It will be very, very helpful to yourself if you learn to use the Ikea room planner. It can be downloaded free on their site. The main reason it is helpful is that you can enter the cabinets from your design, along with the end panels, toe kicks, molding if you like, and interior fittings.

You can save the design online and access it at home and then also in the store. What helped the most was that the saved design will actually generate a full parts list of cabs, hinges, legs, doors, etc that are needed for that design. It is also helpful to the Ikean working in the kitchen department. They can go cabinet by cabinet, and leave out anything you don't want and substitute in what you do want.

You could do it all in one trip if you have a clear idea what kind of cabinet doors you want. The arrangement of cab boxes doesn't change, just the door fronts.

Good Luck!

It would also be a good idea on your trip to get a door or drawer front in the style you think you want, so that you can see what it looks like in the light in your kitchen. Often you can find something in As-Is.

Second both posts.

Draw it up first yourself. Try out different variations. You should decide on the general layout you want before you go, and be prepared to explain to the designer WHY you like it. The designer may offer some alternatives you hadn't considered (not quite everything is on the designer program or in the catalog), but they should hopefully be tweaks to what you've decided will work best for you, not a whole new design in one visit.

And take your favorite designs over to ikeafans.com for their suggestions. It's like this forum, and there are a lot of great ideas and suggestions from people who've been there/done Ikea and enjoy helping others. Someone there showed me how to retrofit a 12" pullout for our trash can, which works very well and gained me the critical extra inches I needed to fit a drawer stack in next to it.

Underlining writersblock's advice, absolutely take at least good-size doors of the styles you like home for a try-out.This was actually my first thought on reading your post. After installation is not the time to realize your cabinets take on a yellow or green tinge you don't like in your lighting. There are often some terrific buys in "as-is," and it's a good place to check out in any case, but you can always return any doors you don't use. Or just absorb the cost of a reject in the budget.

You'll want to go a first to become familiar with what is available. I recommend you bring a camera and take pictures because you're going to want to refer to things you saw in IKEA vignettes that are never explained in the brochure.

For example, I wanted a tall cabinet with pull out drawers to act as my pantry, because I had seen it at the store. There is nothing in any IKEA brochure that tells you how to do this. I had to order the basic frame and then additional parts to assemble it, and I wouldn't have been able lay this out using the Kitchen Planner, I had to consult with one of the staff to figure out exactly what to order.

Buying a door to check color and finish is a must. You'll also need it to coordinate your counter top selections, hardware, backsplash etc. You'll also need to view all the additional add on pieces that complete an IKEA kitchen like, drawer dividers, recycling bins, pot racks, plate racks, spice racks etc.

Either you or your KD will want to use the IKEA Kitchen Planner, because, it will print out a shopping list of parts for your order. It's essential.

I understand that IKEA now may have their own installers, but the last time I priced an IKEA kitchen to be installed by the IKEA 'authorized installer', the labor to install was more than double the cost of the cabinets. My IKEA is 132 miles away and I made 4 trips back and forth to get my kitchen complete.

great advice! Thanks much. I would truly love to learn to use their system and spend hours trying out different layouts, yet I am on a major time crunch. Redoing my whole house and have a deadline to meet, while working full time while being a single mom. I need help! I simply won't have the time to do this. I wish I did, it sounds fun. I am moving walls and reconfiguring kitchen so I really need an expert to show me how to best use the space. any other ideas given this new info? I need to have all my plans for the kitchen to the loan officer (because I am rolling the whole house renno into my mortgage) in 2 weeks max. That's EVERY handle, door, bathtub purchase etc. Every little thing that is going into my 80k reno. The guy I plan on using is a local contractor not employe by IKEA but has started a business that specializes on IKEA have no idea how much he will charge and if it's too much,will have to have my contractor do it. He is very resistant to using IKEA cabs (others have said they experienced the same) and honestly I am not up for pushing him. Thanks much for all the advice.

Unless your designer is very familiar with ikea, this may not work out the way that you're thinking.

Ikea cabinets are only available in certain sizes. They don't have a lot of selection as far as door sizes, trim and moldings. If your designer is used to designing for cabinets that have a full range of cabinets sizes and shapes, they may produce a design that can't be made with ikea parts.

You can do other things - like get other doors and "special" cabinets from third parties, or get types of cabinets that ikea doesn't have. Some combination of those may be necessary as may getting a few bits like trash pullouts or super susans from outwaters. I wouldn't want to get to the end and then find out I needed to scrounge up another few hundred to few thousand to complete a kitchen.

