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Couch hacking - A proof of Ikea's excellence
- jaems33 14y agoI still prefer MUJI. It's too bad they don't really have many locations in North America outside of New York City.
- dybber 14y agoManstad is awesome, got one 10 years ago and it is still in use every day. Another IKEA-item I'm really impressed by is the simple NJUTA shampoo containers: http://www.ikea.com/dk/da/catalog/products/70192699/ http://www.ikea.com/dk/da/catalog/products/70192699/ - what impresses me is how they have shaped the container such that it can be stored in different ways depending on your bathroom: standing on the lid, hanging from a hook or squeezed in between the wall and the water pipe. Now I'm buying shampoo based on the shape of the container.
- nicholassmith 14y agoIKEA sits at that price point where it's expensive enough to not seem cheap, and cheap enough to be affordable. Plus half the furniture into something else hacks seem to be from IKEA, so maybe they just design it with the idea in mind that it'll end up as part of a rackmount setup or something.
- Drbble 14y agoIKEA makes simple pieces designed for reuse across their whole inventory, so it is natural that their components extend to third party aftermarket designs.
- loceng 14y agoThey definitely are an innovation company.
- objclxt 14y agoOne of Ikea's greatest innovations (and also the one they keep quiet about) is that it's actually a non-profit organisation. In 2009 Ikea Group made a €2.5 billion profit, none of which was taxed. Depending on your viewpoint, it's either insanely brilliant or morally bankrupt: the vast majority of Ikea's revenue goes to the INGKA Foundation, a charity which ostensible supports 'innovation in the field of architecture', but only gives 0.2% of its total equity to charitable causes each year. It makes the fairly standard tax avoidance measures carried out by tech companies like Apple or Vodafone look amateur by comparison!
- kalleboo 14y agoIt's slightly disingenuous to say "none of which was taxed" when each store and regional organization does pay taxes in the country they're located. The part that's not taxed are the royalty fees paid from each store (franchise system) to the parent corporation (which of course is still a massive amount).
- Zakharov 14y agoThere's also income tax paid by Ikea employees, which I guess is why the Swedish government has let Ikea get away with the rest of it.
- excuse-me 14y agoIkea isn't a swedish company it's dutch. ps this is exactly the same sort of scam (double Irish rather than dutch sandwich) used by Google/HP/MSFT/Dell and every other company operating in Europe
- objclxt 14y agoNo, it's not 'exactly the same sort of scam' - unless you're trying to tell me that Google, HP, and Microsoft all divert the bulk of their profits through non-profit charities to avoid tax. They divert their profits through holding companies, but these are for profit. Ikea don't do that. Setting up holding companies in EU to pay minimal tax is standard practice: creating a 'charitable organisation' absolutely isn't. Ikea is a very unique, and in some ways innovative, example of creative accounting.
- ekianjo 14y agoTheir designs may be innovative but the material quality is often so low you should consider it as disposable. Especially all the 'fake wood' stuff. The inside is made of the lightest stuff and it breaks at the first occasion. Ok, its cheap, but it feels cheap as well. Most of their office chairs are crap and do no last. As for the couch in question, it is probably ok for that purpose. There are however a bunch of items for which i wont consider ikea as an option anymore.
- brunnsbe 14y agoPersonally I think IKEA's partly bad reputation is 100% based on their cheapest furniture in their collection. They do have a lot of more expensive furniture also which has a lot higher material quality. In other words, you get what you pay for and that rule also covers IKEA.
- jlengrand 14y agoI agree and disagree with you at the same time. Some items are indeed crap, and I won't buy them (especially in their first version). But some others, including office chairs suit me well. I bought 3 of them at least, and never experienced any problem. The lack table will surely break soon, but what do you exactly expect from a 10 bucks table ? :) I don't know exactly out of France, but the other furniture stores are usually more expensive, and offer crappier stuff than Ikea. (As long as you don't search for a 200 euro table of course).
- maayank 14y ago"But some others, including office chairs suit me well." Investing in a proper (edit: very good quality) office chair for my development rig was certainly one of the best investments I made. I don't know if you've seen it, but if not I suggest to take a look at http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/07/investing-in-a-quality-programming-chair.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/07/investing-in-a-qual...
- jlengrand 14y agoAlready read this article. But I have a weird way of working . I sit on my chair like a yoggi ^^. Sounds weird but work for me :) http://goo.gl/VB6Ys http://goo.gl/VB6Ys
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- willyt 14y agoThis couch doesn't have drop shadows and an unnecessary 'loading' animation, metaphorically speaking. This article is a great description of the product of what good designers do. It's cheap to manufacture. Easily deployed and assembled. Well suited to its primary purpose. Incorporates multiple additional uses without compromising the primary use. Flexible enough to be reconfigured easily for different locations. Best of all, it doesn't have any unnecessary 'design' frills.
