46 ms·

IKEA Redesigns Its Bestsellers

187 points by jbredeche 3y ago

diebeforei485 3y ago
The only ikea item we managed to break (actually, bend) was a midbeam (SKORVA). I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did! It broke in the third apartment, so it survived two moves. And it was just $15 to replace.
haspoken 3y ago
https://archive.is/YQiDs https://archive.is/YQiDs
Simulacra 3y ago
It's remarkable what they've done with cardboard and veneer to make everything.
leros 3y ago
This doesn't seem like a bad thing. Many people treat Ikea furniture as disposable and this seems more environmentally friendly. If people are happy with a cardboard coffee table, seems like a win.
- tivert 3y ago
  > This doesn't seem like a bad thing. Many people treat Ikea furniture as disposable and this seems more environmentally friendly. If people are happy with a cardboard coffee table, seems like a win. Disposable furniture is the antithesis of "environmentally friendly." > If people are happy with a cardboard coffee table, seems like a win. I had one once, and I was not happy with it (a Lack). It literally disintegrated after about a year. People often push against a coffee table when sitting on a sofa, and it was not designed for those forces and came apart at the seams.
  - netrus 3y ago
    I have several Lacks at my place that are >15 years old. When I ever get sick of them, I will put them on eBay for a free pickup, and within an hour a student will show up and be happy with the free coffee table that they can use in their student apartment for some more years. Dinner tables used to be made from solid wood and were pretty much indestructible. But how many families dine on a >100 year old table? Most indestructible furniture will get discarded as well at some point (well before they are actually broken beyond repair), because its out of style, has the wrong measures, is too heavy ...
    - oblio 3y ago
      More than that, you can probably fix the Lack. Just get some cheap metal brackets and attach them to the underside of the table and the legs. Especially if you have a white Lack, you can paint the bracket and screws white and the table will still look nice. And this would make it, dunno, $40 for the table and $5 for the screws and brackets.
  - JAlexoid 3y ago
    What did you do to it?!?!?! Lacks are notoriously sturdy for their "cardboardness". People literally turn their Lacks into server racks, they're that sturdy.
    - tivert 3y ago
      > What did you do to it?!?!?! I put my feet up against it. > Lacks are notoriously sturdy for their "cardboardness". People literally turn their Lacks into server racks, they're that sturdy. I'd believe that, but a server on top of it wouldn't put any lateral forces on it. My experience is it can't stand lateral forces.
- benj111 3y ago
  ill defend ikea as somewhat environmentally friendly, as they sell the same items for years, so instead of having to buy a new crockery set when too many dining plates are broken, or a whole a new set of shelves because you just need one more, you can add to what you already have. disposible furniture isnt environmentally friendly though. if you want a cheap item of furniture for short term use, get one second hand. Having said this, I got my first Billy bookcase 15 years ago, it's still going strong with the more recent additions. So they don't have to be disposable items.
  - Brendinooo 3y ago
    My gripe with IKEA in this regard is: yes, they'll keep the same product lines, but they change up the product finishes enough to matter. I had a PAX unit in Beech Veneer which, once they got rid of, I could no longer extend. Also did my kitchen with them and they got rid of the finish I picked shortly after, which meant that I couldn't replace panels like I thought I might have been able to. Could still get accessories for the inside of this stuff though, which definitely isn't nothing.
    - JAlexoid 3y ago
      > Also did my kitchen with them and they got rid of the finish I picked shortly after, which meant that I couldn't replace panels like I thought I might have been able to. IKEA kitchens are actually one of the best things they sell. Their hardware lasts decades and finishes are very sturdy
  - oblio 3y ago
    I think if you take care of Ikea and you're not super unlucky or move very frequently, Ikea furniture for sure can last several decades. And at that point... how much furniture do you really need? Does it really need to follow you to your grave?
- sct202 3y ago
  I agree especially when people seem to throw away solid wood furniture all the time near me because it's too heavy or cumbersome to move or even the wrong color. There's a shop that refurbishes old wood furniture and it seems like the main thing they do is paint it white, blue, or black.
- pcurve 3y ago
  I hope they keep the original ones though... e.g. (Billy Classic). Wish I had never sold the Jerker desk from 20 years ago. It was built like a tank.
  - dbg31415 3y ago
    I just came here to say this! (=
  - watmough 3y ago
    Yeah, hanging onto mine! Awesome desk. They used to crop up on craigslist occasionally for $100-$200. not checked in a while.
  - 29083011397778 3y ago
    > I hope they keep the original ones though TFA states that the white Billy was already built the "new" way. It's only the mock-woodgrain one that's changing to catch up.
  - pragmatick 3y ago
    They already changed the Billy at some point. My mother has a really old one (80s or 90s, I think) and we bought doors for it and they wouldn't fit. Turns out the "new" Billys are 2cm or so wider. We could install the doors but there would be a 2cm gap in the middle. Tried it with a Billy bought later and it fit.
bell-cot 3y ago
And here I was thinking to buy some more bookshelves, and assuming that another Ikea Billy set would be good enough for my den.
- el_don_almighty 3y ago
  Our Billy shelves are 15 years old and I would not consider them disposable, poorly designed, or fabricated from low-quality materials. Frankly, they have been an excellent investment. The same goes for the couches our kids jumped on for years. I suspect this comes from having been assembled by an engineer and not the average [insert mechanically unqualified archetype here for flamewar]. For decorating reasons that I cannot explain, I periodically disassemble some pieces and store them for future reintroduction after painting or some other visual adjustments without issue, keeping in mind that all those little metal bits must be stored in a bag and tie-wrapped to the kit. I find a certain elegance in the austere design simplicity and construction but recognize it may not be to everyone's preferred taste. Like most objects around us, IKEA products have potential for good or evil, depending upon the user's intent and usage.
  - teachrdan 3y ago
    It's apparent you didn't RTFA before posting. From the part before the paywall, even: "IKEA grew into a furniture behemoth with a relentless focus on keeping costs low, but that goal has become more challenging. The price of metal, glass, wood and plastic have spiraled up, as have shipping costs. Inflation has squeezed consumers’ wallets. Managers at IKEA knew that something had to change to keep prices down and profits up, so in the past couple of years they have taken some of their products back to the drawing board." This explains why the nicer Ikea furniture you purchased 15 years ago is of a much higher quality than what is built today.
    - contingencies 3y ago
      I too grew up with some of that in the family house, AFAIK it's all gone now. OTOH, I put together no less than five Billy bookcases in the last month. These were in two visual styles and two height configurations (standard 2m and extra 2.4m). I was somewhat shocked that there were multiple assembly systems being delivered this year even amongst those iconic products. Chiefly, one type has nail-pinned back, and one type has a plastic pressure-pinned back. AFAIK the nail-pin system is older and ... it is shit. The plastic-pinned system is new and far better. Why? People will hammer themselves. Nails can be easily lost. Hammers aren't always available to consumers. Neighbours hate hammering noises, and many people now live in close proximity to strangers in apartments. CNC cut holes are always in the right place. Plastic pressure pins can be taken out if the furniture needs to be disassembled for relocation. I admire Ikea industrial design and consider assembly of their products an educational experience because, having spent a lot of time in the past half-decade with mechanical design responsibility also spanning production process engineering and associated logistics, Ikea stuff is just so damn practical. IMHO Ikea products and their associated documentation are proof that design improvement remains possible... even for "iconic" designs that are the back-stop of their brand. That said, I strongly dislike their stores.
