IKEA Kitchen Purchase Process

Hey guys,

a really stupid question:

How do I actually buy Metod kitchen furniture at Ikea? Do you have to find the parts yourself in the huge warehouse and can take them with you right away?

For my utility room, I put together a Metod kitchen unit in the online planner and would like to buy the parts soon, but the nearest IKEA is about 50 km away from me, so I would rather not drive there in vain because I also have to borrow a trailer and organize a helping hand to come along.

And another problem is that the standard countertops are only max. 246 cm long, so for my 2.60 m unit I probably need a Personlig countertop.
Did I understand correctly that you have to order this and it is then delivered to your home?
Can I order it directly at IKEA? Unfortunately, I can’t find an option in the online planner to cover my washing machine and a small empty space with the countertop, so I’m a bit puzzled with the planning.

My plan looks like this (from left):
Base cabinets: 60 cm sink cabinet with built-in sink, 40 cm cabinet, 60 cm IKEA built-in freezer, 60 cm own washing machine, and then an empty space because of the washing machine’s water tap, where there is space for detergent.
Everything should be completely covered by the countertop.
Up top I planned three 80 cm wall cabinets.

Please forgive my stupid questions ops:
I have never bought a kitchen at IKEA and don’t know anyone I could ask about it.

Best, Teyla

Hi Teyla, you have registered at IKEA with your email address and password. You plan your kitchen at home with the kitchen planner and save it on the IKEA server under your name. The next step is then to go to IKEA, call up your kitchen at a terminal, grab a salesperson and ask if it works as you planned. He will surely help you to accommodate your washing machine as well. Once that is done and you want to take your kitchen with you, it will be provided after payment except for a few minor details. You then gather the rest from the shelves and go to the checkout. There you will get a number with which you can then pick up your kitchen. I usually go to IKEA 2-3 times before I take a kitchen with me. Better rent a Sprinter or ask someone from your circle of acquaintances, since you also have to accommodate the countertop(s) and the appliances. A station wagon with a trailer is of course also possible. Regards Mr. Rossi

Hello Teyla,

your kitchen unit doesn't quite make sense to me: sink on the far left, dishwasher on the far right? Normally, all the connections are where the sink is. Why "free space"? Does the unit have to fit between 2 walls?

It's best if you make a wish list that includes all the kitchen parts you want to buy. The wish list shows you what is in stock or not at your selected IKEA store. The Personlig boards are always delivered to your home; you also have to order them "personally" at the IKEA store because they are made to measure.

I believe you have to gather the furniture parts yourself, but an IKEA consultant can make a list of what you can find where. You will also have to pay for some parts first, and then you receive them at the goods issue area.

You can also have it delivered. The delivery costs can be seen, and you can decide whether to spend the money or transport it yourself. If you accept the delivery costs, you can also order online right away, which saves you from gathering everything in the store.

Self-transport is also not without challenges. I am also in the process of buying a kitchen at IKEA. Included is a tall cabinet of 220 cm for a built-in oven. You can check the packaging dimensions and weights under the product. For this tall cabinet, you get 10 (!) packages, the largest is 239x60x7 cm and weighs 55 kg!!! You first have to have a car where you can fit that in; with ours, it would work.

I am still not sure whether delivery or self-pickup is better. Our IKEA is about 5 km away, and I have time during the day, so multiple trips would not be a problem. Still, I am considering ordering everything online and having it delivered.

Regards, Wolfgang

Thank you very much for your answers

Just for your understanding:

@ Mr. Rossi:
I don’t want to buy a complete kitchen, just a few cabinets and a freezer for the utility room.
That should easily fit into a trailer if I have the [Personlig] countertop delivered anyway, right?

@ Wolfgang:
Yes, the row has to fit between two walls, as it was planned from the beginning to integrate it there.
I don’t need a dishwasher, it’s in my kitchen; I just want to put a washing machine under the countertop and would like a built-in sink. The washing machine and sink don’t have to be next to each other since I have separate connections for the washing machine and sink.
I divided it this way to have as much countertop space as possible; the sink is on the far edge so the countertop surface isn’t interrupted. The washing machine is on the other side, also on the edge, so it doesn’t cut through the cabinet fronts of the sink, the 40 cm cabinet, and the freezer front, as otherwise, it would look fragmented.

