ᐅ Experiences with IKEA Kitchens – Quality, Installation, Service?
Created on: 26 May 2025 16:48
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Sandra27
Hello everyone,
I’m currently thinking about getting a new kitchen and have come across IKEA kitchens. The price-performance ratio seems pretty good, and I like the design. However, I’ve heard mixed opinions from friends – some are very satisfied, while others have had issues with certain cabinet parts or the assembly process.
So I wanted to ask here: What experiences have you had with IKEA kitchens?
I’d love to hear about your experiences, both positive and negative – especially if you’ve been using it for a few years! Thanks in advance 🙂
Best regards,
Sandra
I’m currently thinking about getting a new kitchen and have come across IKEA kitchens. The price-performance ratio seems pretty good, and I like the design. However, I’ve heard mixed opinions from friends – some are very satisfied, while others have had issues with certain cabinet parts or the assembly process.
So I wanted to ask here: What experiences have you had with IKEA kitchens?
- How satisfied are you with the quality of the furniture (e.g., cabinets, countertops, drawers, appliances)?
- Did you assemble the kitchen yourself or have it assembled? Was it complicated?
- How well does the planning service in-store and online work?
- What about customer service when parts are missing or something breaks?
- Is there anything you would do differently in hindsight?
I’d love to hear about your experiences, both positive and negative – especially if you’ve been using it for a few years! Thanks in advance 🙂
Best regards,
Sandra
M
motorradsilke27 May 2025 08:50ypg schrieb:
It doesn’t have a handle, but an inset grip.
And otherwise, everything was done according to the instructions.
At knee height, a handle otherwise doesn’t make much sense, as you said. Yes, these are some of the less ideal things with IKEA. It’s often better not to build exactly according to the instructions. In our case, experience has shown that otherwise the leverage effect becomes too great:
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Schorsch_baut27 May 2025 10:51We had the panels doweled at the carpenter's shop.
motorradsilke schrieb:
Yes, these are some of the downsides of IKEA. It’s better not to build exactly according to the instructions. In our case, this is what experience has shown, because otherwise the leverage effect would be too strong: Exactly, you’re right. If I had divided the drawers, this cabinet would have ended up even more expensive for me. Originally, it was also intended for extra-tall bottles. It works with a shelf in between for dog food. Anyway, these are just special cases where issues might arise. For other special cases, IKEA proves reliable, as is well known.
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elminster28 May 2025 08:34We had an IKEA kitchen installed in our rental apartment. Although we only lived there for 3 years, we were very satisfied with the quality. We purchased the electrical appliances ourselves at that time, except for the extractor hood. However, that one was not very good.
Hello,
we have an Ikea kitchen. The appliances are Siemens (mid to high range based on the recommended retail price, each purchased online or through the For Us Shop for about one-quarter to one-third of the RRP). The countertop was custom made by the Hornbach kitchen service. Total costs for around 8 meters (26 feet) of kitchen were roughly 8,000 euros, which surprised some of our neighbors.
I planned everything myself. You can get a fairly affordable kitchen with Ikea, but you should be prepared and able to contribute your own effort and initiative. Ikea offers a wide variety of cabinet options, but if your layout requires an unusual size like a cabinet width of 37.837 centimeters (14.9 inches), they won’t have it. You have to do some DIY there. However, their kitchen planner program handles that quite well.
I like that the Metod cabinets have a relatively large carcass height as a standard feature. You usually have to pay extra for that with many other kitchen manufacturers.
The Ikea appliances come from various manufacturers and are generally in the lower to mid-range category. I would personally choose brand-name appliances like BSH or others again.
The furniture quality itself is perfectly fine; our kitchen still shows no damage after 9 years. The high-gloss fronts survived two kids completely scratch-free. The hinges, fittings, and drawers come from major brand manufacturers. My carpenter admitted somewhat embarrassed that when he custom-builds kitchens, he buys the hinges, fittings, and drawers from Ikea because he can’t find that quality at this price anywhere else.
Don’t underestimate the effort required for assembly! A full kitchen involves many cabinets and drawers to assemble. Doing it alone can easily take several days. The actual installation of the kitchen components is almost the smaller part. Ikea’s installation service currently charges 250 euros per linear meter. At the time, it was around 200 euros, and I was too stingy to use it—I would do it differently in hindsight.
Major advantages of an Ikea kitchen:
Transparent pricing with no absurd haggling like “only today 34.98746% off and if I ask my boss, another 2.58%, but you have to sign now.”
Reliable delivery times and deadlines.
Short-term availability without ridiculous lead times of 3–6 months.
Disadvantages:
No fancy or high-end luxury options.
Requires your own effort and initiative (which I see more as an advantage).
Best regards,
Andreas
we have an Ikea kitchen. The appliances are Siemens (mid to high range based on the recommended retail price, each purchased online or through the For Us Shop for about one-quarter to one-third of the RRP). The countertop was custom made by the Hornbach kitchen service. Total costs for around 8 meters (26 feet) of kitchen were roughly 8,000 euros, which surprised some of our neighbors.
I planned everything myself. You can get a fairly affordable kitchen with Ikea, but you should be prepared and able to contribute your own effort and initiative. Ikea offers a wide variety of cabinet options, but if your layout requires an unusual size like a cabinet width of 37.837 centimeters (14.9 inches), they won’t have it. You have to do some DIY there. However, their kitchen planner program handles that quite well.
I like that the Metod cabinets have a relatively large carcass height as a standard feature. You usually have to pay extra for that with many other kitchen manufacturers.
The Ikea appliances come from various manufacturers and are generally in the lower to mid-range category. I would personally choose brand-name appliances like BSH or others again.
The furniture quality itself is perfectly fine; our kitchen still shows no damage after 9 years. The high-gloss fronts survived two kids completely scratch-free. The hinges, fittings, and drawers come from major brand manufacturers. My carpenter admitted somewhat embarrassed that when he custom-builds kitchens, he buys the hinges, fittings, and drawers from Ikea because he can’t find that quality at this price anywhere else.
Don’t underestimate the effort required for assembly! A full kitchen involves many cabinets and drawers to assemble. Doing it alone can easily take several days. The actual installation of the kitchen components is almost the smaller part. Ikea’s installation service currently charges 250 euros per linear meter. At the time, it was around 200 euros, and I was too stingy to use it—I would do it differently in hindsight.
Major advantages of an Ikea kitchen:
Transparent pricing with no absurd haggling like “only today 34.98746% off and if I ask my boss, another 2.58%, but you have to sign now.”
Reliable delivery times and deadlines.
Short-term availability without ridiculous lead times of 3–6 months.
Disadvantages:
No fancy or high-end luxury options.
Requires your own effort and initiative (which I see more as an advantage).
Best regards,
Andreas
andimann schrieb:
We have an IKEA kitchen. The appliances are Siemens (mid to upper price range according to the MSRP, each purchased online or at the in-house store for about 1/4 to 1/3 of the MSRP). The countertop was custom-made by the kitchen service at Hornbach. Total costs for around 8 meters (26 feet) of kitchen were roughly 8000 euros, which left some neighbors stunned. That’s exactly how we experienced it and proceeded.
andimann schrieb:
Major advantages of an IKEA kitchen:
Transparent pricing and no ridiculous haggling like "only today there’s a 34.98746% discount, and if I ask my boss, I can give you an extra 2.58%, but you have to sign right now." And that’s exactly why I actually got up and walked out of the kitchen supplier’s place twice.
Everyone has to decide for themselves, and there are many other good and possibly better options, but for us the reasons given by @andimann applied perfectly, so we would do it the same way again.
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