Time. Also, maybe construction and not expecting to follow IKEA directions. I have 8 total- but purchased frame for sink and above stove from as is

It's ridiculously easy to assemble them...by the time you return and buy Home depot...you will be done.

Put on some music and get going. The doors can go on after they're up, so you're assembling boxes.

Make sure you give everything one extra "Ummmphhh" screw tighten and you're gtg...

I should assemble myself, and have them do doors and drawers, right? At the same rate I was quoted?

What does the contract say? Assembly is different from installation...

Will they assemble for more money? Are they doing other work, other than installing cabinets for you?

[https://www.houzz.com/discussions/cost-of-assembly-for-ikea-cabinets-dsvw-vd~3376745[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/cost-of-assembly-for-ikea-cabinets-dsvw-vd~3376745)

Contract is for demo and install. So, I guess, not assembly. That link was helpful, the quote I have is VERY reasonable given the time it will take. I have a lot of drawers, too.

Well, I guess you can "have them do it", but don't be surprised if they don't have another job to get to, and can't. No assembly would also mean drawers....You can do those, too, later. Or find someone on Craigslist to do it...But then those inexpensive Ikea cabinets end up costing a little more.

Le sigh!! I expected to go home to a new kitchen tonight. Now, I'll go home to empty walls and a mess! I will offer to assemble. If I do go to Home Depot, what do y'all recommend?

Where do you live? See if a dealer in your city or nearby offers J&K cabinetry (imported from Asia). You can usually get them in 1-2 weeks. They should price out about the same as IKEA and come RTA or assembled. The assembly price per cabinet and is not much at all...so worth it...really a no brainer. We started carrying this line a few years ago, skeptical at first, but have been pleasantly surprised at the cost vs value we can give to clients on a lower budget. All doors are solid...even the shaker ones. They are reversed raised panel, SOLID doors! These are MUCH better than off the shelf at Lowes. Even if you have to wait a bit.

Here are a few of the budget kitchen where I used J&K.

Cinnamon Maple

J&K Cinnamon Maple w/ Zodiaq Venetia Cream · More Info

Homeowner Do-It-Yourself job: Shaker White

J&K Do-It-Yourself White Shaker Kitchen · More Info

J&K Budget Kitchen Remodel (Installed) · More Info

Maybe this will help. These guys are in Montreal and install IKEA cabinets. You'll probably have to wait in line but I'd give them a call and see what their timetable is like.

Don't be surprised if the custom cabinets that HD sells take four weeks to deliver. That's the first question you should ask.

My hunch is that the carpenters don't want to do two things:
First, they weren't contracted for and don't want to assemble the IKEA cabs.
Second: The IKEA cabs are frameless and not everyone has the knowledge, skill or experience that it takes to install frameless cabinets square and straight. A faceframe on the front, that the doors are attached to, helps keep the cabinet square during installation. Frameless cabinets don't have that and it's much easier to rack them (meaning push them out of square). Then the doors hang crooked and it looks bad.

I was thinking the same as Carolina. Not all installers are experienced in frameless which is why a lot of the builders here in the Midwest poo-poo them. My installers charge a bit more for frameless and painted cabinets than framed wood stained cabinets.

Carolina have you ever installed an Ikea kitchen? They go on a rail that's attached to the wall...kind of difficult to mess up...

We knew we wanted Ikea cabs and talked to at least 5-6 contractors who immediately said "no way" when we brought up Ikea. I don't know where you are, but try looking on Yelp or Nextdoor (or Craigslist) for Ikea installers. That's what we did, and found a guy who had all 5 star reviews and was very reasonable. We are very handy and could have done the assembly/install ourselves, but paying someone meant it was done in less than 4 days instead of taking several weeks since we could only work on it part time (we have jobs and lives, after all!).

Hubby did put together and hang two 30"x40" Ikea cabinets with glass doors, and I helped him. It was SO. SIMPLE. we *almost* regret paying someone else to do it (but not really- again, it was done very quickly and professionally and allowed us to move on to other things since we're remodeling the whole kitchen and acted as our own GCs). We had 28 cabinets to install so it was a bigger job than we were comfortable with! However since you only have 8 boxes, that seems pretty doable. I'll bet an afternoon in front of HGTV will get all the boxes and drawers finished!

As others have stated, going to a big box store like Home Depot won't get your cabinets in any faster unless you buy the cheap pre-assembled cabinets. Anything nicer is going to mean you have to custom order and that means at least 1-2 weeks of waiting.

I know not having a kitchen is terrible- we've been without for going on 6 weeks now due to the fact that this was an emergency remodel (we had a water leak). But don't rush into cabinets or something you're not sure about, since you'll have to live with it for a long time! Our previous builder grade kitchen lasted 18 yrs!

Good luck!

Find another installer. I have IKEA cabs with custom doors. My carpenter was reluctant to install IKEA but I pushed ahead. He did an adequate job but I don't think gave it his best effort because he used the IKEA-ness as an excuse.

