Ordering a handleless kitchen comes with an additional charge

... Everyone wants Jerome :-)

You definitely have a talent for writing, very amusing to read. Best regards, Steffi.

Thank you very much for the great report.

Curly, are you talking about me? Yes, with dishwasher Skinande, induction cooktop, oven and the cheapest microwave, plus a mid-priced extractor hood and no refrigerator, it should stand free. We have such a tall bulky silver one.

Buying a kitchen always comes with this amateurish theater about alleged birthday discounts, boss discounts (I'll go have a smoke and then the offer is cheaper), involved. In the end, you waste a lot of time on both sides and still feel cheated in the end. That's why we like IKEA. Clear product, clear price. But of course, it has to look good and IKEA doesn't offer every little frill.

I see exactly the same way. In the end, a kitchen is always "the same." The carcass elements in a €40,000 kitchen consist of the "same" chipboard pieces as in the bargain basement kitchen. The big price difference comes from the Constructa vs. Miele appliances, and of course the fronts, which can range from simple to rare real wood. With IKEA, it's nice that you can save yourself this ridiculous haggling. Basically, you only haggle over the prices of the electrical appliances (from MSRP down to internet prices); the cabinet prices are almost fixed prices anyway. If you buy the cabinets at IKEA, you pay the same for the cabinets as you would from the kitchen maker. Then you get the appliances online and get the maximum discount that any local dealer would have given you after 5x asking the boss (all minus assembly fees). Most appliances just plug into the socket. Anyone can do that ^^ for the stove, you ask someone who has learned some craft (it's not rocket science either). IKEA + internet appliances + assembling yourself = maximum efficiency without discount battles and lack of transparency. You just have to like IKEA parts... otherwise, only the discount battle remains.

In the end, we also ended up at Ikea. Installed with a friendly carpenter and a handy friend - everything great. Ikea appliances are decent, the refrigerator hums a bit louder than hoped, but it is perfectly bearable. With furniture and appliances, we ended up at 5,200 EUR, plus 800 EUR for the installation as described, which also took six full person-days. The installation alone would hardly have been possible (alone because of the loads to be lifted and support work). Installation through IKEA would have cost 1,800 EUR by the way. And now we are looking forward to our kitchen....