Ikea kitchen planners can help you design a kitchen in 3D and choose your cabinet, counter, hardware…all the materials for your shiny new modern kitchen.

You can also pay for an Ikea kitchen designer to come to your house (now $79) to make sure all of your kitchen measurements are accurate.

The Ikea kitchen I was so excited to have replace my old kitchen was perfect except for that one thing. Rather than being a fun $10 or $15K adventure, by the time the general contractor rattled off all of the changes I would need to make to the kitchen, it would be more, say, in the $60K range.

Originally I thought a “tasker” from Task Rabbit or handy person could assemble my Ikea cabinets.

What didn’t come up in my Ikea kitchen planning

Was I in denial? Of course there would be new plumbing, electrical, demolition, drywall work…and a lot more.

What didn’t come up in the hours I spent having people online validate my kitchen design and design it in person were the questions of BUILDING CODE. Most old houses that have not had a total renovation do not comply with current building code, in some ways at least.

The might even be issues that don’t even seem obvious. After all, 100 years ago the Nanny State did not exist. Building was more Wild West although after 1906 of course there were more controls in place.

Doh.

Hopefully this post will save you from clicking ADD TO CART and buying that new Ikea or GraniteExpo kitchen before you have a licensed contractor look at your house.

Chances are you’ll want new electrical outlets and maybe a garbage disposal or dishwasher added.

The effort you put into managing all of the specialists yourself — and potential for errors — is just not worth it when you’re investing tens of thousands of dollars.

Tell me about your remodeling plans and dreams! And ask for connections to Oakland kitchen renovation contractors.