Get a price for installation from IKEA. Do not work with a contractor that bad mouths some thing millions of others have no problem purchasing and installing. He will never do a good job for you just to prove he was right.

>Get a price for installation from IKEA

This may be a bad idea or not even available. For many years Ikea had a great system where they maintained as a free service a list of local installers who were "certified" installers, i.e,. who knew how to do ikea. Then they switched to using nation-wide companies that were flatpack assembly companies, not kitchen specialists. There were so many complaints about the last one, Osprey Bay (just google them) that they stopped offering assembly altogether. I don't know that they do offer assembly everywhere again, or what company they're using if they do.

Personally, I would rather go with an experienced independent installer even if they've gone back to recommending a company again. Ask over at ikeafans for recommendations in your area.

I agree totally that using a contractor unfamiliar with the ikea system or who thinks he knows better than they do about how to assemble and install their cabinets is just asking for trouble.

I need to have all my plans for the kitchen to the loan officer (because I am rolling the whole house renno into my mortgage) in 2 weeks max. That's EVERY handle, door, bathtub purchase etc. Every little thing that is going into my 80k reno.

Ah, the beloved renovation loan. The way it went for mine, a 203(k), was that I had to provide an estimate which included supplies + labor from the contractor, but it did not have to itemize materials, and the bank would reimburse after they inspected the completed job. OR if if I did not use a contractors and was DIYing (which I did switch to after the closing), I had to provide receipts for every. last. material. in order to be reimbursed for materials only after they inspected the completed job.

The nice thing about my loan was that if one of the projects on the reno list cost less, or more, for any reason, the bank didn't really care as long as I came in at budget for the whole job. Heck, I even deleted projects and added others once we were in the thick of things and they didn't bat an eye.

If yours works the same way and they don't ask for itemized materials lists if you are using a contractor, I would simply get a rough estimate of the cost, then ask the contractor to build in another 20% or whatever worth of materials into his estimate.

You really haven't given yourself much time to pull this together! Can you work with your loan officer for a bit more time? Have you done any shopping/pricing yet for pulls, paints, tiles, counters etc?

Using the planner doesn't take much time to learn, fortunately. And, I got great design ideas from the IKEAfans site very promptly, people who took my starting plan the day that I posted it and rearranged things (and came up with the design that I went with).

What you will have to do is go first to the planner, start a plan with the final shape of space that you want (have you confirmed with your contractor that walls etc are do-able?) then post that on Ikeafans with a request for critique and help.

Also, it seems to me that you wouldn't need to have every last item specifically chosen. The bank isn't going to be looking over your shoulder to make sure you buy exactly what you specified! You just need a price level for each thing or category. Like, 17 drawer/door pulls @ $7 each.

Make a list of your wants, and from there combined with your space dimensions you can come up with a list of the cabinets (see, you don't have to know exactly where everything will go) doors and accessories that will go into it. You can choose a 24" cabinet, in the end you may use only 21". Know that even though Ikea doesn't show a 21" pantry, you can make one from combining any size pantry's sides and the shelves, doors and top from a 21" cabinet. (As an example) So you will be able to play with components later to fit your final design.

The give & take should balance out in the end. Grab the prices off the website of Ikea, Lowes, etc. for handles, pullouts, etc. that you like and feel will fit your budget. Add 10% to allow for changes.

How old are your kids? Maybe they can help you do some of that? Or do you have a sibling or friend who would be willing to spend 2 hours helping to grab pricing off the internet?

It is good that you already have someone lined up to do the install, and know that you want to use Ikea. See if you can get him to commit to a price -- so much per cabinet, or for the overall job.

Good luck!

I agree with others to get a door and see how you like it in your space, and to work with someone who really knows (and loves) IKEA. If you have a savvy IKEA-centric contractor, he should be able to make some modifications to customize things a bit as well.

So I shouldn't tell you that we have been to IKEA 6 times and I have to go at least once more before we finish our kitchen. That's because we did it ourselves though and I was changing my final plans even after buying cabinets (which is the great thing about IKEA- returns!) We had someone design our kitchen, but then I tweaked it a little before ordering, and we ended up with things at the end we didn't know where they were supposed to go, so we returned them.

I do love my kitchen so far and how all the IKEA organizational systems just integrate so well.

ErinB, you're not using your time well and need to take a breath and focus on what you need to be doing. You've chosen your cabinetmaker. Good. Now you need your design -- one you can present to the Ikea designer for quality input.

Maybe plan to sit up an extra 1 hour tonight after everyone else has gone to bed. Spend that time taking very careful, double-checked measurements, writing them down, and entering them in the Ikea designer.

