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This weekend I just about finished with the IKEA Akurum Ståt part of our new cottage kitchen. I still have some other things to do like mount cabinet knobs and replace the counter tops, but the IKEA part is finished! I'll post more pictures when everything finally done.
The installation took me four total 10 hour days - including assembly of cabinets. The IKEAFans website provided me with an incredible amount of very helpful information for both the planning and installation of my cabinets. Thanks to all that shared their experiences!
WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE: My kitchen was basically a straight replacement of the ugly, old and cheap Merrillat brown oak cabinets that had been installed in the early 1970’s. I did make a couple of changes, but nothing earth shattering. The biggest changes were (a) working with a 37” corner cabinets rather than the standard 36” cabinets that was there so we could retain our fairly new countertops (at least for a while until we decide to bite the bullet and get granite); (b) installing an over-the-range microwave; and (c) installing a tall pantry cabinet next to the refrigerator.
WHY IKEA: Not only do I enjoy doing projects like this, I like to save money. The IKEA kitchen was about $2,200 less than economy priced cabinets from Home Depot; and, the IKEA cabinets have a lot more features. I had never been in an IKEA store until January 10 of this year and that trip was just to ‘look’ at the cabinets and see how the stood up in quality and function to the Home Depot alternatives. Well, the ‘look’ turned into a buying trip and I bought almost ALL of the things I needed that day!
Now that I’m finished, I thought that I would share a couple of comments/observations/lessons learned that might be helpful to persons contemplating installing an IKEA kitchen system in the future. In no particular order, here goes:
1. Although it helps to have an understanding of tools and basic construction – it is really not that important to be really ‘handy.’ Having the time and patience to do things right is much more important than having carpentry skills. Nor is it imperative to have a helper (although it does help). I’m 60 and did about 95% of the work by myself without a helper.
2. An IKEA kitchen cabinet does not come in one package – it comes in many packages depending on what it is. For example, an Akurum single door 21” base cabinet with a single drawer will have a component list that includes (a) a cabinet frame in one box, (b) a door in a separate box, (b) a drawer front in a separate package, (c) a set of shelves wrapped in plastic, (d) a set of four Akurum legs in a bag; (e) a two-pack bag of 130º hinges, and (f) a separate box with the Rationell drawer assembly. Knowing this will help when you are confronted with an order form listing three times as many items that you thought you would have.
3. Do your design work diligently and well in advance. Measure, measure, measure. Be sure that you have right dimensions before you begin to put your plan together. I found that using the IKEA kitchen designer program was a big help in figuring out what goes where and being sure things fit as I had planned. Also, the ability to have the program generate a buying list was very helpful when it came to checking my work. I actually figured out the stock numbers of each part of each cabinet in advance by looking the cabinets I was buying on the IKEA direct website and then clicking on the link that indicated the Package Measurements & Weight. Although the resulting list doesn’t label the individual packages by name – just giving the 8-digit stock number – it’s pretty easy to figure out what is what, especially after you begin to understand how the IKEA codes work.
4. The IKEAN that pulled my order assured me that all of the things on my list were there. I believed him but indicated that I would be checking them off again while I loaded them into my car and that if there was a discrepancy I’d be back to him before I left. There weren’t any but I’m not sure everyone should take the leap of faith that I did. The store was not crowded the day I picked up my order so I was lucky in that regard.
5. Since the cabinets are all in flat boxes, I was able to load our entire kitchen into my Cadillac SRX crossover – with nothing on the roof! My IKEA order consisted of one 15x88 tall cabinet, a 36x39 wall cabinet, a 25x39 corner wall corner cabinet, two 18x39 wall cabinets, a 15x39 wall cabinet, a 12x39 wall cabinet, a 30x24 wall cabinet, two 37” corner base cabinets with wire lazy susans, a 36” sink base, a 15” four-drawer base cabinet, a 21” base cabinet with one drawer, five drawer sets for the tall cabinet, three toe kicks, three wall cabinet frame rails and all of the shelves for the cabinets. True, I didn’t have a passenger in the front seat for the trip home from IKEA and when I took the packages to the cottage along with a helper, I did have to put the tall cabinet onto the roof. Still it did fit with room to spare.
