[mishmish]

Well, after a very long 7 hour drive and another 4 hours in IKEA, DH and I have our new kitchen sitting in the rental van downstairs.

The process of ordering was remarkably easy, with only 2 mistakes that we got added right away. Everything was in stock!! The pick up IKEAN went through our 8 carts meticulously and found we were some missing glass inserts, which were brought right away. The one thing is that the Adel MB glass doors have an etched dot design, not plain glass like the planner shows (and like I thought all the gallery pics I had ever seen had...???)

It took a very long time to get the stuff at pick up, and the guys who were supposed to help load the van did a bad job (and had a bad attitude). We did not, however, inspect the goods, though we bought a box cutter en route with that intention. There was just a ton of stuff, we were both tired and it was late. I thought we would inspect in the morning before heading back to FL, but the whole freaking van is full, no way we're going to be able to go through all those boxes, not to mention the unloading and reloading that will be required. I can only cross my fingers that most things will be fine.

So why am I not elated? First, it was a lot more expensive than I (and the KP program) thought. I thought it would be 5-6k, and it turned out being 8k. Part of the gap was my fault since I didn't add the cover panels, but nevertheless it's not the tremendous savings I thought I would get compared to the Shenandoah cabinets we had priced out, and not even sooo far off the Shuler cabinets we had priced out. (Questions going through my head: is it worth the long drive, the DIY, the non-matching boxes with cabinet doors, etc.) Second, I'm dreading the assembly part. We have 27 cabinets to put together-yikes. Third, I'm a little overwhelmed by the accessories issue. I need to figure out what we actually bought, since I see they sell Rationell pull outs -- does that mean my cabinets don't have any? (so example, for my 2 12" pull outs, is there nothing in there and I need to buy shelves???) And the quiet close attachments -- I thought that was standard with the cabinets?

I don't know...it was such a huge purchase for us and I guess the adrenaline let-down is normal...??? Anyone go through anything similar? And if so, (when) did it pass?

[kelly]

That does sound overwhelming! I'm not sure what action you can take which will make you feel better, but here are some of the things that I do when in a similar situation (and I get in these situations around the kitchen with some frequency):

• Why did I choose IKEA in the first place? Was it just cost, or did I see quality benefits as well?
• Did I buy additional things (beyond the cover panels, they aren't $2k, right?) over and above my plan?
• Do I have the extra $2k that I can squeeze out of the budget, or contibute to the kitty?

For me, it was the appliances that forced me to breathe into the paper bag for a while- until I realized that these were the appliances I truly wanted and anything else would have really bugged me for years. Also, my sister did help with creating a baseline cost that I could then see where I was upgrading a basic kitchen, and a much needed home improvement.

That's probably the answer- you do need to do this to your house, right? If you can possibly afford it, do yu feel that you will LIKE the kitchen when it's done, and that it will add to your home's value?

I hope so- and good luck. Please let us know how we can help with the assembly part!!

Kelly

[DulcineaK]

Can I just say that after several IKEA kitchens what you're feeling is normal... After that long day with the first order I always second guess. In the end (after some time and breathing and sleep) I am always thankful for the kitchens.
I'll say first that yes, that's the standard Adel MB glass, hard to see in the gallery photos, and sometimes missed on the ikea website, but yes, those are them

I really like what kelly said about cost analysis and budgeting. I can't top that so I won't try

And yet another reason to ignore the planner, i always find huge discrepancies between planner calculations and reality... maybe we should start screaming that out loud!

Don't be intimidated by the assembly, you'll get the hang of it and i actually think it's pretty fun. course i'm a dork

and in addition to the savings afforded me getting ikea, i also did it for the environmental reasons and all the upgrades which are standard. love the blum hardware. love it!

[kmcg]

I agree with the above. To be honest, a 7-hour drive may have been a big roadblock to me personally getting an Ikea kitchen, but you must have been pretty motivated to want it! I think you will love it when it's installed. As far as cost, I'm very frugal and that helped me choose a white kitchen - cheaper and no cover panels required. You went for the pricier style, but it's gorgeous!

It sounds like you had a really helpful Ikean who completely checked the order with you, which I would call very good customer service! I'm not too clear on the intended role of the loading guys; in Seattle, they've always been helpful but maybe because I'm always a woman alone with a pile of boxes. If you had DH there, they may have figured you could do it on your own. And to be fair, I've seen some people get really touchy about how their stuff is loaded, so your guys may have received some instructions to hang back a bit.

On your specific questions, your 12" pullouts will include a 3-pack of the slide out drawers. All the drawers have the self-close feature, but you need to pay something like $6 extra for the soft-close feature that gets added to the drawers. I would think you could get that by mail-order if you decide you want it. I don't have it, and haven't missed it so far, but if it had been available when I ordered I would have gone for it, at least for the big drawers.

Hope you're feeling better by the time you read this!

