Ikea Kitchen Experiences – Your Opinions, Tips, and Recommendations Wanted!

With the long IKEA warranty, you don't take any risks. On the contrary: if you feel like having a new kitchen, it's enough to just buy new fronts. Because they fit.

The electrical appliances are from Whirlpool or Bauknecht and have also performed quite well. For a fairly small amount of money, you can also get quartz stone countertops. The only downside: you have to assemble it yourself. But everyone has to decide for themselves how much that's worth.

Nah, not anymore soon. The good old Faktum - now 25 years old - is being replaced by a new kitchen system: Metod

We also initially wanted IKEA for our new house. But: the kitchen is only available with a cabinet height of 70 cm. Anything taller has to be compensated with a higher plinth. But that doesn’t necessarily create more storage space.

Therefore, we will look around to see if we can find another kitchen in the mid-price range that better matches our ideas (e.g. cabinet height 78 cm, then as a 6-grid system).

IKEA is a brand for me that I put on the same level as the Apple phone and a Coffee2Go chain. Either fan or not.

My personal experience: A really good kitchen costs money. They are made of solid wood and unaffordable for the average person. What is offered by other furniture stores and kitchen studios at the price level of IKEA kitchens is no better either. You always wonder about the high "discounts" that can be seen everywhere and always with a big rebate. Whoever believes that... I have looked at many kitchens recently. In terms of cleverness/detail solutions and especially design, IKEA convinced me! Although I actually did not want an IKEA kitchen...

No way, not for long. The good old Faktum – now 25 years old – is being replaced by a new kitchen system: Metod

No way?! That would have been my argument for buying an Ikea kitchen: keeping the carcass after years and just replacing the fronts. Some things unfortunately didn’t fit after all, and it’s going to be a nice No.te kitchen.

A colleague of mine bought an Ikea kitchen for the reasons mentioned above and to save money by assembling it himself – he talked about it for 2 months: about the typical madness of attaching Ikea wall cabinets. Now it’s installed and hanging, the sweat is forgotten! But I tell you: he struggled with the hanging problem for 2 months (while having other renovation issues on the side). At those moments he regretted it. And now comes... Metod? That’s the thanks!

Oh, by the way, something else I wanted to mention: I have two base cabinets from Ikea (80cm, 3 drawers) in my existing branded kitchen, extended the countertop, tiled, and slipped cabinets underneath. In one drawer there is crockery... the front panel shifts downwards.... it's not nice. My four wall cabinets, on the other hand, do not disappoint me. They were installed by my then husband, so I don’t know about any problems during installation. A rotating carousel from Ikea was also planned for the corner cabinet: it was unstable even without assembly, I can't and don't want to imagine how the thing would have warped with several pots in it. By the way, the front (walnut, real wood) was no longer available after two years.

Hm - I recently talked to someone who spends the whole day assembling kitchens. He advised against solutions like IKEA, specifically because of the assembly method. A proper kitchen is glued during assembly - IKEA kitchens are screwed together. The screws loosen over time due to vibrations (dishwasher, kitchen machine, etc.) and become worn out - therefore, the kitchens are somewhat less stable, which becomes noticeable in the long run.

He recommended a mid-range kitchen in terms of processing quality (I don't remember the name right now - I would have to look for the note), as the price-performance ratio is the best.

So far, I have only helped assemble an IKEA kitchen in an old building - the upper cabinet (corner) with a carousel - did not convince me at all - it’s already mentioned in another post, the carousel was totally unstable. Moreover, the carousel shelves were made of glass - something I would avoid in a kitchen because of cleaning, risk of breakage, etc.
For slanted walls in old buildings, IKEA is also not suitable - they could never align the doors properly because of the slightly crooked wall - it was really frustrating - and I have done this quite often and it always worked until then.
Otherwise, IKEA offers nice and probably relatively stable kitchens - although I noticed that as soon as you want better appliances, a more expensive front, etc., you can immediately buy custom solutions from somewhat better manufacturers.

I would never buy an expensive kitchen for a rental apartment - but for my own property, I would really get a kitchen customized and tailored to my needs.