How IKEA kitchen will drive you crazy (part I)

Planning, buying, and installing an IKEA kitchen is pretty much a nightmare, but let's start from the very beginning.

3D rendering in IKEA kitchen planner

WHY IKEA?

I decided to go with an IKEA kitchen for two reasons: price and control. And a few other things.

I did not get official quotes, but the word on the street is that the price of IKEA cabinets is a fraction of the price of typical custom cabinets. Actually, this is probably not true. At least, not now. During normal times (when IKEA held 20-30% OFF sales a few times per year) you could get IKEA kitchen cabinets really cheap, but due to COVID, the extra $2K-$4K savings are no longer offered, so you can probably find similarly priced cabinets elsewhere. Maybe. I'm not sure. That's what I heard. But, even then, most likely, these cabinets would come from a long line of traditional designs and I was looking for something a bit more modern.

I also wanted to be in charge of the kitchen layout, but because I was not sure what it would look like and had to go through multiple revisions, it was easier to handle the job myself (just the design part, not the installation).

In addition, I like that IKEA wall cabinets are deeper than standard American cabinets (by about 3 inches); and I think they are also taller. Flexible configuration options (carousel in the corner cabinet, various pullouts, etc.) are also big pluses.

THE PROCESS

In theory, the process goes like this:

1. Log on to IKEA Kitchen Planner, define the kitchen layout, and start dragging and dropping various kitchen cabinets on to the floorplan. You can select styles and materials, accessories, appliances (or leave placeholders), cabinet configurations, lighting, and so on.
2. Once the design is complete, take it to IKEA, get it validated by a sales representative, and order the parts.
3. When the parts arrive, assemble the cabinets and hang them on the walls.
4. After the cabinets are ready, install the countertops, appliances and accessories (sink, faucet, etc.).

If only life were that easy!

For starters, IKEA Kitchen Planner sucks. It crashes or kicks you out without saving your changes, shows you warnings when it shouldn't (e.g. you do not have enough space for a cabinet of certain width when there is ample space), would not let you place an element where you want on the floorplan, lacks most of IKEA appliances, and has a number of other idiosyncrasies. I think I had to go to the store at least three times to get help with the planner.

2D rendering in IKEA kitchen planner

Ordering and getting parts is a logistical hell. First, you cannot order all parts at once because some of them would be out of stock. When you get the parts delivered, you may find items missing and some broken. I was missing three boxes and a tall filler piece was cracked during delivery. Now you need to deal with the out-of-stock, missing, and broken parts. And the process of getting everything fulfilled may take months. Literally! It took me two months to finally get the cracked piece replaced (it was out-of-stock and when it finally got to the distribution center, nobody bothered to inform me, so I found out that I could finally order it up by a pure accident). Every time a part becomes available at a local warehouse, you will get a call (hopefully) and would need to drive to the store and pick it up the same day. No, they will not hold it for you, so if you don't come the same day, chances are, it will get out of stock the day after. And no, the parts will not come at the same time. So one week you may be picking a shelf, the next week a door, and the week after something else. But hey, who doesn't love to drive to IKEA, right?

If you are a praying type, you should pray that an item you are expecting does not get discontinued. I originally wanted to install IKEA under-cabinet lighting, but I did not order them right away because when I asked if there was any chance they'd go out of stock, I was assured that they were always available. So, a couple of weeks later, I finally went to pick them up and found a single part on clearance with a note that the whole line got discontinued. There was a different lighting model still available, but it was at least three times more expensive, so I decided to be on the safer side and not use IKEA lighting at all (which in a retrospect was a blessing because I would hate finding out that a part is discontinued when it breaks).

At some point, hopefully, if you don't get locked in a mental institution, you should get all the IKEA boxes you need. And this is when the hard part begins. But it's too early to talk about this because we haven't built the house, yet.

SEE ALSO:

• HOW IKEA KITCHEN WILL DRIVE YOU CRAZY (PART II)
• HOW NOT TO INSTALL AN OVER-THE-RANGE MICROWAVE OVEN
• A CASE AGAINST IKEA APPLIANCES

RESOURCES:

• 12 Things to Know Before Planning Your IKEA Kitchen

NEXT: NO TESLA FOR YOU!

PREVIOUS: TUFF SHED OR NOT

FIRST: INTRODUCTION