putting cabinets and drawers together

I've started putting cabinets together, starting with the last ones we'll need for the fridge/stove side, and stashing them in the spare bedroom so that the last ones needed are farthest back, and first ones needed will be up front. the cabinets were easy to assemble. the drawers ended up posing a much bigger challenge. the instructions just werent clear enough.

each drawer is assembled differently.

-the top inner/hidden drawer has a different smaller drawer front, so the drawer front screws go in one location.
-the top outer drawer has the same drawer as the inner/hidden drawer, but a normal drawer front. so the screws go in that drawer front in another location.
-the middle drawer is a different drawer from the top and hidden drawers, with the same drawer front as the top/normal drawer. so those screws are again in a different position.
-and the bottom drawer is the same drawer as the middle, same drawer front as the middle and top, but being located on the bottom of the cabinet needs the drawer front screws in a different location.

I had to go on youtube and watch multiple videos to get clarity on how to *follow* the wordless ikea drawer assembly instructions to get each drawer put together correctly. and I decided to follow someones idea to label each drawer with top/middle/bottom sticky notes so I dont screw it up when its time to put the drawer slides on and all the drawers in place in the cabinets. from looking around online, it seems like people dont screw the drawer slides into the cabinets until after the cabinets are in place in the kitchen. which makes sense. tilt the cabinet even slightly and the slides roll out and poke you in the legs or trip you. (this happened when I assembled my ikea bed with drawers. I tripped on drawer slides and got stabbed in the legs multiple times. there was lots of swearing, and I'd like to not do that again.)

so far I've got two base cabinets and 4 drawers (from one cabinet) put together. I'm having a little trouble making room for all these drawers. they dont stack nicely. I think I'm gonna run out of room in the back room. maybe I should have just started on the upper cabinets and left the lowers until later.

I'm also panicking that we should go back to ikea ASAP and get the rest of the kitchen because it'll be too crowded with people trying to squeak out at the last moments of the kitchen sale, and ikea will run out of the kitchen parts I need. because the sale only goes thru Nov 11 and the employees said the later it gets in the sale, the more people come in. but I'm not sure its reasonable to panic about this. on the other hand, its only like two weeks left in the sale, so maybe it is? ah the joys of panic.

I also switched from using a screwdriver to using the drill to put the screws in. its just too hard on my hands, too many screws. but I might need to pick up a new phillips head bit. mine is looking a bit worn down and I dont want to be stripping all these new screws in my cabinets.

first two cabinets


drawers


drawer front and hardware


theres three holes but you only use two of them


which two you use is very important and changes with the different drawers


this is where I needed online help. once it was pointed out I was like 'DOH!' how obvious! but I didnt see it until I had help. the manuals give you two pictures. the first one goes with the instructions that follow directly below. the second picture refers you to a page farther on in the manual. and if the second picture isnt right either, still go to that page referenced. there is often another set of pictures referring you on to another page even farther in the manual.


and on those pages the different screw and hardware locations is very subtle