We are seriously thinking of going with one. My wife especially likes the drawers, the styles and the layouts. Since she does most of the cooking, I'm pretty much defaulting to her for what she wants, and I'm creating the design.
From what I gather on the internet, most people that have Ikea Kitchens and cabinets are satisfied with them. The people that don't care for them, when I read between the lines, isn't because they don't like their kitchen, but rather they don't have an Ikea kitchen because they don't care for Ikea Products.
Thankfully for us, an Ikea is 15 minutes away, so we can freely go multiple times to check out their showroom and get some ideas.
Decent cabinets cost money no matter where you buy them. Things to look for is drawers with rabbited joints vs. staples. Real wood facing adds to the cost vs. laminated. Good hardware is a must. Nothing is more annoying than crappy binding gliders on drawers.
The biggest problem people seem to have with IKEA furniture is the durability of the joinery. The more you move a piece of typical IKEA furniture, the less well it's going to hold together. Obviously most people don't move their cabinets, so this is less of an issue.
They do use a mounting system completely unlike any other cabinet. This means that whoever installs them is going to have to throw a lot of their cabinet-installing experience out the window. I have heard of contractors charging on a time-and-materials basis for IKEA cabinets rather than give a quote. This is because the installation can be so time-consuming.
I will say that I don't like the abundance of plastic in a lot of their units. Plastic drawers in their vertical slide-out panels, for example. In those cases you truly get what you pay for. And though the amount of plastic in things like the drawer slides also bugs me, the stuff operates pretty well, at least at installation. I can't really speak to how it holds up over time. For that, consult one of the many online groups of IKEA fans or foes.
They are also sold in metric, and chances are they will the only thing in your kitchen that is. So there can be issues getting things to line up. But my guess is that if you're doing it yourself, by the time you're done you will be so frustrated that you won't notice.
IKEA kitchen? No thanks, I prefer eating my food without having to pick out the Allen wrenches first.
And there's also the particle-board thing. Overtighten just once, and you need a new hole (or to fill and drill).
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 12, 2014, 11:04:45 PM
The people that don't care for them, when I read between the lines, isn't because they don't like their kitchen, but rather they don't have an Ikea kitchen because they don't care for Ikea Products.
See what I'm getting at? Reviewing the above comments, no one here has said they have an Ikea Kitchen and hates it. They just dislike the product in general...even if they've never seen it, built it, or used it.
And there's also the particle-board thing. Overtighten just once, and you need a new hole (or to fill and drill).
I have never bought anything from Ikea because I have never lived in a city one of their stores is open in. Is it generally of better quality than the Sauder-type stuff you get at Walmart?
Yes, and I'm delighted with mine, which is now a decade old. Do not confuse their particleboard dressers with their kitchens.
I looked at custom stuff costing three times as much as Ikea, and it seemed like log-cabin quality compared to the elegant engineering of Ikea. Their kitchens are not remotely low quality.
My brother-in-law and I did mine for about $3000 total in 2004 and I get raves about the look. You do have to invest your (or someone else's) time in assembling the cabinets, as opposed to having them delivered in big boxes. At the time, I knew a high schooler who became fairly enthusiastic for $10/hour, so I just bought a rechargeable screwdriver and had him spend a couple of Sunday afternoons with me. Two years ago I helped B-I-L do another one, a big custom installation for rich folks in the Dallas area.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 13, 2014, 02:02:35 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 12, 2014, 11:04:45 PM
The people that don't care for them, when I read between the lines, isn't because they don't like their kitchen, but rather they don't have an Ikea kitchen because they don't care for Ikea Products.
See what I'm getting at? Reviewing the above comments, no one here has said they have an Ikea Kitchen and hates it. They just dislike the product in general...even if they've never seen it, built it, or used it.
I've seen, built and used them. I have a lot of experience building kitchens. I think you can do better, but not without spending more money.
I've no experience with them even though one is about 20 minutes away in Bolingbrook and I've been to it a few times.
For cabinets (and associated hardware), I've gone to Menards and gotten what they have on the shelf.
I've got quite a bit of their furniture in my house. For the price, the quality cannot be beat (except for those two uncomfortable chairs that are still around 12 years later). I can't say much about their kitchen cabinets, but the rest of their stuff has held up pretty well over the years. Personally, I'd be ok with their cabinets in my kitchen.