We were down yesterday to pick up a cheap dresser for the kids room and got suckered into looking at kitchens.

Ours in desperate need of a remodel and there stuff looked decent enough but was wondering about long-term longevity? They have an awesome warranty and their prices were reasonable so what's the deal with them?

I do have several pieces of their furniture which I kind of view as a step above dorm room/bachelor pad so who has one of their kitchens and how do you like it?

Do a kitchen cabinet search in ARFCOM's DIY subforum.  Some people have used them and posted pics.  The general consensus seems to be decent product for the money.

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We had a 70s dark galley kitchen with a lowered ceiling and fluorescent tube lighting, replaced with a modern layout light wood ikea kitchen, was 4k in hardware. We went with their laminate counters because they were super inexpensive, thinking we'd replace them eventually but we like them so much I think we'll keep them.

The quiet close cabinets will spoil you,you will slam shut other kitchens after getting used to being able to shut your own without a care for speed. Cutting the finishing pieces for the ends of cabinet runs without messing up the cut edge was annoying.

Their lazy Susan is ok as far as those go.

I'd do it again, but might pick a smaller depth cabinet between the kitchen and dining room to free up more space walking behind people at the table.

It has been 3 uneventful years, haven't broken anything yet. There is some wear on the cabinet doors from some child locks we installed on the handles, they rub and have taken off some of the finish. Still like em tho

I did my sister's kitchen with them,they were pretty good quality for what they are.

Not yet, but probably will eventually.

We did the whole kid's room in IKEA.  I was pleasantly surprised at the quality (since I had to build it ).  All the pieces seemed pretty solid.

Looks nice.

If you get it wet, it swells up like a fat lady's ankles.

I have one in a rental property that I own. Three sets of tenants using them and so far they look brand new.

Home depot quotes us $15,000 - $20,000 when they came out. I said hell no, and left the kitchen as is. I would do an ikea kitchen for sure though because it's actually decent stuff for cheap.

Bump for the morning crew

Anybody else? I think I'll go check out the DIY forum as I forgot it existed

This thread is relevant to my interests: Getting ready to re-do our Kitchen!!

I built my own cabinets because I could.

However, for the price IKEA stuff is not bad and is well engineered.  

A lot of their stuff is now made in Russia fwiw.

Ikea is generally a lot better quality than just poorly made particle board furniture.

I was in there a couple weekends ago looking at couches (found a couple I like) and looked at a couple kitchens. They had a couple I really liked. I wouldn't spend any money on the house I'm in, but maybe in the future. I love the soft close drawers and such. Felt like really good stuff.

They're good to go.  The house we bought last year was remodeled with an Ikea kitchen, which is probably about 3-4 years old now.  We've been really impressed with it.

 

I wasn't aware that there was any other kind.

 

I have their butcherblock in mine.  Good budget option.



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I installed a small Ikea kitchen in order to sell my condo a number of years ago.  Good quality and went well, but here are some tips:
- Have a relatively large workspace.  Open the first few boxes carefully so you have a nice flat piece of cardboard to lay under the pieces while you work.
- When you buy them go to the Dents & Bents section, and there will be a cabinet there with miscellaneous hardware for something like $2/bag.  Get spare brads for the backboards, wood pegs, twist locks for those peg connectors, shelf pegs, etc.  If you buy enough Ikea stuff at SOME point a box will be missing a piece of hardware.  Ikea is good about sending replacements, but it sucks to be stopped dead waiting for a $.05 Zamac piece.
- Use your own tools - allen drivers for a powered screwdriver, etc.  You will go insabe trying to assemble anything with those rinky dink wrenches in the package.
- If you don't have a powered screwdriver with a clutch, BUY ONE.  Just chucking a hex bit in a power drill guarantees stripped threads, etc.  Set the clutch pretty low to start, and you don't need to make the joints Mongo tight because...
- Use gorilla glue at the joints and on the pegs.  It will stiffen up the boxes considerably
- Use the downloadable program to design the kitchen first, then take it to the Kitchen Center.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

My kitchen is far from 'large' and the Home Depot contractor quoted me $9000+ for REFACE my cabinets.  Seriously, how they get ANY business is beyond me.

This.  HD can get bent for that kinda money.

We had a contractor install Ikea when we remodeled to condo.  

Really nice looking product!  Held up great though we only had it for about 2 years before we sold.

I would use Ikea again.

Ikea cabinets are pretty good, for what they are, which is flat-pack pre-cut cabinets. You can get the same stuff for about the same price by going to some of the companies that sell flat-pack cabinets, with the main difference being that you'll be able to have the things custom-made for your project. You'll also be able to specify plywood vs. the typical Ikea particle board construction, and get brand-name, high-grade hardware. The doors are also going to be more in keeping with your usual American designs, as opposed to the generally Scandinavian Contemporary that Ikea's products are going to be.

Ikea isn't bad, but you can do just about as well by buying from other sources. If you do go with Ikea, pay close attention to assembly, and make damn sure that the contractor you hire to do it takes his time to get things right--Assuming you hire one. We went in to replace an Ikea kitchen that was only a few years old, mostly because the homeowner was tired of things falling apart and having stuff roll out of her cabinets. The issue wasn't the product, it was the knucklehead kid the general contractor hired to do the assembly and installation. You can get a good lifespan out of Ikea stuff, but you'd better make damn sure that it's assembled properly, and that you do some judicious reinforcement as you go. It's not a job for a quick-and-dirty installer: Either you take your own damn time to do it right, and have a good idea of what you're doing, or you hire someone who knows what the hell they're doing, and gives a damn about the job. One of the builders around here uses nothing but Ikea, and his kitchens are raved about by everyone who lives in his houses. The thing is, he knows what he's doing with them, and takes the time to properly assemble everything, and reinforces the things he knows need it.

European kitchens aren't like US ones--Over there, the cabinets and everything else are considered furniture, and generally move with the owner from apartment to apartment. You rent in a typical European area, and the place you move into will be bare walls and plumbing attachments, with no fixtures or cabinets whatsoever. Lots of GI's over the years have discovered this to their dismay, when renting on the economy. Different philosophy of doing things--They're also not real big on things like closets, either. That's what wardrobes and schranks are for...

We redid our kitchen in 2009 with Ikea cabinets and butcher block counter tops. I have no complaints about the cabinets, they've held up well and given us zero problems. As for the butcher block, never again. I suspect my problems with it are inherent to butcher block and not just Ikea.

Interesting.  I want to refinish our kitchen now that the appliances are updated.  I was thinking of stripping the whole works and putting in some prebuilts from Lowe's or Home Depot, but I'll check out the Ikea designer.

I also want to put a craft area in the basement, so these may be a good way to add some cabinets and a work surface.

I have some Ikea pans, and the fucking handle fell off one after about a year. dropped my food all over the counter.

junk.

What does that have to do with cabinets?

Pans go in cabinets, so if the pans are bad then your entire kitchen will fall apart.

Leave out the last two lines and this is good advice.  Its a budget priced kitchen.  Probably one of the best bang for buck options.

Based on something as simple as a frying pan failing, I wouldn't buy any of their other junk.

There is some wear on the cabinet doors from some child locks we installed on the handles

When I was stationed in Germany (2002-2007) I furnished my house from Ikea.  I brought a lot of it back to Atlanta and still use it.  I was so impressed; I did my kitchen from Ikea last year.  As others have said it is good quality for the price.  The first item you put together can be frustrating.  Then you get the hang of how their instructions/construction works and Bob’s your uncle.  I second the suggestion of putting a drop or two of Gorilla Glue on the wooden pegs and joints.

Why?