IKEA: Crap, or bargains?

Please take my poll.\ \ Bonus!: for those of you old enough to remember when IKEA was new to the US (late 80s and 90s): the first time you went, did you think they had to be putting you on? All the brightly colored plastic, the Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam, and the weird Swedish names (with diacritical marks!) for the items....

I love IKEA and am looking at several of their bookshelves in my office right now.
It''s mostly crap. A few of their items are okay, but it''s all mostly crap.
They''re hard to beat for some things (I just got a nice set of "Dinerska" dishes for less than $25--6 plates, salad plates, saucers and coffee cups), but their furniture is uniformly terrible, especially for heavy duty things like sofas, beds and chairs. And the weird sizing is always a problem.
Hell of a lot better than the crap you buy at walmart
A LOT of crap, but there is some decent stuff.\ \ Also, even some of the cheap crap serves its purpose - dorms, first apartments, furniture you don''t care about because you know it will get beaten up by kids, etc.
But generally not as good as the stuff you buy at Target.
You have to choose carefully. I took back a duvet today (I think you guys call them comforters). It was horrid. Like a mackintosh. It made that kind of noise. They wouldn''t take it back though.%0D\ %0D\ But mostly I think it''s terrific.
I voted "bargains," but you have to be very careful wading through the crap to find them.
Some crap, some good stuff.\ \ Bought my mattress there - totally organic (non-synthetic), 25 year guarantee, moderately-priced and verrrry comfortable.
I saw a feature in Traditional Home on a gay designer couple who renovated a small house in the Hamptons and they used kitchen cabinets from Ikea. They looked great.
Plenty of crap, but they sold me my kitchen table for $50 and it''s held together for ten years. %0D\ %0D\ Yes, lots of assembly was required, but I bought it when I had more time than money.
Team Ikea
My architect says that there are a few kitchen components that he likes to incorporate into an overall project because they can look good and keep the overall project cost down a bit. Like he thinks it''s all crap mostly, but he does say that some of the cabinetry can be slick when used here and there in an overall project
Fabulous stuff in their "Marketplace."\ \ I''ve bought quilts, throw rugs, candles, picture frames, lamps, bulbs, a chair in the kids area that I use as an accent piece, pots and pans and all manner of kitchen stuff.\ \ I also bought a kitchen table which wore like iron and 4 Billy bookcases for my den/office. The bookcases were easy to assemble, look great and cheap enough that once I''m done with them, I don''t feel bad throwing them out.
Oh, good thread, OP. I need a new dresser or chest and have been searching for something affordable and attractive. All I can find are granny-looking dressers and they cost a fortune. Or, the stuff in the $300 range is cheap. If I''m going to go cheap, I don''t want to pay $300 (yes, I know $300 is cheap for a lot of you people but I''m not rich). \ \ Any thoughts on the dressers or chests?
A lot of architects use Ikea cabinets in their own kitchens. Granted, not the career peak, renowned architects, but not all of them still have the training wheels on their careers either. Usually it''s less a testament to the quality of cabinet design or construction than to the fact that a lot of architects, left to their own devices, prefer not to lavish a lot of design attention on kitchens. %0D\ %0D\ It''s not my taste, and I agree with R5''s view:%0D\ %0D\ [quote]...even some of the cheap crap serves its purpose - dorms, first apartments, furniture you don''t care about because you know it will get beaten up by kids, etc.%0D\ %0D
I only live about 20 minutes from one,but I bet I haven''t been in over 6 years.\ \ \ I get much better deals at thrift stores or Target.
r14, I would go for antiques--you can get much nicer things for less than $300 than IKEA has, but you do have to hunt well and visit a lot of shops over time.
Mostly cheap shit and overpriced cheap shit at that.%0D\ %0D\ Btw, I don''t think their meatballs are all that. I make much better ones and I use grass fed beef and pastured pork.
I just remember that they had shuttle buses out to Jersey and made a big deal about the swedish meatballs.\ \ Then you get there and the line for the meatballs was so long it would have added an hour onto the trip.\ \ Really useless. I bought some paper holders and a clock all made out of cardboard. Nice novelty items but nothing that you could really use in a New York apartment.\ \ I live in Florida now, so I have not thought about them in years.
Ikea kitchens cabinets are pretty good quality for price. Furniture is mostly crap but I love a trip there just to look around.
