apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I sent the link in Traemand. Vinny from Traemand came and measured my kitchen two weeks ago. He had the plans done for me the next day. Vinny, a former Ikea employee who has a lot of experience with the product gave super advice on how to get the look and durability I wanted in my kitchen at my price point.

I highly recommend Traemand.

Ikea . . . that's another story. I went there on Saturday, Traemand plans in hand, and it was miserable. We had to wait in a very long kitchen planning line 3 times (once to get a form, once to get my form typed into the system, and once to get them to fix an error they made in my order).

Then we had to wait in a check out line for about 20 minutes.

We tried to get smart and team up to face the lines. My partner had to wait in a home shipping line for at least 35 minutes while I took a number over in returns and parts. See, to get the $75 credit, you have to "return" it. They had two people working and at least 20 people in line.

Once my number was called at the return desk, the woman said she couldn't help me without a manager. The manager never showed up and my partner needed the same paperwork back at the shipping desk.

The last Ikea bus of the night was leaving, so we had to abandon the refund to get the bus back to the city, figuring that a car back would of cost as much as the refund. I am still working with Ikea to get my refund. Even if I don't get the refund, Traemand was worth more than the $175.

My bottom line: Traemand is excellent, but prepare for a rough Ikea experience (seriously, bring some Tylenol and all your patience). For anyone else ready to purchase Ikea cabinets, I can send you some tips as well as the information I got from Traemand. This should help you to suffer less.

The Ikea 06 catalog just dropped. Ikea employees say to avoid the store, including kitchen planning, for at least a month after the catalog comes out if you want to avoid the extreme overcrowding.

Better yet, take a weekday to go to Ikea.

P, you're sooo right about the weekday. Calm, simple solution. I didn't want to take a day off from work, espeically since I will need to be home sometimes when the contractor starts, and the bus doesn't run on the weekends.

When we got to Ikea, I noticed that there was a NJ Transit bus there. Definately an option for my next trip.

IKEA kitchen cabinets are worth the hassle and inconvenience. Sturdy, handsome design at a great cost. (I love mine, but am thankful I didn't have to deal with the planning process!) And, yes, going during the day on a weekday is key. I never go on the weekends, but am lucky enough to work near one of their SoCal locations.

Enrique, how long have you had your cabinets? Do you have many "gaps" showing becasue of the frameless design. I'm getting comfortable with that style.

Consumer Reports gave Ikea cabinet's a great rating.

Chris. I believe the kitchen was installed about a year ago (by the previous owners who reno'd my apartment). No visible gaps, except for one along a single edge near the floor (which should be easily remedied with a wider trim piece). Here's a link to pics of the kitchen, shortly after I moved in. www.apartmenttherapy.com/main/archives/002305.html
Hope it helps.

Enrique. Glad you posted the links back to your kitchen . . . now I remember. Your kitchen was one of the original examples that made me realize that Ikea cabinets could work for me. Thanks for the inspiration and starting my itch to get this kitchen fixed!

I'm very interested to see how the ceiling is lowered in the kitchen. I'm getting the tall Ikea top cabinets, but there is going to be a frustrating 5 inch gab on top. I love the thin "new MOMA style" gap of air between the upper cabinet and the ceiling, but my space will be bigger.

Do you have under cabinet lighting? If so, is there Ikea trim to hide the lights or do they show?

Chris. I don't have any under-cabinet lighting. You should consider it since you are pre-reno, and can have a hard-wire installation by an electrician. I believe they have trim pieces, but might consider going outside of IKEA for a more finished look. No need to go completely IKEA, right? Regarding the 5" gap up on top, maybe your installer could suggest a trim piece to resolve it?

I got IKEA cabinets after getting fed up with Home Depot. I saved enough on my kitche cabinets to get all of my appliances and tile. I asked my contractor for his opinion before I bought them, and he said that they're perfectly fine as cabinets go, but you can really beat them up if you use them a lot. He also didn't like that they were cheaper particle board on the sides rather than MDF. He had no trouble installing them, and they're great for me...

