At our IKEA you give your name in the kitchen department and wait for an associate. They don't exactly give you their undivided attention but they do help. You can create an account beforehand and access it while there. If you can, post your plan here and on the IKEAfans website. They, and we are very helpful. Their cabs are very customizable.

What remodelfla said. Have you done your plan on the Ikea kitchen planner? It's a little wonky, but it does allow access to all the parts (much harder to identify them simply from the catalog site) and lets you actually fit them into the dimensions of your kitchen. You save your plan to their server and then can pull it up at the store and tweak it there. That will give you a head start.

Also, go to the site and request a kitchen catalog be sent to you. It will have color photos of all of the available door fronts and have a breakdown of the sizes and innards of the available cabinet boxes. For some reason they don't make this easy to do on the site.

You can definitely walk in and get help in the kitchen department. But the busier they are, the less they will be able to help.. I would recommend not going on a Saturday/Sunday if possible, and do call ahead to see if that particular store will set you an appointment.

Another note: if you're planning to drive 12 hours and be able to pick it all up that day, you might be disappointed. While you should be able to pick up the bulk of the cabinet boxes, some things (big panels) will likely be warehoused off site and have to be shipped. Others might be back-ordered.

I have seen some people on Home Stars (in the Toronto area, not sure about other areas) that specialize in Ikea design and/or installation. You can try contacting one of them to design a space for you and then you order and install the cabinetry yourself. You would have to pay them for their time, but it may be quicker and more efficient for you.

There is a download that you can install on your computer and design your space even if it isn't a kitchen.

A bench is totally possible, search for banquette bench on ikeafans (might also be posted here) for some examples of how folks have modified kitchen cabs to make a bench.

Here is a link that might be useful: ikea 3D kitchen planner-canadian version

when you go to ikea bring some photos of your kitchen. maybe the measurements too. The store will do the inventory on your order, They will give you all the paperwork. If you like they can deliver as well.
You can rent a truck from the store for your own delivery.
One thing about Ikea is they give the customer many options.
Good Luck

Have you checked out Scherr's? You might find them easier to deal with than Ikea for both design and delivery. I just checked and they say they're located in N. Dakota and serve Canada as well as the U.S. (plus Alaska, Hawaii, Virgin Is., and Puerto Rico). Worth a look.

P.S. I hear that in Ikea stores in China, families make the store a desination for an afternoon of entertainment bouncing on the beds and lolling in the chairs, Grandma taking a little snooze. They don't evidently buy much, but they do come and spend time. I suppose you could spend your time in Quebec that way, but I'll bet you have other more interesting things in mind.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scherr's

I won't be driving! If we do go with Ikea there is a local guy who routinely does an Ikea run and will truck back whatever you have ordered.

I know there are all kinds of nifty modifications you can make with nonkitchen Ikea items that can be used in the kitchen , but I just don't have the time to devout to learning all these neat little tricks. I have spent time on the Ikeafans website but I find that also to be very time consuming to get down to the specific item/cabinet that I need.

I will post the plan and maybe there is a fantastic Ikea super genius here that can guide me to the right items.
It's a laundry/mudroom with a corner sink and only a couple of uppers and a u-shaped lower set of cabinets plus the cubbies.

We are in a very similar situation. We are remodeling the kitchen and considering IKEA. We live in Alaska and the closest IKEA is in Seattle. Like you, I found the cabinetry information on-line kinda incomprehensible.

I highly recommend playing with the IKEA room planner. It's really simple to use and is actually a pretty good tool.

We took an IKEA vacation over Christmas and went to IKEA 4 times in a week. I found the store to be vast and it helped to break it up and not try to comprehend it all in one day. They have computers in the kitchen area and we were able to get into the program and consult with someone who was highly experienced and very helpful. We even did a mock-order on a few cabinets to walk through the buying process. We'd been thinking we might bring home a cabinet or two to experiment - and quickly learned there was way too much to bring on the plane. It was also a helpful lesson to learn they run out of stock on things and it can be a 3-4 day wait. Not to mention we got a much better feel about actual prices for all the pieces and parts. We had a lot of fun with it, actually. And had plenty of time to do other things.

They DO ship, but it is sent from the East Coast apparently. We'd like to be a little greener than that, if possible. I'm not sure how that works for you in Canada.

Muskocascp, have you asked the folk on Ikeafans to help? It's been a while since I've been there, but at that time there were a bunch of generous, interested people who could tell you exactly what pieces you'd need, including little extras you might not think of.

We just install our IKEA kitchen and couldn't be more in love the final product or the process. We live in Alaska so Seattle was our closet IKEA store. I had worked with the software program online and we revised it many times so had a pretty good idea of every option available to us. The staff could not have been more helpful! We worked with 4 different kitchen planners which at first was frustrating but each and everyone of them was filled with great ideas and it became a group effort. when we were at least finished tweaking I even got my two standup pantry units in that I just couldn't see how I would fit them in, but they did! they all knew where we needed to put in fillers, etc. we purchased all the neat little doodads, spice jars etc. We were lucky enough to hit the 20% off sale so that took care of what it cost us to ship. After we made all of our decisions, they plugged it into the computer, gave us a pick list of 350 items... we stopped by the register, paid for it and then headed to home delivery. Those guys pick everything for you, stick it on pallets and deliveried it to our alaska bound barge for a measly $89.00! everything arrived in less than two weeks. we just had to inventory it, which is easy since they give you packing lists in several different formats, numerically and by cabinet bos (this one is very helpful when you start the assembly process).
this photo isn't the greatest since we're still not finished but it can give you an idea of what our finished product will look like.

Tanajo- what is your floor? I love it ... Please tell me it's linoleum or vinyl of some kind?

Engineerchic- sorry I just found this question! Yes it a vinyl. Armstrong luxury tiles. 16x16 installed with a small grout line. We LOVE it. Soft but not squishy and surprisingly warm feeling. Super easy to clean, if you can see the dirt!