Their kitchen stuff is great for people like me whose idea of haute cuisine is Semi-homemade with Sandra Lee.
Bought a desk lamp there that I really liked. There''s a lot of junk but you can find some good deals if you look hard enough.
[quote]Bonus!: for those of you old enough to remember when IKEA was new to the US (late 80s and 90s): the first time you went, did you think they had to be putting you on? \ \ Honey, I''m old enough to remember attending the opening weekend of Ikea''s first store in *North America*, in Nepean, Ontario. Even at that young age I remember thinking it was crap - like kids'' beds made of white melamine covered particle board with red upholstered 5" thin foam mattresses.
But the ball room looked cool
Tease!%0D\ %0D\ The peels of cucumbers are kind of bitter, which is why many recipes say peel ''em. %0D\ %0D\ Just as an aside, the gazpacho recipe I use is from Penelope Casas'' "The Foods And Wines of Spain." The first time I made it I thought, "This doesn''t taste right!" Then I noticed in the notes she was bragging about how this gazpacho was just as good as other versions but lighter because she omitted the olive oil and bread. She''s lying. I put in olive oil and bread and it was perfect!
Tease!%0D\ %0D\ The peels of cucumbers are kind of bitter, which is why many recipes say peel ''em. %0D\ %0D\ Just as an aside, the gazpacho recipe I use is from Penelope Casas'' "The Foods And Wines of Spain." The first time I made it I thought, "This doesn''t taste right!" Then I noticed in the notes she was bragging about how this gazpacho was just as good as other versions but lighter because she omitted the olive oil and bread. She''s lying. I put in olive oil and bread and it was perfect!
Ikea brought us Easy to Assemble so I am thankful for that.\ www.easytoassemble.tv
R14, My partner and I bought the Hemnes 6 drawer chest and the 8 drawer dresser, $279 and $299 respectively. With big, roomy drawers, the two pieces provide lots of storage. We still have a few empty drawers.\ \ For the price, we are very satisfied with the amount of storage and the value of the purchase.
For little things, yes. For big things, No.
Hey My girlfriend and I bought the same drawers and we live in Sydney. Small World.
C R A P! \ Went to trick out my home office, no go!\ \ I have given up on that place (last month mere weeks before someone was shot to death in the parking lot of the Ikea in Emeryville/Oakland boarder-that location is horrible) it''s like they don''t want to sell and the clerks? Huddled around doing their best not to help, lazy asses. It was impossible to find what I needed!\ \ Walking around in circles like morons looking at crap! Frikken meatballs! Hungry and empty handed we stood in a long line for so-so, overpriced food and ... they ran out of coffee!\ \ Instead I spent my money with Office Max, SOMA location -they have good office furniture and helpful clerks.
Pee Wee Poundstone
I think they''re very good at what they do, which is sell reasonably priced good quality Scandinavian design to the masses. Their kitchen units and beds are very good for the price, as are their soft furnishings.The rest is cheaply priced and hard wearing enough to give most people a start in the early years of house buying.
It totally depends on what you''re looking for. Their chairs and couches are total garbage & uncomfortable, but are priced in a similar range as much nicer chairs at Pier One or World Market.\ \ That being said, I''ve got tons of Ikea products around my home. I''ve got 6 of those 7'' tall DVD/CD shelves. They''re pretty unique, and fit beautifully in my office. I''ve also got a great TV stand that''s actually made of real wood, and fits those folding storage boxes underneath. I''ve got a couple folding chairs and lamps, curtains, & bedding as well.\ \ There are plenty of bargains to be found, along with unique designs, but you''ve got to be careful.
[quote]They''re pretty unique,\ \ A thing cannot be "pretty unique." "Unique" is an absolute term.
You get laid a lot, don''t you, R33?
Sarcasmo The Magnificent
[quote]A thing cannot be "pretty unique." "Unique" is an absolute term.%0D\ %0D\ It''s called playing around with the language. By adding pretty he was devaluing the word unique to make his point that he doesn''t rate them enough to use the word unique on its own.%0D\ %0D\ Or maybe I''m completely wrong.
