Has anyone used the IKEA freestanding kitchen modules?

[politicat]

What did you think?

By the way - Hi, everyone. We're getting the house ready to put up for sale, and will be sharing a huge house with good friends after we sell, so between getting this house ready to go and that house divided properly, email and research has been the limit of my computer time recently.

Here's the situation: Our half of the house is the garden level, which faces south and has windows on the east and west. The kitchen is being retrofitted in to what is currently an extensive wet bar. (Professional level) The space will be perfect for half galley, half open, and is about 18 feet long by 8 feet wide.

We're getting an Ikea within 500 miles (in Utah) in Spring, 2007. I noticed the freestanding stainless steel and wire shelves version, and I like the look. Functional, flexible and not beyond our budgets.

It doesn't have any particle board in it - that being the prime objection we have to DIY furniture.

Also, has anyone used their laminate flooring, and is it decent?

[NMDemDist2]

1. i think wildeyed did her whole kitchen with IKEA cabinets

and that's so cool your moving on to the co-family idea :bounce:

here's wild's thread and I'm sure she'd be happy to PM with you

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=236&topic_id=24171

[CC]

2. I'm in the midst of

doing my kitchen with Ikea cabinets now. Not the free standing though. I just wanted to give you this link http://www.ikeafans.com/ since it has been a life saver during my renovation. The forum really are helping a lot and even have me doing modifications. I just replaced almost 20 year old Ikea cabinets that still look new. They didn't have the same style though or I would of just added and rearranged. My old cabinets are now in a you couples kitchen. Ikea does build a quality product in the kitchen department.

[politicat]

3. Good to know, and yes, I found that site!

It's going to be a lot of help, since any Ikea purchase is going to necessarily be at a distance... currently, the closest one is in Arizona (1000 miles). When Draper, Utah opens in the spring, that will cut the drive to 500 miles, but then I have to make the decision: will I shop in Utah, pay their sales taxes and support their state, or drive further?

I'm glad to know that they last. The more I look at things, the more I start thinking that I want to mix products - like a wall of cupboards (there's a windowless wall where we can't put anything but cupboards and counters) with the sliding pantry, but the stainless steel counter system where I have counters (because I have learned my lesson and will never stray from the straight and narrow stainless path again). Should I be stopping myself right here?

[wildeyed]

4. I designed my kitchen with their online tool

and had them ship the components to me. I reviewed the design over the phone with an Ikea representative, he called me back with a shipping quote, and then they sent me literally 1000 boxes. A few pieces had minor damage and needed to be returned, which Ikea did promptly and at no charge. The only item missing from my order was a single cabinet pull, easily reordered. So over all, that system worked great for me. Even including the shipping charges, the cost of the Ikea cabinets was 1/2 the quote I got from the local Lowes. Course we spent several days assembling the units, but for $5000 it was worth it.

Have fun mixing and matching. Layout is what took me forever with my kitchen cause the space was is so weird. Sounds like you have a more straight forward layout.

A couple of things I have found, I really love my half depth pantry cabinets. I didn't have space for full depth, but I love the half depth now because I can see and reach ever single item, no clutter. I also really like the counter depth refrigerator. Again, easier to see and locate items, and it looks much nicer than the big kind that stick out farther. Anyway, just my .02. Have fun!

[politicat]

6. Thanks! I was thinking about those.

Things I've learned with this kitchen... all of them "Never Do Agains". No white appliances, no white or fiberglass sinks, no cabinets that are more than an arm's length in depth, no wiring in the cabinets....

I'm using Sketchup to do the design, though. The planning tool does not like my MacBook, even when we're in the evil Windows partition. It doesn't like to do much in the way of putting items where I wanted them, so Sketchup it is.

[CC]

5. Though we have had to do

extra and it is taking longer than I wanted it too, I am going to love my kitchen when it is finished. We had to move a wall, straighten out the other walls (100 plus year old house)and rip up and replace the floors. Add one completely rewiring it for more outlets and safer wiring you can see why it took longer. Yet as cabinets went in and counter top is installed now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and am so happy we went ahead.

I would definitely use the planner, it was great. Just make sure whoever does all the measuring do it exact and not close to. The planner was really neat and gives you the prices. Just save a often as you work because mine would get an error once in a while and shut down.

[politicat]

7. We're going to be taking out walls, so I sympathize.

Turning three tiny rooms into one larger one, changing a swinging door to a pocket door... and that's before we get to the flooring... we're going to be ripping up carpet AGAIN. (I'm really sick of ripping up carpet... We've done it 3 times in six years in two different houses.)

Ah well. It could be worse. It could be a bathroom.

[CC]

8. We didn't get to

move the wall enough to really enlarge the kitchen, but moving the door and straightening it did make a big difference. It made that wall usable for cabinets etc. We also put in a pocket door. Try to have someone that knows what they are doing or can listen to instructions. (Forget the male half here actually reading them.) If I ever get to build a new house from the ground up it is getting all pocket doors along with solar electrics, passive solar heating and anything else green that comes along.

[politicat]

9. I do the work.

My husband works a gazillion hours, and I'm handy, know how to read instructions and am not impatient.

I've done one pocket door before; I recall that the hardest part was laying the track in the recess in the floor, and routering out the recess.