[stretchad]

How does the ordering process work? I'm pretty much set on the Adel MB kitchen cabinets, and so once I finalize which pieces I need, do I just roll up to my nearest ikea and pick up the bazillion pieces and parts from the warehouse? Do I go to the kitchen dept and start working with an Ikea employee? OR do I need to call in advance to ensure that they have everything I need, set up an appointment in advance? DH want to pick up the cabinetry ourselves.

How does the process work?

[pgans]

If you are near an IKEA it's best to stop in sometime and talk directly with an IKEAn to just lay out the process. You *could* just walk in and plan the kitchen and order at that moment. Adel MB is usually in stock so there is a reasonable chance that everything will be in.

What I would do would be to get all of your measurements precisely. If you are not good with the planner, take the measurements to your ikea and they will help lay out a planner file. come back home and post it up here as people will probably have some great ideas of how to improve. Then go back and place your order.

I'm sure someone here has a formal outline, but those are the basics.

[stretchad]

Unfortunately the nearest ikea is a 2 hour drive away...and, I have been able to accurately lay out my kitchen with the kitchen planner. So that being said, how should I approach this?

[Gloria]

Go to the Kitchens dept. An Ikean there will enter your order into their system. Ask to have a "draft order" printed out. Check this to make sure it's right. Each cabinet will have several parts with individual article numbers. Once it's right, place the order. If you have a large order it's helpful to have the list printed both in numerical order for checking off the boxes and also in cabinet order for puting them together.

Pay for the order, either in kitchens or at the regular checkouts. Once paid, they will pull your order. Check everything. If a box has been retaped, it may have been a return. Check for damage.

Unfortunately, no, you can't make an appointment. Try to go at a less-busy time. There are a couple threads linked at the bottom of this page that may have more suggestions.

HTH
Gloria

BTW, this topic would make a great article for IKEAFANS. Is there anyone out there that would like to put one together?

[Sadun Anik]

When they enter the order in the kitchen department, the order is in terms of the kitchen modules where each module becomes a list of parts. Then you and the IKEA employee helping you get the chance to make adjustments to the order. Common things are, if you are going for an open base design (no plinth) you cna adjust the number of legs needed for sharing legs between adjacent base modules, add extra shelves to the order, convert a pullout unit with drawers to a pantry with door with 153 degree hinges, change the number and type of drawers in a pantry, etc. This is where your order gets customized.

Once you get the final list printed, it would be good idea to have a copy of this made before you make your payment and go to the counter where they pull your order. The list is organized in terms of the modules that were used in the designer and at least in my IKEA, the guys that pull the order keep this list when they give you your pile of parts. If you are installing your kitchen yourself, you have to figure out what parts belong to which unit later on. The list from the kitchen dept. may be handy when you get home

Give yourself a lot of time. The biggest purchase I made took 7 hours total which was 300 line items. There are certain things you need to pick up in store yourself before the chekout like handles, drawer dividers, metal legs, and you need to check the order list, then check the items against the list when the order is pulled, then check almost everything for damage.

[yankeelawyer]

The day we ordered the kitchen it took 7 hours, and I was helped immediately on arrival by an IKEAN and had brought a detailed layout (and in fact had already been to the store twice before to finetune ideas with the same IKEAN). It takes a long time.

Also be prepared to have to make more than one trip there before the kitchen is complete. I think that is almost inevitable even when you are exceptionally organized and methodical about the planning phase.

When you pick up your items, do check the condition of the boxes. If there is damage to any of the boxes (from shipping or because it appears to be a return), I highly recommend that you check the contents before leaving the store.

We had several pieces that turned out to be returns that were in poor condition. Among these, suprisingly, a couple of the boxes that appeared as though they had never been opened in fact were returns with damaged goods; they contained drawer fronts that had botched holes for knobs that someone had drilled in them. Because we did not discover that until we opened them at home, we had to make an extra trip just to exchange those. Another contained a door that was badly scratched (these were Rubrik SS doors).

[sloopjohnb]

We just picked up the bulk of our cabinets on Friday. We have been doing the remodel in stages. We live a little over two hours from the nearest Ikea, so we have tried to plan ahead.

What we did was fax our kitchen plan with the parts list to the store two days in advance, and an Ikean input the order into their computer as a draft. When we went to the store, it was already on the computer for us to add to and modify as we needed.

We paid, had lunch, and then picked up our gazillion packages. We were in and out in an hour and a half with nine cabinets and parts. The only thing that we found upon close inspection was that one of the hinge packages had been opened and was missing a hinge. Otherwise everything else appears in order. Now if we could have a group of friends come and help us rip out the old and put in the new, things would be the best.