sockaddr 3y ago
I love IKEA but these choices are not structurally-equivalent substitutes. They'll start becoming trash the (second) time you try to rebuild them when you move. It's the same garbage that Walmart has been selling. Yes you buy something for 1/3rd the cost of something made of real wood but it'll last 1/20th the time. What is particularly irritating is when you try to insert a cam or a screw and it totally mutilates the particle board rendering it useless or at least severely compromising the structure. I'd rather see prices stay higher (so I'm screwed in a way that I'm aware) instead of getting screwed in unknown ways.
- hattmall 3y ago
  What's interesting is that if your trying to build your own stuff is that the veneers and things are expensive, but actual wood is cheap. Ikea, or someone else could probably make huge profits and great quality furniture where you buy the flatpack with hardware and veneers from them but it's design to add your own wood for massively improved stability. You could even have a few guys with miter and table saws chopping locally sourced 2x4s and plywood that fits the kit.
  - JAlexoid 3y ago
    Cabinetry grade wood is actually expensive.
    - dublin 3y ago
      Pro-grade stuff, yes, but you can build decently nice cabinetry out of the affordable Alder or other whitewood boards at Lowes or Home Depot, especially if you're going for paint, not stain. Also, nice birch plywood has come back down to reasonable prices per sheet. (Use edge banding on plywood to give a pro look - it's easy to iron on and trim with a razor knife.) Part of the trick to doing this on the cheap and easy is recognizing that many times (e.g., bookcases, or cases for cabinets (order doors from an Internet shop) the precise dimensions matter less than consistency between the pieces. I did a bunch of built-in bookcases a few years ago after my table saw died, and had Lowes cut all the 3/4 Birch ply down to about 9 inches. They won't do or guarantee precision cuts, but I just had them set up the saw once and rip out all the strips from several sheets of plywood at once, so all were identical width, which I could then easily cut to length with a power miter saw. I saved thousands of dollars over the quotes I got from local carpenters and cabinetmakers, and the result is very close to what I would have gotten from them. (BTW, another pro tip is General Finishes "Milk Paint", which is expensive, but worth every penny - put it on with a good brush and the stuff self-levels so well it looks very close to a pro sprayed finish, and comes in a wide range of colors.)
GaryNumanVevo 3y ago
Coincidentally, I'm writing this with my feet up on a vintage IKEA coffee table that's solid pine. I got it second hand from a thrift store for $20, but it must be at least 15 years old. When I move, I'll probably just donate it back to Goodwill, and the cycle will continue
datacruncher01 3y ago
Not a good trend, IKEA is like the Toyota of furniture. It's inexpensive but functional. With these changes they will be no different than cheap trash furniture. So why pay any premium for Ikea when I can just Amazon the cheapest equivalent furniture knowing both will equally break sooner than later?
- dsfyu404ed 3y ago
  Toyota has NEVER been inexpensive. They've never been conspicuously or indulgently expensive but they've never been the cheapest option in a given class. And that has been a key part of their success in the North American market. The parallel to the furniture market isn't so cut and clear but Ikea does not generally compete with the big box stores on the lowest end FWIW. Fine tuning quality, feature and price points for their products to attract or repel various customer demographics is something big brands spend a lot of effort on.
  - ramesh31 3y ago
    >Toyota has NEVER been inexpensive. They are over the long run. It's a lot like Apple hardware. Slightly more expensive at first, but massively better resale value and durability, resulting in a much lower total cost of ownership. This is basically just the "cheap boots" paradox though, so people instead buy Hyundai/Kia based on the sticker price.
    - dsfyu404ed 3y ago
      [flagged]
  - aidenn0 3y ago
    The Sienna is often the cheapest minivan available in the US. The Transit Connect Wagon is currently available for cheaper in some regions, but was never really marketed as a family vehicle, and is being discontinued this year, in its 10th year of nearly zero updates.
  - JAlexoid 3y ago
throwaway22032 3y ago
I used to buy a lot of Ikea stuff (to save time) and recently I've just started making my own from basic plywood etc because the quality has totally gone to shit. I used to buy the pine stuff, there's very little of that any more. It's designed in such a way now that if you use it slightly outside of parameters it's fucked. Like, pick up a chest of drawers the wrong way and the particleboard snaps in a way that is impossible to fix properly without replacing the entire beam. Try and screw something to the side of a Kallax or whatever, it's honeycomb cardboard so screws just fall through. Yeah you can do it with a bit of effort, but I mean, meh. I don't think that square items of furniture like that should be disposable. You should be able to just cut it up and use the scrap wood for other projects. Even if you don't want to, leave it outside your flat or house on a dry day, someone will.
- tap-snap-or-nap 3y ago
  I loved Ikea stuff, the latest purchase of BESTÅ TV storage is really awful. It is falling apart and I barely even touch it. The drawer brackets cannot hold a drawer, (I don't have many items) and they block each other while opening and closing the drawers. The materials are very dodgy and poor quality. I cannot even give it away, sell it or recycle it. Considering making my own stuff eventually.
_fat_santa 3y ago
There's a wired dichotomy that I found with IKEA furniture, most of their furniture is cheaply made and won't stand the test of time, but some of their stuff just seems to be bulletproof and indestructible. Right now I'm sitting on an Markus chair that my parents bought for me in the 7th grade (I was 13 at the time), now I'm 29 and the chair is still kicking along showing no signs of giving up.
- pram 3y ago
  Yeah I have an IKEA bed base and it’s basically just four solid pieces of wood. They also recently made a floor lamp I got that’s really solid. In closing, it’s a store of contrasts.
- basch 3y ago
  Like a lot of companies, IKEA sells things in various tiers. Dressers and bookcases have different price points, and at each price point is a different material quality level. They however dont make it easy to identify like Kirkland Signature or Lexus.
  - Someone1234 3y ago
    That's the worst thing about IKEA. They have a great selection of real wood stuff, but finding it is time-consuming in or out of store. Price is the best proxy but that isn't flawless or ideal.
    - badpun 3y ago
      Their "real wood" stuff, at least here in Poland, seems to be made from very soft wood, most likely pine (90%+ of forests in Poland are pine). The dark variants (pretending to be exotic wood I guess) are just pine with a dark coloring. When the pine gets nicked, which happens often because it's so soft, its natural color comes out, and sticks out on an otherwise dark furniture like a sore thumb.
      - ericpauley 3y ago
antisthenes 3y ago
How many times are we going to rediscover that free market isn't just companies competing for the customer on price, but companies competing in a race to the bottom on quality/cost to pad their earnings as well?
- goostavos 3y ago
  What? Doesn't the free market also gives you mid-range furniture options as well as high end wood workers that'll build anything you're willing to pay for? Ikea is optimizing for particle board rectangles because people in 'the market' mostly want affordable rectangles.
  - harimau777 3y ago
    In my experience, the free market hollows out the medium range and lifts the price of the high range above what average people can afford. So all that's left for them is crap.
    - evancox100 3y ago
      I think the high end stuff was always expensive. Why do you think furniture was passed down from generation to generation? It’s just that globalization and technology have made the low end so cheap, that by comparison it feels like the high end stuff is too expensive. But that is just your preference for lower cost, good enough items coming through! (This take not backed up by any data, just my opinion.)
      - dirtyid 3y ago
        Solid woods also elevated to more premium material due to scarcity, scarcer the wood, the higher the price.
  - antisthenes 3y ago
