My house is FULL of Ikea stuff. I must have an easy 6 grand of their furniture/stuff throughout my house. We just put an Ikea island in the kitchen and we get a ton of compliments on it.
I mean, the quality is nothing spectacular, but the design is great and it serves its purpose. Just don't look at it as a 20 year investment and you'll be fine.
I plan on doing the kitchen in their stuff. Like others have said, you get what you pay for. The low end stuff is functional and will probably last long enough that you cant complain when it falls apart, and their high end stuff is usually a pretty good value compared to similarly priced items elsewhere
J-man- If you want a preview before driving to Charlotte, swing by the house for a beer and a look at the Ikea furniture we have on hand. We have some bookcases (Billy) that were bought in Europe and have been through one move across the ocean and two moves across the country. We also have a decent collection of other Ikea stuff. As a rule, solid wood or metal is better than p-board, but it holds up pretty well.
Take care, S-2
I've had a lot of experience with IKEA furniture. My wisdom basically boils down to this:
1) Skip the stuff made with MDF. You'll be tossing it in two years. 2) The stuff actually made of wood is awesome.
Oh, and if you just Google "[the name of the IKEA piece you're interested in] + quality," you're bound to find a shelter blog with a huge dialogue about it (and the ethics of buying knockoffs, the art of not making your place look like an IKEA showroom, blah blah blah).
The only things I've had trouble with are drawers. Even in the solid wood pieces, they tend to use thin masonite for the drawer bottoms, and one the back or side rail creeps even a little out of shape, the masonite is no longer tight in its groove because there is minimal if any tolerance. Then the bottoms drop out.
It's nothing that's not fixable with some ingenuity, but it is a trouble spot.
Perfect timing on this thread. I am thinking about getting a couple pieces that I wasn't able to find at furniture cosignment stores for my appartment.
You guys are obviously gearheads.
The answer to your question is simple. No, IKEA furniture is NOT any good. It's junk. No point in any further discussion.
Anyone who knows anything about furniture construction knows this. I am a quality inspector for high end cabinet and furniture work, so I am quite knowledgeable on the subject.
Having said that, I just finished assembling a room full of IKEA furniture in my own house.
You get what you pay for, and I am as cheap as the rest of you.
The good: Cold press laminating process bonds laminates very well. Incredibly good design- No waste, excellent packing, no overdesign. You won't find an extra screw, a metal piece if a plastic one will suffice, or a spare hole drilled where you are unlikely to use it. Simplicity at it's finest.
The bad: Particle cores are loaded with formaldehyde, floor contact points are not water resistant, cam locks are plastic junk. Cardboard backs don't add sufficient strength. Don't plan on moving this stuff through 3 houses or leaving it for your grandkids.
How to make it better: The instructions don't tell you this, but you will increase the strength of each unit by 3 times if you glue the joints. Use a good wood glue, coat both ends of the dowels. Better if you also glue the butt ends of the particle pieces (expect a bit of cleanup). Best if you also glue the cardboard back on (more cleanup). A sealer on the bottom edges will prevent moisture from wicking up. USE THE BRACKET they give you to anchor tall units to the wall. Don't throw it away. Make sure you hit a stud with the screws for the bracket.
They are servicable. They look good. The cost is reasonable. But let's not kid ourselves.
SVreX wrote: You guys are obviously gearheads. ... cam locks are plastic junk.
Actually, unless they've changed them recently, the cam locks have always been metal. Pot metal, but metal nevertheless and strong enough (tighten periodically). It does sound like you just finished putting some together, so that makes me concerned.
Of course, the nice thing is that you could probably fit an entire room in a Yugo if you tried....
Yep. Like I said- I just finished putting a whole room of stuff together. The wonderful pot metal cams have been upgraded to plastic.
...but you ARE right about the Yugo!
Sarah Young wrote: I've had a lot of experience with IKEA furniture. My wisdom basically boils down to this: 1) Skip the stuff made with MDF. You'll be tossing it in two years. 2) The stuff actually made of wood is awesome.
Well now I finally know what it takes to get Sarah to post on the board.
jg
I beg to differ on one point, you CAN NOT put a room full of IKEA furniture in a Yugo.I bought my first IKEA stuff years ago and brought it home in a Mazda GLC. The springs don't like all that MDF!
Our tiny house is slowly turning into an Ikea store display. We just put in a Besta TV cabinet setup. Works great. To me Ikea is Swedish Walmart. Lots of cheap stuff but some things are brilliant, especially if you need to maximize your space. It is also great for hacking stuff together. I bought a $26 kitchen cabinet and cut it in half to fill in a gap between our dishwasher and the oven. As mentioned already it isn't heirloom quality but it is functional. And if you are creative then the As-Is area is gold. Also, sometimes they firesale old items for dirt cheap. The Atlanta store is selling kitchen cabinet doors for $5 each if you buy the orange or yellow color. A coat of paint will fit that easily and you can save huge $ on a kitchen remodel doing stuff like that.
for some bizarre reason.. I enjoy going to Ikea in my saab.. it just seems right
mad_machine wrote: for some bizarre reason.. I enjoy going to Ikea in my Volvo.. it just seems right
Fixed that for you.