Kathy

[DulcineaK]

kath, i like some loading folks, some are useless--especially when it's a tight fit. There's a woman in West Sac who was great! Sometimes I think women have better spacial abilities on things like this. In Emeryville Lewis is wonderful, but the other main guy, though nice, isn't worth much. He told us there was no way mom's kitchen would fit in my mini van and wanted to tie the cover panels and pantries to my roof (in the rain, no less). I was sure I could get it to fit so I let him help me get the big stuff in and then dismissed him. We waved as we drove away with every item in the van (and a couple things on mom's lap
Unfortunately he remembers us and every time we come back he comments that we're back again... um, yeah, we are

[Johns]

Your feelings are very understandable. Thats a lot of driving and much more work ahead of you in assemble and installation. I will say that although the cost is not what you thought it would be, You get many more features (usable ones) than you would get with the other brands. Our kitchen cost close to 2k more than we planed (Adel medium brown) but man does it look good.

By the way, get the soft close dampers. They are great. You don't have to worry about slamming the drawers (especially if you have plates in them). I also planned on getting them for only a few drawers , but ended getting them for all the drawers. It was too hard for my wife to remember which ones had them and which didn't, so she would slam all the drawers Trust me, you will love your kitchen when it's done. Good luck.

[tommyz]

It sounds like your issues around buyers remorse are:

1. Did we spend too much?
2. Did we bite off more than we can chew

Both are natural - I get them when buying jeans - never mind a kitchen.

I thinks its easier if you don't focus on the whole process but rather limit it to smaller chunks.

First - congratulate yourself on what you've accomplished. Your design! Next up - Completing the ordering process. Good JOB! These are really difficult things to do!

Second - Remember you've purchased one o the highest rated Consumer reports kitchens - and by price - your getting a kitchen that ranks high above several more expensive models.

Third - The assembly. I recently read a post here from a woman who got the cabinet assembly down to 15 minutes per cabinet. That really isn't too much time.

Fourth - the cabinet interiors don't match the doors. I don't know if your aware - but they don't match in Poggenpohl (in fact they have the poppengphol logo repeated EVERYWHERE on white cabs! - Nor do they match on Venezia from Kraftmaid. Nor on German-Kitchens - nor on Scavolini.

Only you can knnow if you made the right choice - but I think once the kitchen is installed and so gorgeous - and the first neibhours begin to covet the finished product - you'll look back on your feelings today with a sense of 20/20 vision.

Your post was great for me - because I did my draft order yesterday... so I'm glad I know what to look out for once the order is placed.

[karenaviva]

I know this doesn't help TODAY, but your remorse will disappear when folks walk into your kitchen and *gasp* with amazement. I've never gasped at cabinets before, but folks come into my kitchen and do it routinely.

Where in FL are you? There is a little pack of us that goes up to ATL occasionally, and you may end up having a TON of returns (so you may not have actually spent $2k over), and then you can get a better idea about the interiors (I had to do the interior stuff on a separate trip or I would have cried).

And remember, the Orlando store opens in September . . . and so maybe the store interface part will be less overwhelming/exhausting?

I'm not sure that my cabs are a ton less expensive (I did not DIY, and would not have for any kind of cab), but they are VERY UNIQUE -- and I value that highly.

KR
Tallahassee

[kelly]

Great posts from everyone here- we hope you're feeling more hopeful- let us know how you're doing!!

[mishmish]

Thanks so much everyone!! I wrote that post from our hotel room outside of Atlanta, then we had a long day BACK at Ikea shopping for lighting, other kitchen stuff, debating whether or not I wanted closet organizers, etc., then the drive back. I have to say that once we walked in the door 'the morning after' and saw the Adel MB kitchen display at the entrance, all my concerns (well, many of them) melted away. I do really like the unique aspect of the kitchen we will have one day. (ok, so unique to teh rest of homeowners, not other IKEAFANS, since apparently Adel MB is pretty popular)

DH got some college kids to unload, and I went down south to visit my sister and just got back. I can only hope the kids did a good job with DH supervising. (he has a bad back and I am 5 1/2 months pregnant, so neither of us lifted much. The IKEANS were understandably not happy to stay late to help us load (since the pick up took waaay too long and ours was the last order to leave the store), and tried to pull some attitude about being there to 'assist' only. Then a nice IKEAN came by and helped change their attitude to get things done. But masters of loading they were not, and since we both assumed they had experience we did not interfere much. DH is convinced some stuff got damaged by them, but we'll see)


Anyway some random thoughts:
- I'm glad we did not go with the Liljestad. It looks gorgeous in pictures and I loved the idea of solid oak, but the sample door already looked beat up, and it reminded me of the post of someone with Liljestad doors that really showed their wear and tear.
- I'm glad I took a floor tile with me of our existing flooring. I really like Adel birch and had originally thought we would go with that, but DH's desire for something warmer was confirmed when I saw the flooring next to the birch, which just made the other look washed out.
- We went with Varde handles. I let DH pick them (while reserving veto rights) and he's sure they're the most comfortable for opening. Anyway point is let the non-planner pick something small so they feel some ownership in the process.
- Yes, I can envision needing a second trip for the interior fittings. It's just too hard to imagine what will go where and how much to get, so we bought some drawer dividers but I'm sure we will need more.


We will probably start assembling this coming weekend, god help us, (though we also haven't done our taxes yet either...). But our contractor will be installing everything after he tears down the existing kitchen. I'll post updates and I'm sure I'll have many more questions!

Thanks again for your support!