with regard to delivery etc and both kitchens have been good quality.

We got one about 4 years ago and it is wearing well. We found our own joiner to fit it (cheaper and probably better than the one they recommended). They did mess up on the customised worktop we ordered, and had to send another one (which was done with no hassle), and you do have to think about the lack of space for pipes behind the units - we ordered a wider worktop so we could fit the units with space behind for the pipes leading from our wall mounted boiler (if you can see what I mean!!)
I think we'd use them again - the quality is good for the price.

It's been discontinued now, but our builders were so fed up with it and we too had to order a very expensive extra deep worktop to accommodate pipes etc at the back (usually cupboards have channels in them for the plumbing). I nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to track down half our order after only half came and our builders were all ready to put it in but couldn't do anything - grrr. I think they look nice, but ours isn't even that hardwearing - the carousel in the corner cupboard broke after a few months and the baseboards are coming adrift. I regret it, to be honest.

we've just fitted one - about £1,000 for a mid-range laminate cupboards jobby including big larder unit, sink & taps, extractor fan
plus about the same to get someone to fit it. we got beech tops & a table from Ikea too for about £200. we're thrilled with it.

We got one in our old flat and had one minor hiccup with the wrong sized doors being delivered. This was quickly rectified, and otherwise we found the Kitchens service really much better than elsewhere in the store.
To install it, we used our trusted builder, and he did a great job. He said that ALL the flat-pack kitchen retailers get it wrong at least once during any given purchase, and that there was little to choose between them customer-service wise. The kitchen (pale creamy yellow with blue and white small chequerboard tiles) was gorgeous when finished, very robust, and I miss it horribly.

Hi Jasper, I remember your original posting bcuse we were looking for a kitchen too. Must just put a tick in the MFI box (especially after reading the IKEA thread on here!). You get a design session and a colourful 3D printout of your new kitchen for free, no strings, and they use their own fitters. Good ranges, all prices. Do you have one of their shops locally?

Just to add, it cost £2000 for the kitchen and £1000 to fit. i thought £1000 was a lot but it seems to match with bundle's fitting cost.

I'm a signed up IKEA kitchen fan, particularly as when I went in to order mine, the nice man told me not to order on that day, but to come back in two day's time, when I could get 25% off!

That bit of customer service has compensated for a lot of the usual IKEA nonsense.

Kitchen was around £1800 for medium sized affair with pull out larder, wall units, lights and worktop. Units assembled by us (pretty easy and seem very robust), and installed by joiner. 12 months later kitchen is wearing well and is a pleasure to work in.

But do take care to check your order carefully when they deliver - it's true - all kitchen companies will get it wrong.

Great response and some more questions...
According to Dh no modern kitchens have service channels - you have to cut holes in the cupboards to accommodate pipes so IKEA kitchens are no worse than any others in that respect. Is this true? (This would not be the first time he has voiced an opiniion on something about which he knows bu**er all)
For those of you who ordered wider worktops to overcome this, do the units look "bottom heavy" as a result, or pleasingly chunky?

Mines, what was the 25% discount deal and do they repeat it?

Lil we do have a MFI nearby and I will take a look.
Likewise B&Q Demented.

Bundle can you remember the name of your kitchen?

oooh Jasper, I should be able to remember, I had about a thousand boxes with the name written on in my garden in the summer..will try to remember....

Maybe I was just unlucky. The wider worktops don't make the units look any different but do give you a little more workspace. Ours (wooden) was quite expensive though - much more expensive than the Ikea version.

We've had ours for 18 months -are very happy with it... it is very solid and we have toddlers sitting in drawers ! We found the staff at Ikea very helpful when tehy reveiwed our plans and they did make sure we had ordered enough (or not too much) of everything.
The service channels are inexistant but my builder said that this was not a problem and he made allowance for that (any experience builder would IMO !) ... hence we didn't buy kitchen tops which were wider.
Our builder only had 1 prior experience to build an IKEA kitchen (but many MFI and he didn't choose MFI for himself as he wasn't thrilled about the quality!) and he had no complaints about ours (BTW all arrived on time and nothing was missing) - we paid 1400GBP + builder costs

Sinks are FAR cheaper at Ikea than B&Q or Homebase... in case you are looking for a bargain.

We've got the Varde one (freestanding) and are very pleased with it, its very solid. One thing though remember when buying the sink that you need to ask for the waste bits separately and also the hole punching thing for the taps. The waste pipe hole is rectangular as well so you can't just go to B&Q for theirs as they are round. Not sure why the supposedly helpful salesman thought I would want to buy the complete sink kit and not purchase the waste pipes but there you go. I had a row with Ikea because in the brochure it says its included but when you actually buy it you have to purchase it separately although its included in the price of the sink confusing or what. Other than that its great.

Five years plus have passed since I started that thread!

Now I am reviving it.

I have since moved house and am looking to get a new kitchen yet again.My tastes have changed a bit.

I like the MFI space white one but a websearch reveals loads of complaints about the company.

Help me out all you good women.

I have had nothing but problems with my MFI kitchen - frankly too many to list here! If anyone is interested, message me and I'll show you a copy of my complaints letter - it took 6 pages to list all the problems there have been. In short, it was ordered in November 2006 (yes, 2006) and is still not finished! Avoid, avoid, avoid!

We have an IKEA kitchen Adel. It's lovely.
They did bugger up our delivery in a minor way and we had to go to the store twice in the middle of building works to sort it. But, it wasn't a problem because we had anticipated it and factored possible delays into our building schedule.

we have ikea abstract in white - it's great, v easy to keep clean. customer service is dire - we got about £200 back in vouchers - but cant fault the kitchen

Hi guys,

Thinking about new kitchen, probably from IKEA. Thinking all drawers/pull out function (fed up with grovelling on the floor to get stuff from back of cupboards!). Have relatively small kitchen and need to have maximal space. Are they as space-saving as they look?

Also, what's the word on undermounted sinks? Is it worth the expense of a solid worktop for the svelte looks of the sink (are solid worktops any good???)

Have got Hotpoint 5ft fridge and matching freezer... fridge fantastic, freezer very poor, any advice welcome!