- jlengrand 14y agoI wouldn't have summarized better. That is exactly what I tried to show in the article.
- gouranga 14y agoMy entire place is like an Ikea showroom. My only complaints are that the surfaces are not hard wearing,even on expensive items. I've taken to covering work surfaces with another layer of laminate or in the case of my desk, I had a custom cutting mat cut for it which is glued on with impact adhesive.
- ovi256 14y agoI've already had to replace the desktop of an otherwise fine Ikea desk. Wear-and-tear over some two years had removed the paint on a palm-sized oval area where my mouse hand sat. Some unfortunate punches in less glorious moments cracked through (it's not solid wood, but basically a thin walled box with a cardboard hex structure inside). The good part is that the desktop costs a lot less than the whole desk, it's always in stock and it takes 5 minutes with a screwdriver to change. The thin-box design is smart, it makes it very light, and the cardboard hex structure deadens resonance, so it doesn't sound like a "cheap" box, even if it is one. A lot like how car doors have sound deadening to give them a solid, satisfying thump, instead of a cheap, high frequency ring when you close them.
- gouranga 14y agoI never knew you could get individual parts. I found that the desk I have has some resonance with a Sony all in desktop pc I had. Was solved by putting a couple of glue gun glue blobs on the bottom of the unit. Was slightly annoying.
- excuse-me 14y agoAnother IKEA solution. Buy a piece of the kitchen counter top rather than a desktop - 3x as heavy and waterproof (check the damagedbin to get one for $10). Then add the legs from the do it yourself table range and add an extra one in the middle at the back. Then you can have a 3m long desk for $50 that will hold an array of large CRTs
- gouranga 14y ago
- paganel 14y ago> It was by far the item I loved most in my flat (even before my computer). I left a marriage and a fully furnished house behind me, but my old couch is one of the things I regret the most, it was just perfect :) That, and the dish-washer, someone should write a poem or build a statue for the person who invented/perfected this wonderful piece of machinery.
- morsch 14y agoThe best thing about dish-washers is that they use less energy and water than most humans cleaning the same amount of dishes. At least if you get a modern one.
- sparknlaunch12 14y agoIkea are absolutely brilliant. Some may have issues with their style or perceived quality however for price and flexibility they dominate. Other companies are trying to mimic the flat pack business model. However the overall shopping environment, forcible furniture, warranties make them standout. The sofa is just one example of adaptable furniture. One limitation though is their bed and mattress products. They have different dimensions (unique to ikea) and therefore you need an ikea mattress for a perfect fit.
- ZeroGravitas 14y agoOne limitation though is their bed and mattress products. They have different dimensions (unique to ikea) Are you in a country that uses imperial measures? I have an IKEA Mattress, in a non-IKEA Habitat bedframe, that uses the same non-standard (in the UK) sizes. I assumed it was just a metric standard from continental Europe.
- hessenwolf 14y agoNah, I'm in Germany and the duvets and beds are very awkwardly proportioned. It means you have to choose IKEA sheets to get them to fit just right.
- Apreche 14y agoI have that couch. It's so good my friend also got it.
- ender7 14y agoA lot of IKEA stuff is at a really nice price point, but I tend to avoid buying anything from them that involves wood. The particle-board composites they use are so heavy that their furniture becomes impractical to actually move around (and for someone who moves frequently, this is a major drawback). For bookcases and dressers, I usually try to find something made out of pine (or some light hardwood). You can get them from unfinished furniture outlets for a very decent price, and they look quite attractive, even if you don't finish them.
- ktizo 14y agoWhen they learn how to cut bed slats to the width required for the bed, so that they don't fall through when you sit on them, I will be a lot more impressed.
- bane 14y agoEven though Ikea furniture is essentially disposable, it looks relatively attractive, can easily last for a few years (I have 2 desks going on 11 years with only minor laminate peeling), but one thing that makes buying their stuff a joy is the instructions. I know that Ikea's instruction style has been intensely influential in the home furniture business when I go buy a set of curtain rods at a different store, or an "assembly required" vacuum cleaner at a garage supply store and they all feature copies of what look like Ikea instructions. Simple line-art, no words (saving having to print assembly instructions in 11 languages) etc. And then when I set out to actually follow the instructions is the brilliance of Ikea's instruction design made clear. Curtain rod instructions? I have almost no idea what they are trying to convey to me, random screws and indecipherable brackets make putting them up a chore. Vacuum wasn't much better, I'm still not sure I have the right hose in the right place. But put together an 1100 piece Ikea drawer unit? It's as much fun, and as simple, as building a Lego Millennium Falcon -- and they've managed to describe the process unambiguously, and in only as many steps as necessary (around 30). Each little connector is absolutely clear, the shape and sides of similar looking pieces are obvious, multiple steps (when absolutely clear), are combined into one. The instruction manuals are virtually parts of a piece of audience participation performance art.
