[sheas]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I live in South Dakota and we installed a brand new Ikea kitchen in our house three years ago. Since we did everything long distance (closest Ikea is Twin Cities, which is three hours away), this forum was an incredible amount of help!

My parents have seen how much we love our kitchen and now want an Ikea kitchen of their own. The problem is, they live on the west side of the state. The closet Ikea is still Ikea Twin Cities, but it's almost nine hours away for them.

Since we've been through the process before, my mom enlisted our help. My husband called to Ikea Twin Cities this afternoon to ask about faxing the order in, and was told that he can only fax his order on the day he's planning on picking up his order. He was also told that it can't be held for more than one day, it's first come first serve.

This is totally different than the process we used three years ago- we designed our kitchen using the Ikea software, printed out our order, faxed it to Ikea Twin Cities, they faxed back a confirmation and credit card sheet. We then faxed back that information, and they called us in about two weeks to tell us that our order had arrived and we had a week to pick it up. We then drove up and picked it up, no hassles, and no worries about whether or not everything was in stock.

Has this completely changed? My concern is that we're going to fax in the order, and not everything is going to be in stock. Time is somewhat of an issue because my dad has taken two weeks off of work at the end of August, in which he anticipated hauling the kitchen back to their town and installing it.

I know that ordering through Ikea Direct is an option, but it's one that my parents probably won't want to take, especially if shipping is around $900 like I've read on this forum. My dad was anticipating on making a few trips up to Minneapolis to make sure he had everything he needed (using our home as a base), and I'm sure that even then gas won't cost $900.

Does anyone have any insight into this? Did we just get a really confused Ikean on the phone?

[GingerB]

I live in Casper WY and our nearest Ikea is Salt Lake (6 hours +/-.) I called to arrange picking up kitchen cabinets and appliances and was told there was no pre-order. I drove to SLC because it was substantially less expensive to drive there, rent a u-haul, and drive home, than to pay for shipping via Ikea direct. They were out of stock on ALL appliances and some of the materials I needed to complete my kitchen. Overall it worked out. I purchased the majority of the cabinets that I needed well in advance of my scheduled remodel and was able to scour clearance items, etc for my appliances. My only complaint is that I went to SLC during the kitchen promotion (buy cabinets and 2 appliances and get 10% back as a gift card) and was unable to get any appliances.
I'm planning another trip to SLC in the near future and will pick up anything else I need to complete my kitchen.
Sometimes we put up with slight inconveniences for that extra bang for our buck! I could not have had anywhere near the kitchen I'm getting within my budget without Ikea.
This may not help you, but at least I share your pain!
Good luck with your folks place!

[woodswell]

There were some rumors last year that IKEA was going to reduce lonmg distance ordering and concentrate on "the in-store experience." Apparently that is what is happening.

From my experience, IKEA is not good at long distance ordering through the stores. Last year I attempted to order through the Atlanta IKEA and they failed to allow me to arrange payment even though the order was complete. My order through IKEA Direct went almost perfectly, though the 10% sale ended up paying for shipping and handling. It was still cheaper than driving to Atlanta would have been for us.

Then I had mixed results trying to do long distance ordering though the Orlando IKEA - my order arrived by the day promised, but the warehouse for pickup was closed on the day I had scheduled to be there. So IKEA Customer Service arranged for shipping to me at their cost.

I just IKEA would let us order our kitchens through the web site rather than having to call IKEA Direct - I ordered cabinets for a large kitchen, 2.5 baths and laundry. On the phone, component by component (I did a lot of modifications) and it took 80 minutes, non-stop.