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For those of you thinking about an Ikea kitchen...

10 years ago

I'm thinking about getting a plan made by IKD, an Ikea kitchen planning company. I love the idea of getting a professional kitchen design, at a reasonable price, to ensure my kitchen design is well thought out, will work well egonomically, and most importantly, saves me the hassle of using the Ikea kitchen planner, which does not seem very user-friendly? Does anyone have any experience with this company? Alternative companies? Thanks for your advice about this.

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Comments (3)

feisty68
10 years ago
One of the principals of IKD is a frequent poster on ikeafans.com and s/he really knows his/her stuff. I would tend to trust that company based on that.

I DIYed the design with some crucial help from ikeafans.com and I'm very happy with it.

A lot of it is truly knowing what you want from your kitchen - your design mission, which is about looks, function, feeling, etc.

Be aware that the current IKEA kitchen line is being phased out (within the next year?) so you'll need to figure out timelines for your reno. Lots of sales and good prices now or...spanking new design-y line soon (see the METOD line in Europe).
elphaba_gw
10 years ago
I spent hours and hours on coming up with a design and then enlisted the Ikea design services (provided by a subcontractor) for $200. The services included measuring, putting the design into the Ikea design software and in the meantime, adding suggestions they thought might be helpful. I am very satisfied with how things are going. I'm sure if I had paid more, I wouldn't have ended up with some of the problems such as routing of the range hood exhaust and fridge door space just barely allowing that doors be open fully. Also, there will be one open shelf on each side of the cooktop (beneath the upper cabinets). Wish I would have thought about exactly what the open shelf was going to be made up, provided by.
Bottom line, I am extremely happy with what I've got but had there been another option for an Ikea design service that had a higher price (i.e. assuming better) and was local, I would have used the more expensive service. There were so many traumatic moments along the way that could had been avoided had I had a little bit more guidance. I checked Angie's list and searching on Ikea produced only a couple of results and turned out those results didn't do kitchens, only ofices and living room cabinets, etc.
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I'm sure there will be others that will find something to critique, but I think that overall, it's a very good plan. There seems to be a good triangle between the fridge, cooktop, and cleanup sink. I'd encourage you to really think about your storage needs and make notes about what you plan to store in certain cabinets and then think about the relationships drawn out. For instance, there is quite a bit of landing space beside the fridge to the left. It's removed from the main section of kitchen so it may be seldom used unless you have specific plans such as a toaster/coffee station, etc. For instance, if your plan was to have a coffee station there, consider then how you'd get your water to put in the coffee maker (see what I mean?) If you don't have specific plans for that space, I'd consider moving the fridge to the left and possibly incorporating the current fridge space into the pantry. Of course, this is only generalizing, but having done a new build a few years ago (in a different house), I didn't really consider all those things and I ended up with some major and minor inconveniences. HTH!
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Probably they used light countertops in the ad because of the contrast with the black costume and to give an overall light/optimistic "feel." I am not a design or marketing person at all but (after several viewings) I can see how carefully the ad was constructed. You all do notice that it's a GIRL'S bedroom, right? Love it. OK, I admit, I didn't really notice the countertops until the second viewing. But still. LOL at all those TV kitchens. The "pre-reno" ones are still pretty nice compared to a lot of real life ones! (Including mine.) I bet all that color in them (walls, cabs etc) is for a reason. If I knew anything about design I'd know what the reason is...
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peppers_mom
9 years ago
I really love IKEA design. But I hate the home planner! Sure, itÃ¢ÂÂs free, but it was real aggravating and just not worth it. I found IKD after some googling and thought it was worth giving them a try. Anything not to deal with the home planner! I thought I would go bald tearing out my hair!

Well I didnÃ¢ÂÂt go bald thanks to IKD. For not a lot of money (but I think their price went up) they took my sketches and my Pinterest kitchen board and made the kitchen of my dreams. It wasnÃ¢ÂÂt perfect the first time but with a couple of phone conversations we got exactly what we were looking for.

Oh we had also heard the planner wouldnÃ¢ÂÂt give you a complete shopping list, like things would be missing and youÃ¢ÂÂd have to go back. IKD reassured me this wouldnÃ¢ÂÂt happen and they were right.

Our kitchen is nearly done, weÃ¢ÂÂve just been waiting for a free weekend to finish up a couple of things. WeÃ¢ÂÂre really happy. I recommend them highly.

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