I'm in Maryland, there is a place that carries these JK cabinets, hmmmm

Just a thought ... do you know a handyman that does odd jobs? I hire my handyman for assembling toys or anything else that comes unasembled. I’m a complete idiot when it comes to putting things together!

The guy who did our IKEA kitchen is 80 years old and he had all the boxes built in two days, and everything installed with my husband's help in one day.

I'm not saying that they have to do it (it's not in the contract) or that they have time to do it, but I will say that your crew *could* do the assembly very quickly and easily with the proper financial motivation. Or if they aren't able for whatever reason, this is something you can accomplish. The first few will be the hardest but after that you'll fly.

You will spend more time dinking around at HD trying to figure out finishes, sizes, quality, blah blah blah than you would just building the boxes yourself. I wouldn't bank on an overseas delivery either. It might work out well for you. It might just as easily be a disaster.

We are doing an IKEA kitchen in our suite. Our contractor will not install. We are paying a third party to assemble and install. It is all they do and they do it well. Totally worth it. That said we do have an IKEA vanity in one of the bathrooms and I agree to assemble it and have it on site to be installed by the contractor. While it is easy to put them together it take eons of time if doing by hand without major tools.

Alison, how much are you paying the 3rd party?

If assembly wasn't negotiated or included, it may be a time/money issue. However, their refusal to work with IKEA cabinets may also be due to the contractors not being familiar with or confident in the quality of the products. I'd say, have the conversation- find our WHY they refuse to work with IKEA cabinets- there may be an easy solution

You have unassembled Ikea cabinets on site. The contractors won't install because the contract does not stipulate assembly. You want to go to HD and purchase off the shelves, so the contractors will install........Wow!!!. I assume you would purchase off the shelf because ordering and waiting for them to arrive will take time, thus.....you'd be lucky if these same contractors would come back.

Tip: acquire a posidrive bit for an electric screwdriver. IKEA has them in their little toolkit or you can order from Amazon or try a local hardware store (we did not have luck at HD or Lowes the night we needed one). The IKEA cabinets fit this type of screwdriver much better than a phillips head. We had 25 cabinets to put together for our contractor to install and my husband was "over" the phillips head pretty quickly. Lucky for us, we had new neighbors behind us from France and they had several posidrive bits to save the day last minute.

Pennydesign, in Carolina's defense, frameless cabinets are known as a real pain to install. Many installers reject jobs like that out of hand, not considering if IKEA cabinets would possibly be easier. And if a workman has rejected a project, don't try to talk him into it. If he accepts it half-heartedly, he'll do it half-heartedly and won't want to do any callbacks to adjust the work, if necessary. And if you get these guys to install them, you will need a callback.

I'd call a handyman or a few friends/family members and have a put the cabinets together party! It's Ikea, it's tedious but doable. Starting over with a whole new company when the Ikea cabinets are on-site already, seems counter-productive. Good luck!

Their schedule is already impacted. Don’t expect them to come back. Contractors are very busy right now. And you just came off as a world class flake for not having the product ready to go when they arrived. There’s probably a whole lot more that you don’t know that you don’t know here. You need to put the brakes on and get someone with a clue to go over the scope of work and think this out better. Or you are going to be without a kitchen for 6 months or more.

Hire a KD for s couple of hour consult to make sure that you aren’t omitting something. Like plumbing and electrical. Or support for an overhang.

Yes, Sophie, but that seems to be the tone in most of your posts I've read. When I hired the contractor, I asked him expressly if IKEA cabinets would be ok for him to install. 3 times I confirmed this because of his limited English and he agreed "whatever you want", he sent a team today that was very surprised to find that they were IKEA and Not assembled! I do understand that their time is money and we've already cut into that a bit- mine is also valuable and I'm not realistically gonna assemble cabinets tonight or tomorrow. I will check out the timeline for JK cabinets to be delivered to me AND meet the contractor at Home Depot in the morning to check out those options. Is getting "off the rack" Home Depot cabinets a hard NO from all of you? I'm keeping the same configurations so no plumbing or electrical is necessary

I'd take one email confirmation over 40 "asked him expressleys".

Obviously you are between a rock and a hard place since your kitchen is demo'ed but I can't imagine purchasing kitchen cabinets in one morning from any place - let alone Home Depot.

It makes far more sense to locate someone who will assemble and install the cabinets. There must be a handyman who is able to assemble them and doesn't IKEA have lists of people who do the assembly and/or installation of what they sell.

However, in defense of the contractor, the parties agreed that cabinets would be INSTALLED for a certain price. I would doubt that the contractor realized that he was also bidding on a job requiring assembling cabinets. However, easy and fast it is to assemble a cabinet, it still would take a day I assume to assemble all cabinets necessary for a standard kitchen.

My friend just ordered cabinets from Home Depot and twice the wrong ones were delivered. She is very upset. But off the shelf might be fine. Good luck to you!

I would NEVER buy those HD stock cabinets that are in the store - except for a rental property - but not for my beautiful home.