I went to IKEA on a Monday and got a lot of little technical help from one of their kitchen people on the order. The weekends are complete havoc. I wouldn't recommend ordering something as complicated as a kitchen there on the weekend, if you can help it... Even when I went back on a weekend to order two missing parts, it took a good twenty minutes to talk to someone and during my order other customers kept interrupting to ask where the bathroom/cafe/whatever was. I also had to do a return on one of the two pieces...

I just found this thread and I was wondering if someone could give me some insight on the Ikea cabinets. I am purchasing a home and remodeling the entire place. I want the "european" style cabinets - so I thought of Ikea - but I live in Florida. I left a message at the Atlanta store, but no one has called me back?

Does anyone know if they ship out of state? Also, are they worth the hassle or is there an alternative cabinet that has the same look that I might find in Florida? The only other option I foundis $1000 a linear foot at Expo.

Also, are you limited to the Ikea countertops?? Can you fix the cabinets so that you can put a 2cm slab of granite on top? If you are limited to the Ikea countertops, how do they wear? the aluminum option?

Thanks for any insight to the above!

Susan -
Ship to Florida, yes (they did to FTL, just start an order online and you can see shipping availability and cost. You can always deliete it again).

Any countertop, yes. You can put a countertop on a milk crate, if you want.

As noted by a previous poster above, the new catalog maybe 3 weeks old. The stores are swamped, especially in a planning area like kitchens, especially on the weekend. Good luck getting an answer during the week in the next week or two.

Ahhh, ix-nay on the shipping for much of the kitchen cabinetry, I see that the current line shows as only available in stores. I would try their home shopping # at 1(800)434-4532. Probably a better bet for answers than direct to the Atlanta store. Let us know what you find out!

Lucky me, I am going to redo the pantry in Ikea cabinets and I have a trip planned to Atlanta in 3 weeks for a wedding. I'm flying but my hubby has to go to North Georgia first and is driving his SUV.

my partner, who had a small but damaging housefire last Feb, decided to use the experience to change the things she didn't like about her house. her existing kitchen was dark - due to an extension built years ago, and she had a north facing romm that was used to accumilate junk and for the kids computer games etc - a very neglected room.
as an almost complete rebuild was on the cards, she toyed with the idea of moving the kitchen into this room then rejected it as being too unwelcoming to accomodate ' the heart of a home.
as long as i've known her, she's spoken fondly of the range she grew up with in her mother's kitchen. why not get a range, i suggested - a red one, paint the walls a warm colour and breath some life into it.
last Sunday, though it's not totally finished, we had her 90 year old father over for the first sunday dinner cooked there - it's a great heart to the home.
i, with prisca designed the kitchen - from the ikea collection and made two trips to glasgow - the first just a look-see and the second a marathon spend.
prisca asked me if i would consider doing the installation. i did. now i've got all the tools, learnt lots of lessons, and have lots of photos - i will post a history of the whole thing on my blog - as soon as i can figure out the technology.
i'm now thinking of doing some kitchen design planning consultancy and installations to suplment my songwriting income. i enjoyed the experience very much overall. this particullar kitchen presented a lot of unique problems and we've arrived at some unique solutions but she does have a kitchen that is contempory and at the same time extremely homely and reckons to have spent more time in that room in the last seven days than in the past 22years.