6. I found that it was easier to store things prior to assembly in their generic component groups rather than trying keep each cabinet together – i.e., all cabinet frames in one place, doors in another, drawers in another, hinges somewhere else, etc. Fortunately for me, no one is living in the cottage during the winter so I had all sorts of options of where to store things.
7. Don’t be afraid to modify the innards of your cabinets. For example, we didn’t want a pull out pantry – instead we wanted the cabinet door to hinge open and then wanted a series of deep and narrow drawers. No problem – just buy the extra parts you need – five 15” drawer sets, five 15” drawer fronts, three 153º hinges – and take back the unopened parts that you don’t use (like the shelves and two 130º hinges). Same was true for the 21” base cabinet. Instead of the shelves, I added wire drawers. Once you figure out how the system works, the easier it is to figure out how to improve/change things.
8. Mount all of your wall cabinets first. Wall cabinets mount to the wall on a very slick frame rail system. Since I was installing the cabinets without a helper, I had to build a jack stand to hold the cabinets up while I tightened them to the rail. What I did was to make a “T” out of a 2x4 and clamped it into a Black and Decker Workmate at the right height to rest the cabinets on. I then nailed another 6” section of 2x4 to the brace where it clamped into the Workmate to stabilize the brace from moving sideways.
9. Base cabinets mount directly to the wall with toggle bolts (or with lag screws if you are one of the lucky four people in the universe that have your mounting holes end up over a stud). If you are really concerned about your base cabinets moving/shifting, you can always screw the back bottom of the cabinet to the ledger board if you used one.
10. Since I was moving the cabinets into place by myself, I screwed the leg assembly to the bottom of the cabinet. Mine kept falling out at the worst possible time. One little screw fixed that!
11. I found that the following tools really made the job easier:
Cordless drill for driving screws – I actually had two with extra batteries along with a corded drill for much of the actual drilling of holes.
A 10mm socket wrench to tighten the wall cabinets to the frame rail. I also found that a 12” extension made things easier. You can always tighten the nuts with a crescent wrench or a regular 10mm wrench but it will take a lot longer.
A rubber mallet – for assembling cabinets. Don’t risk damage with a metal hammer.
Two or more clamps – I had three of the squeeze handle type
A good four foot level
A large Phillips head screwdriver that fully fits into the cam head and that gives you good leverage when tightening down the cam. Just be sure it’s big enough to get good leverage when tightening.
A Black & Decker Workmate folding table
10” table saw – I just used it three times – once to cut the ledger board to length, once to cut a 2” filler piece from the toe kick, and once to cut down the height of the toekicks to fit to my floor. This could have been done almost as easily with a regular power hand saw and some sort of jig but I had the table saw and used it to get my cuts as smooth and straight as possible.
An air stapler/brad nailer with a compressor is a nice thing but isn’t really a necessity. I used 1” crown staples to attach the backs of the cabinets to the frames rather than the little nails that IKEA provides. This doesn’t provide any betterment to the cabinet but it is faster and you are a lot less likely to miss the cabinet frame! NOTE: Air driven brads won’t work to hold the cabinet backs to the frame since they do not have a big enough head to hold the back in place. It’s also nice to have an air nailer to help attach the ledger board to the wall before leveling it and attaching it to the studs.
12. Many people have seemingly complained about the graphic only instructions that come with IKEA products. I must be odd since found the instructions to be clear, somewhat intuitive and logical in order. Just remember to read them through first to understand all steps before you start.
13. Liquid Paper in white makes a great touch up paint for small nicks in white cabinets.
14. I used a ledger board for the installation of my base cabinets. I used the particle board piece that comes with the toe kicks for this purpose. This made things go very smoothly and made leveling the cabinets very easy since their backs were already level.
