Hellobee Boards

We literally are doing our kitchen right now. A few things we've had to change on the fly. Ensure you know the clearances for difference cabinets (we did pull out garbage under the sink and had to get the plumbing moved back further for it to fit.). We also switched some cabinets around last minute to fit the fridge away from the wall. The finishing panels make a HUGE difference as does the trim. We bought a spare door from ikea to take when picking samples for tile/counters etc.

You need to know your appliances in advance so they should be picked early in process or you might be left with very few options of things that fit. I made about 6-7 different layout options in the ikea software before I narrowed it down to our final plan. Also consider the drawer depths, measure your pots/pans/appliances to see what will fit best where.

We got a pro ikea installer to put ours in (i'm pregnant with a fractured foot) and they did it in two days and it looks WAY better than if we did it.

Ours was part of a larger reno (taking down walls, moving plumbing/electrical etc.) so the cost of the ikea stuff was minimal compared to the rest.

We did ours a year ago. If I could start again, I wouldn't put the dishwasher by the back door - the dishwasher door opens out across the back door so I can't empty it while E plays outside (I have to shut the dishwasher every time she wants to come in OVER AND OVER). I would also install under floor heating - it's so cold in there.

@Foodnerd81: Such a good idea!

I tried putting those plastic things you put on the backs of frames to keep them from scratching walls on our cabinet doors because DH is NOT capable of closing one without slamming it!

I opted to do a breakfast nook instead of bar seating at my island - majorly regret that.. I wish I would have done a space for built in desk / office space where the nook is, and had counter seating.

I also got REALLY nice nickel hardware, and an VERY nice faucet.. I could have saved a LOT of $$$ and put that towards something else - the hardware is all baby proofed up (on the corners) and there are tons of more affordable faucets on the market.

I also wish I would have figured out how to do a walk in pantry. And I wanted an induction stove, but ended up going gas - ugh! Induction would be so worth if for the ease of the clean up.

We just did a diy IKEA kitchen. We have a small kitchen so it wasn't too bad. It became more indepth during the process which we knew could happen but didn't prepare properly for. Have a plumber and an electrician picked out incase you need them. We had neither picked and needed them. If you are changing anything like a sink or a light make sure you think it thru all the way. We went from a 2 basin sink to 1 and had to have the plumbing redone to accommodate that. Which included having to break into our cinder block wall to change more plumbing since no plumber would touch the job unless the original pipes were replaced. And since the sink it deeper the pipes hang lower and the pull out garbage under the sink had to be nixed.
We removed a ceiling fan and wanted to replace the old florecent light above the sink. It was not anywhere near as simple as we had thought. turned into an issue that we need an electrician for.
Definitely get the soft close drawers. We had bought all the under cabinet lighting but our kitchen is so small it doesn't really make sense. So we returned it all.
If you are getting appliances make sure to pick them out first as others have said.
Know that it will take longer than you think! Demo took 1 day. Then replacing the drywall and putting the cabinets together and getting them hung took another 3 days. Then it was another 3 weeks before we got the counters installed and then finally the sink and water!
Definitely finish it! We still have to paint and do the backsplash close to 6 months later.

@atoz: Thank you for starting this thread. I have a design appointment at Ikea in a few days, but we've been too sick to bother. This is very helpful!