IKEA kitchen quality and experiences?

I consider it unlikely that a kitchen planned and installed by a kitchen builder takes longer to complete than an Ikea kitchen. I bought an IKEA kitchen a few months ago (May 2017). I was very satisfied with the measurement and especially with the consultation by the kitchen planner at IKEA Berlin-Tempelhof. The quality of the cabinets and electrical appliances is as I expected. I found the price fair. I had to wait for weeks for the delivery of the kitchen and the installation appointment.

The installation of the kitchen was traumatizing. Parts were delivered that were not needed at all and numerous parts that were needed were not delivered. After installation, some doors, fronts, caps, the entire LED lighting, and parts of the water drainage from the sink were missing. When water was run into the sink, it flowed into a drawer of the base cabinet.

IKEA advised me by email to get the missing part at the hardware store and install it myself. I would have done it if I had been able to.

I had to wait 10 weeks until the first correction appointment. After the correction, the lighting was still not installed, the dishwasher front and some caps were missing. Every email to IKEA is answered with an automatic response stating that "processing currently takes on average 7 days." When finally an IKEA call comes after many days, my mobile phone rang at most twice, then the caller hung up.

So you have to bring a LOT of patience and nerves of steel to (God willing) eventually be able to enjoy your complete IKEA kitchen.

A few weeks ago, I received an Ikea kitchen delivery and was positively surprised by the handling. The planning by Ikea was quick, competent, and friendly, and the delivery time of only three weeks was even a bit faster than announced. The biggest advantage, of course, is that you buy a kitchen entirely without annoying haggling and still on fair terms. Contrary to expectations, the delivery was also complete. All appointment arrangements by Ikea or their service providers were meticulously kept. If you can live with the limitations of the Metod system, the Ikea kitchen offer is, in my opinion, unbeatable.

However, on another occasion, I have also had the pleasure of dealing with customer service via email and hotline. It is really on the verge of being unacceptable. It’s best to go directly to the store.

Whether the delivery is complete depends entirely on the packing list of the person who packs the delivery. For us, it was just small items that didn’t fit.

I think the assembly goes smoothly. What took time for us were the extras. The drawer interior lighting, the lighting that I milled into the side panels, fitting the countertop into the window recess, the Le Mans pull-out, the catastrophic front-mounting system of the Bomann fridge, the installation of the island extractor hood from an Italian manufacturer (argh!!!!).. Small stuff, it takes time.

I had planned and ordered our Ikea kitchen online. About 200 items or so. Delivery date in about 8 weeks. A week before, the information came that one(!) item was not available (the lid of one of the trash bins!!!!) and therefore could not be delivered. I then called the hotline and waited forever, at least an hour, only to be told that it was a lost cause. The delivery was canceled by the system due to lack of item availability. Even removing the item from the order would not have restored my delivery date. Facepalm.
Order canceled. Off to the next Ikea, the lady pulled the items from my online order, I paid for the picking service (she: "here is the item list along with the storage location" facepalm) two days later the stuff was delivered and all was good. The delivery was also cheaper and if there is any trouble, you can go to the store and talk to someone who knows.
Assembly was awarded via MyHammer, there were lots of good offers. Many from moving companies. It cost a third of what Ikea charges and was perfect. They finished after one day.

Customer service, didn't you all have a contact person in the branch reachable by email? A short email to Ms. C. or Mr. J. in Lübeck, five minutes later the phone rings, everything is discussed.
We also had the problem with a part not being deliverable, in our case the faucet. But that didn't break the order. Ms. C. called and said the faucet was no longer available, but there was still one in Lübeck that looked similar. I said ok, put it aside, we'll take it. She replied, fine, you'll get a pickup number emailed to you, you have to come and buy it in advance. Then you bring it to the site for installation. That's how we did it.
How it will work out we will see on Monday, I'm curious. Tonight we finally painted the room with Opticryl and sealed the tile skirting with acrylic. On Friday the electrician will install the sockets on it, then everything is ready for the team. K.

We have a kitchen unit from Ikea without appliances in the utility room. It is good for that purpose. I am satisfied. The basket drawers hold, among other things, tools, batteries in cans, etc. In a proper kitchen, I wouldn’t want something like that. We picked up the furniture ourselves, one-third of the parts at another store on the same day. It worked perfectly. Only the handles were out of stock. I then checked online several times to see if they were available. Six weeks later, about 20 pieces were in stock. However, they were not available on site! In total, we went there about four more times to gradually buy the handles.