    > Doesn't the free market also gives you mid-range furniture options as well as high end wood workers that'll build anything you're willing to pay for? The free market apparently gives you cardboard furniture at mid-range prices or custom built furniture that non-1% earners wouldn't even dream of affording, and not much inbetween. $2700 dresser? No thanks. The "reasonable" option is buying second-hand solid wood furniture on Craigslist and thrift stores in the ~$500-700 range.
syntheweave 3y ago
I'll be over here investing in shoe racks and resin shelves.
sottol 3y ago
So I was wondering why they'd openly admit in a WSJ article that they've "watered down" their furniture and are doubling down on their reputation for flimsy particle-board and paper construction. Also, I've observed this trend starting way earlier than the pandemic and the start of recent inflation, I bought their butcher block countertops in 2013 and 2018 for my workshop. Let me just say I ripped out my 2013 ones and transferred as much of the old ones to the new workshop as I could. I can see two reasons for this article: 1. Their customers are noticing and it shows in survey and satisfaction and this is an attempt at curtailing the reputation damage (but don't really see why it's in the WSJ then, maybe it'll show in the coming quarterly/yearly's and they can point to this later?), 2. or they're signaling to investors that they're going to boost profitability and/or margins. Either way, not really a positive trend in my eyes. But also unfortunately, it's not like the alternatives are generally much better :/ Seems to be an industry-wide trend. EDIT: nevermind, Ikea is entirely privately held -- no investors to placate, so 1. maybe?
- Symbiote 3y ago
  People who care about their carbon footprint, but still want new furniture, can pretend buying something cheap from Ikea is the solution.
  - tap-snap-or-nap 3y ago
    Corporate cost cuts reframed as a moral deed
- tpmx 3y ago
  > 2. or they're signaling to investors that they're going to boost profitability and/or margins. They don't have any investors. They have literally been building and growing this organically for 80 years.
ZeroGravitas 3y ago
This isn't a new thing, this is their equivalent of the Toyota Kaizen continous improvement thing. Here's a book review of their "Democratic Design" book in which they discuss trying to fulfil 5 design paramaters, Form, function, quality, price and sustainability: https://uxdesign.cc/ikea-democratic-design-3-design-takeaways-83143a51bfce https://uxdesign.cc/ikea-democratic-design-3-design-takeaway...
ROTMetro 3y ago
Enjoy your VOCs people.
- oblio 3y ago
  VOC?
  - divarre 3y ago
    Volatile Organic Compounds are indoor air pollutants [1]. For example, formaldehyde – classed as carcinogen – added to bind Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF). [1]: https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/volatile-organic-compounds-impact-indoor-air-quality https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/volatile-organic-...
BonoboIO 3y ago
This is not new. IKEA is continuously redesigning their products and the name does not change. You can buy a billy book case that is fundamentally different than the model that was produced 35 years ago. Less wood, less metal, more plastic, less material. Cost cutting at every point. I have a Besta Casefeom 2018 that was made with 1mm wood veneer and it looks decent. The pins where the shelf rest are made from metal and some screws are also metal. The 2022 version has paper foil printed to look like wood, the pins are plastic, the screws too. IT IS ABSOLUT TRASH! Literally. The foil is so bad, you will scratch it of accidentally with your fingernails, the plastic screws are one time use only, maybe twice. The pins are bending without any weight on it. I returned it. They look nearly the same, cost the same as 2018, but they are different. Be warned.
- Hamuko 3y ago
  >IKEA is continuously redesigning their products and the name does not change. Not necessarily. The GNEDBY is an almost identical version of the BENNO, except that the shelves mount differently on the GNEDBY. I bought two GNEDBY shelves used (since they stopped making them) and when was setting it up, I discovered that one of them was slightly different from my four GNEDBYs. Turns out that it was a BENNO all along.
  - dirtyid 3y ago
    It's like Expedit -> Kallax, Ikea's always tweaking/value engineering their products and at some point the dimensions become different enough to warrant rename. I think Kallax shaved 1 cm off the thicker Expedit perimeter pieces to the point where two next to each other perceptually different.
- tap-snap-or-nap 3y ago
  Yes BESTÅ TV storage is absolute trash.
tpmx 3y ago
I so miss the cheap 150x75 cm Linnmon honeycomb tabletop. Their default desk depth is now a mere 60 cm because everyone aparently use laptops on desks, nowadays. Ugh. Anything with more depth than that -> so much costlier.
jbverschoor 3y ago
Off topic, is there any business that will CNC/cut particle board to size, shape, and create holes etc? Basically thingiverse for furniture. It would be awesome to be able to customize and reorder parts. For novice users, parametric models could be used to perfectly fit your closet in some nook. I know there are fully automatic wood cnc machines, but I’m not aware of any company that offers this service (at a reasonable price of course).
- aaronblohowiak 3y ago
  there are loads of cnc hobbyists looking to make some more money. post something on craigslist im sure you'll get some takers.
- chucksta 3y ago
  https://sendcutsend.com/ https://sendcutsend.com/
- porphyra 3y ago
  I've had good experiences with sendcutsend for small aluminum parts, not sure about large wood parts but they do support many materials including mdf and plywood. https://sendcutsend.com/materials/baltic-birch-plywood/ https://sendcutsend.com/materials/baltic-birch-plywood/
- Loic 3y ago
  I was able to build a very nice desk[0] for my wife using wood from one provider[1] in Germany. It was CNC cut extremely precisely. I requested all the plates and used my wood tools to do all the small cuts, holes, etc. But you can ask them to cut the holes too. It saved me a lot of time and energy to have the plates ready at the right dimensions. I am sure you can find the same kind of providers wherever you live. [0]: https://dl.ceondo.com/public/stuff/desk.mp4 https://dl.ceondo.com/public/stuff/desk.mp4 [1]: https://www.plattenzuschnitt24.de/ https://www.plattenzuschnitt24.de/
  - Tyr42 3y ago
    Cute desk.
blueridge 3y ago
If you're in the market for buy-it-for-life solid wood furniture: https://www.thejoinery.com https://www.thejoinery.com https://vermontwoodsstudios.com/ https://vermontwoodsstudios.com/ https://hedgehousefurniture.com https://hedgehousefurniture.com https://57stdesign.com https://57stdesign.com https://www.57thstreetbookcase.com/ https://www.57thstreetbookcase.com/ (all bookcases, some veneer and plywood) https://www.spekeklein.com/home https://www.spekeklein.com/home https://www.pompy.com/ https://www.pompy.com/ https://www.chiltons.com/ https://www.chiltons.com/ https://roomandboard.com https://roomandboard.com (mix of solid and veneer, some MDF) These makers are in a league of their own, very expensive, incredibly beautiful hand-made pieces: https://www.sammaloofwoodworker.com https://www.sammaloofwoodworker.com https://www.thosmoser.com https://www.thosmoser.com (highly recommended) https://nakashimawoodworkers.com https://nakashimawoodworkers.com (new commissions around $7K-$15K for a coffee table, $20K-40K for dining table, plus shipping; older Nakashima pieces are highly valued in the art world and sell anywhere between $15K-$300K) https://www.wright20.com/search/nakashima/items#past https://www.wright20.com/search/nakashima/items#past Edit: Also, to echo what someone mentioned below, if you're interested in solid wood furniture you should find a local woodworker. Another edit and thought: I used to own a lot of IKEA furniture and as I've gotten older, have slowly replaced those pieces with items from Knoll, with custom pieces from local woodworkers, with a few pieces from the studios listed above. A lot of people are commenting on the cost, and yes they're expensive and could be considered luxury goods. But if you like art and design and you care about quality, you save for what you want to buy. I wanted to be surrounded by great craftsmanship, so instead of buying "stuff" and instead of spending money on lots of subscriptions and services, or constantly upgrading phones and computers, I buy one piece of nice furniture every year. I believe the more you appreciate the things around you, the more they begin to influence your own work, and your sense of place. I regularly see a lot of IKEA furniture on the side of the road and in dumpsters. I think this is the difference between buying "things" and having "possessions" but that's a discussion for another day.
