Paramus is better, in my opinion.
Elizabeth is so crowded and usually out of stock.
The Paramus Ikea is also near a LARGE two story Crate and Barrel and two story Barnes and Noble.

The best time to go is after 7pm, you'll have the store to yourself.

God, yes. Paramus has an inside parking lot and better in-store displays, plus it's much less crowded and much easier to navigate. Although you'll still wait an eternity at the checkout line, I'd pick Paramus any day, with only one possible concern - the Paramus store does appear to be smaller than Elizabeth, so if you're trying to get something that may be hard to find in stock, they might be more likely to have it in Elizabeth. Although with the enormous hordes there, that might not even be rue.

It boils down to...do you have a car? If so, then Paramus. The free bus to Elizabeth comes in handy otherwise. The only downside to Paramus vs Elizabeth is that if the exit escalators to the parking lot are broken, be prepared for a long wait to get out.

Elizabeth: Free bus service, 3% Sales Tax. More crowded. Often hit airport traffic. Can be more expensive drive if you take the Turnpike.

Paramus: Newer store, easier to shop, covered parking (great for bad weather shopping), less crowded. Also nearby Bed Bath & Beyond and Container store makes the trip more efficient if you need to hit more than one store.

I believe Paramus is closed on Sundays...is this correct? I personally go to Elizabeth for the free transportation.

NO. Paramus store is open on Sunday. But your are correct that the other stores on Rt. 17 are closed on Sunday.

Actually it is closed on Sundays... I recently tried to go with my parents and we ended up having to drive to Elizabeth.

Unless they were closed for some other reason...

definitely closed on sundays. had the same experience as priya (frustrating).
recently went to elizabeth (on a sunday) and it was nowhere near the nightmare i'd braced myself for...

it is closed on Sundays, I've driven there and left in frustration as well.

Paramus IS closed on Sundays, which is just so inconvenient (for me, at least). I've had the most luck at the Hicksville location on LI - less crowded, more stuff in stock, etc. For me as a Brooklynite with a car, it can be a pretty quick trip and you save a ton on tolls. Each location has their good and bad points, so the best choice really does depend on your individual circumstances.

Depending on where you live . . . if you are willing/able to drive to New Haven, I think it is the nicest of the NYC area IKEA stores.

Bergen County STILL has blue laws (most of you are probably too young to even know what they are!) so it is never open on a Sunday.

...meant Paramus not open on Sunday. New Haven is open 7 days.

I've gone out to Paramus during a weekday two times, leaving work early onf Friday afternoon, and it was practically empty.

Paramus on a weeknight is the bomb, if you have access to a car.

I don't drive, so usually take the free weekend bus to Elizabeth (but only if I can be on the first bus there). The key to Elizabeth is to get my stuff as early as possible so that I can be out of there by noon. It just gets so damn crowded after that. Too stressful.

I think that the Eliz. sales tax has gone up to 3.5%.

Another bit of advice: NEVER wear a yellow shirt to IKEA.

people in paramus are friendlier than elizabeth also. tho the paramus store IS smaller - but if you want something specific, you can check online to see what store locations have the item in stock.

I love to CURSE like a sailor at Ikea's online auto-customer-service. She makes nasty faces at you when you use naughty words. Well, it entertains me...

Stop telling people to go to Paramus!!!
Otherwise it will be just as crowded and dirty as the Elizabeth store!!!

Ha! yellow shirts at Ikea a no-no! It's true! As we all look around for help all customers wearing yellow are prey!

Paramus fershure, open til 10 pm weekdays (sorry p(too))

However, I've never been to the new haven store, but hear awesome things about it from a friend who goes there regularly.

Long Island for this Brooklynite, too. People are nicer at the long island store, esp at the returns desk.

Also calling kitchen dept in stores (when I know what I want or have definitive questions), here's what I found: call and try extensions 1927, 1928 and variations thereof; call around 2pm; Paramus actually picks up the phone and takes your order over the phone; Hicksville actually called me back and reserved pieces for me beyond the "allowed" time frame (manager did all of this) and what may be my greatest coup and discovery: while on a hugangous line for kitchen ordering one heinous Elizabeth sunday morning, I decided to keep calling and calling the ikea customer service # at what I thought was the elizabeth store to try and get more help sent up, several/many minutes of pressing for the operator I got some rep out in Iowa or whatnot who very graciously took my (very precise) order for a countertop and gave me an order number. I skipped off line and went downstairs to pay, end of story.

and i'm sticking to it

Now this is why I love this site... I really needed to find this post today after a good deal of frustration dealing with IKEA as I prepare to buy their kitchen cabinets. As a Brooklynite, sounds like I should head to the Hickville store.

Given that I cannot get a human on the phone from any local IKEA, the 800 number could not answer kitchen questions, and Ana (the assistant) was useless other than to direct me to certain pages on the site, maybe my fellow apartmenttheraphy friends can answer a few IKEA kitchen cabinet questions:

How long is the typical order time?
What is the delivery service like? Is it worth it?
What is the "kitchen event"? A sale or a chance to get a gift card?

Lastly, has anyone bought and installed the new Nexus dark brown cabinets yet? Any thoughts?

Thanks

For IKEA cabinet information go the kitchen forum at the home forums at gardenweb.com. Also, ikeafans.com.