Should we forget the hired installer and just do this ourselves?

nicollet · Jul 19th, 06, 11:50 pm

I've had contact with both of the contractors recommended by the Baltimore (White Marsh) IKEA. One came out to our house, seemed interested in the job, said I'd get an estimate in a week...haven't heard a peep since, and that was right before the July 4 weekend.

The other contractor,I talked to on the phone last week, having pretty much given up on the first one (not only did they leave me hanging, they were disinclined to obtain permits which made them seem less than aboveboard), and again, seemed on the ball at first, told me to fax them my plan and an outline of the work, said their person would contact me after the weekend - the Wednesday workday is over and nothing. In fact I called today and the person I reached had to dig around for our file and said he'd leave a note for the contact person to call us, which of course she did not.

We really did not want to do this installation ourselves - have a TON of other work to do in the house, want the kitchen to turn out right, don't feel confident in our ability to do it - but can it be harder than getting these goofballs to take our job? Does it always take this long to deal with a contractor? Is there some secret password I need to utter?

Can anybody comment on whether installation has been harder or easier than you expected? We're reasonably handy, but have never installed cabinets before. It seems like the kind of thing one shouldn't take on without a good amount of space, time, and patience to do it methodically, and we are short on all three.

Has anyone used a contractor that didn't specialize in IKEA installations? It seems like people I hire usually balk at anything that's not their routine, so I had assumed that they would not be into learning the IKEA way of doing kitchens, butI don't know, maybe it's not that different.

Sorry so many questions in the same message. I may not even be putting this in the right forum. Who knew it could be so frustrating before the first screw is turned?!

**DesignDiva** · Jul 20th, 06, 12:02 am

Well, I installed my kitchen myself. ALL by myself. Seriously, my DH works two jobs and I'm home, so that was my baby. He helped me turn the island over and install the over fridge cabinet, but everything else I did alone. And although I'm pretty handy, I'm also not professional, and I challenge anyway to tell the difference between my job and a professional's...except we took a cruise with the money we saved!

You're better off finding a good handyman than a contractor, I think, if you're worried about the learning curve and IKEA-tude. I say get together some friends for a couple of weekends, feed them unlimited pizza and soda (save the beer for later if you want your cabinets plumb :shock

and go for it. Pretend you're all on an HGTV "Weekend Warriors" show. Seriously, lots of us have done it ourselves and you really can't beat that feeling when it turns out beautifully and you've saved thousands. Literally!

nicollet · Jul 20th, 06, 6:52 am

I'm inspired! Maybe I'llbuy one cabinet and see if it seems like something we could do 12 times over.

Did you bring in a plumber and electrician for the plumbing and wiring? When you had your appliances delivered, did the store hook them up? I'm actually thinking about doing this.

**Tigratrus** · Jul 20th, 06, 7:19 am

IKEA cabs are actually *quite* DIY friendly. I'd get 2 cabinets and try them. The first one will take a LOT longer to put together than the 2nd etc, as it takes a bit to figure out how they go together. But once you've done Cab #1 it's a snap, having 2 will let you see how much easier it is after youâ€™ve done the first one

.

#1 recommendation from a number of folks has been to get a brad nailer, you have to put in a lot of brads attaching the backs to the cabinets, and doing it with a hammer is a lot of the time you spend putting together the cabinets.

Actually hanging the cabs is a snap, it's a LOT easier than more conventional cabinet systems.

I'd defintely vote that you DIY it... It'll save you a bundle of cash, and it's really not that hard. Hiring a plumber and an electrician would probably be a good idea if your not comfortable doing those parts.

James

nicollet · Jul 20th, 06, 7:34 am

I've emailed DH pitching the idea. He's so tired of living in chaos (as am I - we just moved into this house, I've painted and redone the trim on three rooms but have 7 to go, still a lot of unpacking and organizing to do) but self-install may well be a frustration saver at this point.

I wonder if the pros know that their attitude and lack of responsiveness actually drives people away. Guess it's a good sign for the economy that they're not hurting for work and feel like they can blow off potential clients.

mondragon · Jul 20th, 06, 9:40 am

We're mostly done with installing a kitchen full of cabinets ourselves. It's remarkably easy but we're pretty handy.

Assembling the boxes was simple.
I'd be more concerned if our walls were out of plumb but that would just take more pre-planning.

We're also installing along two walls with no corners which makes our measurements have a bit of slack.

I'd say go for it.

**DesignDiva** · Jul 20th, 06, 9:48 am

Yes, we hired a plumber and electrician for their work, its required by our town codes. The electrician installed the recessed cans and moved a couple of electrical receptacles, and the plumber installed the gas line and connected the range. Total for both of them was around $1000. We did the sink and faucet ourselves since we didn't change it out, just removed and replaced it. We also hired out the new construction of the dining room, but did the demo of the kitchen, living room wall and all the cabinet, flooring, painting, patching, backsplash and appliance installs (except the range) ourselves.

Brodysmom · Jul 20th, 06, 10:15 am

I had very good luck with my Ikea installer, but originally I did encounter some of the same issues you did. I had a lot of lead time, so I persisted and I'm really glad I did. They designed, measured, ordered, assembled and installed our cabinets for about $3500. That does not include thecost of the cabinets, but it does include delivery.

We are very experienced with IKEA assembly and I know we could haveassembled and installed the cabinets ourselves, but it would have taken much longer (they took 3 days). My Ikea installer also did a really nice job on the trim, I would not have though to do it this way. Here is a picture.

nicollet · Jul 20th, 06, 12:26 pm

evaperconti wrote:

Quote:

Yes, we hired a plumber and electrician for their work, its required by our town codes. The electrician installed the recessed cans and moved a couple of electrical receptacles, and the plumber installed the gas line and connected the range.

That's about the level of help I think we'd need. Do you know if there is more to installing an electric wall oven and cooktop than plopping them into their holes and plugging them into the appropriate circuit? What about the dishwasher - was that a matter of disconnecting the old one and putting your new one onto the same connections?

Brodysmom, really nice trim, I agree. I have to admit I haven't really thought about trim. Is that the IKEA trim or something the installerfabricated?

**DesignDiva** · Jul 20th, 06, 12:29 pm

Nicollet, I can't speak to a wall oven or cooktop since I never had either of those. I know my electric stove simply had a plug...so that was simple. If the appliances are hardwired, it wouldn't be quite as simple.

The dishwasher we kept and recovered the front with FXSheeting in brushed stainless. It never actually moved LOL We just disconnected the plumbing during tearout and reconnected it when the sink cabinet went in.