[ikeafan60657]

Lesson #1: If you find yourself having to drill a hole "because obviously something's wrong with the way it was drilled at the factory," STOP. Ikea has done this before. You have not. You are doing something wrong. Flip the piece over or try it in the opposite direction....see? That's better.

Lesson #2: You need regular hinges for the pull-out baskets and 153 degree hinges for drawers. You cannot put both baskets and drawers in the same cabinet. You cannot put a drawer at the very bottom of a cabinet with hinges. Nothing you can do will change these facts.

Lesson #3: While you may be able to take your old cabinets down yourself or put new uppers up, yourself, there is a risk of serious injury in doing so. Ask for help. It's ok. Really.

Lesson #4: Figure out which sink and faucet and soap dispenser you are going to use and build a template for their placement out of plywood before you assemble your sink cabinet. You may need to trim your sink cabinet and it's way easier to do it before everything is put together. I learned this the hard way. "No, that bruise on my eye does not mean that I'm in an abusive relationship...I just hit my face on the underside of my garbage disposal while sawing an inconveniently-placed piece of sink cabinet." It just sounds bad.

Lesson #5: If you use an upper cabinet as a lower cabinet, use a saw and cut off the overhanging parts from the back of the top and bottom. It makes it oodles easier to fasten the cabinets together. If you don't do it and try to flip the island over, it's entirely possible for the lip to 'slip' over/under the other cabinet and break a cabinet. That sucks when it happens, because it took a lot of effort to find someone to help you that day and now you can't finish.

Lesson #6: Wear eye protection. Those brads like to fly around, and they're especially hard to put in on the 'lip' sides of upper cabinets. Remember, installing an IKEA kitchen is only fun until someone loses an eye.

Lesson #7: If you're installing an in-the-cabinet hood/fan, install the door hinge before you install the fan unless you have freakishly small fingers or freakishly dexterous small children willing to help you.

Lesson #8: If IKEA says "we're backordered, but should have them in stock in three months" learn from those of us who were told that almost a year ago when we wanted to order Nexus Black-Brown. Just pick another door style and get on with your life.

Good luck!

[orangemonkey]

Lesson #2: You need regular hinges for the pull-out baskets and 153 degree hinges for drawers. You cannot put both baskets and drawers in the same cabinet. You cannot put a drawer at the very bottom of a cabinet with hinges. Nothing you can do will change these facts.

Oh no! Can you explain Lesson #2 to me? I had planned wire baskets and drawers both in a 15 in high cabinet, with 153 degree hinges. No bueno? Also, no drawer at the bottom (what do I put there, just a shelf)? So I should turn it into a pull-out pantry instead if I want a drawer at the bottom?

[ikeafan60657]

I should clarify...you can put a basket in a cabinet with a 153 degree hinge, but the hinge cannot go next to the basket...it's too large. So, if you intend on putting a basket at the very bottom of a cabinet with a 153 degree hinge, you're out of luck...the hinge will run into the basket. If you raise the basket to other areas of the cabinet, away from the hinges you should be ok.

Regarding the no drawer all the way at the bottom, I should have said, no pull-out shelf. The mechanism overlaps the area where you would put a hinge. The only way to get one there is to do a pull-out pantry or actual drawers...no swinging doors.

Sorry for the miscommunication!

[greenie227]

"Lesson #8: If IKEA says "we're backordered, but should have them in stock in three months" learn from those of us who were told that almost a year ago when we wanted to order Nexus Black-Brown. Just pick another door style and get on with your life."

Um, I completely disagree here. Denial is a good thing, a healthy way of life!

(And what did you choose instead? )

[ikeafan60657]

Actually, I must admit that I talk a good talk, but haven't completely learned lesson #8, unfortunately! I'm still a'thinkin about waiting for those darned BB doors! I had thought about switching to the yellow-brown, but after seeing other pieces in the store with that color, I think I'm back to the elusive Brown Black doors!

[greenie227]

Ha! I thought I'd catch you about #8. <sigh> I'm right there with you.

[ikeafan60657]

Yeah, thanks for rubbing it in!

[mishmish]

Well, I feel sort of like I'm jinxing myself posting "lessons learned" before we're even DONE, but here goes:

- Even if you read about a problem screw set or wacky lazy Susan install here, PRINT IT OUT and have it next to you as you try to install. You will not remember the details. (and we're not living in the new house yet, so checking on the web was not possible until after mistakes were made)

- Don't install the shelf pegs on the pantry units where IKEA tells you to. Wait until you mark where the hinges go, work out where you want your drawers to go, and only THEN put in the pegs, because they're impossible to remove and at the most inconvenient location.

- If you have someone else doing the install, and even if you print out the IKEA directions for them, be on hand to make sure they follow the directions. My installer skipped a few IKEA steps b/c he's experienced with other cabinets, but I'm not sure it didn't make things worse/longer labor/etc.

- Gather all the parts/directions for each cabinet and skim through it BEFORE you start putting things together. This was impossible for our 20x10 kitchen (=28 cabinets), but it would have saved us many mis-steps. Example: putting in the 30" and 36" wide base cabs without the SEPARATELY PACKED support bars, corner cabinet wrong-side railing fiasco, above-mentioned pantry hinge and shelf issues, etc.

[greenie227]

Hey, what do the support bars look like? I don't think I have any, unless you're talking about the bars that attach to the front under where the top two drawers should be.

[Chrissy]

Alright, I will admit that I messed up a couple times putting the cabinets together.

I highly recommend Making sure you have the back of the cabinet facing the correct way before nailing it down to the box. Yep, I nailed it on backwords. And for anyone that knows Lidingo style, it has a brown back with a white finish that should be showing in the box. Read directions well, and have a nice big pot of coffee on hand if working past 12 am .

OH, ONE MORE THING... watch the fingers when nailing the back onto the cabinet frame.