Buying at IKEA by Jeffrey Dach

The Ikea store in Sunrise Florida is so huge is can be overwhelming.
Best way to describe it is culture shock. Everything comes from
Sweden, even the food at the cafeteria. Its very organized and prices
are the low considering the quality. I bought the Norden glass
cabinet.

Although IKEA offers delivery and assembly, I opted to pick up and
assemble on my own. The boxes came out to the loading dock 15 minutes
after I paid at the register. The boxes were large and heavy and I
worried everything would not fit into my small car. Best to use a van
if you plan to buy anything large. However, they have help at the
loading dock and the assistant adjusted the front passenger seat of my
car into a horizontal position and somehow managed to fit everything
in. Once at the destination, it is best to have two people unload.

Assembly: I was impressed and actually amazed at how the parts fit
together so well, and how easy the assembly went. Assembly goes
better with a adjustable speed power rechargable drill/screwdriver.
Also best to have an assortment of hex attachements to fit into your
power screwdriver. These are available at the hardware store or home
depot. A power tool is better than the hex wrench that comes with
the Ikea Kit which is small and hard on the hands.

Once assembled, I discovered there were only three glass shelves and I
really needed a fourth shelf for my design. Called Ikea for
assistance, and they really don't have an extra shelf unless someone
returns a unit and spare parts are lying around at the store. The
local store didn't have any extra glass shelves either. I ended up
going to Home Depot and having a pieve of all-purpose shelf board cut
to size and used that. Also used small dowel fragments for the shelf
pins.

Final words: Although I noticed that some others have had trouble or
bad experiences with IKEA, I found the experience to be a positive
one. Its a plus if you like to assemble things. I was quite pleased
with the final appearance and functionality of the glass cabinet. It
is actually quite elegant. There are optional lighting kits available
that makes it even better. These lights go in the top and shine
through the glass shelves I did not install this to avoid the extra
heat generated by lights.

IKEA NORDEN Glass-door cabinet Designer: Mikael Warnhammar IKEA
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20116877

Disclosu Note that I have no financial interest or relationship
with IKEA.

posted by Jeffrey Dach