ikea kitchen installation

Anyone with Ikea cabinet installation experience? I'm wondering about necessary blocking for the base cabinets. Top? Top and bottom? I'm having a difficult time finding a real person to talk to at Ikea and don't live near a store. Thanks!

you might want to try posting your question at the following forum, which has a lot of talk about ikea kitchens:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/

sean

I've never installed Ikea cabs, but from what I've seen they're pretty much just boxes. I'm not sure what you mean by blocking--are you talking about providing height for the toekick? I'll try to help you if you'll provide more details--post them here or email me at billnunez@cox.net.

Bill
www.a5renovation.com

the ikea cabinets i have looked at would not need anything special for installation. they were however a bit flimsy and i doubt any extra blocking would help that issue...

get a good installer for the job no matter what quality boxes you go with. it will pay off.

ahh...you mean blocking internally? I was confused by that because they are most likely European style (frameless) cabinets, which means they will have backs as part of the structure instead of a face frame--no blocking should be needed. I agree with Ian that proper installation is important, but I won't discourage you from doing it yourself if you have decent skills. Basically, make sure the whole assembled units don't have any movement at joints etc. and you should be fine. I don't think they're any flimsier than any other prefab cabinets, it's just critical that the joints are not subjected to movement, which will loosen them over time. To that end, I'd recommend securing base cabinets to the wall.

good luck

Bill
www.a5renovation.com

Blocking to me means horizontal framing between the studs in the wall behind the cabinets to give you a solid piece of wood to mount your cabinets to. Ikea should be able to provide info on where it is needed.

I think this is the[url href=http://www.ikea-usa.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10101storeId=12productId=34418langId=-1parentCats=10110*10652]product[/url]
that you will need. It's called a suspension rail.

We are in the process of building our IKEA cabinets for our house remodel, and I can say that IKEA definitely recommends securing the cabinets to the wall behind them, including the base cabinets. But also, IKEA offers metal cross bars for additional horizontal support. There is usually one included with each base cabinet that includes drawers. But you can always order more and use them elsewhere as necessary (for example, to support a sink).

Another comment on IKEA cabinets - the only people that I've ever heard say that they are flimsy or of poor quality are those that don't have them - and are usually trying to sell you something else. Given an unlimited budget, I'd much rather have Boffi or Bulthaup, of course, but frankly for the money IKEA cannot be beat. The hardware used (for the drawers and hinges) is made in Austria, and I believe is sourced from the same manufacturers that sell the more expensive stuff. The more expensive European cabinets have many more goodies, features, and options. But the basic construction is essentially the same.

Take care and good luck!

Thanks everyone for the info-- I did mean horizontal framing between the studs-- I called Ikea and found out exactly where the base cabinets need to be attached to the wall. I'm sure that how well the cabinets work and hold up over time will depend much on how they are installed, so we will be taking great care in that area.

We are going to be installing an IKEA kitchen in a house made with SIPS. As there are no studs or space to attach blocking, we will have to hang them on the panels. We were thinking of skipping the drywall and just hanging the cabinets directly on the panels or, alterntively, putting up 1/2 -- or 1/4 or 3/8 -- plywood instead of drywall to add extra support. Any thoughts?

On Ikea hardware:
We have the horizontally mounted upper cabs with aluminum-framed glass doors. They look fabulous, but... The hardware locks to keep the door open (up). That feature has worn out on the cabinets we use the most (e.g., cabinet with drinking glasses). No matter how much I tighten it, the door will not stay up, so I am stuck holding the door open with one hand when using the cabinet. Real pain when emptying dishwasher, etc.

1/2 drywall would be flush with the sheetrock on the other parts of the walls, and should be strong enough. But when you are using subs, it's hard to coordinate. I think I read at sipweb.com that some guys use heavy duty toggles.

I've hung a really heavy 12 diameter half round gutter that captures all the rainwater from a 3000 s.f. butterfly roof. The brackest were custom L's made of 2.5x2.5 angle iron. These were attached to the underside of a SIP panel roof using toggles. It works like a charm, and there is NO WAY they will ever pull through the 7/16 OSB. I've hung from them to test and no problem. These would be the metal toggles that require an extra large hole to place thru the material it is to be hung from.

Mark

I am almost done installing my ikea kitchen, doing it myself (see pic).

for the base cabinets there is no way to secure mounts towards the bottom. the cabinets are 3/4 particle board everywhere except the back panel, which is a flimsy skin (no holding strength). at the top corners of each cabinet are the holes and mounting hardware. you basically mount the supplied bracket to the inner side of the cabinet wall and it lines up with the hole in the back skin. you then put a screw and rectangular washer tab through the hole. the holding strength is in the bracket being mounted to the side.

for mine, I did not have blocking at every mounting point and was not about to cut up my walls to install it. I have 5/8 drywall so just got some heavy duty metal drywall anchors in the spots I need. it worked fine and there is no way it is going anywhere.

