Tuesday, May 22, 2012

0 The IKEA Kitchen

Our plan all along was to purchase an IKEA kitchen.  Through the month of April, IKEA had a 20% off sale, which was perfect timing, provided that we could make all the decisions in time.  Our first trip to IKEA, which is in Canton, MI, about 2.5 hours away from Rockford, was to decide on the style we wanted, including countertops.  Since we had to order in store, but were not prepared with our layout quite yet, we knew we had to make another trip.

During inspections of the new house, we took measurements of everything, and then spent HOURS designing our kitchen, creating drawings of exactly what we needed, pricing it all out and creating an order sheet.  Since our first trip was on a Saturday, and it was insanely busy, I decided to take a half day from work and head over alone in the middle of the week.  Everything was in stock EXCEPT the countertops, which we'd decided on solid Beech.  Everything was ordered and paid for (sparing you the long story of how the delivery process got completely screwed up) and we were on our way to a new kitchen.

As the delivery guys are bringing in a PALLET of boxes, you have to ask yourself how much you're really saving once the cabinets are all put together.


Over the course of the next 3 days, I managed to put together every cabinet we needed to start hanging.  Unfortunately, because the bulkhead above the fridge couldn't be removed, we had to return one of the cabinets, but decided we'd drive that over once the countertops came in, so we could exchange the cabinet and pick up the countertops all in one trip.

We were able to purchase one small piece of the countertop, shown below.


I see AKURUM direction books, with that creepy little guy, in my nightmares.  This is also a good example of how helpful Bella is through this process.


Most of the cabinets assembled, and all the boxes piled up.  Luckily, we live right around the corner from a recycling center.


The cabinets hang on a rail, which is GREAT, so all you have to do is get the measurement from the ceiling correct, and then make sure the rail is level, and all the cabinets will be level.  The one mistake I did make is realizing that the holes in the back of the cabinet have about a half inch play in them, so it's best to hang the rail about a half inch to a quarter inch lower and use that adjustment to create the right distance from the ceiling.  Mine hang right on the bolt, which worked out okay, but I definitely wish I'd gone a little lower with them so I could get the distance a little more exact.


Becky and I completed putting in the base cabinets, and now we're just waiting on the countertops....


Time for another fire?  Josh thinks so.



 

The Wolven House Project Copyright © 2012