Why get your kitchen at Ikea?

Ikea lists "Planning Help" as the top reason why you should get your kitchen at Ikea. Not for this reason, but because I expect to be able to create a mix-match set of cabinets for my kitchen at an affordable price, I am planning to buy cabinets from Ikea. I went to their Richmond store this evening to get some advice on my design and some estimates on pricing.

First, the kitchen section of Ikea is busy. Really busy. Because of their current "Kitchen Event" sale, there are a lot of people going whole-hog on their kitchens, equipping it with shiny new cabinets and appliances. Because of the number of people trying to get in on the sale prices, I was left skulking around the kitchen section waiting to see if one of their Kitchen Planning Experts would become available.

In my skulking, I discovered that these "Experts" were not giving me warm-fuzzy feelings about getting their "free tips, ideas, and advice to take my kitchen to the next stage." They seemed to be asking more questions between each other than really answering questions for their customers. They were throwing out measurement numbers that didn't seem too accurate to me and my limited knowledge of Ikea cabinets. They seemed really pleased when they were able to create a design online. And some of the plans that I got a glimpse of on their network stations weren't overly interesting - more like stock kitchen plans.

By 8:00 pm, they had started telling customers that if they were not already working with an Expert on a plan, that they would need to visit another day. Though some were walking away disappointed, I walked away content that I didn't have to work with the dude with the gotta-be-dyed patch under his lower lip, the girl with the gotta-be-dyed eyebrows, or the girl that reminded me of someone I worked with at McDonald's when I was in high school -- all Ikea Kitchen Planning Experts -- and having learned a few things this evening:

(1) 48" wide is too wide for an island unless you have a cooktop or change in counter heights. I am going to have to look at having a set of full depth cabinets backed with a shallow set (or open shelves) to keep the length-width measurements reasonably proportioned.

(2) 63 cm high stools are short. The Julius stool looks funny in this short version. The Henriksdal looks somewhat better.

(3) (from the drive home) There is a monster at the corner of King Edward and Knight. Apparently this is "where Vancouver is moving to."