Having it delivered sounds good, but I think we live too far away; the costs would probably be very high. And I would have to go anyway to order the [Personlig] countertop, so I might as well take the stuff with me.
How is it if you order the [Metod] furniture online? Then there is a uniform delivery price regardless of where you live, right? That would probably be cheaper for me. But then I still have to go to the nearest IKEA to order the countertop there? You can’t order it online together, right?

@ IKEA expert:
Thanks, I will check if my desired fronts are available in the self-service warehouse.
Since it’s only for the utility room, I chose the inexpensive [Hängeby] fronts.

Here are some views for you so you know what I’m even talking about:

Hello, we only bought a few Metod cabinets for my wife's hobby room the day before yesterday. We are planning to buy a Metod kitchen next year and are now testing how the assembly works. The fronts were not available in the self-service area, but you can order them there and then we waited about 10 minutes at the checkout for them, so I wouldn't depend on that.

Dear IKEA fans,

I wanted to thank you again for your kind information and now, after completing the project, report on my experiences regarding the purchase of an IKEA kitchen unit for the utility room.

The plan remained as I had already presented it, but I decided against the cheapest HÄGGEBY fronts and chose the Veddinge instead, as they have a smoother surface and thus seemed easier to care for.

I transferred all items from the online planner to a favorites list and printed it out; at that time, all items should have been available in my IKEA.
I also measured the wall niche where the Personlig countertop should go and noted down the dimensions.

My husband and I drove to IKEA in Bremerhaven on a Saturday morning (07.11.) punctually at opening time, with two cars (I drive a Corsa D, my husband a new Mazda 3).

Fortunately, the kitchen department was still quite empty, so we didn’t have to wait long for a free consultant.
The consultant transferred my favorites list into his program and printed two lists for me:
- One list with the items that you could pick up yourself from the self-service warehouse (carcass units, handles, sinks, shelves)
- A slip that I had to pay for at the cash register and then could pick up in the pick-up warehouse (VEDDINGE fronts and side panels)
This all went quite smoothly and quickly, and even all the desired items were available.

Then we also ordered the PERSONLIG countertop; before that, we looked at the samples and decided on the fairly new “oak imitation dark.”
The consultant entered our measurements and color choice into the computer and placed the order.
The PERSONLIG countertops cannot be picked up yourself; they must be delivered. We paid 30€ for delivery and had to wait about 3.5 weeks for the countertop. It was delivered on 01.12. by Hermes.
So this was all easier than expected!

After we had settled everything, we went straight to the self-service warehouse and gathered all parts from our first list. It was good that there were two of us, as we needed two carts.
Overall, we found all parts well in the self-service warehouse and were able to load them onto the carts without problems with two people. The heaviest part was the carcass of the tall cabinet, weighing about 40 kg.

Then we paid for all parts on the second list from the pick-up warehouse at the cash register and first stowed the parts from the self-service warehouse in our cars.
The tall cabinet was very long, but fortunately it fit with the seats folded down in my husband’s Mazda 3.

Now to pick up the remaining parts from the pick-up counter. Unfortunately, we had to wait quite a while there, but luckily we got everything in the end.
The parts fit without problems in the Mazda and my Corsa, so we got everything in two cars.

Once home, we immediately started assembling the new furniture, which went very easily because IKEA simply has idiot-proof instructions, and the parts are very precisely fitting and easy to assemble. We finished quite quickly, so my dad was able to hang the wall cabinets and align the carcasses in the following days.

A week later, we went to IKEA again, this time on a Saturday evening, only with the Mazda 3, to buy the built-in freezer that we hadn’t taken with us on the previous visit.
So we grabbed a consultant in the kitchen department again because electrical appliances must also be taken out by an employee.
There was again a slip that we had to pay for at the cash register, and then we had to wait yet again in the pick-up warehouse, this time even longer than last time.

At some point, we finally had our freezer. It fit easily into the Mazda 3 and was put into operation the very next day by us and fitted with a matching VEDDINGE front.

Then the kitchen unit stood unfinished in the utility room for several weeks, waiting for the countertop.
When it was delivered, we installed it immediately and equipped it with the FYNDIG sink.

Now our little kitchen unit in the utility room is finally finished, and I find it perfect and super practical.
I would always choose the IKEA solution again. All in all, it worked out quite well, even if my husband complained a bit about the waiting times.

So many thanks again for your help.
I hope that with my little report I could shed some light for other IKEA kitchen newcomers.