Try an initial layout to get started. It's not a complex program. People who have no intention of buying Ikea use it, and you'll get most of the hang of it right away. This IS the way to FAST-LANE this project and get a kitchen you are happy with. If a cabinet won't "stick" exactly where you want it, or something, don't sweat it, just get it on the page in the general area. Give your layout, no matter how cruddy, a name, save it, and go to bed.

Tomorrow as you go about your day, you'll probably be percolating ideas that the initial process stimulated. Take time to sit down and try a couple out on the designer. Print them out so you can lay them on a table and look at them together. At this point, the process is on track and you're in control. Having fun thinking about what you want.

You may feel so good about the way you're going that you decide to skip forum input, print out a preliminary parts and price list, and present your favorite layouts to the Ikea designer for further work on Thursday morning.

If you're wondering about various potential options and issues, though, you can always post one of your layouts on the Ikea program here or Ikeafans to get advice and ideas. In that case, plan to delay a day, or even two, for occasionally checking for forum feedbacks as they come in and discussing and adjusting.

Note that the Ikea program totals up all the parts and costs without you paying any attention to that side of it at all. If you want to cut price a bit, you plug in a different door style and check the new total at the bottom of pages and pages of various parts names. Super easy! No calculator or paper needed. This will be a pretty solid cost estimate but still preliminary at this point until you've decided on a final plan with the Ikea person.

Enjoy. :)

(Beverly, your kitchen looks wonderful!)

ErinB, you're not using your time well and need to take a breath and focus on what you need to be doing. You've chosen your cabinetmaker. Good. Now you need your design -- one you can present to the Ikea designer for quality input.

Maybe plan to sit up an extra 1 hour tonight after everyone else has gone to bed. Spend that time taking very careful, double-checked measurements, writing them down, and entering them in the Ikea designer.

Try an initial layout to get started. It's not a complex program. People who have no intention of buying Ikea use it, and you'll get most of the hang of it right away. This IS the way to FAST-LANE this project and get a kitchen you are happy with. If a cabinet won't "stick" exactly where you want it, or something, don't sweat it, just get it on the page in the general area. Give your layout, no matter how cruddy, a name, save it, and go to bed.

Tomorrow as you go about your day, you'll probably be percolating ideas that the initial process stimulated. Take time to sit down and try a couple out on the designer. Print them out so you can lay them on a table and look at them together. At this point, the process is on track and you're in control. Having fun thinking about what you want.

You may feel so good about the way you're going that you decide to skip forum input, print out a preliminary parts and price list, and present your favorite layouts to the Ikea designer for further work on Thursday morning.

If you're wondering about various potential options and issues, though, you can always post one of your layouts on the Ikea program here or Ikeafans to get advice and ideas. In that case, plan to delay a day, or even two, for occasionally checking for forum feedbacks as they come in and discussing and adjusting.

Note that the Ikea program totals up all the parts and costs without you paying any attention to that side of it at all. If you want to cut price a bit, you plug in a different door style and check the new total at the bottom of pages and pages of various parts names. Super easy! No calculator or paper needed. This will be a pretty solid cost estimate but still preliminary at this point until you've decided on a final plan with the Ikea person.

Enjoy. :)

(Beverly, your kitchen looks wonderful!)

bump

Beverly, do you have a thread of your IKEA kitchen? I'd love to see more. It looks great. I can't see enough IKEA kitchens, really...

Steph2000,
Thanks for the compliment. Here is a link to photos I took when my IKEA kitchen was originally installed. It shows some before and after images. If you have questions, you can contact me through my email address.

Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA Kitchen

Thanks, Beverly. It's really a great looking kitchen. Is it holding up well for you? Do you like the doors? The boxes? The drawers?

Steph2000, My only regret with this kitchen is using the IKEA sink (bad design) and faucet. Maybe that will get changed out soon.

Even my counters are IKEA They're laminate and they have held up well. The doors and drawers are the best. I have moved 23 times, so I have experienced & remodeled lots of kitchens. I would put these drawers (Swiss made) up against anything offered by wood cabinet manufacturers. The drawers are full extension, soft closing and easy to keep clean. The hinges for the doors are the best made. The frames and door and drawer faces are made in Canada. A damp rag keeps everything clean. I don't think I spent more than $6k for all these cabinets.

The pot drawers are filled with very heavy stoneware. glass dishes, pots, pans and small appliances. The tall cabinet of drawers you see is my pantry with all my can goods in the drawers. Sorry to hijack this thread.