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My husband and I are redoing our kitchen in our old farmhouse--we decided to do Ikea instead of custom and save the $20,000+. We have, however, hit the the 12" inch pullout bad template, the 88" pullout missing pieces, several missing doors and extra, unaccounted for pieces. All in all though it has been worth the journey. This site has save our marriage at least twice, probably more. Thanks.
Cyndi -- I feel like I already know (and envy) you, but hi anyway!
brittwebb - Laurel and Erik! Welcome! Good to have you here.
I love watching everyone's progress. It's great to share all the ideas and information that we do here. Yippee!
Susan
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Hi Everyone! My husband and I discovered Ikea a few years back on a trip to DC, (Woodbridge, VA) and we have been in love with the store ever since. I just discovered this website today and I am thrilled to find other Ikea fans.
We redid our kitchen in our condo in Nexus Oak about 3 years ago. We drove my mom's minivan from Atlanta to Woodbridge (the Atlanta Ikea did not exist at that time) and purchased a entire van load of furniture and ordered our kitchen to be delivered all in one weekend trip.
I have read about lots of shipping issues on this site, but we had absolutely no problems. We went to the store extremely prepared with detailed lists and so forth. Everything was delivered in perfect condition with no returns or additional orders necessary. In fact, I can think of only one problem with a hinge on our Magiker tv cabinet. Given that we outfitted our kitchen, office and living room with almost all Ikea, I think that's pretty good odds.
We received a good bit of criticism on our kitchen choice. The Atlanta Ikea did not exist yet and no one really new anything about it here in the south. One contractor told us in an annoyingly patronizing tone that we better not ever put a wet plate on those shelves 'cuz those hoity-toity european el-cheapo cabinets are going to fall apart on contact. We unfortunately had the oppportunity to test the water-safety issue when our sink/disposal sprung a leak. Luckily, my brilliant husband had sealed the interior corners of the sink cabinet with clear silicone. The front edge where the doors are, did suffer a little, because he didn't seal it along that edge. But, otherwise they did fabulous, and that contractor is a moron. The moral of the story? **Put a bead of clear silicone caulk around the interior corners of every cabinet especially those exposed to water!**
Anyway, we just sold our 2 bed/1 bath renovated condo at LIST PRICE in 4 days at the price of a 2 bed/2 bath. Our condo was the talk of the neighborhood, because everyone loved our Ikea kitchen shown in the For Sale flyer.
Now that we have lived in our 1960's ranch for about a month, we are ready to move ahead on our 2nd Ikea kitchen. I have been considering the Kraftmaid Venicia line, but after reading several posts on the subject, I am convinced that Ikea is the way to go again. We are thinking about doing the Nexus Brown-Black. I am seeking out pictures/comments on the new style, and I can't seem to find much on the subject. Any links to posts on the subject would be greatly appreciated.
We will try to post some before and after photos from our previous renovation this weekend, and we hope to start a blog soon on our new house renovation. We have lots of opinions on all things Ikea, good and bad, that we will post soon.
I really appreciate all the honest comments about Ikea and the comparisons with other brands. We will be doing our reno diy-style and I know this website will be incredibly useful in the coming months. Thanks everyone!
Been lurking about a month...I found this website just as we were selling our home of 11 years (a mid 50's ranch). We had gutted the kitchen in 95 and installed Kvadrat cabinets and some butcher blockin it and never looked back. We loved them, they held up well to two toddlers, a weiner dog and a shelter mutt. Our home sold for more than double what we had paid for it and none of the lookers had any negative things to say about IKEA cabinets.
We are currently in Houston, but are are planning two homes on one lot in the TX Hill Country near San Antonio (one for us and one for my parents who need to downsize, an alternative to assisted living). So we will be planning and installing two IKEA kitchens (and probably some bathroom sinks). The overall cost of this build is high, so the IKEA kitchens will enable us to save a lot of money on the total.
I have thoroughly enjoyed all the threads on this forum
...and by the way, my IKEA is 5 minutes away, even with the massive freeway expansion going on next to it. My 9-year old son could eat meatballs there any night of the week!
Forgive me... I've jumped right in with posting without introducing myself!
My husband and I bought our first house last summer, a 1950 cape cod. It was a deal because it needed some work - we went ahead knowing that we would add a deck to the back and redo the kitchen, among other cosmetic things.
This summer we built the deck by ourselves, and it turned out pretty well. So we were anxious to get on with the kitchen, and wanted to do the bulk of that work ourselves also. Then I got the price quote on the cabinets we liked, and very quickly changed our mind! Or I changed MY mind, and convinced my husband.
We had been to various IKEAs when in the general area of one - Potomac Mills, Schaumburg primarily. I knew they had kitchens there but didn't really consider it. But the more I researched, the more pleasantly surprised I was - high quality, low price, and sustainable design to boot. I was sold. We picked up our cabinets a little over a week ago and I can't wait to start installation.
Welcome atlantafan! Can't wait to see those pictures, and it will be fun to follow along on your new kitchen!!
hille4 -- TWO kitchens? Double the fun, hopefully! You have your hands full, but this is a good group here, and we'll gladly help in any way we can. Glad you're here!
jenplocher -- You're welcome! And no worries on not introducing yourself sooner. We were up to 500 members before someone thought to start a thread for introductions!!! Hard to believe that was only 6-7 months ago! Welcome to the gang!
Susan
__________________ Shop through Amazon to Support IKEAFANS - Painless! Click through our Kitchen Planning Resources store before you shop, and we benefit! Support IKEAFANS!
Atlantafan- I was thinking of KM Venicia too...but have thought better of it. I have a set of SS test IKEA kitchen cabs and have been very pleased overall. I think we're better off with this level of interaction we get from this site. There are so many people very happy with their choices, and we get the unvarnished truth from people knee deep in doing it. I can't think of more valuable insight.
Good to hear your story! Hope to hear more about what you're up to.
I know from experience on other boards that introductions are necessary when joining a group in progress, so here goes...
Dh and I live on St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. We have the wonderful fortune to have purchased property that hasdoubled in value in a few years.
Welove it here, but no IKEA.
We are ready to design and plan our new kitchen. Hubby is fixer-upper savvy and I am a good assistant. As far as previous home renovations, we retiled our floor with Saltillo tiles. Estimated date of completion for the kitchen: My b-day in mid-December.
The estimates we have been given on even basic installs here is ridiculous!!
I won't even scare you, but know that my daughter would be unable to attend school for the better part of her life.
We were in Seattle over Labor Day weekend and went to IKEA. Bingo we thought! We have the kitchen catalogue (with the little cut-outs) and have downloaded the planner. We are ready to begin!
A few initial questions:
1. Our plan is to design, print out specsand then I fly back to Seattle (to see Mom) or to NY (to see Dad) and either complete the order in store or online (they have mostof the kitchen cabinetry for online purchase) and have it all shipped to Miami, then put on a cargo ship. Given some of your scary stories of returns, it is even feasible to order when you don't live in a city with an IKEA. Do you think I can reasonably have this undertaking accomplished online and through shipping?
2. Do you think it is reasonable to expect that once all the pallets arrive, installation can be accomplished with us and a paid handyperson/contractor?
If your answers to the above are yes, then I suppose we shall be getting to know each other in these next few months!
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