- 535188B17C93743 3y ago
  Why is there no way to save comments on HN? Or is there? I want to save this for one day when I can afford this all, haha.
wazoox 3y ago
I have a 40 years old billy, the shelves are made of solid wood! IKEA quality has been dwindling for decades.
- ericpauley 3y ago
  The lines have just shifted. The Hemnes is pine. I would imagine that adjusting for inflation it is likely cheaper than the Billy was when you bought it.
switch007 3y ago
There is so little left to cut. Replacing wood veneer with foil? Man, that’s low. I’d never buy furniture from them. Just smaller things like glasses and plants. They’re a shadow of what they used to be.
- tap-snap-or-nap 3y ago
  The paper foil got me. I see down their vision going towards furniture made with cardboard boxes as an eco-friendly option
unwind 3y ago
I'm a bit saddened by this news, since making their products flimsier/lighter will surely make them feel worse. Anyway, the very first paragraph has this: ÄLMHULT, Sweden—Amid IKEA’s colorful staged living rooms, piles of umlaut-laden housewares and endless rows of flat-pack boxes is furniture that can have shoppers wondering: How does that chair cost only $35? Which I think is really bad writing for a publication like the WSJ. Swedish does not have "umlauts". We have three letters more than the US English alphabet, but only two of them (Ä and Ö) have the double dots: the third has a ring (Å). These three are real first-class letters though, they are not "umlauted" (which means changed from some base letter due to grammar).
- itsameta4 3y ago
  The dots are indeed called umlauts, at least in English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_(diacritic) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_(diacritic)
  - ska 3y ago
    I think OP's contention was that in Swedish these are not diacritical marks, but different letters.
    - okamiueru 3y ago
      Indeed. The equivalent Norwegian letters are æ/Æ, ø/Ø, å/Å (in the correct order). And you wouldn't call those umlauts either.
    - Findecanor 3y ago
      I think the OP is splitting hairs. I'd say that they are just as much different letters in German, from which the word "Umlaut" comes. One is replaced with the other in word inflections. For instance, the noun "Land" is "Länder" in plural — both in German and Swedish. But what the two dots are not: they are definitely not diaeresis.
      - silvestrov 3y ago
s1mon 3y ago
Constantly looking to shave pennies off of products is understandable from a business perspective, but as many are commenting, quality often suffers. With some household items - not just from Ikea - it seems like the race to the bottom leads to everything becoming so bereft of raw material that they are disposable. Try to buy simple things like a dishpan or dish rack, and most brands have become so flimsy that they don't last. I really wish that Ikea would offer a sub-brand which is more premium. They did that many years ago. I have a dresser from the early '90s which is still in good shape. It was differentiated by design. materials and construction. It also cost a lot more than other similar items. Around that same time they sold a series of shelves/cabinets with aluminum extrusions for the corners, and some of their more dense particle board with premium veneers for the shelves/panels. It really competed with high end stuff from other contract furniture companies like Steelcase, Knoll, and Herman Miller. Ikea no longer seems to be interested in competing on quality.
- jwagenet 3y ago
  IKEA has mid and high tier options in a number of categories. While certainly not necessarily comparable to premium mass-produced furniture brands, definitely a step up.
- itronitron 3y ago
  In my recent experience, when IKEA sells a product that is predominantly made of solid wood it tends to be durable, which is how I define quality. The particle board stuff is definitely hurting their brand from my perspective.
omnibrain 3y ago
Having shopped at Ikea for 20 years now there is one pattern I noticed: In general Ikea won‘t increase the price of an article, instead they would produce it cheaper and cheaper.
- switch007 3y ago
  I’ve got a catalog from 4 years ago. They have had absolutely no problem raising prices /and/ cutting quality the past couple of years.
donatj 3y ago
I have bought and assembled 6 billy bookcases one by one over the last 15 years and the drop in quality over time has been quite perceivable. The latest one I assmeled used plastic locking mechanisms to keep the shelves in place instead of the metal of all my prior bookcases. Probably good enough, but doesn't inspire confidence.
- donatj 3y ago
  I truly wish whoever downvoted me would give me an explanation of why. This has been my experience. Do you disagree with my assessment? I can go take pictures of my individual bookshelves if you would like and show the gradual drop in quality if you would prefer.
  - clnq 3y ago
    I expect that people downvote these things based on emotion and not reason. It's been very perceivable that IKEA's quality has gone down over the years. Though it is a bit regional as ultimately quality is influenced by the local manufacturer. The quality of their furniture is better in Scandinavia than the UK, for example.
bedros 3y ago
basically, making ikea products fall apart in two years instead of 5 years. What a shame, just increase the prices slightly.
- switch007 3y ago
  They’ve increased prices in loads of items the past few years too. And not just by a little bit
asciimov 3y ago
Is enshitification endemic of stagnate wages, or is it due to investors seeking ever grater short term gains?
- switch007 3y ago
  They’re a private company fwiw
- local_crmdgeon 3y ago
  IKEA is structured as a Dutch nonprofit. There's no shares.
0xbadcafebee 3y ago
I like driving around cities when it's moving time for college kids. You can pick up all sorts of great scrap wood left on the curb, mostly from IKEA parts. I had to stop picking it up because I amassed so much. I've made several tables and 3 bed frames.
didip 3y ago
Yeah, this is most apparent on their best-seller: Kallax. Try lifting your old Kallax vs the new one. No, you are not suddenly turned into Captain America. It's the new Kallax that's suddenly became so light and hollow.
- rtpg 3y ago
  Is the new one at least... kind of solid? I gotta say having my Kallax weigh less sounds nice if it doesn't fall apart
- aceazzameen 3y ago
  Interesting! I just got a new Kallax, but haven't put it together yet. I'll have to compare against my 10yr old ones.
theCodeStig 3y ago
IKEA furniture, is essentially temporary and disposable. Consider the environmental impact.
AndrewKemendo 3y ago
> keep prices down and profits up There’s your problem right there. We are all getting a worse product from IKEA because they have to keep investors profits up. They wrap this boot to the face in a lovingly quaint “scrappy engineers” story that’s supposed to make it seem like this is all unavoidable effects of some mysterious process. We’re the authors of our own hell folks.
- noelsusman 3y ago
  What investors?
- local_crmdgeon 3y ago
  IKEA doesn't have investors, it's actually structured as a Dutch nonprofit.
  - dragonwriter 3y ago
    Per Wikipedia, at the top level there is a Dutch foundation and a Leichtenstein foundation, and a web of for- and non-profit orgs beneath them.
  - AndrewKemendo 3y ago
    So, per the article who is seeking profit? I’m pretty sure Inter-IKEA has private shareholders
somewhat_drunk 3y ago
General FYI: Ikea furniture (like all particle board furniture) will be much more durable if you add a line of wood glue to the edges when building. It's a simple step that only takes a few extra minutes during construction, but the resulting furniture will last through many moves.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
dcchambers 3y ago
I like Ikea but I usually avoid their cheaper lines and opt for the "higher end" stuff with real wood...sure it's usually just pine, but it seems to hold up a hell of a lot better and it's not that much more expensive. Plus natural wood is gorgeous. Eg. Buy a Hemnes bookcase instead of a Billy. A ton more affordable than a custom walnut or oak bookcase from a local furniture maker if that is out of your price range, but will last practically as long.
squokko 3y ago
If you glue IKEA stuff together while you're assembling it, and attach it to the wall, it's as strong as you need it to be.
jacobp100 3y ago
I like IKEA. They’re very honest about their construction. They do some solid wood products, and some particle board products - and you’re never going to be confused what you’re buying Also, all their packaging seems to be recyclable - including their food packaging. That’s something supermarkets in the UK aren’t even close to

