I think you should get quotes before making presumptions. When I was considering Ikea cabinets, the delivery charge was $212. Not much. IIRC, this was for something like 20 cabinets including a large pantry unit. If you do the cabinet assembly, you might find someone to install for a reasonable price. You might still end up saving a lot of money over other brands. Or not. But without getting more information, you really don't know.

You could always put an imaginary kitchen purchase in the Ikea shopping cart to see what the shipping comes to. I would also try to get non-binding guesstimate quotes from installers in your area. These pieces of information will give you a clearer picture of what the costs will be and help you make a decision based on better information.

funky - Thanks! I definitely plan to price out the Ikea, too; just looking for comparisons more than anything. We had cabinets and a few other things shipped for about $350, which wasn't bad for what we bought. The problem is that for this project we would probably use a local Ikea delivery/install place, which means sales tax in two states, higher delivery fees, and assembly/installation fees. I haven't been able to find an installer that will ONLY install. We live too far from Ikea to use any of their services.

Why not use the Ikea delivery service? Pay your installers separately.

Well, there are no other experienced Ikea installers in town (that I can find, anyway). Maybe I'm missing a place to find them?

I wouldn't know about your local options. However, do they insist they do both delivery and install? Can't you just purchase the install from them and pay for the cheaper Ikea delivery?

I don't think you have to hire someone with Ikea experience per se. I would think a good handy man or finish carpenter could do it?

My husband is a software engineer and he is kind of challenged in the realm of DIY home improvement stuff, but he did a fine job installing Ikea Akurum. The quartz counter installers complimented him on his nice, level install, which is probably a lot easier to accomplish with Sektion installing on wall rails.

Here's the install guide. http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/pdf/buying_guides_fy15/sektion/SEKTION-Installation-guide-2015.pdf I could be totally wrong, but I think Ikea has made it as simple as possible. Our struggle is usually procrastinating the finish work. If we weren't trying to do our kitchen as frugally as possible, we'd probably install the cabs ourselves, but hire the finishing (fillers, deco strips, crown, etc.) out.

Thanks, guys!

I don't think I'm being clear re the limitations with the Ikea third-party delivery/installer. I contacted them regarding my previous house and an Ikea kitchen remodel, but I wanted to use different doors (Scherr's). So, basically, I would pay them to purchase, deliver, and install the boxes, and I would install the doors. Easy, right? Their response was that they "weren't interested." So that leads me to believe they want to do their jobs the way they want, which is their prerogative, but which may make the Ikea option more expensive than a comparable cabinet line. They won't itemize the install, in other words.

At the end of the day, I am not a huge fan of that local installer, despite their good reputation, and I'd like to look at comparable cabinet lines that might have better staff locally.

benjesbride - My husband did a great job with the Sektion cabinets we have, but he frankly doesn't want to devote the time to installing the cabinets. He's told me he would do the assembly, if it saved money, because he rather enjoys that, but he doesn't want to do the installation. Maybe I can talk him into it if the difference is significant enough, though!

I am sorry I am no help on the comparable cabinet front. We did hire a carpenter to assemble and install IKEA cabinets in our last kitchen. And our gc for this kitchen will do IKEA cabinets (we had a custom depth issue so we did not use IKEA this go-around). So it is possible to hire people who are not affiliated with IKEA to assemble and install their cabinets. This does change the price equation though as you are right that you would need to take that labor cost into account.

Where are you located, alerievay1?

Nashville, TN.

ModerNash is the company I will probably price but may not use.

IKEA delivery is not that expensive if you use the store's delivery. I had a ton of boxes (the biggest they had) delivered from a store that was 85 miles away for $69. It was 3 counties away. If it was in the local county, it would have been $49.

I'm just using a local cabinet maker to install after I assemble myself. Installing cabinets are the same whether they are IKEA or not.