15. Hinges attach to the cabinet doors very easily – much easier than you would think – and the doors attach to the cabinets even easier!
16. It’s a lot easier to attach the drawer runners to the cabinet frames before assembling the cabinet. It can be done later - but it is a little easier to do before the cabinet is fully assembled. Also, the $6.99 Rationell drawer dampers are really worth the extra expense.
17. I was able to install the entire IKEA portion of our kitchen with only three trips to IKEA which is two hours away – the last being to pick up a 15x39” wall cabinet frame that was surprisingly out of stock the second time I went. I have another trip in my future to return some extra parts that were unneeded – basically shelf packs that were replaced with drawers and extra leg packs since I did use a ledger board.
18. I was amazed that I had neither an extra piece nor a missing piece of any hardware for any of the cabinets that I assembled and mounted. IKEA’s quality control system must weigh each bag and reject any that are either too heavy or too light.
I hope that this helps understand the IKEA system a little better. I’m really impressed by both the quality and the engineering that has gone into the system and would encourage you to consider IKEA if their designs fit your needs.
Hi,
I like Stat White and from your post it seems like you did a great job and had a good experience. Thank you for sharing the process and ENJOY your new kitchen.
Here are pictures of the completely finished kitchen. Spent Saturday putting on final touches, toe kicks, knobs, plumbing, lazy susans, installing counters, etc.
Nice job! I like the undersink pullout you have there. Is it from IKEA? Easy to install? I have custom cabs and was looking for something like that. Also love the wire Lazy Susan. My mum wants an IKEA kitchen so I'm gathering ideas for her.
Thanks for the additional install info and tools as well.
The undersink pullout rack is IKEA. Cost was $19.99 I think the catalog number is 542.595.83. Installation was easy - three screws attach the rail to the predrilled holes and the rack pulls out. it would be easy to install to a non-IKEA cabinet.
The undersink pullout rack is IKEA. Cost was $19.99 I think the catalog number is 542.595.83. Installation was easy - three screws attach the rail to the predrilled holes and the rack pulls out. it would be easy to install to a non-IKEA cabinet.
Thanks. I'm making up a list for my next trip to IKEA (5 hours away), so having catalogue numbers is a good thing. No probs with door clearance? I'm a real klutz when it comes to installation of anything.
There is a plastic end cap that is attached to the rack's sliding frame. Make sure that you put it on before measuring where to put the rack. It adds about a half inch or so. Just be sure that the plastic end cap does not break the plane of the door when shut and you'll be fine. There is plenty of room to the rear of the cabinet as well.
Thanks for such an informative post! I've already installed our kitchen, but I know how helpful this info will be to others.
I was thrilled to see you type:
"Many people have seemingly complained about the graphic only instructions that come with IKEA products. I must be odd since found the instructions to be clear, somewhat intuitive and logical in order. Just remember to read them through first to understand all steps before you start."
I TOTALLY agree, and I thought I was the only one!!!!!!!!
I must be odd, too, because I LOVE IKEA instructions!
I've assembled cheapo furniture from other (U.S) companies with multi-page ridiculously detailed written instructions (always in tiny print, and separate pages for each language) and I say, give me drawings anytime!
I am also always in awe over the precision engineering, design, and accuracy (no extra parts, no missing parts, as you stated) of IKEA's "assembly required" products.
I wonder if there are others like us..........any more oddballs out there????
There is a plastic end cap that is attached to the rack's sliding frame. Make sure that you put it on before measuring where to put the rack. It adds about a half inch or so. Just be sure that the plastic end cap does not break the plane of the door when shut and you'll be fine. There is plenty of room to the rear of the cabinet as well.
Thanks. I'll report back when I buy and try to install this. Shouldn't be a problem.
BTW, What did you do for lighting? I have some recessed lights and can't figure out if to go with a pendant over the sink or a small can light.
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