Experiences with IKEA kitchens – quality, assembly, service?

Hello everyone,

I am currently considering getting a new kitchen and have, of course, come across IKEA kitchens. The price-performance ratio seems quite good and I also like the design. However, I have heard different opinions among friends – some are completely satisfied, others have apparently had issues with individual cabinet parts or the assembly.
Therefore, I wanted to ask the group 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 work in-store and online?
[*]What about customer service if parts are missing or something breaks?
[*]Is there anything you would do differently in hindsight?

I would be happy to hear about your experiences (both positive and negative) – especially if you have been using it for a few years! Thanks in advance :)

Best regards, Sandra

What experiences have you had with IKEA kitchens?

Already two own Ikea kitchens. Each time only the carcasses/fronts, external appliances and self-assembly, no worktop from Ikea. Conclusion: Always Ikea again. Cheap due to self-assembly (simple), while the materials are good. Of course, you are somewhat limited overall, because there are not as many options as if you had dozens of different kitchen brands to choose from. I planned everything completely alone online each time. Worktop not from Ikea, because of very limited selection (my worktop now cost almost as much as all the furniture together, as it is textured granite with extra depth and flush-mounted cooktop/sink). Appliances always only external, therefore no experiences with Ikea appliances.

Thank you very much for your detailed response and the information about the self-construction as well as the external devices you used and the countertop!

I have one more question:
What was your experience with the installation and the fit of the Ikea carcasses in combination with the external devices and the non-Ikea countertop? Were there any specific challenges regarding measurements, cutouts, or adjustments? And do you perhaps have tips on what to especially pay attention to when planning and purchasing external devices to ensure everything fits in the end?

Thanks again and best regards!

We have already moved twice with our Ikea kitchen, that is no problem.
For the countertop, we chose the 8cm thick white one with an aluminum edge, which is really great and hassle-free; but I believe it is no longer available.
We also bought the appliances separately, planned a bar countertop made of 4cm multiplex freely and super cheap.
Anytime again. There are also partly good installers at the online marketplace, although we always assembled the cabinets etc. completely ourselves and only had the final assembly done; that works wonderfully easy.
There are also all kinds of hacks on the internet on how to expand the system with imagination.

It depends on what kind of demand you have for the service life and tolerance for signs of wear. The weak points are the quality of the chipboard/MDF boards. The hinges themselves are good but tend to wear out the drill holes, so that the gap dimensions eventually no longer look nice. The edges are also not very high quality; even slight water damage causes the edges of the carcasses to swell, and the surface coatings of the carcasses scratch and discolor very easily. After five IKEA kitchens, we have now had a kitchen from Ballerina for six years, and it is clearly better in the quality of the carcasses and drawers.

Ikea when it should be good and cheap. But then with self-assembly.

Be careful, the countertop has a special size in depth, but it's now available in every hardware store.

For the dishwasher, rails are needed that take care of that.