Aisha you have a decent product. Just buck up and build them yourself or pay someone to. Done. Do not go to Home Depot.

Why don’t you call IKEA and ask them who their official installer is in your area? It could happen fast. If not I’m sure there are other third party contractors in your metro who specialize in IKEA. I know of a couple in my area that I found by googling ikea cabinet installer in my city. I would much rather have IKEA cabinets than Home Deppt ones and installing what you already ordered would be the fastest.

Great idea to call Ikea. They deliver and assemble. They might even know someone to install them if your contractor doesn't want to.

If your guys don't want to do it, find someone who does. I did my moms kitchen and my dad (who is in his 80's) and I installed them. We had never done it before. I can't believe that there is anyone with 2 brain cells that couldn't handle this...So if they are unsure, then maybe they're lacking the extra brain cell that it requires and you should move on to someone else...

Home Depot cabinets are particle board sides back and bottom, particle board drawers, have flimsy hardware and are made in China. Don't buy them for a house that has kids, and I say this mostly because of the drawers. They get the most use, they will fall apart faster than you expect and there's no going out to a home store to get replacement doors. For someone who's got no time to waste, you're sure spending a lot of this trying to convince us and yourself that HD stock cabinets are the way to go, even though you've got IKEA on site.

I can't state the crappiness of HD stock cabinets strongly enough. I doubt they'd hold up under a granite or quartz countertop, either.

Well, most of my time is while I'm at work, online. My last question was because Contractor asked me to go to Home Depot with him and choose the cabinets we did come to an agreement this morning I will assemble the IKEA cabinets and he will install them. I guess the general consensus is that that's probably what our agreement should've been in the first place. I assembled my first cabinet this morning before heading off to work and it was a success I said a few cuss words but it's done and it's beautiful the Maxima era drawers however I'll have to do in a more relaxed state

That's awesome Aisha. You'll just keep getting faster :)

I love that the contractor has time (which you would be paying for no doubt) to go on an excursion to choose and buy cabinets but doesn't have time (which you would be paying for) to put yours together. //shrugs//

Aisha, your contractor was pushing HD stock cabinets for his convenience, not considering that you want a quality kitchen that will last. Be wary of his other suggestions, too, they'll come from the same sense of convenience.

The bottom line is the contractor does not want to assemble the cabinets. Use him for the cabinet install and then say bye...bye. I would not use him for anything else. Good that you've listened to the suggestions on this thread and you're doing it yourself.

I'm glad it is working out with the Ikea cabinets. I bet the installer could but just didn't want to assemble. Fair enough. I've had enough of RTA myself. :-)

He was very honest and clear that once he opened the box(maximera!!) that he felt overwhelmed. It's fine, and I have a 15 year-old son who'll be happy to help me. I will post pics for you all once it's complete. Thank you so very much!!

“Home Depot cabinets are particle board sides back and bottom, particle board drawers, have flimsy hardware and are made in China.“

Substitute “IKEA” and “globally” and that’s true too. But the Lake Woebegone effect on people’s psyche just can’t be explained rationally.

This weekend, I assembled an IKEA bedframe. I had son and his girlfriend helping, went slowly and deliberately, read the instructions carefully, and it still took four hours! I don't blame your contractor one bit! I hope you're having better luck and it's going at a faster pace than my project did.

Don't change the kind of cabinets you want just because your current contractor won't install them. If he is refusing to install them, my best guess is he has no experience in this area but doesn't want to lose the job of installation.

My contractor went to Task Rabbit and hired this sweet retired lady and her nephew to do put the cabinets together so his crew could do the install.

In hindsight I would have used IKEA's recommended installer for the entire process. It took my contractor 2X as long to finish the job and they took some creative shortcuts that are not standard installation procedures.

But in the end it all worked out.

Tosca Necoechea, the Ikea Blum hardware was high on the list of reasons we liked Ikea better than the equivalent RTA cabinets in our price range. The hardware in the RTA cabs we saw was flimsy and didn't feel like it would last, whereas the Ikea hardware was rock solid. We went straight from one RTA showroom to Ikea to compare and the difference in quality was obvious, with the Ikea hardware coming out way ahead.
Another reason we liked Ikea better was the fact that it's NOT made in China. I'd rather have cabs made anywhere but China (which is where almost every RTA cab we looked at came from). IMO having cabinets made in Europe or North America like Ikea cabinets are would be worth extra $$. Luckily, our Ikea cabs were about 10% less than comparable RTA cabinets, even with the cost of professional installation.

I've only had my Ikea kitchen for two years but so far I'm happy with the hardware. There is one door that sags/the soft close hinge is broken but that was our fault; a child tried to close the door (with much force) while the interior drawer was ever so slightly open, and the hinge popped out of the door. But the hinge didn't break, and it was easy as anything to push it back into place. It could probably be adjusted to be properly in line but to be honest it's on the back of the island and I never think about it.

Our kitchen gets a lot of use with our very large family and I was nervous, but it has held up well.