My experience with Traemand was frustrating to say the least. I had them assemble my Ikea cabinets and the guy who came to the house was nice enough but basically pretty lazy. He asked if I wanted him to do things that were so obvious (like assemble the drawers) that I can only imagine he asked on the off chance he might get out of some work. When he left my GC told me he had not installed any of the drawer slides. He also didn't know he was responsible for doing certain things, like remove the Ikea packaging from the site. He refused to do it, but when I got to work I checked our estimate and it was clearly included in our agreement. He came back a few days later, but was six hours late, and then ended up having to come back a third time. He still didn't really finish, leaving packaging lying about, etc. I tried calling the office to expain what happened but no one called me back. I sent an email outlining everything, and never heard anything. This is supposedly a small, owner-operated business, and I thought they would want to know what my experience was like, but apparently they just don't care that much. Bottom line: if you are going to use Traemand, be prepared for a struggle and assume they will try to do as little as possible.

One of my customers just told me about this website and that someone had complained about my company. I do care deeply about the experiences our customers have and I regret that here we did not leave the jobsite after numerous visits with a satisfied customer. “Assembly only” jobs like this one involve taking the numerous parts that come separately for each cabinet and putting them together before the boxes are installed on the wall or the floor. We have put in our website that we recommend not hiring us or anyone else for assembly only. We would not offer this service if we were not required to do so by contract.

The difficulty with “assembly-only” lies in the fact that much of the assembly should not occur until after the installation. We ask our installer to coordinate with the customer on the scope of the work before he gets started which it sounds like he attempted. For instance, an assembly only specification requires that we put the doors on the frame and align them before the cabinets are installed. We strongly recommend against this for two reasons: (i) the doors will need to be removed again for the frame to be installed and are then outside their protective packaging on busy jobsites getting damaged; and (ii) the smaller hinge piece that attaches to the frame is a perfect place for connecting fasteners between the frames because it hides the fastener for a more finished look. On this latter point, installing and removing the hinge part after it is installed almost always damages both the frame and the plastic friction fittings so we recommend leaving it off until the end of the install. Drawers and slides are integrated assemblies and assembling them before the installation leads to the same problems. They need to be removed for installation of the cabinet boxes and our installers often use the space under the slides to put fasteners connecting the frames so they are not visible in the final installation.

When we have an opportunity to explain this what ends up happening usually is that we sort the numerous packages for the customer, organize them so they can be installed later in the right order and show the customer how to assemble the subassemblies (like drawers) so they can be put in, correctly, after the installation. Most customers order the assembly only service because they are confused by the large number of individual items in the typical order and want the bare cabinet box assembled by a professional before it is installed. When we solve those issues the customer is generally quite happy with our service even though we have not completed a total assembly per the store specification. We will come back to finish the assembly if our customer wants us to but most customers find it easier to just let the installer finish it up rather than reschedule a follow up visit with us.

On the personal matter, I have not mentioned this to any client because it is my business and I had hoped it would not make a difference in the experience our customer has with us. By and large it has not and I worked very hard to maintain my availability during this extremely trying time for me and my family. I will say that all of our employees work very hard to make sure that our customers are delighted with our service. Where we make mistakes we fix them to the best of our ability. Most likely you will not hear on this website from the hundreds of satisfied customers we will serve this year. They are happy with us, the strong value they received in their cabinetry product and the fact that their project is over quickly so they can enjoy their kitchen.

Go to any store where we are a certified installer and ask about us. You will find we have an excellent reputation and I am proud of the work we consistently do day in and day out at reasonable prices and with a high degree of professionalism.

I am the poster from above. I would just like to point out that you have just stated that you in fact DO NOT do everything that it says on your estimate that you will do. If you do not install drawer slides, then please say that you do not do this! Or if you only install them if someone calls to make a second appointment, say that. But when your description of your service states that you install all interior fittings, then it is reasonable to assume this will be done.

On a more general note, however, it is very telling that someone from this company will respond to my post here (where it is public and presumably matters to them) but would not return my phone call or respond to my email. That speaks volumes about how much they really care about customer satisfaction.