We just bought a bunch of toddler toys there on the cheap. The boy seems to love them.
Haven't really bought any of their furniture yet but I sure will after we get a new place. I'm too cheap not to.
It's funny, this thread prompted me to look at Ikea.com for a linen cabinet that the wife's been pestering me to get. I saw one made of real wood for a good price. The nearest store is a couple hours away and in a foreign country (Canada - ok, the 53rd state, whatever) and I'd take my Volvo to go get it. Just need to get the wife and kids the proper travel documents to get them into and out of Canada first.
Duke wrote: The only things I've had trouble with are drawers. Even in the solid wood pieces, they tend to use thin masonite for the drawer bottoms, and one the back or side rail creeps even a little out of shape, the masonite is no longer tight in its groove because there is minimal if any tolerance. Then the bottoms drop out. It's nothing that's not fixable with some ingenuity, but it is a trouble spot.
J-Man, I have the MALM dresser and can testify to its strength and durability.
Basically, think of it as going to Wal-Mart and buying one of their nicer pieces, except it actually looks good. You will pay about the same amount, get about the same durability (Duke's comment is right on, if you load the drawers up heavily).
FWIW, I bought mine as a floor model five years ago. It's still in one piece, still works, and once I glued the drawers together I didn't have problems with the drawer bottoms dropping out anymore.
The veneer finish is not the most durable, but it's better than the Wal-Mart stuff.
S2 wrote:SVreX wrote: You guys are obviously gearheads. ... cam locks are plastic junk.Actually, unless they've changed them recently, the cam locks have always been metal. Pot metal, but metal nevertheless and strong enough (tighten periodically). It does sound like you just finished putting some together, so that makes me concerned.
I just finished assembling a bunch of Billy bookshelves (glued, anchored to the wall, etc) and most of them had metal cams. However, one particular model had plastic.
The nearest Ikea store is 5 hours from here. I've made a couple of very heavily loaded trips in the past But even then, I've found I can get better furniture for a lower price - with shipping! - than I can buy locally.
My house has a lot of Ikea parts. Not much of the super-cheap (Billy bookshelves notwithstanding), but their quality stuff. Our dining room table is a solid slab of wood that is going to last a long, long time. I have wall units that have been transported thousands of miles and reconfigured several different ways over the past 12 years or so, and they're still looking good even after 6 years of being furniture in a rental house. My Ikea leather couch is the same - 6 years of rental house use plus lots of general rambunctiousness, and it's like new. The shelves in my garage started life in my student house in the early 90's and are now holding Cadillac 429 heads.
I agree that the As Is section is fantastic, I used to check that every few days when I lived near a store. And I've done a few modifications to a few of my pieces over the years...
funny... last time I was in an ikea store.. the As Is section was about empty.. unless you wanted cabinent doors
I agree with what Keith and SVRex have said.
I used to have a ton if IKEA stuff in my house and it was cheap and looked good. I've since moved three times, and there isn't much left. If I'd have stayed in one spot, I don't doubt that everything would still be good as new.
zomby woof wrote: We have had these chairs for 10 years, and they're like new.
I have two of these, and absolutely LOVE them.
Got an entertainment center from them in ~1993. First thing moved into the new house; all the 1" thick MDF filled my 84 Accord hatch pretty well. It lasted great (we have decommissioned it from the main room, but the component parts are still used for storage even now). Went through 1 house move (full disassembly of the big units) and a few 'within the room' moves for painting and such.
Only weak point was the drawers/slides and the backing board behind the TV space. a decade+ of kids eventually took those out.
gamby wrote: I mean, the quality is nothing spectacular, but the design is great and it serves its purpose. Just don't look at it as a 20 year investment and you'll be fine.
The only piece of Ikea that I have is 20 years old. It's a stereo rack that has four adjustable shelves for components. The top is a convenient height for a turntable, and the bottom is great for storing vinyl albums. The sides are HEAVY gauge perforated steel, and the laminated particle board shelves have held up beautifully. The whole thing is finished in black, and I don't think there's a scratch on it. The thing has been moved at least four times and even the casters still work as new. I still use it in my upstairs study next to my computer to hold an old Sony 100-watt receiver and associated peripherals. The floor standing speakers with 12-inch woofers make a dandy set of computer speakers, especially for gaming.
I've had a few particle board bookcases that I think came from Ikea, and yeah, they fell apart. I probably haven't been in an Ikea since I bought the stereo rack, but I'd say some of their stuff at least, is worth a look.
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