New Kitchen: IKEA vs Kitchen World vs others

ionapaul

Hi all,

So we want to replace our pretty small kitchen (which would have been installed by the house's builders about 16 years ago and is extremely tired at present) and have been going around getting quotes from various places over the past while. The kitchen needs to accommodate integrated appliances, including a fridge, washing machine, narrow (45cm) dishwasher and single door over/gas hob, so space is really tight and optimum use of storage is extremely important to me.

At present I think we're down to two choices, IKEA or Kitchen World (Bray), prices are relatively similar.

Some thoughts and concerns I have are:

- IKEA quality; it is up to scratch?
- Do you get better service going with a smaller place vs the giant multinational? At our appointment with Kitchen World we felt like we were given more attention than at IKEA
- IKEA's 'under unit' system for pipes, etc... seems pretty good to me (though would require lots of work from the installers I'm sure) as it would free up more storage space I'd guess
- Would anyone know if you don't get your appliances bundled from your kitchen supplier, is it a pain/difficult to organise installation by whatever contractors are doing the kitchen fitting?
- Again, given the small available space I know that this will throw up issues and we're going to need inventive solutions; I guess this will fall on the skills of the fitters

Does anyone have any feedback on using IKEA or Kitchen World in the last few years?

cletus

I have an Ikea kitchen, very happy with it. The guy who gave me a hand installing it works for a kitchen fitter, and was surprised by the quality.

Ikea were just as helpfull, if not more, than the other kitchen suppliers we went to.

Normally the guys fitting the kitchen, in my experience, (both parents and grandparents had new kitchens fitted last year) wont plumb in sinks or wire in hobs or cookers.

ted1

Are you going to install it yourself ? IKEA will cost you more if you need to get it installed, both kitchens are of good quality.

budhabob

We installed an ikea kitchen last year, couldnt fault it.

We used the ikea tool to design a layout we liked, priced it up everywhere reputable, including ikea, went with ikea, and installed it ourselves.
Couple of things to note:
- There isnt much space behind the ikea units, enough for cables but not pipe work
- c. 80mm underneath the units, enough for a pipe or 2.
- installing the appliances - youre fitters wont do that (with any kitchen crowd that im aware of) - you'll have to get your own plumber / electricians.

Admldj

As a carpenter who has fitted kitchens from most of the main suppliers in Ireland I can assure you the quality of the IKEA kitchens is very respectable for the price and I would have no problem recommending them, the only note of caution I would voice is the unit sizes are quite limited in the range of widths available but most importantly the heights are not Irish/UK standard which means if at some point in the future you want to freshen up the kitchen with new doors you will only be able to buy the replacements in IKEA

dodzy

budhabob wrote: »

We installed an ikea kitchen last year, couldnt fault it.

We used the ikea tool to design a layout we liked, priced it up everywhere reputable, including ikea, went with ikea, and installed it ourselves.
Couple of things to note:
- There isnt much space behind the ikea units, enough for cables but not pipe work
- c. 80mm underneath the units, enough for a pipe or 2.
- installing the appliances - youre fitters wont do that (with any kitchen crowd that im aware of) - you'll have to get your own plumber / electricians.

I've done a few and can echo Admldj's comments on quality. In relation the the 80mm height restriction, never seen this myself. All the support legs , either the standard black plastic ones that come with the base units, or the contemporary ones that are purchased additionally (when no kick-board is used) have all been in excess of 100mm affording plenty of space for running pipework/cables underneath if required.

budhabob

dodzy wrote: »

I've done a few and can echo Admldj's comments on quality. In relation the the 80mm height restriction, never seen this myself. All the support legs , either the standard black plastic ones that come with the base units, or the contemporary ones that are purchased additionally (when no kick-board is used) have all been in excess of 100mm affording plenty of space for running pipework/cables underneath if required.

I did say circa in my post .

Also, 80mm is whats specified on the ikea designs that I have (just checked) so best to give the minimum clearances than an expectation that there'll be plenty more clearance.

Payton

I'm in the same boat regarding a new kitchen I want to install and space is critical. So far Ikea are by far the cheapest including appliances (fridge freezer, oven and job). I'd like to install the kitchen myself but finding time is the issue as I'm busy with work thankfully.
My ex mother in law had a kitchen installed when Ikea came to Ireland first and it's still in excellent condition.
I did some shopping around and got some extortionate prices and some with no real warranty with the kitchen.