5 ms·

IKEA is beloved by many in the US and generally one of the most specifically in-demand brands in the market for used contemporary furniture. You might just be i

IKEA is beloved by many in the US and generally one of the most specifically in-demand brands in the market for used contemporary furniture. You might just be in an unusual region or had some other reasons why your listings didn't perform the way you expected. That said, I am one of those people who doesn't get a lot from them so I can speak to some of criticism. Part of it is just the aesthetic, and theirs doesn't match how I decorate my own space or what I usually feel good around. That's just the nature of aesthetics, though, and there's always going to be some difference in taste between any two people and any two regions. As for quality, though, I think the critique you hear reflects the quality of their budget products. If you're eyeing modern or euro designs at a fancy furniture studio and then go to IKEA to find a cheap approximation, you discover that much of the cheapest stuff has the same flimsy glueboard, peeling laminate, and unstable joinery of the cheap stuff at Wal-mart. That shouldn't rally be a surprise (cheap is cheap for a reason) and doesn't hold true for their mid-range and higher products. And heck, it's not even really fair when Walmart and Target furniture isn't any better, but it's enough to keep feeding the reputation.

JohnFen 3y ago
I legitimately had no idea IKEA sold anything of real quality. TIL.
- rsynnott 3y ago
  I mean, it depends what you mean by ‘real quality’; you’re not going to get hand-crafted expertly made stuff that will last for centuries or anything. But for the price, their mid to high end stuff is excellent.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    I don't mean anything like artisan or hand-crafted. I mean well-built, out of quality materials. A good quality table, for instance, should last decades.
    - rsynnott 3y ago
      I think a lot of their solid wood stuff (it’s not all chipboard!) would fit the bill, tbh. You do have to be slightly careful with the assembly (it’s not difficult, but some people like to treat the instructions as suggestions, and then get annoyed when it falls apart…)
    - valicord 3y ago
      I'm writing this comment sitting at a basic IKEA particleboard desk that I've had since 2014. It has survived daily usage for 10 years and 2 moves (one coast-to-coast). The only signs of wear is some scuffed paint where the hands rest in front of the keyboard and veneer is starting to peel slightly in one the corner.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Yeah, I have a couple of Ikea chairs in a room that replaced (cheap) wicker that was falling apart. They haven't been used hard but, to me, they were pretty inexpensive, look good, and are very comfortable. On the other hand, I bought a dresser with a lot of particle board and, no, it's by no means well made. But it's in a bedroom and it works. I could have spent 4x (or more) for a nicely made hardwood dresser from a good New England brand. But even getting it into the bedroom upstairs might have been a bit of an adventure.
- KerrAvon 3y ago
  Have you never been in an IKEA store? They sell a lot of solid wood. I have IKEA furniture that's lasted for decades. It's value-optimized, but it's usually well designed; if you put it together properly, it will last.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    Yes, of course I've been in IKEA stores. That's where I've purchased IKEA furniture. I just didn't know they sold anything of high quality.
- munificent 3y ago
  I think IKEA is sort of like the Toyota of furniture. It doesn't look amazing, but it's higher quality than the price would lead you to believe because they work very hard to design things economically.
  - Gigachad 3y ago
    It’s also engineered incredibly well. There are no weak points or flaws in the design. It feels like someone poured their heart and soul in to producing the absolute strongest and most practical item possible given the budget.
    - jtc331 3y ago
      Please tell me you’re not still talking about IKEA.
      - Gigachad 3y ago
        I am. So many other companies products seem to have one weak spot that completely ruins an otherwise strong design. Meanwhile ikea stuff seems perfectly designed for the material budget. This chair for example is way stronger than it has any right to be. I’ve seen it used in a ton of cafes so it clearly holds up to heavy usage https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/taernoe-chair-outdoor-foldable-black-light-brown-stained-00165128/ https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/taernoe-chair-outdoor-foldable-... The look and price feels like it should be a flimsy piece of junk but in reality it’s incredibly solid.
        KptMarchewa 3y ago
        God no, it's awful. At least 50% too small in all dimensions. It's a chair that deliberately ignores that someone larger than 160cm 50kg girl might sit on it.
    - Solvency 3y ago
      Found IKEA's CEO everybody.
maxglute 3y ago
If one wants durable from IKEA, shop by material. They have sheet steel and solid wood that will outlast any particle board. The steel is a little thin on the budget line and the wood is not very aesthetic for some tastes, but they usually have options that last or outperforms more expensive particle board furniture that are more complex due to aesthetics. Hell even plastic there is fine, so many cafes with shitty beater IKEA cafe furniture.
- tonyarkles 3y ago
  The other thing you can do is glue-and-screw instead of just using the screws. I’ve had a bookshelf or two break due to the screws blowing out of the chipboard during a move. Using regular wood glue/PVA meant that that never happened again although it also means you can’t disassemble it. Disassembling is kind of overrated though, the screws don’t ever go in as tight the second time, especially after it’s been sitting loaded with books for a few years.
  - BonoboIO 3y ago
    Underrated trick for ikea furniture. Do not use the ikea nails, they are junk … use staples. Much stronger, easier to remove and you can remove them without damaging the part like the back of PAX
    - tonyarkles 3y ago
      Oh, yeah, I discovered this not because I thought staples would be stronger but because I built one shelf first and was tired of trying to nail those stupid brad nails in by hand... so for the next shelf I pulled out the staple gun. Was so impressed with how much more rigid it felt that I went behind the other shelf and drove a bunch of staples through the backing cardboard :)
  - mindslight 3y ago
    When replacing screws in soft material, I slowly turn them to the left to feel when they drop into the existing thread rather than making new grooves. And in my experience, IKEA furniture reassembles fine multiple times. You also have to make sure such screws are and remain tight, because if they start getting loose that working back and forth will destroy the threads of the softer material. If a piece of furniture isn't solid, figure out why and shore it up before it gets progressively worse.
rsynnott 3y ago
Yeah, they’re definitely opinionated about design. Personally, I like it, but if the design doesn’t work for you, Ikea isn’t going to work for you.
alright2565 3y ago
> you discover that much of the cheapest stuff has the same flimsy glueboard, peeling laminate, and unstable joinery of the cheap stuff at Wal-mart. I'm not going to argue too much with this, but I think this is underselling Ikea quite a bit. Their cheap stuff is definitely made out of cheap materials. But I've found it to be well-engineered compared to walmart with reinforcements in critical places and general overall good quality control (doesn't come pre-scratched). Walmart-level furniture on the other hand is often designed to look a certain way, with no consideration for how loads will be placed on it or long-term durability.
- bombcar 3y ago
  For what it's worth I've had better luck with Walmart furniture than Ikea, but that was because I was careful about the Walmart stuff and just trusted the Ikea would be fine.
- rtpg 3y ago
  I feel like the cheapest thing in a certain price category in IKEA is "doesn't survive two moves" stuff, but everything above it is ... basically fine. Like it's a table, there's only so many ways to put 4 metal bars and a piece of wood on top. It'll be fine.
Aeolun 3y ago
The quality of IKEA budget products is far higher than you should expect for the price.
- cchi_co 3y ago
  [dead]
TylerE 3y ago
I think more than a bit of it is typical American trademark laziness and inability to follow directions. I see so many of the bookcases without the backing sheet on them. Even if it's just thin cardboard, it provides a lot more of the structural integrity than you might think. The point is to keep the cubes from deforming and having a progressive failure.
- azza2110 3y ago
  The bracing provided by the backing sheet makes all the difference. Some of the simple desks the sell are nothing more than a tabletop and four screw in legs. With no bracing the desk is unpleasantly wobbly. The very popular Ikea cube bookcases (https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/kallax-shelving-units-58285/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/kallax-shelving-units-58285/) aren't sold with a backing sheet - thankfully they seem stiff enough without it.