187 points by jbredeche 3y ago

The only ikea item we managed to break (actually, bend) was a midbeam (SKORVA). I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did! It broke in the third apartment, so it survived two moves. And it was just $15 to replace.

haspoken 3y ago

https://archive.is/YQiDs https://archive.is/YQiDs

Simulacra 3y ago

It's remarkable what they've done with cardboard and veneer to make everything.

leros 3y ago

This doesn't seem like a bad thing. Many people treat Ikea furniture as disposable and this seems more environmentally friendly. If people are happy with a cardboard coffee table, seems like a win.

tivert 3y ago
> This doesn't seem like a bad thing. Many people treat Ikea furniture as disposable and this seems more environmentally friendly. If people are happy with a cardboard coffee table, seems like a win. Disposable furniture is the antithesis of "environmentally friendly." > If people are happy with a cardboard coffee table, seems like a win. I had one once, and I was not happy with it (a Lack). It literally disintegrated after about a year. People often push against a coffee table when sitting on a sofa, and it was not designed for those forces and came apart at the seams.
- netrus 3y ago
  I have several Lacks at my place that are >15 years old. When I ever get sick of them, I will put them on eBay for a free pickup, and within an hour a student will show up and be happy with the free coffee table that they can use in their student apartment for some more years. Dinner tables used to be made from solid wood and were pretty much indestructible. But how many families dine on a >100 year old table? Most indestructible furniture will get discarded as well at some point (well before they are actually broken beyond repair), because its out of style, has the wrong measures, is too heavy ...
  - oblio 3y ago
    More than that, you can probably fix the Lack. Just get some cheap metal brackets and attach them to the underside of the table and the legs. Especially if you have a white Lack, you can paint the bracket and screws white and the table will still look nice. And this would make it, dunno, $40 for the table and $5 for the screws and brackets.
- JAlexoid 3y ago
  What did you do to it?!?!?! Lacks are notoriously sturdy for their "cardboardness". People literally turn their Lacks into server racks, they're that sturdy.
  - tivert 3y ago
    > What did you do to it?!?!?! I put my feet up against it. > Lacks are notoriously sturdy for their "cardboardness". People literally turn their Lacks into server racks, they're that sturdy. I'd believe that, but a server on top of it wouldn't put any lateral forces on it. My experience is it can't stand lateral forces.
benj111 3y ago
ill defend ikea as somewhat environmentally friendly, as they sell the same items for years, so instead of having to buy a new crockery set when too many dining plates are broken, or a whole a new set of shelves because you just need one more, you can add to what you already have. disposible furniture isnt environmentally friendly though. if you want a cheap item of furniture for short term use, get one second hand. Having said this, I got my first Billy bookcase 15 years ago, it's still going strong with the more recent additions. So they don't have to be disposable items.
- Brendinooo 3y ago
  My gripe with IKEA in this regard is: yes, they'll keep the same product lines, but they change up the product finishes enough to matter. I had a PAX unit in Beech Veneer which, once they got rid of, I could no longer extend. Also did my kitchen with them and they got rid of the finish I picked shortly after, which meant that I couldn't replace panels like I thought I might have been able to. Could still get accessories for the inside of this stuff though, which definitely isn't nothing.
  - JAlexoid 3y ago
    > Also did my kitchen with them and they got rid of the finish I picked shortly after, which meant that I couldn't replace panels like I thought I might have been able to. IKEA kitchens are actually one of the best things they sell. Their hardware lasts decades and finishes are very sturdy
- oblio 3y ago
  I think if you take care of Ikea and you're not super unlucky or move very frequently, Ikea furniture for sure can last several decades. And at that point... how much furniture do you really need? Does it really need to follow you to your grave?
sct202 3y ago
I agree especially when people seem to throw away solid wood furniture all the time near me because it's too heavy or cumbersome to move or even the wrong color. There's a shop that refurbishes old wood furniture and it seems like the main thing they do is paint it white, blue, or black.
pcurve 3y ago
I hope they keep the original ones though... e.g. (Billy Classic). Wish I had never sold the Jerker desk from 20 years ago. It was built like a tank.
- dbg31415 3y ago
  I just came here to say this! (=
- watmough 3y ago
  Yeah, hanging onto mine! Awesome desk. They used to crop up on craigslist occasionally for $100-$200. not checked in a while.
- 29083011397778 3y ago
  > I hope they keep the original ones though TFA states that the white Billy was already built the "new" way. It's only the mock-woodgrain one that's changing to catch up.
- pragmatick 3y ago
  They already changed the Billy at some point. My mother has a really old one (80s or 90s, I think) and we bought doors for it and they wouldn't fit. Turns out the "new" Billys are 2cm or so wider. We could install the doors but there would be a 2cm gap in the middle. Tried it with a Billy bought later and it fit.

bell-cot 3y ago

And here I was thinking to buy some more bookshelves, and assuming that another Ikea Billy set would be good enough for my den.

el_don_almighty 3y ago
Our Billy shelves are 15 years old and I would not consider them disposable, poorly designed, or fabricated from low-quality materials. Frankly, they have been an excellent investment. The same goes for the couches our kids jumped on for years. I suspect this comes from having been assembled by an engineer and not the average [insert mechanically unqualified archetype here for flamewar]. For decorating reasons that I cannot explain, I periodically disassemble some pieces and store them for future reintroduction after painting or some other visual adjustments without issue, keeping in mind that all those little metal bits must be stored in a bag and tie-wrapped to the kit. I find a certain elegance in the austere design simplicity and construction but recognize it may not be to everyone's preferred taste. Like most objects around us, IKEA products have potential for good or evil, depending upon the user's intent and usage.
- teachrdan 3y ago
  It's apparent you didn't RTFA before posting. From the part before the paywall, even: "IKEA grew into a furniture behemoth with a relentless focus on keeping costs low, but that goal has become more challenging. The price of metal, glass, wood and plastic have spiraled up, as have shipping costs. Inflation has squeezed consumers’ wallets. Managers at IKEA knew that something had to change to keep prices down and profits up, so in the past couple of years they have taken some of their products back to the drawing board." This explains why the nicer Ikea furniture you purchased 15 years ago is of a much higher quality than what is built today.
  - contingencies 3y ago
    I too grew up with some of that in the family house, AFAIK it's all gone now. OTOH, I put together no less than five Billy bookcases in the last month. These were in two visual styles and two height configurations (standard 2m and extra 2.4m). I was somewhat shocked that there were multiple assembly systems being delivered this year even amongst those iconic products. Chiefly, one type has nail-pinned back, and one type has a plastic pressure-pinned back. AFAIK the nail-pin system is older and ... it is shit. The plastic-pinned system is new and far better. Why? People will hammer themselves. Nails can be easily lost. Hammers aren't always available to consumers. Neighbours hate hammering noises, and many people now live in close proximity to strangers in apartments. CNC cut holes are always in the right place. Plastic pressure pins can be taken out if the furniture needs to be disassembled for relocation. I admire Ikea industrial design and consider assembly of their products an educational experience because, having spent a lot of time in the past half-decade with mechanical design responsibility also spanning production process engineering and associated logistics, Ikea stuff is just so damn practical. IMHO Ikea products and their associated documentation are proof that design improvement remains possible... even for "iconic" designs that are the back-stop of their brand. That said, I strongly dislike their stores.

