4 ms·

Entirely agree. I've assembled loads of IKEA furniture over the years and have only rarely had quality issues. IKEA uses a lot more solid wood these days than

Entirely agree. I've assembled loads of IKEA furniture over the years and have only rarely had quality issues. IKEA uses a lot more solid wood these days than compressed particle board, and is thus not bad. The only issue I've seen (which IKEA has attempted to remedy in its more recent iterations) is that the bottoms of some of the drawers in a chest of drawers will "bow" down under load. I've had mass-produced furniture from major brands known for quality, I've had hand-made wood furniture from NC, I've had big-box store self-assembled furniture and I've had IKEA furniture. Hand-made furniture can't be beat, but IKEA really is second best in my experience.

mauvehaus 6y ago
I build furniture professionally, and I agree. IKEA stuff has been engineered to within an inch of its life to hold up for a reasonable length of time while being made of the lightest possible materials. A lot of other factory made furniture is built starting from some vestige of traditional joinery, and then cheapened until it hits a price point. The construction is appalling. I don't expect mortise and tenon face frames, but pocket screws would be a much better solution than a couple of pneumatic nails, which do nothing to stabilize the case and can't be driven back in when they pull out under racking forces. At that point, the whole frame has to come off, and since the rest of the piece is as cheaply built, it's anybody's guess whether it'll hold together long enough to put the face frame back on. The thinness of veneers on the tops of things that look like solid wood is a crime too. Most pros do the bulk of their stripping chemically, which doesn't risk damaging the veneer, but you usually have to do at least a little sanding, and it doesn't take much to find out what lies beneath. The result is that you can refinish a piece once. Just like in software (which was my first career), doing repair/maintenance can be a real eye-opener. If you like the look of IKEA, it's generally a good compromise between cost and durability. EDIT: I should probably add that, in fairness, IKEA stuff , at least the particleboard or honeycomb cardboard stuff, is completely unrefinishable. I haven't seen any of their solid wood stuff come in for repair, but I'd take my chances on that if somebody wanted to pay me to.
crazygringo 6y ago
> IKEA uses a lot more solid wood these days than compressed particle board, and is thus not bad. I don't know what you're talking about... all the "classic" IKEA items like the BILLY bookshelf, the KALLAX (now EXPEDIT) shelves, the LACK table, the MALM chests... they're all particle board and, yes, bad quality. (Which is OK since they're cheap, that's the whole point.) Yes you've always also been able to buy solid wood stuff, like certain tables and chairs or more expensive items, but that stuff isn't replacing the classic particle-board pieces. It's not like IKEA's been moving to higher-quality stuff on the whole.
- QuercusMax 6y ago
  I think you got that backwards - it used to be EXPEDIT, but now it's KALLAX. (Source: I just bought a whole bunch of cube-shelving from IKEA - Kallax is all over, but Expedit is nowhere to be found.)
- barumi 6y ago
  > (...) they're all particle board and, yes, bad quality. That's not true. The Billy line is a mix of particleboard and a MDF backboard/diaphragm, but the Kalax/Lack lines are composite panels built from fiberboard, plywood, and a cardboard cell core. And they are superb, specially given their price and also weight.

mauvehaus 6y ago

I build furniture professionally, and I agree. IKEA stuff has been engineered to within an inch of its life to hold up for a reasonable length of time while being made of the lightest possible materials. A lot of other factory made furniture is built starting from some vestige of traditional joinery, and then cheapened until it hits a price point. The construction is appalling. I don't expect mortise and tenon face frames, but pocket screws would be a much better solution than a couple of pneumatic nails, which do nothing to stabilize the case and can't be driven back in when they pull out under racking forces. At that point, the whole frame has to come off, and since the rest of the piece is as cheaply built, it's anybody's guess whether it'll hold together long enough to put the face frame back on. The thinness of veneers on the tops of things that look like solid wood is a crime too. Most pros do the bulk of their stripping chemically, which doesn't risk damaging the veneer, but you usually have to do at least a little sanding, and it doesn't take much to find out what lies beneath. The result is that you can refinish a piece once. Just like in software (which was my first career), doing repair/maintenance can be a real eye-opener. If you like the look of IKEA, it's generally a good compromise between cost and durability. EDIT: I should probably add that, in fairness, IKEA stuff , at least the particleboard or honeycomb cardboard stuff, is completely unrefinishable. I haven't seen any of their solid wood stuff come in for repair, but I'd take my chances on that if somebody wanted to pay me to.

crazygringo 6y ago

> IKEA uses a lot more solid wood these days than compressed particle board, and is thus not bad. I don't know what you're talking about... all the "classic" IKEA items like the BILLY bookshelf, the KALLAX (now EXPEDIT) shelves, the LACK table, the MALM chests... they're all particle board and, yes, bad quality. (Which is OK since they're cheap, that's the whole point.) Yes you've always also been able to buy solid wood stuff, like certain tables and chairs or more expensive items, but that stuff isn't replacing the classic particle-board pieces. It's not like IKEA's been moving to higher-quality stuff on the whole.

QuercusMax 6y ago
I think you got that backwards - it used to be EXPEDIT, but now it's KALLAX. (Source: I just bought a whole bunch of cube-shelving from IKEA - Kallax is all over, but Expedit is nowhere to be found.)
barumi 6y ago
> (...) they're all particle board and, yes, bad quality. That's not true. The Billy line is a mix of particleboard and a MDF backboard/diaphragm, but the Kalax/Lack lines are composite panels built from fiberboard, plywood, and a cardboard cell core. And they are superb, specially given their price and also weight.