I would love to know the answer also despite not being handy. The Ikea kitchens look so pretty but the labor is what really marks up the price so if someone can do the work themselves, they can get a pretty functional kitchen at a great deal.

They're super easy. Assembly is as simple as any other Ikea furniture. I'd say it took me 2 evenings to assemble ours in our last kitchen. You need a screwdriver, a hammer, and I think that's it. It's fairly idiot-proof.

Then you screw a rail to the wall (you'll want a drill for this) and hang the cabinets on the rail. Screw cabs together from the inside. Hang doors and mount drawers (again, just follow the directions, nothing complicated).

The hardest part is the trim work, for which you'll need a saw. Still not too hard, but because it varies by project, it's a little less obvious how to do it than the rest.

I believe we went from a pile of boxes in the living room to fully installed cabinets in about a week.

Leveling the cabinets and doing the finish and trim work is hard. We called in a carpenter for that. But we put the boxes together, installed the doors. I had him drill the holes for the knobs because I didn't trust myself, and those doors are expensive!

Ikea saved us about 50% on our kitchen. Those cabinets are cheap. I hate particleboard, but it's better than having no kitchen, and that was my choice, so I chose to live with particleboard, but I did get solid wood doors.

One of the improvements on the new cabinets is supposed to be easier leveling. Now the base cabinets will get a rail-mount system just like the wall cabinets do (and Ikea's previous extendable-leg system for levelling base cabinets was already leaps and bounds better than the usual shim-it-till-it-fits setup). I think for the price the Ikea cabinets are well made. They splurge a bit where it matters (hinges, doors, full-extension drawers) and skimp where it doesn't (the back wall of the cabinets, etc.). The biggest problem you'll run into is a limited selection of sizes. There are no 27"w or 33"w cabinets for example.

You can do this. Watch a few videos.

I didn't realize the bottom cabs were going on the rail system. That's great! I'd heard that leveling was the hardest part of the installation.

Any thoughts on when they're having their annual sale? Will anything change due to the new system? Do they think they wil cancel the annual sale because of the system? I can imagine sales might be good in 2015 simply because people are excited about the new system.

Usually there are two sales, one that starts in March or April and another that starts in the fall.They don't announce the sales until shortly before they start. I need to buy my cabinetry asap because we are refinancing our mortgage and I want to finish the reno before the appraisal, so we'll be buying in early February. However, I called and my IKEA offers 90 day price protection, so once the sale starts I will go back in with the receipt to get a refund for the price difference. Hopefully the new system does not mess up the sale schedule!

I agree that you can do this. You will want a drill and at minimum, a long level. We used several levels of various lengths. Honestly, I'd get a laser level, but I am biased because I just really want one.

Assembly is a breeze, installing is fine, if time-consuming to get everything level. It is the trim/finishing carpentry that takes some doing.

Extra equipment depends on how much customization you plan to do. We customized some cabinets, so I made use of our miter saw, table saw, and a jig saw.