sockaddr 3y ago

I love IKEA but these choices are not structurally-equivalent substitutes. They'll start becoming trash the (second) time you try to rebuild them when you move. It's the same garbage that Walmart has been selling. Yes you buy something for 1/3rd the cost of something made of real wood but it'll last 1/20th the time. What is particularly irritating is when you try to insert a cam or a screw and it totally mutilates the particle board rendering it useless or at least severely compromising the structure. I'd rather see prices stay higher (so I'm screwed in a way that I'm aware) instead of getting screwed in unknown ways.

hattmall 3y ago
What's interesting is that if your trying to build your own stuff is that the veneers and things are expensive, but actual wood is cheap. Ikea, or someone else could probably make huge profits and great quality furniture where you buy the flatpack with hardware and veneers from them but it's design to add your own wood for massively improved stability. You could even have a few guys with miter and table saws chopping locally sourced 2x4s and plywood that fits the kit.
- JAlexoid 3y ago
  Cabinetry grade wood is actually expensive.
  - dublin 3y ago
    Pro-grade stuff, yes, but you can build decently nice cabinetry out of the affordable Alder or other whitewood boards at Lowes or Home Depot, especially if you're going for paint, not stain. Also, nice birch plywood has come back down to reasonable prices per sheet. (Use edge banding on plywood to give a pro look - it's easy to iron on and trim with a razor knife.) Part of the trick to doing this on the cheap and easy is recognizing that many times (e.g., bookcases, or cases for cabinets (order doors from an Internet shop) the precise dimensions matter less than consistency between the pieces. I did a bunch of built-in bookcases a few years ago after my table saw died, and had Lowes cut all the 3/4 Birch ply down to about 9 inches. They won't do or guarantee precision cuts, but I just had them set up the saw once and rip out all the strips from several sheets of plywood at once, so all were identical width, which I could then easily cut to length with a power miter saw. I saved thousands of dollars over the quotes I got from local carpenters and cabinetmakers, and the result is very close to what I would have gotten from them. (BTW, another pro tip is General Finishes "Milk Paint", which is expensive, but worth every penny - put it on with a good brush and the stuff self-levels so well it looks very close to a pro sprayed finish, and comes in a wide range of colors.)

GaryNumanVevo 3y ago

Coincidentally, I'm writing this with my feet up on a vintage IKEA coffee table that's solid pine. I got it second hand from a thrift store for $20, but it must be at least 15 years old. When I move, I'll probably just donate it back to Goodwill, and the cycle will continue

datacruncher01 3y ago

Not a good trend, IKEA is like the Toyota of furniture. It's inexpensive but functional. With these changes they will be no different than cheap trash furniture. So why pay any premium for Ikea when I can just Amazon the cheapest equivalent furniture knowing both will equally break sooner than later?

dsfyu404ed 3y ago
Toyota has NEVER been inexpensive. They've never been conspicuously or indulgently expensive but they've never been the cheapest option in a given class. And that has been a key part of their success in the North American market. The parallel to the furniture market isn't so cut and clear but Ikea does not generally compete with the big box stores on the lowest end FWIW. Fine tuning quality, feature and price points for their products to attract or repel various customer demographics is something big brands spend a lot of effort on.
- ramesh31 3y ago
  >Toyota has NEVER been inexpensive. They are over the long run. It's a lot like Apple hardware. Slightly more expensive at first, but massively better resale value and durability, resulting in a much lower total cost of ownership. This is basically just the "cheap boots" paradox though, so people instead buy Hyundai/Kia based on the sticker price.
  - dsfyu404ed 3y ago
    [flagged]
- aidenn0 3y ago
  The Sienna is often the cheapest minivan available in the US. The Transit Connect Wagon is currently available for cheaper in some regions, but was never really marketed as a family vehicle, and is being discontinued this year, in its 10th year of nearly zero updates.
- JAlexoid 3y ago

throwaway22032 3y ago

I used to buy a lot of Ikea stuff (to save time) and recently I've just started making my own from basic plywood etc because the quality has totally gone to shit. I used to buy the pine stuff, there's very little of that any more. It's designed in such a way now that if you use it slightly outside of parameters it's fucked. Like, pick up a chest of drawers the wrong way and the particleboard snaps in a way that is impossible to fix properly without replacing the entire beam. Try and screw something to the side of a Kallax or whatever, it's honeycomb cardboard so screws just fall through. Yeah you can do it with a bit of effort, but I mean, meh. I don't think that square items of furniture like that should be disposable. You should be able to just cut it up and use the scrap wood for other projects. Even if you don't want to, leave it outside your flat or house on a dry day, someone will.

tap-snap-or-nap 3y ago
I loved Ikea stuff, the latest purchase of BESTÅ TV storage is really awful. It is falling apart and I barely even touch it. The drawer brackets cannot hold a drawer, (I don't have many items) and they block each other while opening and closing the drawers. The materials are very dodgy and poor quality. I cannot even give it away, sell it or recycle it. Considering making my own stuff eventually.

_fat_santa 3y ago

There's a wired dichotomy that I found with IKEA furniture, most of their furniture is cheaply made and won't stand the test of time, but some of their stuff just seems to be bulletproof and indestructible. Right now I'm sitting on an Markus chair that my parents bought for me in the 7th grade (I was 13 at the time), now I'm 29 and the chair is still kicking along showing no signs of giving up.

pram 3y ago
Yeah I have an IKEA bed base and it’s basically just four solid pieces of wood. They also recently made a floor lamp I got that’s really solid. In closing, it’s a store of contrasts.
basch 3y ago
Like a lot of companies, IKEA sells things in various tiers. Dressers and bookcases have different price points, and at each price point is a different material quality level. They however dont make it easy to identify like Kirkland Signature or Lexus.
- Someone1234 3y ago
  That's the worst thing about IKEA. They have a great selection of real wood stuff, but finding it is time-consuming in or out of store. Price is the best proxy but that isn't flawless or ideal.
  - badpun 3y ago
    Their "real wood" stuff, at least here in Poland, seems to be made from very soft wood, most likely pine (90%+ of forests in Poland are pine). The dark variants (pretending to be exotic wood I guess) are just pine with a dark coloring. When the pine gets nicked, which happens often because it's so soft, its natural color comes out, and sticks out on an otherwise dark furniture like a sore thumb.
    - ericpauley 3y ago

antisthenes 3y ago

How many times are we going to rediscover that free market isn't just companies competing for the customer on price, but companies competing in a race to the bottom on quality/cost to pad their earnings as well?

goostavos 3y ago
What? Doesn't the free market also gives you mid-range furniture options as well as high end wood workers that'll build anything you're willing to pay for? Ikea is optimizing for particle board rectangles because people in 'the market' mostly want affordable rectangles.
- harimau777 3y ago
  In my experience, the free market hollows out the medium range and lifts the price of the high range above what average people can afford. So all that's left for them is crap.
  - evancox100 3y ago
    I think the high end stuff was always expensive. Why do you think furniture was passed down from generation to generation? It’s just that globalization and technology have made the low end so cheap, that by comparison it feels like the high end stuff is too expensive. But that is just your preference for lower cost, good enough items coming through! (This take not backed up by any data, just my opinion.)
    - dirtyid 3y ago
      Solid woods also elevated to more premium material due to scarcity, scarcer the wood, the higher the price.
- antisthenes 3y ago
  > Doesn't the free market also gives you mid-range furniture options as well as high end wood workers that'll build anything you're willing to pay for? The free market apparently gives you cardboard furniture at mid-range prices or custom built furniture that non-1% earners wouldn't even dream of affording, and not much inbetween. $2700 dresser? No thanks. The "reasonable" option is buying second-hand solid wood furniture on Craigslist and thrift stores in the ~$500-700 range.

syntheweave 3y ago

I'll be over here investing in shoe racks and resin shelves.

sottol 3y ago

So I was wondering why they'd openly admit in a WSJ article that they've "watered down" their furniture and are doubling down on their reputation for flimsy particle-board and paper construction. Also, I've observed this trend starting way earlier than the pandemic and the start of recent inflation, I bought their butcher block countertops in 2013 and 2018 for my workshop. Let me just say I ripped out my 2013 ones and transferred as much of the old ones to the new workshop as I could. I can see two reasons for this article: 1. Their customers are noticing and it shows in survey and satisfaction and this is an attempt at curtailing the reputation damage (but don't really see why it's in the WSJ then, maybe it'll show in the coming quarterly/yearly's and they can point to this later?), 2. or they're signaling to investors that they're going to boost profitability and/or margins. Either way, not really a positive trend in my eyes. But also unfortunately, it's not like the alternatives are generally much better :/ Seems to be an industry-wide trend. EDIT: nevermind, Ikea is entirely privately held -- no investors to placate, so 1. maybe?