They some amazing rugs that really make a statement. My visitors all comment on mine.
http://deadazzwrong.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/56361052-b074757ce235a0549ddc235bc6e3edf6-4b4a2d23-full.jpg
It''s cheap for a reason, so some things are pretty cheap and will fall apart with not much use. I wouldn''t buy a ''high end'' item from IKEA for this reason. Their lighting sucks and is probably dangerous.\ \ I have had numerous Billy bookshelves in my time, and every single time they hang together pretty well, but the backing always falls down, so it ends up making OK shelving look pretty cheap. I have learnt to never move a Billy bookshelf.\ \ However, they are very, very good at the cheap and cheerful, and therefore disposable - chopping boards, cushions etc etc.
i like IKEA most of my furniture is from there
I know of someone whose friend is Swedish. The Swedish guy cracked up how Americans go over board on how IKEA is so hip. He said in Sweden it%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s their Kmart, and they consider it to be total crap.
Yup, it''s crap. Spelled with a k, krap!
Depends what you are talking about.\ \ A lot is crap. \ \ But the kitchens are absolutely fine, especially for the price.\ \ And you will find, for example, quality designs in very cheap glassware, rugs and many other things.\ \ Like any other bargain place, you have to look. Ikea offers many great buys and many things I would never consider buying because the workmanship is just not there.
It''s crap for people who are too poor to care, and otherwise for people who just don''t care.
Some people I know are really concerned for the environment. Yet, they buy plastic mass produced stuff from IKEA. If you really care about the environment, why don''t you buy antiques? It%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s a form of recycling. Most pieces of furniture were made to last, and are made out of real wood. IKEA furniture is disposable, and you have to put everything under their roof together. Antiques are already put together. Also, antiques are beautiful. You can go to places to get real bargains. Also, you can buy antiques at flea markets, and haggle prices. I just don''t get the hypocrisy.
Ikea has its place in the market. "nuff said.
[quote]My architect says....\ \ Well, smell you!
Honestly, I find more stuff I could live with at Bed Bath and Beyond.
I love Bed Bath and Beyond. However they are so expensive. But it truly is a fantastic store. I love it.
$4 lunch, guys, $4 lunch!!!
I have IKEA kitchen cabinets and love them. They are well-made and were about half the price of what I would have spent elsewhere.%0D\ %0D\ Other than that, I buy some small stuff there like towels and candles. Back when I didn''t have as much money, I seriously considered buying some IKEA furniture, but never found any that was remotely sturdy or comfortable.
If you want quality, you have to go to Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel.
even thrift stores have better stuff. The design a Ick-ea is not all that either.%0D\ %0D\ We have an ikea kitchen here in a house that already had it. junk with wood grained paper on it. lol falling apart and probably 4 yrs old.
The kitchen cabinetry was great for my first coop renovation. Had a wonderful hot handy man who knew how to put it all together which was essential...I certainly could have never done it.%0D\ %0D\ Then graduated to Home Depot cabinetry for my first house renovation and now custom built cabinetry for my second (dream) house. %0D\ %0D\ In the end, neither were really much better than the Ikea stuff, but way more expensive.%0D\ %0D\ On the other hand, I think most of their furniture looks very cheap and is suitable just for young kids'' first apartments.
Rula Lenska
I like just shopping around Ikea on my day off when the store is relatively empty. Then I have a cheap lunch.\ \ It''s great for small things...why not everything is so inexpensive....\ \ I have bought stools there 10 years ago that are still going strong today. some things last I guess... it''s not all crapola.
They cant even answer the dam phone to help you with anything... you get put on hold for 30-40 minutes cause they are so busy helping others. If they are that dam busy answering phones that only proves all they sell is crap....
IKEA used to sell unique and some quality pieces, but not today. Today, IKEA is the Made in China store. A Scandinavian Walmart.
looks like crap i've never been to an ikea and don't plan on going anytime soon either.
In the 80's I bought sofa there that is now a style icon - the Moment sofa. Looks great but is not comfortable. Still holding up though. Probably because I never sit on it.
I haven't been in an IKEA in years, since I was a college student, but a store just opened up near me named 'Totally Swedish!" No lines, and all the lingonberry jam I can eat!
that stuff is cheap cheap cheap in every sense. dont waste your money.
