Here it is: If you’re going to build an Ikea kitchen, you should probably buy yourself a pozidriv screwdriver and associated driver bits.

And the reason is that all(?) of the screws and associated hardware in the Ikea kitchen cabinets are Pozidriv. (Here is the Wikipedia entry on Pozidriv) These next two photos show an assortment of fasteners that came with my cabinets, as well as a tight closup, showing the Pozidriv heads on the fasteners.

My cabinets are made in the USA (I live in Canada), so I am reasonably sure that they're the same across North America. I also have heard from a few people in Europe that they use Pozidriv there as well on their cabinets. However, Pozidrive is, as far as I know, much more common in Europre, so this article is more aimed at those in Canada and the US.

At the time of writing, Mid February 2019, I’m just about finished with all the cabinets in our custom ikea kitchen. Our kitchen is a galley, and so I tackled the project in two halves. I built the first half of this kitchen just using a regular philips drive screwdriver and driver-bit to assemble the cabinets.

I then took a break before starting on the other half of the kitchen. During that break, I ordered for myself an actual Pozidriv bit and an actual pozdriv screwdriver from Amazon. I was mostly just curious to see if it would make a noticeable difference, so I thought I’d give them a try. So, I then used that bit and screwdriver while assembling all the cabinets for the second half of our kitchen.

And yes, it makes a noticeable difference. The bit really locks into the screw, and holds very well. I experienced very little "cam-out". Sure a Robertson would be better, but I know that’s not going to happen. They’re not mandatory -- I mean the philips bit did work, but these Pozidrive bits just worked a lot better, Which is why I’m recommending them.

If you watch the accompanying youtube video at the top of the article you will see that I included a moment when the Pozidriv driver skipped (cammed out) during use. It's not perfect, but it was a lot better than using a regular philips screwdriver. (I can even make a Robertson/square-drive cam out in certain situations.)

Here are the two that I bought. On the right is a Wera PZ2 screwdriver, and on the left is an 89mm Wera driver bit (in one of my drivers). It mostly looks like a philips bit, but when you look closely you can see the extra teeth (for lack of a better word) that there are

One thing to keep in mind is that you definitely want a long driver bit, and not a short stubby one. This tip is 89mm long, which is about 3-1/2”. You want the longer bit, because the drawer hardware has some really tight spaces that you need to fit the bit into. Trust me, it just will make life a lot easier to get a long driver bit.

Another tip to make life easier is to make sure you magnetize the bit. If you’re fortunate, you can find one that is already magnetized. Mine wasn’t, but it is so easy to do. It takes like 15-20 seconds to just take the tip and run it several times over a magnet and then it will be magnetized.

It’s not exactly going to be a super strong magnetic tip, but it will be enough to pick up a screw and help keep it in place when you’re using it.