Symbiote 3y ago
People who care about their carbon footprint, but still want new furniture, can pretend buying something cheap from Ikea is the solution.
- tap-snap-or-nap 3y ago
  Corporate cost cuts reframed as a moral deed
tpmx 3y ago
> 2. or they're signaling to investors that they're going to boost profitability and/or margins. They don't have any investors. They have literally been building and growing this organically for 80 years.

ZeroGravitas 3y ago

This isn't a new thing, this is their equivalent of the Toyota Kaizen continous improvement thing. Here's a book review of their "Democratic Design" book in which they discuss trying to fulfil 5 design paramaters, Form, function, quality, price and sustainability: https://uxdesign.cc/ikea-democratic-design-3-design-takeaways-83143a51bfce https://uxdesign.cc/ikea-democratic-design-3-design-takeaway...

ROTMetro 3y ago

Enjoy your VOCs people.

oblio 3y ago
VOC?
- divarre 3y ago
  Volatile Organic Compounds are indoor air pollutants [1]. For example, formaldehyde – classed as carcinogen – added to bind Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF). [1]: https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/volatile-organic-compounds-impact-indoor-air-quality https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/volatile-organic-...

BonoboIO 3y ago

This is not new. IKEA is continuously redesigning their products and the name does not change. You can buy a billy book case that is fundamentally different than the model that was produced 35 years ago. Less wood, less metal, more plastic, less material. Cost cutting at every point. I have a Besta Casefeom 2018 that was made with 1mm wood veneer and it looks decent. The pins where the shelf rest are made from metal and some screws are also metal. The 2022 version has paper foil printed to look like wood, the pins are plastic, the screws too. IT IS ABSOLUT TRASH! Literally. The foil is so bad, you will scratch it of accidentally with your fingernails, the plastic screws are one time use only, maybe twice. The pins are bending without any weight on it. I returned it. They look nearly the same, cost the same as 2018, but they are different. Be warned.

Hamuko 3y ago
>IKEA is continuously redesigning their products and the name does not change. Not necessarily. The GNEDBY is an almost identical version of the BENNO, except that the shelves mount differently on the GNEDBY. I bought two GNEDBY shelves used (since they stopped making them) and when was setting it up, I discovered that one of them was slightly different from my four GNEDBYs. Turns out that it was a BENNO all along.
- dirtyid 3y ago
  It's like Expedit -> Kallax, Ikea's always tweaking/value engineering their products and at some point the dimensions become different enough to warrant rename. I think Kallax shaved 1 cm off the thicker Expedit perimeter pieces to the point where two next to each other perceptually different.
tap-snap-or-nap 3y ago
Yes BESTÅ TV storage is absolute trash.

tpmx 3y ago

I so miss the cheap 150x75 cm Linnmon honeycomb tabletop. Their default desk depth is now a mere 60 cm because everyone aparently use laptops on desks, nowadays. Ugh. Anything with more depth than that -> so much costlier.

jbverschoor 3y ago

Off topic, is there any business that will CNC/cut particle board to size, shape, and create holes etc? Basically thingiverse for furniture. It would be awesome to be able to customize and reorder parts. For novice users, parametric models could be used to perfectly fit your closet in some nook. I know there are fully automatic wood cnc machines, but I’m not aware of any company that offers this service (at a reasonable price of course).

aaronblohowiak 3y ago
there are loads of cnc hobbyists looking to make some more money. post something on craigslist im sure you'll get some takers.
chucksta 3y ago
https://sendcutsend.com/ https://sendcutsend.com/
porphyra 3y ago
I've had good experiences with sendcutsend for small aluminum parts, not sure about large wood parts but they do support many materials including mdf and plywood. https://sendcutsend.com/materials/baltic-birch-plywood/ https://sendcutsend.com/materials/baltic-birch-plywood/
Loic 3y ago
I was able to build a very nice desk[0] for my wife using wood from one provider[1] in Germany. It was CNC cut extremely precisely. I requested all the plates and used my wood tools to do all the small cuts, holes, etc. But you can ask them to cut the holes too. It saved me a lot of time and energy to have the plates ready at the right dimensions. I am sure you can find the same kind of providers wherever you live. [0]: https://dl.ceondo.com/public/stuff/desk.mp4 https://dl.ceondo.com/public/stuff/desk.mp4 [1]: https://www.plattenzuschnitt24.de/ https://www.plattenzuschnitt24.de/
- Tyr42 3y ago
  Cute desk.

blueridge 3y ago

If you're in the market for buy-it-for-life solid wood furniture: https://www.thejoinery.com https://www.thejoinery.com https://vermontwoodsstudios.com/ https://vermontwoodsstudios.com/ https://hedgehousefurniture.com https://hedgehousefurniture.com https://57stdesign.com https://57stdesign.com https://www.57thstreetbookcase.com/ https://www.57thstreetbookcase.com/ (all bookcases, some veneer and plywood) https://www.spekeklein.com/home https://www.spekeklein.com/home https://www.pompy.com/ https://www.pompy.com/ https://www.chiltons.com/ https://www.chiltons.com/ https://roomandboard.com https://roomandboard.com (mix of solid and veneer, some MDF) These makers are in a league of their own, very expensive, incredibly beautiful hand-made pieces: https://www.sammaloofwoodworker.com https://www.sammaloofwoodworker.com https://www.thosmoser.com https://www.thosmoser.com (highly recommended) https://nakashimawoodworkers.com https://nakashimawoodworkers.com (new commissions around $7K-$15K for a coffee table, $20K-40K for dining table, plus shipping; older Nakashima pieces are highly valued in the art world and sell anywhere between $15K-$300K) https://www.wright20.com/search/nakashima/items#past https://www.wright20.com/search/nakashima/items#past Edit: Also, to echo what someone mentioned below, if you're interested in solid wood furniture you should find a local woodworker. Another edit and thought: I used to own a lot of IKEA furniture and as I've gotten older, have slowly replaced those pieces with items from Knoll, with custom pieces from local woodworkers, with a few pieces from the studios listed above. A lot of people are commenting on the cost, and yes they're expensive and could be considered luxury goods. But if you like art and design and you care about quality, you save for what you want to buy. I wanted to be surrounded by great craftsmanship, so instead of buying "stuff" and instead of spending money on lots of subscriptions and services, or constantly upgrading phones and computers, I buy one piece of nice furniture every year. I believe the more you appreciate the things around you, the more they begin to influence your own work, and your sense of place. I regularly see a lot of IKEA furniture on the side of the road and in dumpsters. I think this is the difference between buying "things" and having "possessions" but that's a discussion for another day.