Vortrex,

Your kitchen looks really nice. I tried to convince my husband to go for those cabinets (Hallarum) but he thought it would be too dark. Perhaps I'll show him your photo. He is imagining the final look will look just like the ikea kitchen planner software; I hate that program, it has so many bugs.

Would you mind telling me what kind of countertop do you have?

Thanks for the specific information about your installation. I know this thread will come in handy when we install our Ikea kitchen components in three months.

Sara

I think the hallarum looks really nice. it is not that dark, probably even less so than my pic (the light was not that great).

the countertop I have is also from ikea. it's a charcoal-ish gray color and the sides as you can see is a lighter grained wood material (see pic). cost was about a whole $130 for it all. 3 different pieces I cut to fit.

people complain about ikea quality at times. this is the second kitchen I have done. the first kitchen I did was with cabinets from kraftmaid and the exact same size as the one you see here. the ikea cabinets were 1/4 the price (approx $1200 vs $5000). the quality is not THAT much different and some things are BETTER with the ikea setup (such as mounting the wall cabinets on the suspension rail).

Great thread! I have to agree that the quality of Ikea cabinets isn't much different from most kitchen cabinets available.
I'm getting ready to start the installation of my Ikea cabinets very soon,tomorrow actually! My dilemma is this: Being that my cook-top is larger than their base cabinets, I have to float it between the two side cabinets. Also, I need to cut a U out of the counter top in order to fit it in. I have a feeling that this won't be enough support for the cook-top so I need to figure a way to give it a little more support. Any suggestions?
Finally, a word of advice to those who choose to install an Ikea kitchen: MAKE SURE THEY HAVE ALL PIECES IN STOCK!!!!!!!! Its taken them over three months to fill my order! When I purchased my kitchen in early September, I was told that the missing pieces would be in stock next week. It is now mid December...

I have used kitchen metal instead of plywood. 22-20 gauge sheet metal is screwed to the studs before attaching drywall. This system provides a solid blocking area over the whole wall. I typically attach it from the ceiling down to base cabinet level. after the drywall is up screw away to your attachment desires. Great system used in commerical restraunts.
kbonk

I have another Ikea kitchen question. We want to install a single wall oven under the counter. All the Ikea oven cabinets are full height units. I was thinking about buying a full height unit and cutting it down to size -- I think the units accomodate 27 wide ovens, but does anyone know for sure? -- but then I had another idea.

In their kitchen catalog, it looks like they have an oven installed under the counter with no frame around it. So my question, could we just forego the cabinet and simply sit the oven on a platform between two other cabinets? I might need a few trim pieces, but then the countertop could just cover up the top of the oven. Any thoughts?

[quote:spunpup format=text/plain]
Finally, a word of advice to those who choose to install an Ikea kitchen: MAKE SURE THEY HAVE ALL PIECES IN STOCK!!!!!!!! Its taken them over three months to fill my order! When I purchased my kitchen in early September, I was told that the missing pieces would be in stock next week. It is now mid December... [/quote]

this happened to me a couple times too (had more than 1 order) and I figured out it is best to pursue the order yourself aggressively. in my case I was waiting for the call they said they'd make to me, but I never got it. turns out my parts came in and were sold to someone else before I could get them! this happened when they had to get the pieces from somewhere other than the regional warehouse. you cannot pay for items up front in this case, so there's not much binding your name to what you want. if it comes in and you are not there to buy it's then sold.

I am installing the IKEA wall cabinets this week. It is recommended that the wall strip for the 39 wall cabinet be placed at 92 5/8 from the floor. I have just discovered that the studs ar all metal, but there is an existing cabinet stud at 84. Can I place the wall strip at that height instead? What problems may I have if I do, or what additional precautions should I take if I do??? Thank you!

It was mentioned in an earlier thread to go look on the THS threads. Now I would suggest going to the [url href=http://www.ikeafans.com/]IKEA Fansite[/url], which was started by the die-hards from the THS site and has a wealth of information in the FAQs. You can also post your question in the [url href=http://www.ikeafans.com/forums/view_forum.php?id=11]Assembly and Instalation Forum[/url].

People over there are very friendly and always looking to help a fellow IKEAn.

not really, there will be so little space between your counter and the bottom of the cabinets.

84 - 36 - 39 = 9 space.

Checkout www.instockkitchens.com for some really nice traditional cabinets ALL WOOD

Cabinets  NO particle board stuff. They have everything in stock hence the name.