- mwexler 14y agoYou can also tell that they've pretested them. They'll include the "X" over common errors, like choosing the wrong length screw, instead of just putting the picture of the right thing. Cookbooks get dinged for this all the time... recipes are often not pre-tested before placement in many cookbooks, such that some now feature on the cover "Every recipe tested in our kitchens". It becomes apparent when cookbooks list common errors (yes, even expert chefs make common errors) or ways to fix bad outcomes or ingredient substitutions which actually still taste good. It all looks so simple, til you get the curtain rod instructions (agreed!) or a non-tested cookbook.
- Drbble 14y agoThe way to way to think about IKEA lifespan is not years. Each move and reassemble ages a piece, as does exceeding its load-bearing capacity. If you don't move it and don't overload it (especially those flimsy backs of bookcases held in by tiny nails), a piece will last many years.
- darkxanthos 14y agoI had that couch and notice a glaring omission: it's VERY uncomfortable. Hard as concrete slabs. That's it's primary function and it fails. Also when trying to move it around my apartment the particle wood/cardboard sides started tearing within it. Are they innovative? Yes. Excellent? No.
- randlet 14y agoExactly. We have the same couch as well (in a small guest room)and it's fantastic in theory (lots of internal storage space, incredibly easy to convert between bed & couch) but in practice it makes for an uncomfortable bed as well as an uncomfortable couch. As you said, the Ikea particle board is also quite fragile. We ended up purchasing a down mattress pad (for ~15% of the price of the couch) for when it is used as a bed and it makes it bearable as a bed, but now we have to store the mattress pad in the couch itself. After living with the couch for a year I would happily pay twice as much for a similar design that is executed better. Unfortunately no such thing exists as far as I can tell!
- njx 14y agoIt is fun to shop around in IKEA and we do frequent visits there but often the quality is too low. On the other hand, IKEA operates under the ownership of non-profit establishment using sleazy tricks to avoid taxes.
- parbo 14y agoThe best part about Ikea is the experience when you return something. No fuss, and it's no biggie if you lost the receipt or come after the return period has ended. Awesome customer treatment.
- forgotAgain 14y agoI have never purchased Ikea furniture. I've only had the pleasure of putting it together for other people. So far that experience has included wardrobes, desks and beds. Without fail the stuff is absolute crap. From pressboard panels, where the slightest overtweak of connectors causes permanent damage, to undersized drawers that fall off of slides, to the inevitable missing parts, the stuff is garbage. It looks nice in the showroom maze and it's inexpensive but you definitely get what you pay for. Maybe even less than that. And yes its disposable. It cannot take the abuse of moving from one apartment to another.
- pavel_lishin 14y agoOur bedroom is largely from Ikea, except for one bookshelf and one dresser. We have run into precisely zero of these issues. The only significant damage incurred was when we slammed a car trunk onto the bottom of a table, puncturing it underneath. So far, the desk and shelves have survived moves without any problem. Ikea has a pretty big range of furniture, and some of it is made out of actual wood; maybe that makes the difference.
- ippa 14y agoIKEA ftw, came for the furniture, stayed for the meatballs.
- whatusername 14y agoI remember looking at Ikea when buying a sofa-bed earlier this year. I dismissed it as too expensive. This MANSTAD looks great so I decide to have a look. $699. Not too bad. Much cheaper than I remember Ikea. Now to look for the Australian Price. Can't be too much more than that. $1299. And that's why I bought a 2nd hand leather couch off gumtree for $200.
- yitchelle 14y agoI have had the similar experience. Living in Melbourne, IKEA was considered as almost exclusive, being Swedish and with a pricing slight higher than Freedom or Plush. Now that I am living in Germany, IKEA is considered almost poverty pack furniture! Personally, I really like their design - clean, functional and to the point.
- jlengrand 14y agoAnd I must say that I was surprised at the US price tags when writing the article. I always assumed IKEA's prices were kinda standardized. Experience showed that they absolutely don't. The Manstad is 100$ cheaper in France than it is in the US.
- excuse-me 14y agoIt's changed a little. When I first lived in the US in the 90s, IKEA was almost exclusively a grad student level store. Now it seems to be upmarket here. Remember as well that the French price presumably includes 20% vat while the US price will be +sales tax.
- jlengrand 14y agoI was actually including the tax :)
- whatusername 14y agoSo the $AUD price is €1021 including the 10% GST. The Ikea/fr website lists €499
- ylem 14y agoI may have had bad luck, but the last time I shopped there, the customer experience was horrible. I had a new tenant coming in, so perhaps I was buying more than a usual purchase, but an app that let me know where to pick up all the parts for items (for some I would have to go to different parts of the warehouse) and let me check them off as I got them (perhaps using the phone as a scanner) would have been very useful...
- asarazan 14y agoThat's the couch we got when I moved out here to work at Greplin. Brilliant design.