535188B17C93743 3y ago
Why is there no way to save comments on HN? Or is there? I want to save this for one day when I can afford this all, haha.

wazoox 3y ago

I have a 40 years old billy, the shelves are made of solid wood! IKEA quality has been dwindling for decades.

ericpauley 3y ago
The lines have just shifted. The Hemnes is pine. I would imagine that adjusting for inflation it is likely cheaper than the Billy was when you bought it.

switch007 3y ago

There is so little left to cut. Replacing wood veneer with foil? Man, that’s low. I’d never buy furniture from them. Just smaller things like glasses and plants. They’re a shadow of what they used to be.

tap-snap-or-nap 3y ago
The paper foil got me. I see down their vision going towards furniture made with cardboard boxes as an eco-friendly option

unwind 3y ago

I'm a bit saddened by this news, since making their products flimsier/lighter will surely make them feel worse. Anyway, the very first paragraph has this: ÄLMHULT, Sweden—Amid IKEA’s colorful staged living rooms, piles of umlaut-laden housewares and endless rows of flat-pack boxes is furniture that can have shoppers wondering: How does that chair cost only $35? Which I think is really bad writing for a publication like the WSJ. Swedish does not have "umlauts". We have three letters more than the US English alphabet, but only two of them (Ä and Ö) have the double dots: the third has a ring (Å). These three are real first-class letters though, they are not "umlauted" (which means changed from some base letter due to grammar).

itsameta4 3y ago
The dots are indeed called umlauts, at least in English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_(diacritic) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut_(diacritic)
- ska 3y ago
  I think OP's contention was that in Swedish these are not diacritical marks, but different letters.
  - okamiueru 3y ago
    Indeed. The equivalent Norwegian letters are æ/Æ, ø/Ø, å/Å (in the correct order). And you wouldn't call those umlauts either.
  - Findecanor 3y ago
    I think the OP is splitting hairs. I'd say that they are just as much different letters in German, from which the word "Umlaut" comes. One is replaced with the other in word inflections. For instance, the noun "Land" is "Länder" in plural — both in German and Swedish. But what the two dots are not: they are definitely not diaeresis.
    - silvestrov 3y ago

s1mon 3y ago

Constantly looking to shave pennies off of products is understandable from a business perspective, but as many are commenting, quality often suffers. With some household items - not just from Ikea - it seems like the race to the bottom leads to everything becoming so bereft of raw material that they are disposable. Try to buy simple things like a dishpan or dish rack, and most brands have become so flimsy that they don't last. I really wish that Ikea would offer a sub-brand which is more premium. They did that many years ago. I have a dresser from the early '90s which is still in good shape. It was differentiated by design. materials and construction. It also cost a lot more than other similar items. Around that same time they sold a series of shelves/cabinets with aluminum extrusions for the corners, and some of their more dense particle board with premium veneers for the shelves/panels. It really competed with high end stuff from other contract furniture companies like Steelcase, Knoll, and Herman Miller. Ikea no longer seems to be interested in competing on quality.

jwagenet 3y ago
IKEA has mid and high tier options in a number of categories. While certainly not necessarily comparable to premium mass-produced furniture brands, definitely a step up.
itronitron 3y ago
In my recent experience, when IKEA sells a product that is predominantly made of solid wood it tends to be durable, which is how I define quality. The particle board stuff is definitely hurting their brand from my perspective.

omnibrain 3y ago

Having shopped at Ikea for 20 years now there is one pattern I noticed: In general Ikea won‘t increase the price of an article, instead they would produce it cheaper and cheaper.

switch007 3y ago
I’ve got a catalog from 4 years ago. They have had absolutely no problem raising prices /and/ cutting quality the past couple of years.

donatj 3y ago

I have bought and assembled 6 billy bookcases one by one over the last 15 years and the drop in quality over time has been quite perceivable. The latest one I assmeled used plastic locking mechanisms to keep the shelves in place instead of the metal of all my prior bookcases. Probably good enough, but doesn't inspire confidence.

donatj 3y ago
I truly wish whoever downvoted me would give me an explanation of why. This has been my experience. Do you disagree with my assessment? I can go take pictures of my individual bookshelves if you would like and show the gradual drop in quality if you would prefer.
- clnq 3y ago
  I expect that people downvote these things based on emotion and not reason. It's been very perceivable that IKEA's quality has gone down over the years. Though it is a bit regional as ultimately quality is influenced by the local manufacturer. The quality of their furniture is better in Scandinavia than the UK, for example.

bedros 3y ago

basically, making ikea products fall apart in two years instead of 5 years. What a shame, just increase the prices slightly.

switch007 3y ago
They’ve increased prices in loads of items the past few years too. And not just by a little bit

asciimov 3y ago

Is enshitification endemic of stagnate wages, or is it due to investors seeking ever grater short term gains?

switch007 3y ago
They’re a private company fwiw
local_crmdgeon 3y ago
IKEA is structured as a Dutch nonprofit. There's no shares.

0xbadcafebee 3y ago

I like driving around cities when it's moving time for college kids. You can pick up all sorts of great scrap wood left on the curb, mostly from IKEA parts. I had to stop picking it up because I amassed so much. I've made several tables and 3 bed frames.

didip 3y ago

Yeah, this is most apparent on their best-seller: Kallax. Try lifting your old Kallax vs the new one. No, you are not suddenly turned into Captain America. It's the new Kallax that's suddenly became so light and hollow.

rtpg 3y ago
Is the new one at least... kind of solid? I gotta say having my Kallax weigh less sounds nice if it doesn't fall apart
aceazzameen 3y ago
Interesting! I just got a new Kallax, but haven't put it together yet. I'll have to compare against my 10yr old ones.

theCodeStig 3y ago

IKEA furniture, is essentially temporary and disposable. Consider the environmental impact.

AndrewKemendo 3y ago

> keep prices down and profits up There’s your problem right there. We are all getting a worse product from IKEA because they have to keep investors profits up. They wrap this boot to the face in a lovingly quaint “scrappy engineers” story that’s supposed to make it seem like this is all unavoidable effects of some mysterious process. We’re the authors of our own hell folks.

noelsusman 3y ago
What investors?
local_crmdgeon 3y ago
IKEA doesn't have investors, it's actually structured as a Dutch nonprofit.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  Per Wikipedia, at the top level there is a Dutch foundation and a Leichtenstein foundation, and a web of for- and non-profit orgs beneath them.
- AndrewKemendo 3y ago
  So, per the article who is seeking profit? I’m pretty sure Inter-IKEA has private shareholders

somewhat_drunk 3y ago

General FYI: Ikea furniture (like all particle board furniture) will be much more durable if you add a line of wood glue to the edges when building. It's a simple step that only takes a few extra minutes during construction, but the resulting furniture will last through many moves.

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dcchambers 3y ago

I like Ikea but I usually avoid their cheaper lines and opt for the "higher end" stuff with real wood...sure it's usually just pine, but it seems to hold up a hell of a lot better and it's not that much more expensive. Plus natural wood is gorgeous. Eg. Buy a Hemnes bookcase instead of a Billy. A ton more affordable than a custom walnut or oak bookcase from a local furniture maker if that is out of your price range, but will last practically as long.

squokko 3y ago

If you glue IKEA stuff together while you're assembling it, and attach it to the wall, it's as strong as you need it to be.

jacobp100 3y ago

I like IKEA. They’re very honest about their construction. They do some solid wood products, and some particle board products - and you’re never going to be confused what you’re buying Also, all their packaging seems to be recyclable - including their food packaging. That’s something supermarkets in the UK aren’t even close to