I've looked into Ikea and HomeDepot kitchens for a while, doing my google research on experiences of others. I decided to start off with Ikea mostly because they had a nice kitchen planner I could play around with, to see how much $ we are talking about and to get all my measurements in. I also liked Ikea style better than HomeDepot for some reason (Ikea seemed more in style), and did not want to deal with transporting already put together HomeDepot cabinets as I read this actually makes it more difficult in the end as you almost have to take them apart in order to install them, often times dealing with other issues that come up.
So, the Ikea kitchen planner wasn't too bad, but it was a little figidity and stubborn at times so it took some time to get used to. I also did write some of my measurements down on paper just in case, and this was a good idea for later.
Once I had all my measurements and a start to the cabinet placement, I went to see the Ikea kitchen professionals. I wanted to make sure I did not miss anything before I proceeded to order and also because I was stuck in some of the corner pieces. I had too much empty space, and since my kitchen is not large to begin with, I wanted ideas on eliminating this as much as possible.
Definitely recommend seeing the Ikea kitchen pros as they do this all day every day, but the unfortunate part was that I came back two days in row (had to go back think about options overnight etc), so I ended up talking to 3 different kitchen planners at Ikea. This was a good thing as some were more experienced than others and the first two missed some very important, critical things, that the third one caught. I say unfortunate because if I didn't happen to speak with the third specialist, I would kinda have been screwed and some things wouldn't fit, and other things would not be as efficient as they could have been. So be warned and have several of them look at your design.
Things I've learned threw the Ikea kitchen process:
- some cabinets need extra space around them
- keep in mind that the sink should be centered with the window above it, if you have one, and the online design is not accurate so you must do the math manually to consider that your sink cabinet should Not start at the same place your window starts (may be obvious for some, wasn't for me in the beginning)
- fill empty space of inches, with wine racks that may be used just as shelves later, this can be for lower or upper cabinets
- the Ikea requirement/recommendation of having some inches of dead space between a cabinet and the wall, to allow for the door to open is NOT necessary. This is because the door is pretty flush with the cabinet so I had no problems and eliminating not using space for max cabinet or counter top space
- be prepared for 100+ boxes
- be prepared to assemble every stinking little piece together, but that's no surprise as we are talking about Ikea after all and to most people, an Ikea kitchen is not their first Ikea purchase
The cost of the kitchen cabinets and hardware was surprisingly affordable and 100 boxes later, it was all in my garage.
*** I HIGHLY recommend when you are home, taking complete inventory of what you have arrived with. This taking your purchase receipt and the kitchen planner design printout, checking off each box on BOTH papers of what the item is (taking into account that some pieces are duplicates) and writing on a post-it note the # of the cabinet that piece is for, from the design printout. I went off of the barcode on each both.
This will allow you to confirm you arrived with everything you paid for, everything you need from the design, and make your life so much easier when you are putting everything together as it will all be numbered.
After each box has a #, organize everything to have all of the #s together. And let the 'fun' begin.
I had a friend who is a professional carpenter/kitchen installer assist me, and this trully was a blessing. We ended up not using the Ikea legs and attached pieces of wood to the lower cabinets, to make them more sturdy and save $.
I think there were a few other little things he did like this, to make it more sturdy and for me to return things to save $. The only thing to keep in mind is that any customization to the installation supposedly voids Ikea warranty...so hopefully I won't need it or can figure it out later. When you have a professional helping you, you don't argue with them and just let them work so I got what I got ;)
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| Before |
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| During (new cab's on bottom, old on top) |
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| Another one during |
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| During |
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| After - but not grouted tile and and unfinished lights above |
I need to take new pic's of the completed kitchen but I am waiting for the new outlets/switches and for the above lights to be swapped from fluorescent to canned.
But I am happy with the product so far :)
I am just happy with a new kitchen period.
I got amazing hook ups with the slab and work, but so far the kitchen is only cost me $4k!!! That my friends, is the best part and I can't believe I have waited so many years to do this.
