Fitting an Ikea Kitchen

Discussion in 'Kitchen Fitters' Talk' started by stonemason, Feb 22, 2020.

  1. D4veNI

    D4veNI New Member

    Stupid answer.
    So, to sum up your contribution ....... 00000000000 help.
     
  2. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    Once you've wiped your chin and rectum, can you explain your post?
     
    kitfit1 and ElecCEng like this.
  3. kitfit1

    kitfit1 Screwfix Select

    Mmmmmmmm, looks like @D4veNI dosn't want to make a further "contribution"
     
  4. D4veNI

    D4veNI New Member

    I'm failing to see what required follow up? Please feel free to waste more of your life on this.
     
  5. JustinB

    JustinB New Member

    Wow there's still quite a few dinosaurs out there. About 20 years ago Ikea was a swear word in the furniture industry, but the fact is that even the best bespoke furniture makers have taken on methods that Ikea have been using for ages. Because, quess what, they've invested a lot of money in finding the best solutions to typical problems.

    I've been designing, engineering and making furniture for over 20 years. I've done a lot of kitching fitting and general furniture fitting in that time. I am currently fitting an Ikea kitchen in my own house. Which is why I have ended up on this forum thread.

    Ikea kitchens, like all Ikea furniture, is very well thought out and researched, the consistant tollerances they work to are astounding. Sometimes with Ikea furniture you have to change your way of thinking (some people are more willing and able to change than others). Once you look at why they have engineered things in a certain way, and you've taken the plunge with their methods it usually/always turns out to be a good idea. If you just want it to be the same as what you've done before and are not willing to change then buy they same old thing and hack the backs of the cabinets, bish bash bosh. In the mean time I've got no 100mm scribe space at the back and 100 deeper cupboards and draws :)

    It is usually minimal effort to run pipes under cabinets and makes a lot more sense TBH. In most kitchen situations it's an hours work max. If it really isn't possible then batton out the back.
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2020
    rogerk101 likes this.
  6. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    Which was the answer Magnet came up with when 600 mm work tops were introduced many years ago to replace the existing 21” range of work tops.

    How deep are the Ikea cabinets front to back?
     
  7. Nanook

    Nanook Active Member

    I think IKEA kitchens can be good but I wouldn’t use them straight outta the box as some look a bit cheap to me. I’ve had an IKEA kitchen put into an old flat before now but I chose better quality and more expensive worktops to go with it and also chose higher end cupboard handles, trims etc instead of the IKEA ones. It all looked very good in the end and the kitchen fitter fitted it plumb, so a nice result.
     
  8. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    LOL.

    I have just looked at the Ikea website, I had forgotten the cabinets are imperial sizes presumably made for the USA market and the work tops are metric, but they don’t put the width on their website.

    Best of luck fitting this kitchen, I only ever did one Ikea out of hundreds of kitchens that I installed and that was one too many.
     
  9. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    I have a recollection of moving the plumbing down below the level of the cabinets and fitting the kitchen being painful, it was many years ago but it put me off for life.
     
  10. Nanook

    Nanook Active Member

    True but we were having all new plumbing and reconfiguring what was already there so it wasn’t a ball-ache for the fitter. Can imagine though if you’re just replacing a kitchen and leaving the plumbing as is... it could present some headaches.
     
  11. JustinB

    JustinB New Member

    Where do you see imperial sizes?
     
  12. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

    I just did a search for Ikea, I suppose it could have been the USA website.

    It really is a long time since I fitted one, but if the wall cabinets go back to the wall there's nothing to play with if the walls are out.

    If you have a 900 x 900 corner base stand it in place and make sure you can line the cabinets up along both walls working off it.
     
  13. JustinB

    JustinB New Member

    All ikease stuff is metric. Even in the US I believe.

    The units don't go right back to the wall. Unless you'vbe fit it incorrectly. If you fit an ikea kitchen it's worth being fully invested in using their fitting systems. Hang them on the wall rail by adjustable brackets and leave the back feet off. There will be a gap of about 20mm between the fall and the cabinet, which is fine for even a very bad non-square wall.
     
  14. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select


    You must be on commission.

    "100mm scribe space?" What brand of kitchen are you referencing there, not that I've fitted loads admittedly but I've never known that amount of tolerance.

    The point you may have missed is that a large amount of customers have already bought and sourced the kitchen ready to fit before they engage the fitters services, so the fitter has to make do with the space he's got and the design he's been given, the 'designers' are usually a spotty child with a software program that can't read a tape measure and relies on the fitters experience to get them out of any hole, the customer doesn't want to pay to relocate any services so what is the fitter supposed to do?

    Nothing dinosaur about disliking a certain brand due to the hassle associated with fitting it.
     
    ginger tuffs and kitfit1 like this.
  15. The Happy Builder

    The Happy Builder Screwfix Select

  16. GrahamTaylor

    GrahamTaylor Active Member

    Ikea stuff is designed to go in Swedish houses and apartments. That's a country where floors are level, walls are vertical, services come though the floor or wall in the right place and they don't need to use bodges (eg 'skirting', 'base board' etc) to cover up the gap between mismatched surfaces. So the Ikea products do not make allowance for these factors. As long as you recognise this disconnect between design and British building practices they can be very good but you need to take them into account when planning your installation. That will often include things like battening out the walls, removing skirtings, using deeper worktops to allow scribed backs etc.

    You also need to recognise for each product what quality level it has been designed for. They offer great value for money but the quality is exactly the level that has been set by the product designers, cost accountants, supply chain planners etc.
     
  17. kitfit1

    kitfit1 Screwfix Select

    Yep, even the kitchens i fit only have a 50mm void at the back................but that is enough to get all services in without any problem.
    As far as Ikea kitchens are concerned.........................if fitters like fitting them, want to fit them and make money fitting them................fill ya boots. As for me..................nah.........get on with it, someone has to i suppose.
     
  18. JustinB

    JustinB New Member

    I'm really giving worse case scenario. The largest void void I've designed cabinets with is 100mm , admittedly for a very different purpose. 50mm is most common in.
     
  19. kitfit1

    kitfit1 Screwfix Select

    Obviously you are so "invested" in Ikea's fitting systems you are happy to leave the back feet of off their wall cabs :D:D
     
  20. JustinB

    JustinB New Member

    Last edited: Nov 21, 2020

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