elaboration....

i had a comment from M that made me decide to post an entry about our Ikea experience to date.

• Don't try to get it all done in 1 trip:  we made 5 trips in all (i think) to Ikea (Schaumburg & Bollingbrook, IL) to plan & buy. A couple of trips were recon - just to gather info & get ideas. We took a camera because i don't remember what i had for lunch; there's no way i'd remember i was even in Chicago by the time we got home!    it was worth it because we found things several times that could have been costly mistakes.
• Plan, plan, plan:  between the online planner (which i hate btw) & the recon trips, i felt very confident when we finally decided to put the order in.  oh, & that planner is not the end-all. when you get ready to purchase, you can customize some things that would not be possible in the planner. we had no clue about that & were thrilled when we found out.  but we should have known after viewing our friend Rundle's kitchen - the ultimate Ikea hacker dude.
• Measure, measure, measure: we ran into a snafu with our fridge that we hadn't planned on. even though it is counter depth, the hinges on top caused us to have to raise all the upper cabs up to accommodate this.  we toyed with multiple levels of cabs, but that didn't look good in the end. oh, & we did not get our appliances from Ikea so that might have been solved if we had. just think about that!  anywho, we raised all the uppers 1" & it looks fine. that rail install system made it so easy too!
• Pull the trigger:  i could have planned & measured forever & never bought a kitchen. I AM A COMMITMENTPHOBIC! so at some point, stop planning, stop the homework, & make the leap!  they will let you come back (see later)
• Verify the items are available in-store:  Not all parts are right there in the store. ours were, but our friend's was not so they will be going back up this weekend to get back order items. be prepared for that!
• Listen to those Ikea folks:  so you have to work with a real person before ordering/buying all this stuff.  did you know they have degrees/certs in design?  i didn't.  makes sense now, but i just thought they were sales people. when we explained that first & foremost, our kitchen had to have a feeding station for the Boxers, they totally got it & that changed our plan right there. they came up with a much more user friendly config to accommodate the Kids.
• Avoid Sat/Sun if you can: okay, admittedly i was sick with the possum flu, but even well i don't think i'd do my final order & pickup on a Sat. that wait time formula that they post at pickup?  let's see 8min for 1st cab, then add 1min for each line item?  hmmm guess they meant the new math. our order should have taken 1:18 total. it took almost 4hrs.  so be prepared for delays on a weekend or, better yet, go on a weekday if you can!  although watching suburbanites try to figure out exactly how to cram pack their SUV's was entertaining.  
• Organization pays off:  at least it did for me. afraid we were going to flood while i had all those flat packs in the garage, i spent last Friday hauling all the ones i could upstairs. i took the Build List that they give you & numbered each group (in hindsight i should have used the same #'s that you see on the planner drawing - oh well, that will come in handy for the office redo). anywho, i grouped the FRM (that's the box) and any cover panels together on the floor in the kitchen, writing a number on them to match a number on the Build List. i wrote the same # on boxes that were drawers or shelves (this was not necessary for hardware, dampers, etc.). this allowed Nacho to work quickly (ok, as quickly as he does anything) when putting them together. but it has been a huge help, per him, because he assembles the box, hangs it, then the panel(s) is right there to install as well.  i admit i did it, not to be helpful, but because i'm OCD like that.
• Expect to go back:  we have already seen 2 cabs that we want to modify. the top pantry & the fridge cab. we're going to put pull-out drawers in there instead of static shelves. i don't plan to use those often, but when i do i want it to be easy. 
• Take your time & Enjoy!  it's your kitchen & you have to live with it for a while - unless you have the balls to redo it again in 3 years.  so don't rush it & really think about things before & during. i'd rather pay to have it right, than pay for a mistake i'm going to hate for years to come.

Oh, & because it's your kitchen, WHO CARES WHAT ANYONE THINKS BUT YOU! i was very conscious of not really asking anyone for design advice other than Terry & Rundle.  i was picky about when i asked & who i asked. we got plenty of "looks" when people saw my flooring choice & design, and plenty more when we said the cabs were going to be black/brown. but you know what?  DON'T CARE!  THIS IS ME NOT CARING!  CAN YOU HEAR THE SOUND OF ME NOT CARING? NO? DON'T CARE!  it's your kitchen, do what you wanna do!

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