For example, as it turned out there was no drawer front spec'd for the shallow drawer at the bottom of my oven cabinet. I was just happy to see "HDO3088". Made a big checkmark on the spread sheet I'd taken with me. What my spreadsheet should have shown was a listing of all eight part numbers that make up an HDO3088 so I could check off each part if I really wanted to be sure all was right with the world.

My spreadsheet that showed 31 cabinets to be ordered morphed into a parts list of more than 300 items. I assumed, wrongly, that the various parts breakdowns for each cabinet were generated by Ikea's computer system. Not so. There's room for error there.

Also, I ran into trouble on the items from the Kitchen Catalog that have no part numbers listed. i.e. mouldings and cover panels. I had made a separate spreadsheet of these items with two columns by each item. My plan was one checkmark as I read it off for input into the computer; second checkmark when it was reviewed and verified on the order. All my items have two checkmarks like they should, but as it turned out some items were not really ordered or the wrong items were ordered.

Had I known .... You've got to be a good proof reader; read those descriptions carefully. "Contoured Decor Strip" got ordered; I wanted "Rounded Decor Strip."

I'd driven 5 hours to get to the store and the order input took 4 hours to input. Nine hours into this thing, I was not in the best shape to review a 350+ item order. I should not have relied on the Ikea Order Entry person to help me verify the order. I should have had a "buddy" with me to review the order. A fresh pair of eyes would have helped. Both my order taker and I'd been at it for four hours; she was tired, too. She told me my three 3'x8' covers panels were there (two checkmarks); they were not. Very costly omission in time wasted at install waiting for them and yet another 10 hour round trip to pick them up.

Order once, proof twice. 

Sample Draft Order 1

Sample Draft Order 2