JohnFen 3y ago

I legitimately had no idea IKEA sold anything of real quality. TIL.

rsynnott 3y ago
I mean, it depends what you mean by ‘real quality’; you’re not going to get hand-crafted expertly made stuff that will last for centuries or anything. But for the price, their mid to high end stuff is excellent.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  I don't mean anything like artisan or hand-crafted. I mean well-built, out of quality materials. A good quality table, for instance, should last decades.
  - rsynnott 3y ago
    I think a lot of their solid wood stuff (it’s not all chipboard!) would fit the bill, tbh. You do have to be slightly careful with the assembly (it’s not difficult, but some people like to treat the instructions as suggestions, and then get annoyed when it falls apart…)
  - valicord 3y ago
    I'm writing this comment sitting at a basic IKEA particleboard desk that I've had since 2014. It has survived daily usage for 10 years and 2 moves (one coast-to-coast). The only signs of wear is some scuffed paint where the hands rest in front of the keyboard and veneer is starting to peel slightly in one the corner.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Yeah, I have a couple of Ikea chairs in a room that replaced (cheap) wicker that was falling apart. They haven't been used hard but, to me, they were pretty inexpensive, look good, and are very comfortable. On the other hand, I bought a dresser with a lot of particle board and, no, it's by no means well made. But it's in a bedroom and it works. I could have spent 4x (or more) for a nicely made hardwood dresser from a good New England brand. But even getting it into the bedroom upstairs might have been a bit of an adventure.
KerrAvon 3y ago
Have you never been in an IKEA store? They sell a lot of solid wood. I have IKEA furniture that's lasted for decades. It's value-optimized, but it's usually well designed; if you put it together properly, it will last.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  Yes, of course I've been in IKEA stores. That's where I've purchased IKEA furniture. I just didn't know they sold anything of high quality.
munificent 3y ago
I think IKEA is sort of like the Toyota of furniture. It doesn't look amazing, but it's higher quality than the price would lead you to believe because they work very hard to design things economically.
- Gigachad 3y ago
  It’s also engineered incredibly well. There are no weak points or flaws in the design. It feels like someone poured their heart and soul in to producing the absolute strongest and most practical item possible given the budget.
  - jtc331 3y ago
    Please tell me you’re not still talking about IKEA.
    - Gigachad 3y ago
      I am. So many other companies products seem to have one weak spot that completely ruins an otherwise strong design. Meanwhile ikea stuff seems perfectly designed for the material budget. This chair for example is way stronger than it has any right to be. I’ve seen it used in a ton of cafes so it clearly holds up to heavy usage https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/taernoe-chair-outdoor-foldable-black-light-brown-stained-00165128/ https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/taernoe-chair-outdoor-foldable-... The look and price feels like it should be a flimsy piece of junk but in reality it’s incredibly solid.
      - KptMarchewa 3y ago
        God no, it's awful. At least 50% too small in all dimensions. It's a chair that deliberately ignores that someone larger than 160cm 50kg girl might sit on it.
  - Solvency 3y ago
    Found IKEA's CEO everybody.

