Eh I don't think too much about it since they are having people come through by the thousands a day. Yeah the work looks sloppy, but in reality 99% of the buyers aren't there checking out the craftsmanship of the counters. They are there to look at the cabinets for a half hour and walk out with a purchased set of cabinets. It's not like their installer of counter is going to be the fabricator for the counters in the buyers home.

I understand what you're saying about it being the chance to show off to the 9s but really most Ikea buyers won't be too concerned about this type of thing. I think this in a display is probably pretty normal since they may be ripping these things out every couple months. Why would they spend 2 grand+ on counters when they can get a company to sell them the already cut up stuff just to fit their display. Plop it in, sell some cabinets, and change it up again in another few months.

I think you've got a big case of TKO :P

"It's not like their installer of counter is going to be the fabricator for the counters in the buyers home."

Ummâ¦yeah it is. At least if they buy the countertops from IKEA.

The problem is, I'll bet IKEA demands free displays from vendors. They can because the contract for their work is that valuable. The vendor is doing something for nothing and it shows. Neither realizes the damage they're doing to my industry.

Not too good! Next time I go to our IKEA in Austin, I'm going to ck them out. It'll be interesting to see if you just noticed them because that's what you do, or if this is how they all are.
By the way, precious grand niece!

"...if you just noticed them because that's what you doâ¦"

In another lifetime, I was in the retail store fixture business, so yeah, this stuff drives me crazy. My wife wasn't too embarrassed this time; there weren't many people around while I took pictures.

It just says how good you are at what you do. I wish you were in the Austin area so I could use you when I get to that stage. I see so many botched jobs on here that it scares me to trust anyone. I'm dealing w/ buckling wood floors right now after choosing the guy that someone referred to me & was the most expensive. Thinking I was getting the right person & now I'm going to have to have to redo some of it, probably to the tune of another $1000! Keep doing what you do & make people happy!! If you need a write off vacation to Austin, I'll let you know when I get to my countertops!!

Maybe the display is fair warning about buying IKEA countertops.

I wonder if a bad seam in the store sets the bar low so that their visible seam at home looks great by comparison.

I think if most people are not comparing to "invisible" or nearly so, they will be happy if their result looks better than it does in the store. It's a way of influencing expectations.

I wonder if their marketing is that sophisticated. Rather, the more obvious conclusion would be for me that I sure don't want their fabricator, i.e. wouldn't buy the counters from IKEA.

> think if most people are not comparing to "invisible" or nearly so, they will be happy if their result looks better than it does in the store. It's a way of influencing expectations.

Nah, there are many, many complaints about countertop installations from both this store and the one in Orlando. Don't know if they both use the same firm.

EDIT But I'd have to ask what's wrong with people who see that and then buy the counters there anyway.

This post was edited by writersblock on Thu, Aug 7, 14 at 11:34

I probably wouldn't have know how good a seam can be without this site. But, if people are shopping for countertops, they certainly might find the poor seams at Ikea off-putting compared to another retailer's display, and might not be able to say just why it was that Ikea's counters looked "cheap" (when it is the same material).

When my granite was installed, from a well recommended fabricator, the seam was very obvious, not color matched and pretty wide. Day of installation I asked him if that couldn't be done better & he said no!

Thanks to Treb and OldRyder I had the information to get him to make it better.