just took delivery yesterday. 92 flat boxes are waiting for assembly.

Should be interesting, I have never tried something like this. The whole experience was different from minute one compared to the traditional kitchen design/install process. I went there, planned it out, printed out a schematic, talked with an officious 17 year old kid, placed my order, and they asked if I was ready to load it to my surprise.

For 100 bucks I had it delivered up to a 3rd floor unit the next day, no way 92 boxes are fitting in the 240D.

I learned my lesson, any time i go to IKEA, I bring a truck or van instead. Anyone done one of these modular kitchens?

This kitchen is more about the price than anything else, and with it being a big tax month, I needed to keep a low budget. Should be fun though, im matching a first floor IKEA kitchen thats already in the building

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Not a whole kitchen, but cabinets from IKEA to be sure. Quality isn't top-notch, but worlds above the Glacier Bay etc junque that Home Desperate pushes on people.

Are you using their appliances/fixtures as well, out of curiosity?

A cordless drill with a low torque setting will save you around 600 hours

No complains from me, most of our junk is Ikea

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No merc at the moment

The kitchen shape is slightly odd, so im retaining the existing gas stove and fridge that were on other walls, and installing a dishwasher. Its basically a new cabinets only job, and only two walls of the kitchen getting done.

I did go for the overstock dishwasher as part of the deal they had on clearance, which has a 5 year warranty, and also did the sink and faucet, so 3 items from them in addition to cabinets. I was planning to go with their drawer pulls as well, but they don't sell them as part of the kitchen design, I have to buy them in the store, so thats still up in the air at the moment.

Total cost is just around 3k for 6 lower cabinets, a dishwasher, and 5 hanging cabinets, with laminate counters and sink and whatnot

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Remember, be SPARSAM and keep those cabinets FYRKANTIG.

On DIY Network's "Million Dollar Contractor" show, they had a client who value engineered his custom cabinetry to Ikea cabinets. There was a great scene of one of the construction workers assembling the cabinets on the floor of a Manhattan apartment. The cabinets did come out quite nice.

http://www.diynetwork.com/million-dollar-contractor/the-big-and-the-small/index.html

No experience here but I'll be watching since I've considered it. Our kitchen is overdue for an update but I'm not convinced I'm going to be in the house long enough to justify a full-blown remodel.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Ill take a few pics and post back with day one review later. I can say my first review is that the shipping manifest has part numbers on it that have no relation to my printed kitchen plan or the boxes, so sorting this out will be interesting.

I have no idea which flat box or collection of flat box is what, and goes with what, I suppose it will become clear as they get assembled though

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Does the dishwasher come in a flat box -- "some assembly required?"

lol, sorry, 90 flat boxes, and one cubed dishwasher box, and one sink box. The dishwasher is not made by ikea, I forget the name off the top of my head

I opened that already and it looks like plug and play, it didn't even come with a 3 inch long allen key per ikea standard for assembly.

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I don't know if they are still like it but IKEA units used to be simple boxes that had no provision for pipes and sheet behind them...

...pain in the arse really because then their work tops don't fit nicely unless you box out a whole wall behind the units to make space for pipes...

...probably not such a problem in wood framed buildings however - but with brick...

...'tis a bit of a bugger...

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
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1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Any American home built after 1900 or so will have pipework inside the walls, so not a major issue there.

I thought as much as I was typing...

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

And even houses build before then typically either have the kitchen appliances on an inside (read: studs'n'plaster) wall, or have a false wall applied over an outside brick wall to cover pipework.

If you have the bathroom right above the kitchen, not much to cover up anyway.

And if you have a cellar/crawlspace with all the facilities that need plumbing on the ground floor, pipes can just come up through the floor rather than being in a wall.

I've done a number of kitchen remodels since I went independent and quite a few cabinet installs on new houses with large companies back in the day.

Have not hung any IKEA cabinets but have installed a few standing IKEA units in bathrooms. Not bad stuff all in all.

Wall cabinets can be a bit trickier. I'd suggest perusing a number of DIY videos. I've seen a bunch, one can always learn new tricks. Some of them go way into overkill IMO. The 'storyboard' thing is not that groovy from my point of view, but it works for some.

At any rate. you need to find the high point of the floor in the area where the cabs are, at least for each group that shares a countertop, the cab on that part of the floor will rest, at least on one point, on that high spot and the others will be shimmed up to get the top pretty close to level. Some people get fanatical about absolute perfection in level, which you're not going to get anyway. Get it pretty close and the countertop people (if you're having someone install it) can deal with it.

For wall cabs, good to hang a ledger board to support the back edge while you're screwing them to the wall. If I'm framing a kitchen from scratch, I'll put 2x6 between the studs at three points - the top and bottom screw mount level for the uppers and the top screw mount for the lowers - but if your place doesn't have that you'll have to hunt around for studs or whatever else may be back there for mounting. Even if you use a stud-finder, I'd use a drill or screw gun to make sure you know where the center of the stud is. I probe until I find each edge of the stud and get the center from that. It will be covered by cabinets so holes in the drywall are not a big deal. One client was so freaked about vermin that I filled all of the holes in the drywall before putting the cabs up.

Getting the faces to all line up smooth and pretty can be tricky, would be hard to talk much about it here, in short, you can shim one or the other out until it matches up with the one next to it and then find a place to screw the two cabs together in the front, top and bottom. Some advocate attaching the uppers to each other on the ground to get the faces lined up and then raising them, with help, up into place. I dunno, maybe.

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I shoot the room with a 3 way laser level and mark my bottom edge line on the wall then I use a couple of surveyor's tripods with a 2x12 on top secured to the screwdowns of the tripods to carry the system and keep everything plumb/level.

If you screw the fronts together with no gap, you can then shim the rear from top/bottom and then slide it back against the wall and shim for the gaps between the wall and boxes.

For brick I use either a Hilti epoxy system with a J channel that grabs the 1"x3" I install across the back with a Hilti threaded sleeve anchor epoxied in for the bottom (then you can just shim out and screw it down thru the back of the box)..

The Hilti HY-70 system with a screen tube is the only thing you can use with Terra Cotta Book Tile walls (very common in NYC apartment buildings built before 1940) as the screen allows the epoxy to mushroom out inside and in back of the Terra Cotta tile and the final diameter of the mushroom plug is close to 2".

Simpson Strong Tie also makes some nifty anchor systems for wall panels that can be adapted to carry cabinetry. Nice thing is they also include all the required fasteners and screw gun bits.