9 Secrets IKEA Insiders Want You to Know About the Kitchen Sale
Updated: Jan. 13, 2023
Here's how to get even bigger savings from the IKEA kitchen sale—and make it almost never-ending.
The IKEA kitchen sales event happens three to four times a year and runs for about six weeks. The discount can mean 15-20 percent off a kitchen purchase of $2,000 or more and applies to cabinets, appliances, countertops, lighting, and even drawer and pantry organizers—anything you need to design a new kitchen. All of this can translate into big savings, so we hit up IKEA insiders for their little known kitchen-sale secrets. Here’s how you can squeeze even bigger bucks out of the event—plus a trick to lock in your discount before (or even after!) a sale has ended.
You’ll need an IKEA Family card
To be eligible for the kitchen event discount, you’ll need to join the IKEA Family loyalty program. Bonus: IKEA Family members can pick up a free cup of coffee or tea anytime they shop. And if you’re gearing up for the big kitchen sale, you’re going to need all the extra energy you can get. Here are 17 more perks IKEA employees might not tell you.
Break up your order to create a discount card cascade
The IKEA kitchen sale discount comes in the form of a gift card. That’s sometimes disappointing to those who wish they’d just take it off the total you pay. Insiders suggest breaking up your order into several parts, and using the gift card from the first to apply to the next, and so on and so on. For example, someone with a $20,000 kitchen renovation may want to order their cabinets first and use the gift card from that to order their countertops and use that gift card to order their in-cabinet organizers, etc. Insiders confirm that when purchasing in-store, you get the gift card on the spot, so you can make all three transactions one after the other—no need for repeat visits. You can also combine all orders into one delivery, if you want delivery service.
Take advantage of free delivery
The current sale includes free delivery—and you should take IKEA up on it. Not only will IKEA do the inventorying and counting for you, but should your order arrive with missing pieces, they’ll get them to you at no extra cost.
Reserve your energy for putting all those cabinets together—you’re going to need it.
Buy now, accept delivery later
Insiders remind us you can schedule a delivery out 30 days. So if “demo day” isn’t until May, kitchen shoppers can place an order before the sale ends in April and have it delivered by the time they’re ready for it.
Note: Before you go, double check that the store nearest you is actually the one that delivers to your zip code. In towns that border two regions, for example, it’s not a given that the store closest is the one that delivers for free.
Avoid the crowds by ordering online
Once your kitchen design is finalized in the planner tool, you don’t actually need to visit a store to place your order. You can order online.
Fair warning: You will be required to place every single item in your online cart. So if you’re planning to go this route, you probably want to have visited the store ahead of time and met with a kitchen associate who looked over your design to make sure you didn’t leave out any fillers, end panels, or FIXA support rails—which are easy to overlook in the planner tool. If you plan well enough in advance and get your ducks in a row, you can absolutely avoid the crowds during sale time.
If you’re ordering online and having items shipped, be aware that the gift card will be mailed to you within 7-10 days. So if you are one of the savvy insiders, hoping to create a discount card cascade, this option may not be for you.
Check out gift card exchanges
Sites like Card Pool, Card Cash, and Raise facilitate the buying, selling, and trading of store gift cards, often at a nice discount. Trade those holiday gift cards you still haven’t used for some IKEA cards, and use them at the time of purchase for extra savings.
Get the discount ahead of the sale
The IKEA Kitchen Events happen three to four times a year, at fairly predictable intervals. Quiz your kitchen associates and they’ll often be able to tell you when the next sale starts. If you have a Family card, IKEA will honor a past sale up to 90 days after. This means you can actually make your entire kitchen purchase ahead of the sale, avoid the crowds, avoid out-of-stock issues that can arise at sales times, and come back for your discount at sale time. By then you’ll likely have discovered a few more things you need.
Get the discount past the sale
If the sale window is closing, but you’re not ready to pull the trigger on your renovation yet, don’t worry. Insiders have a trick that can extend a sale deadline. Just order a planning session ($109, plus tax). This will allow you to lock in the sale discount by committing to two future appointments—one for measurements and another for in-store planning. You will then have 30 days past the in-store planning meeting to place your order. Even better, the fee will be reimbursed in the form of a gift card upon purchase. Whether you need design help or not, this seems like a great way to lock in the discount.
Ask for post-sale discounts
If you bought your kitchen during a previous sale a while ago, but key items were back-ordered and you didn’t get to it in time and now another sale has started, IKEA will sometimes still give you the discount. It never hurts to ask.
Next, don’t miss these design ideas that will make your kitchen look expensive.
