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You say that, but in two previous homes I've purchased, assembled and fitted IKEA kitchens - they were far better quality than other options in the same price r

You say that, but in two previous homes I've purchased, assembled and fitted IKEA kitchens - they were far better quality than other options in the same price range, and even held a candle to ones costing 2x as much. Solid oak for the doors and drawer fronts, good quality hinges and handles - the cabinets themselves were just laminated chipboard, but unless you're spending £££ that's the same for most kitchen suppliers. Recently had a look at property listings, and both homes have been on the market recently, and both still have the kitchen I fitted 10 and 15 years ago, both still looking excellent. As with most brands, they sell cheap throwaway things as well as more expensive, but that means that people who need furniture but would otherwise not be able to afford anything (unless they got everything 2nd hand) can furnish a home.

woolvalley 9y ago
A good chunk of that wooden kitchen stuff that ikea sells is actually a thin layer of wood with an MDF core inside. For example: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70335212/ http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70335212/
- acdha 9y ago
  They sell both but are good about clearly labeling things so you can know what you’re buying. This contrasts with some other manufacturers who bury it more.
jacquesm 9y ago
> Solid oak for the doors and drawer fronts Easily fooled? No way that is solid oak. And for once that's a good thing, solid oak would warp, so you'd have to cross laminate it to counteract this. It's about 95% MDF with some veneer to make it look like wood. Yes it's heavy, but MDF is about as heavy as solid wood would be. The only way to get the kind of fit that makes it possible to assemble an IKEA product is to use what is called 'engineered' materials, a completely natural product would not work at that scale, there is just way too much variance. So even when IKEA does sell stuff that is made of wood throughout it will still be an engineered product. But the doors and drawer fronts of kitchen cabinets are not going to be cost effective that way so instead you get this MDF+surface coating solution, which for that application is ok. The easiest place to verify this is where the hinges embed in the doors and the boreholes for the drawer to frame connection, there you can easily see that it is not solid wood.
- philjohn 9y ago
  It was a four sided frame with an inlay, and you could easily see on the boreholes for the hinges that it was wood rather than MDF.

woolvalley 9y ago

A good chunk of that wooden kitchen stuff that ikea sells is actually a thin layer of wood with an MDF core inside. For example: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70335212/ http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70335212/

acdha 9y ago
They sell both but are good about clearly labeling things so you can know what you’re buying. This contrasts with some other manufacturers who bury it more.

jacquesm 9y ago

> Solid oak for the doors and drawer fronts Easily fooled? No way that is solid oak. And for once that's a good thing, solid oak would warp, so you'd have to cross laminate it to counteract this. It's about 95% MDF with some veneer to make it look like wood. Yes it's heavy, but MDF is about as heavy as solid wood would be. The only way to get the kind of fit that makes it possible to assemble an IKEA product is to use what is called 'engineered' materials, a completely natural product would not work at that scale, there is just way too much variance. So even when IKEA does sell stuff that is made of wood throughout it will still be an engineered product. But the doors and drawer fronts of kitchen cabinets are not going to be cost effective that way so instead you get this MDF+surface coating solution, which for that application is ok. The easiest place to verify this is where the hinges embed in the doors and the boreholes for the drawer to frame connection, there you can easily see that it is not solid wood.

philjohn 9y ago
It was a four sided frame with an inlay, and you could easily see on the boreholes for the hinges that it was wood rather than MDF.