I had Robert Jalo, http://www.robertjalo.com, a contractor in LA, install my Ikea kitchen. I live in Highland Park. He came and measured, did the computer plans for me, and did a great job installing everything. He's done a lot of these Ikea kitchens and is very knowledgeable and fast. Also a nice guy, a licensed contractor. He put in 2 new outlets and did the plumbing (I moved my sink location 4 feet) and installed my new stove for me. It cost me $2200 for installation and plumbing and electrical.

We used Traemand to do everything - from measuring to installation. They managed to screw up both part of the job! The measurement was done by non-qualified person who never installed any kind of cabinets.The kitchen plan that was created had wron dimentions and so - everything went wrong from this point on. We ended up with smaller wall cabinet that we could have on one side of the above-the-stove fan and with the cabinet that would not even close (because it was installed too close to the fan) on another side of the fan! When we asked Traemand to fix it and replace the smaller cabinet with the right size cabinet - they said they would do it if WE bought the new cabinet and paid THEM $ 65 for installation!!!! Then they "fixed" the second (non-closing) cabinet by actually cutting it and making it smaller, so the door would close. So, we now have even less storage space in the kitchen than we had before we decided to upgrade it!
Ikea has a planning tool you can download. We should have used this one instead of paying the dummy to screw up the kitchen.
DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE!

Nat- was your bad experience with Traemand in NYC?

I'm about to have Traemond assemble and install my cabinets. The owner of Traemond stated above that it is best not to assemble and then install. I was never given a choice of installations. I just assumed that they would do the job the right way. What harrowing experience am I about to endure?

Soooo sad!!!

I measured myself and converted feet to inches then used MS Word to play with designs for my kitchen renovation looks. Ikea website also has a download.
I called traemand though because I wanted and needed professional measurements and design. They took and MS Word design and copied it to the T. The designer also made poor use of space. After trying the Ikea download, I found atleast 2' of cabinet space he ignored because he didn't recommend the right size cabinets. Apparently the designer did not know the Ikea products well enough. So sad! Plus Traemand only offer 1 free redesign, which I used having him fix his mistakes.
I requested my money back for doing the designers job! Don't know if I'll see it, since I found out this has happened to a friend of mine too!

My name is Christopher Purnell, and I am the project manager of EZ Furniture Assembly. We are Nyc's expert in furniture assembly & installation. We also specialize in kitchen cabinet installation. We are in the same market as Tremand and believe it to be unprofessional to comment or to voice our opinion on their services. However, Ikea is another story. When we first started this service we were happier than a kid on Christmas morning when we thought of Ikea, and the work it could possibly bring. Today it is almost the opposite, we sometimes cringe when someone says they have this or that from Ikea. For one, a majority of the pieces we assemble arrive with some sort of damage. Secondly, there always seems to be a piece missing, or they delivered the wrong pieces. And the customer service is by far the worst. It's almost as if they really don't care about customer service. One example, the bed frames they sell all require slats which they sell and a support rail in which the slats sit on. The slats are actually made up of (2) sets which measure half the width of the bed frame each. Without the support rail the slats will not work, which in turn makes the bed basically useless. On every job we do all techs are required complete a general merchandise/service form where they mark any damages,missing parts,etc. We recently went through the records and found that 7-10 bed frames that came from Ikea didn't come with the support rail. Now, please note that Ikea did not forget to send these pieces, they are actually sold seperately. The only problem is that nobody ever tells the customer they need these rails in order to have an assembled bed. We actually now stock the rails and ask each customer to go over the parts order so the customer won't be let down and have to endure another trip to Ikea. If you have any questions regarding furniture assembly please feel free to contact us and one of experts will do their best to assist you.

I would seriously investigate the above poster, Chris Purnell, before he was invited into my home. Please ask him and his company about their criminal records before hiring them.

I am a partner of a major criminal & civil attorney firm and have used Christopher and his team over a dozen times and we never had any problems or issues with them. Furthermore, they are insured & bonded, and to be bonded you MUST pass a background check. It really bothers me to see someone slander someone who started a company from nothing and work day in and day out to earn a good name.

Amy