To Ikea Kitchen or Not to Ikea Kitchen

I find the best way to do anything is to write two columns – YES SIR and NO SIR. I mean, how else can you make stupidly momentous decisions like spending your hard earned dolla on a kitchen?

As I have an Ikea kitchen I feel I am qualified enough to columnise the experience, except I can’t make columns on my blog (I need to HTML myself up) and I’m no infographicker so you’re getting lists. Deal with it.

YES SIR

CHEAP! Ours was £2,500, appliances and all (incl dishwasher, excl washing machine).

It looks more expensive than it is.

25 year guarantee.

5 year guarantee on appliances (made by Whirlpool).

So far all appliances are working.

Love all the little bits that fit inside the drawers perfectly for perfect storage. In fact, if you get the right drawers etc the storage is so good.

Drawers INSIDE drawers. Golly.

I liked designing my own kitchen.

Our Domsjö sink. Ohmygaaah.

You have a YEAR to return anything to Ikea if it’s in its original packaging, otherwise you can get store credit – just make sure you keep your receipts.

NO SIR

The delivery men do NOT enjoy their jobs. There I was, in a rubble filled flat, apologising for them delivering to me. Could I be any more British? I resent mostly that they brought out that side of me. Actually, I take it back, it’s my favourite side. I love apologising for everything. Sorry.

So many pieces were missing. SO MANY.

45 minutes on hold on the phone each time to get said pieces.

The time it took us to realise all the bits were missing meant multiple 45 minute hold times. I know all ABBA songs by heart now (because, you know, I didn’t already…).

I designed our kitchen about 50 times. Yeah, okay I liked being able to do it and I may have some over-designing issues but the system is ridic frustrating. It freezes A LOT.

The grey kitchen we actually wanted wasn’t in stock in August, it was coming back in, well, now. We couldn’t wait 4-5 months but in the end we saved loads because we went for the Veddinge doors in white.

Well Sir?

If you don’t mind the to-ing and fro-ing because of missing items then I’d say go for it. I think if we did get an Ikea kitchen again (Jules isn’t so sure, even though he wasn’t the one spending 300 hours on the phone to them and subsequently dreaming in ABBA. I’d have made him but he was working in a bunker at the time. REALLY.) I’d print off the itemised list of everything and actually bother to check them off when they’re delivered and organise where everything was put so nothing is mixed up. I was too flustered over-apologising when our kitchen arrived to do any of that. The key to an Ikea kitchen is preparedness.

So there thee have it. Would you go Ikea for you culinary space? Have I put you off or sold the idea to you?

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