maxglute 3y ago

If one wants durable from IKEA, shop by material. They have sheet steel and solid wood that will outlast any particle board. The steel is a little thin on the budget line and the wood is not very aesthetic for some tastes, but they usually have options that last or outperforms more expensive particle board furniture that are more complex due to aesthetics. Hell even plastic there is fine, so many cafes with shitty beater IKEA cafe furniture.

tonyarkles 3y ago
The other thing you can do is glue-and-screw instead of just using the screws. I’ve had a bookshelf or two break due to the screws blowing out of the chipboard during a move. Using regular wood glue/PVA meant that that never happened again although it also means you can’t disassemble it. Disassembling is kind of overrated though, the screws don’t ever go in as tight the second time, especially after it’s been sitting loaded with books for a few years.
- BonoboIO 3y ago
  Underrated trick for ikea furniture. Do not use the ikea nails, they are junk … use staples. Much stronger, easier to remove and you can remove them without damaging the part like the back of PAX
  - tonyarkles 3y ago
    Oh, yeah, I discovered this not because I thought staples would be stronger but because I built one shelf first and was tired of trying to nail those stupid brad nails in by hand... so for the next shelf I pulled out the staple gun. Was so impressed with how much more rigid it felt that I went behind the other shelf and drove a bunch of staples through the backing cardboard :)
- mindslight 3y ago
  When replacing screws in soft material, I slowly turn them to the left to feel when they drop into the existing thread rather than making new grooves. And in my experience, IKEA furniture reassembles fine multiple times. You also have to make sure such screws are and remain tight, because if they start getting loose that working back and forth will destroy the threads of the softer material. If a piece of furniture isn't solid, figure out why and shore it up before it gets progressively worse.

rsynnott 3y ago

Yeah, they’re definitely opinionated about design. Personally, I like it, but if the design doesn’t work for you, Ikea isn’t going to work for you.

alright2565 3y ago

> you discover that much of the cheapest stuff has the same flimsy glueboard, peeling laminate, and unstable joinery of the cheap stuff at Wal-mart. I'm not going to argue too much with this, but I think this is underselling Ikea quite a bit. Their cheap stuff is definitely made out of cheap materials. But I've found it to be well-engineered compared to walmart with reinforcements in critical places and general overall good quality control (doesn't come pre-scratched). Walmart-level furniture on the other hand is often designed to look a certain way, with no consideration for how loads will be placed on it or long-term durability.

bombcar 3y ago
For what it's worth I've had better luck with Walmart furniture than Ikea, but that was because I was careful about the Walmart stuff and just trusted the Ikea would be fine.
rtpg 3y ago
I feel like the cheapest thing in a certain price category in IKEA is "doesn't survive two moves" stuff, but everything above it is ... basically fine. Like it's a table, there's only so many ways to put 4 metal bars and a piece of wood on top. It'll be fine.

Aeolun 3y ago

The quality of IKEA budget products is far higher than you should expect for the price.

cchi_co 3y ago
[dead]

TylerE 3y ago

I think more than a bit of it is typical American trademark laziness and inability to follow directions. I see so many of the bookcases without the backing sheet on them. Even if it's just thin cardboard, it provides a lot more of the structural integrity than you might think. The point is to keep the cubes from deforming and having a progressive failure.

azza2110 3y ago
The bracing provided by the backing sheet makes all the difference. Some of the simple desks the sell are nothing more than a tabletop and four screw in legs. With no bracing the desk is unpleasantly wobbly. The very popular Ikea cube bookcases (https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/kallax-shelving-units-58285/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/kallax-shelving-units-58285/) aren't sold with a backing sheet - thankfully they seem stiff enough without it.