Ikea kitchens
- Thread starter Vinny
- Start date
PsB
Citizen of Nowhere™
(I assume this is about the cabinets rather than the appliances: Ikea just buys those from other suppliers.)
Our experience is that the cabinets, counters etc. look pretty good for at least 10 years. They can get a bit wobbly after that (depending on intensity of use, of course). Some parts wear out faster than more premium brands, but the price is a small fraction of those. As some people seem to have a passion for redoing kitchens to keep up with fashions etc. why spend much more unless you're sure you will stay in the place for 20 years and you/your partner won't get tired of it before then?
One downside (experienced by SiL) is that when something major breaks, parts can be difficult or even impossible to obtain (in her case, they had changed to a new generation of cabinets and didn't have parts for the previous generation).
Our experience is that the cabinets, counters etc. look pretty good for at least 10 years. They can get a bit wobbly after that (depending on intensity of use, of course). Some parts wear out faster than more premium brands, but the price is a small fraction of those. As some people seem to have a passion for redoing kitchens to keep up with fashions etc. why spend much more unless you're sure you will stay in the place for 20 years and you/your partner won't get tired of it before then?
One downside (experienced by SiL) is that when something major breaks, parts can be difficult or even impossible to obtain (in her case, they had changed to a new generation of cabinets and didn't have parts for the previous generation).
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
We have some IKEA units in (not specifically kitchen), and the materials feel like they are made down to a price.
Our kitchen (which i fitted myself) carcasses and hardwood doors came from Wickes. Still here and in excellent condition after 25 years of abuse. Some of the drawer runners are showing their age. We have replaced all the surfaces (apart from the two stainless ones i fitted originally - came from a chip shop fitter). The only unit that has failed was a tambour unit we bought from the now defunct MFI - where the door has failed (although in reality we never used it).
Our kitchen (which i fitted myself) carcasses and hardwood doors came from Wickes. Still here and in excellent condition after 25 years of abuse. Some of the drawer runners are showing their age. We have replaced all the surfaces (apart from the two stainless ones i fitted originally - came from a chip shop fitter). The only unit that has failed was a tambour unit we bought from the now defunct MFI - where the door has failed (although in reality we never used it).
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Or a DIY kitchen. I used to be kitchen cabinet maker and fitter, so doing it myself was a no-brainer.
Same here; apart from the first half of your second sentence.
Mostly plywood and PSE with a sheet of marine for the draining board, 35 years and still looks fine.
Draining board is just starting to wear.
It seems to be more than some people. Most, I'd say. Some friends of mine moved into a lovely house, there was a nice kitchen that had been in place for about 2 years at a cost of some thousands. Happy days. Not good enough, they wanted one with an island, so out it came, replaced with a very similar item at several more thousand. 18 months on, new job, house sold. Similarly a young woman moved in next door to some friends, changed the bathroom for one a microscopically different colour, some thousands later she was delighted, all the way up until she sold the place the next year. I've been in my house 7 years and only replaced things that have broken and a bit of paint.
yes did some repairs on elderly Ikea kitchen last year . Ok , just nothing is standard . its all ikea or nothing . At least with Wickes , B&Q , Howdens then a hinge will fit any cupboard door . personally i like Howdens seem to last well . Last kitchen i did was B&q which was Ok . Strangely our own kitchen is at least 35 years old and came from MFI , you remember them ??
I used to work for an MFI kitchen fitter back in about 2000 or so the kitchens were okay a bit expensive at the time I remember but customer service was very good.
hifinutt
hifinutt
yes crazy . when we moved in the MFI kitchen was about 10 years old approx . When i wanted more units i went to MFI and got a number from mfi matching and they look great . totally unfashionable but who cares . My wife is easy to please and even though i offered her a big extension with bigger kitchen [ we even got architects and pp ] she didnt want to do it .
narabdela
who?
Not in the real world Pete.
yes did some repairs on elderly Ikea kitchen last year . Ok , just nothing is standard . its all ikea or nothing . At least with Wickes , B&Q , Howdens then a hinge will fit any cupboard door . personally i like Howdens seem to last well . Last kitchen i did was B&q which was Ok . Strangely our own kitchen is at least 35 years old and came from MFI , you remember them ??
Howdens (Howdens Joinery Ltd.) were a part of The MFI group before the MFI retail business went t*ts-up.
Pete MB&D
Pete Maddex, the one and only!
kensalriser
pfm Member
We got a heavily discounted cancelled order Boffi kitchen. Had to put it in storage for two years but it was still tens of thousands cheaper than it would have been.
I'd never get anything made from poorly finished cardboard (ie nearly all kitchen cabinetry). If I find myself having to refurb a kitchen again I'd go easy on all the fitted cabinetry (which has a profit margin like popcorn or cocaine) and use more free standing. Most people get way more storage space than they really need (obviously, because the kitchen sellers want to monetise every possible cubic centimetre you have) and then correspondingly acquire far more stuff than they will ever use.
I'd never get anything made from poorly finished cardboard (ie nearly all kitchen cabinetry). If I find myself having to refurb a kitchen again I'd go easy on all the fitted cabinetry (which has a profit margin like popcorn or cocaine) and use more free standing. Most people get way more storage space than they really need (obviously, because the kitchen sellers want to monetise every possible cubic centimetre you have) and then correspondingly acquire far more stuff than they will ever use.
Roog
pfm Member
My experience of Ikea kitchens is good. The first one in my own home served us well for 10+ years before we moved, the commercial 'Symphony' kitchen installed in our new home has been de-laminating since we moved in, it is much worse.
I also installed an Ikea kitchen in my daughters house last year, imo many things have improved since our first encounter, I would consider another in fact i hope that when we come to replace the doors on our current Symphony kitchen I hope the doors are the same size as Ikea, because that is where I will be looking first.
I also installed an Ikea kitchen in my daughters house last year, imo many things have improved since our first encounter, I would consider another in fact i hope that when we come to replace the doors on our current Symphony kitchen I hope the doors are the same size as Ikea, because that is where I will be looking first.
awkwardbydesign
Officially Awesome
MDF carcasses painted with Dulux smooth Weathershield. Tough as old boots, and 16 years on still looks good. Worktops are 600 x 300 ceramic "slate" tiles with ash edging (I had some). A tip; always buy tiles with the substrata the same colour as the surface. That way it doesn't show when they wear. Cupboard doors are made from engineered oak floorboards backed with MDF up to 18mm. They are pre-coated with very tough flooring lacquer. Shelves are all full extension drawers; easy to get to the back of them.
colinp
pfm Member
The nice thing about https://www.diy-kitchens.com/ is that you can plan and price everything up on their website, decide if you want to leave some units dry-assembled (so that you can trim them), and, when I ordered mine, they had a wider selection of units than others I'd looked at.
You have to plan the layout yourself, but that's part of the fun.
You have to plan the layout yourself, but that's part of the fun.
Bob McC
Living the life of Riley
Give over!
Darren L
Egalitarian
You should see the stuff the 'Used Kitchen Exchange' sells, top quality cabinets, worktops and appliances most of which have had little use at knock down prices.