New Kitchen

Hi there,

So I'm just on the verge of committing to my IKEA kitchen order so hopefully I can help a bit and that I'm not too late to reply.

The appointments are in and around 2 hours - I highly recommend going with as much info as you can because you want to use that time for the fun part of designing and discussing options. Prior to my appointment, I created an IKEA account and using the (fairly accurate) measurements I had taken of the kitchen, I used their 3D planner to get the basic structure in. So room size, ceiling height, any obstructions/columns. It meant when I arrived, we could log into my account and the room existed in the planner so we could get straight to adding cabinetry etc.

I found the consultant (in the Carrickmines branch) I had to be really fantastic. Very knowledgeable about what was on offer and what would/wouldn't work. Gave my great advice based on her own experience too. I can't fault her, she was really great. The kitchen we designed that day a few months ago is 90% still what I'm going for. I then went away and played with the 3D planner myself - adjusting handles, worktops, some of the specific aesthetic elements.

Once the design stage is finished you move onto dealing with the IKEA Installations team. I've done this largely by email and phone. They have made any tweaks I had to my plan for me and adjusted the shopping list accordingly. Again, I can't fault them.

IKEA will also arrange the PIV visit if you decide to use their recommended fitters. This is where the contractor measures up your kitchen and make sure everything is in order. The contractor, not IKEA, will quote you for additional work to be done. In my case, some electrical and plumbing work. Strangely, you pay IKEA for installation not the team doing the installing so the contractor's quote won't include this. The quote has included the removal of the old kitchen including tiles, flooring, and old appliances and I've also asked them to quote to do the tiling as well so they'll be doing the whole lot from start to finish excluding painting.

You can of course use your own contractor too or even do it yourself but I couldn't put up a shelf without risking loss of life so that's a no go.

That's basically where I currently am. The way I understand it, once you pay IKEA that's when the lead time starts. I believe it could be up to 6-8 weeks but it could be much sooner too depending on how busy they are.

I don't think you'll be left for long without a kitchen. As I am going with IKEA's contractors to install, I believe they will coordinate removal of the old kitchen, and delivery/installation of the new kitchen within a couple days of each other so there's a quick turnaround. I suppose that's a big benefit of not going independently.

Sorry this is a bit of a dissertation but I hope I've filled you in well! I'm genuinely so impressed with the IKEA end of things so far. As I'm no further down the line I can't speak yet to the installation process although I've posted a thread myself asking for people's experience. If you want to know anything else about the experience so far, let me know. This was very new to me when I started so happy to pass on anything I've picked up along the way.

Best of luck with it all!
TP

I’d imagine you’d be fine laying amtico or karndean after your floor goes in? It’s very thin, so you wouldn’t have any problems if you needed to pull out appliances etc after. I didn’t watch when they laid it in my hallway, but I presume they glued it to the floor in individual strips.

Try this crowd, Grand designs.ie they seem to know what they doing, i've had a good experience with them. all you need initially for a consultation was photos of your existing room each wall and dimensions and sizes of windows and height off the floor.