[Oruboris]

I want to do my new kitchen with Ikea cabs, and the door styles I want are not carried at my 'local' [820 miles, round trip] in Draper Utah.

However, they are carried at the Seattle WA store, round trip, 1300 miles.

I'd have to rent a truck, probably plan on spending 2 nights in hotels, and figuring the price of gas, the $1000 I was quoted by Ikea Direct is probably cheaper. I don't have time to drive to Seattle, but don't want to wait 3+ weeks for the cabs to arrive.

I'm a little worried about the negative experiences I've seen here about Direct, though...

So if you were me, what would you do?

[kelly]

Well, you're not totally dependent on Direct for your kitchen, just the fronts and panels, right? Is the three weeks for the doors to come into Draper? IF it is, I would absolutely get the boxes from Draper, and start your kitchen remodel- what door are you interested in? A few years ago people got really stuck with Hallarum being discontinued so abruptly and Nexus Brown Black being very seriously delayed. We're not hearing the same things about any doors currently.

So that's my advice- unless you think you can do your whole kitchen in a weekend or something (some people do) it could be to your advantage from a cash flow and # of boxes standpoint to do the cabinet boxes and everything else first. Door fronts can always go on last. Don't spend the extra- wait.

[Oruboris]

I'm interested in both the Fagerland and Tida doors-- large space and I'm going for an unfitted sort of look.

Draper carries neither, sadly.

Money wise, I think I'd be money ahead to have them shipped. Time wise, if I could have the boxes here sooner that would be great, though I'm not sure when I'll have a chance for a 2 day road trip.

Just how bad is Ikea direct, in terms of getting the whole order, and getting it right?

[kelly]

OK, i'm sorry I didn't twig that BOTH were road trips, just one is twice as long! Yes, I'd get it all from Direct. There are lots of people here who have done it successfully, Woodswell being one who comes to mind. Your door styles aren't ones I've heard anyone have trouble getting (as long as they are carried).

[woodswell]

I did do my order from IKEA Direct. It took about a month to come, partly because at that time the shipper IKEA used for our area only came to my town once a month. I had a very large order since I did a large kitchen, two full baths, a half bath and a laundry room. I did quite a few modifications so rather than do my order by cabinet codes, I did each piece by article number.

Although I read my order to the Direct IKEAn item by item over the phone, some people have faxed in their orders. Reading my large order took 80 minutes but the IKEAn did get everything right (*I* did not but that was not their fault ).

The IKEAn emailed my draft order and the paperwork to me. I had to fax back some signed paperwork for credit card authorization then call her back to give her the complete credit card number. The only glitch at that point was my idiot credit card company. I had called them to warn that I was going to be doing an extremely large purchase - waste of time since although they made a note in my file, the authorization center refused the charge twice. I had to spend time calling the credit card company, getting the charge approved, then call my IKEAn back and have her run the card again.

The shipping company was pretty good, but they bid out the actual delivery to the lowest bidder. Although my order arrived, one pallet came completely apart and we had a few damaged parts. The driver was good and noted that and I had time to assess the damage. I called and left a message on the IKEA Direct After Sales with my order number, the article number of the damaged things. Within two days I had a message back that the replacement order was on the way. The replacements arrived OK, but unlike some reports, the driver did pick up the damaged items and take them with them.

Oh the only big complaint I had with the shipping company - they were only going to send the driver with the first load. There was no way I could help unload pantry cabinets and the sheer volume of stuff, so I insisted that they send two men. They did - the manager of the shipping office came with the driver.

Shipping for my $12000+ order was about $1100 and well worth it. But I got in on one of the IKEA sales and got a gift certificate for 10% of the order, so the shipping was covered by that.

Having tried to order Tidaholm doors and drawer fronts through both the Atlanta IKEA and the Orlando IKEA, I would do an IKEA Direct order again - both stores attempted to order and deliver doors to us, screwed up the orders and left me without some doors that were paid for. At least everything I ordered through IKEA Direct arrived!

[Narf]

For that kind of mileage (times two), my vote goes to Ikea Direct.

Number one reason - any damaged or missing items, they have to take the responsibility getting the item back to you. If you pick it up yourself, it'll be your responsibility (and expense!) getting it back to the store.

When the time comes, post the final layout, any modifications you desire, and the draft order as to have some of us here go over the order to make sure that everything you need is on it.