[ELTAZ2]

Wow - I really wish we had been online for the last 2 weeks, so I could get your expert advice! Since we didn't have internet installed in our new-to-us house, we had to wing it. We had our computer (sans internet) so DH printed out our shopping list of IKEA cabinets and sent me on the 2+ hour trip to IKEA with my dad (while my DH stayed at home and continued ripping out the cabinets and drywall in our kitchen).

I had called the kitchens dept before driving, to ask if I could phone-in the order. She said I could fax it (but I don't have a fax machine) or I have to do it in person. I asked if at least she knew that there were cabinets in stock - she asked what door style/color, and then said yep there's plenty in stock. Okey dokey.

When we got to IKEA we went straight to the kitchens dept. The lady asked for my layout. I didn't realize that would be a smart thing to have with me, and so I apologized and said I only had the list of cabinets my DH had printed out for me. She asked if we had saved it online (we could access it right there), but sadly we hadn't since we didn't have internet at our new home yet. She said without the layout, she couldn't give me any advice - BUMMER! So, she went through my list and told me the proper order #s for those cabinets, and I wrote them all out on her order form. She asked me about countertops, and I said we're wanting to go with Quartz, and she said we live too far away from the IKEA for us to get it through IKEA (apparently it has to be delivered by them, and they don't deliver this far away - so okay, guess we'll have to get it through Costco).

I gave her my order form and she said it would be a few minutes. 10 minutes later I checked back with her and she said it'd be another 10-15 minutes. 20 minutes later we returned and she had just finished. Only one item (some panel) was on backorder, other than that everything was in stock - yay! She said to go down to the cashiers to pay for it (I asked if I could pay for it there in the kitchens dept. and she said no), and then I'd pick up the items at furniture pick-up. Great. So we meandered through the store, checking stuff out - figuring it's probably going to take them some time to pull all that stuff for us.

Finally we get to the cash registers... I went to the as-is dept, while my dad waited in line. Then I stood in line and he went to the car in the parking garage across the street. I paid for the stuff, then went to furniture pick-up - this was 1/2 an hour after my dad left me, and he had finally gotten the car over to the furniture pick-up place (yikes - bad traffic situation there!). The furniture pick-up people said it's going to take TWO HOURS to pull all the stuff, and they didn't start until I handed them my paid receipt. HELLO! If I would've known that, I would've rushed straight down, then headed back up to browse through the store!!!! Ugh!

Fortunately I had read the advice here about making sure you've received everything because once you sign their paper and walk away, you're screwed if you're missing anything. So, we checked off all 144 pieces, and sure enough they had included everything - yay!!!

The biggest surprise (besides the fact that they didn't start pulling it off the shelves until I showed them my paid receipt) was that it actually fit EASILY into our two SUVs (Toyota Sequoia and 4Runner)!

-Elizabeth