I must start off by saying most of the IKEA employees that I have dealt with are great, and they have been very polite and considerate during a troublesome time, while I've been engaged in a battle with an IKEA recommended contractor to install my kitchen cabinets. In particular, the manager Barbara was very considerate and concerned when she heard of my issues.
However, since IKEA recommends the contractor, Traemand, to design the kitchen layout and install the cabinetry, then they should take partial responsibility when things go wrong.
IKEA does have a staffer (Andrew G) who acts as a liaison between Traemand and the customer. Unfortunately, it appears that the intermediary is not able to convince Traemand to take responsibility for their poor service. And, after my initial communication with IKEA, the liaison seemed very eager to help with this conundrum, yet he never returned my calls after our initial communication, which is frustrating.
I will outline my reasoning for a low review score of only 1 star. But, in short, I spent over $20,000 on cabinets and appliances... and I cannot use them as expected and I will have to spend nearly $3500 to fix the problems associated with the cabinet installation. And, that is just not acceptable. IKEA should to take responsibility for the company that they tell their clients to use for design & installation of the aforementioned cabinets.
Traemand's designer submitted a first set of drawings that were missing major items, such as an entire island was absent, and a half dozen cabinets were missing. I had to remeasure two of the spaces for him. Oddly, my measurements were the only measurements in the project that have no errors, and those specific sub-projects are as expected.
The designer repeatedly used the excuse that he had too many kitchen projects to work on and that he was overwhelmed. If he is overwhelmed and created a design that is unusable, then Traemand needs to hire other designers to pick up the slack so that the designer can focus clearly on the projects that he takes on.
Upon making my purchase at IKEA, the in-store kitchen staff noted that, for some reason, the designer, probably rushing and not focusing, made the island's shelves white as opposed to walnut, that they should have been. And, there were other mistakes, which were also remedied by IKEA staff, such as no allocation was made for trash cans, and we needed to add drawers for utensils, where there were only shelves.
There are three major issues with the usability and appearance of the kitchen: First and most importantly, the kitchen design is not functional because the refrigerator door cannot open beyond 85 degrees, as the fridge is placed directly against a wall. In our previous kitchen there was a cabinet to the left and right of the fridge, which is what should have happened in the new kitchen. I paid for design services, because this type of thing is what a kitchen designer should know. Now, we need to remove flooring, remove cabinets, tear out 12-14 inches of wall, move electrical switches, replace/repair drywall, reinstall cabinets, reinstall flooring.
Second, the dishwasher cannot be plugged in or it will not aline flush with the rest of the cabinet fronts, forcing the dishwasher to sit at least 2 inches in front of the cabinets that it abuts. The designer should have alerted us that we would need to move an outlet prior to the cabinets (and subsequent flooring) being installed. Now, we need to remove flooring, removing cabinets, move the outlet so that the dishwasher can be plugged in, repair drywall, reinstall cabinets, install dishwasher, reinstall floor.
Third, the side and back of the sink cabinet got all hacked up because the designer did not measure accurately for the plumbing. The installers made numerous holes on the side of the cabinet and back panel (some, seemingly for no reason). Now, we to remove cabinets, replace side of cabinet, replace back of cabinet.
I am extremely unsatisfied with the services rendered. I had another kitchen designer come to my home and his opinion was that the designer made several "rookie mistakes" such as placing the fridge directly next to a wall. A contractor was also brought to my home to assess the cost to make the kitchen usable, and I was given an estimate of $3415 to remove dishwasher and cabinet to access receptacle, relocate receptacle to accommodate new kitchen layout, reinstall cabinet and dishwasher, remove fridge and cabinet, remove flooring, modify wall for new layout (demo, frame, drywall, plaster, paint), relocate switches and receptacle and reinstall flooring.
The only part of the design and installation experience that I am remotely satisfied with were the installers, which Traemand subcontracted, because they were polite and efficient. Additionally, they pointed out several of the designers major mistakes. I understand they were just following the designers plan and I don't hold them responsible for bad design. read more