Lana%20Kane
Upholstered Ikea products are capital J Junk. Sit in an Ikea sofa and your knees will be higher than your head. The Junk is designed for midgets. The case goods are hit or miss. Just don't move anything once you put it in place or it will fall to pieces. Accessories can be OK; just tragically Scandinavian sparse in the design. Throwaway furnishings really.
My Swedish meatballs taste better than theirs.
It's stylish CRAP at a BARGAIN price. You can find much better furniture at the GoodWill. Read up on stripping and staining furniture. It's very easy.
Those Swedish "Meatballs" are now made in China.
I've gotten some good stuff for a low price at Ikea but I also bought a chest of drawers that was a horrible piece of shit that I had to trash. Just buy carefully--- test things out for sturdiness before buying. They're great for lamps, umbrellas, & chairs.
If your in the market for furniture that's cheaply made and falls apart quickly and looks tacky then Ikea is the store for you!
Anonymous.
This is such an old thread. I was reading a post and thought 'Yeah, me too!' and then realised I'd written it, in 2010. LOL.
There are good bargains amidst the crap.
IKEA is much like Walmart today.
Most of the posts in this thread are spot on. Lots of crappily made junk, but I do have a couple pieces of IKEA furniture. One is a kitchen nook gateleg table given to me as a gift about 15 years ago. Another is a glass coffee table purchased about 7 years ago. Maybe the stuff was higher quality then. Both items have held up well, and I get compliments. Also have an IKEA pots & pans rack above my stove. I don't really like going there because it's always so busy. Thinking about getting an IKEA bed, though.
Avoid their chests and bureaus. They fall apart. Very disappointing. Spend the extra for something from Macy's. There sofas actually last well. We have two. And their bookshelves are great. Same thing with their free standing closets.
Zak%2C%20wishing%20he%20was%20Swedish
LOL, R66. I've had that happen with old threads, too!
hey%2C%20that%20person%20thinks%20the%20same%20as%20me%21%20oh%2C%20wait...
It's crap especially if you are more than 200 lbs; the shit will break in a sec.
Lana%20Kane
Isn't it all made out of particle board? It's cheap but I hate particle board. I just bought a $2000 Ekornes chair that is advertised as being super comfortable but is killing my back and I've never had back problems. Of course I sat in it at the store and it seemed fine but after watching a 2 hour movie I was miserable. So I'm thinking from now on I'll buy cheaper furniture because I won't have so much to lose if it doesn't work out. What am I going to do about this chair?
Ikea cabinets are particleboard. They offgas formaldehyde. Makes some people feel ill/dizzy. Most people feel no symptoms, but who knows what the effects are of inhaling those fumes over a span of years.
Particle board is so heavy. I have those sliders permanently placed under anything made of that stuff otherwise I could never move it.
CRAP! Woodcraft and skilled craftsman are a dieing breed.
If it's not Scottish, it's crap
IKEA is good when chosen through an editing eye. The key is to assemble properly and tighten the fittings!
This pretty much sums up what IKEA sells:
http://youtu.be/QEwzbHJNkwg
[quote] I saw a feature in Traditional Home on a gay designer couple who renovated a small house in the Hamptons and they used kitchen cabinets from Ikea. They looked great. I live in the Hamptons and had my kitchen done by Ikea a few years ago and I love it. I got charged extra for being more than 75 miles away from the nearest Ikea and the guys who did the installation were from Nassau County. I said, "Sorry to drag you out here in the wintertime," and they said they did at least 10 kitchens at a time from Hampton Bays to Montauk, year-round. A bargain is a bargain. Rich as well as poor know it. If you insist on chopping down forests for your kitchen, then fine. But you're going to pay. Ikea cabinets are not wood, but they do not emit harmful fumes. And if you get tired of it 10 years later, you can afford to replace it.
[quote] They offgas formaldehyde. Out and out lie
As R78 implied, if your IKEA piece falls apart in two weeks , if has more to do with your ability to assemble it correctly than the quality of the piece. IKEA is hit and miss. Great for kitchen ware, glass and china. I would be very picky about buying textiles. They tend to shrink. I do buy their cheap dish towels. Their down duvets and pillows a great. I only have one upholstered piece of furniture and it has held up well, even with two cats and a dog. Be very, very careful about case goods. They come in all qualities. For example the white BILLY bookcases are of much poorer quality than the wood veneer ones. The white bookcases have a cardboard back. The wood veneer ones have a particle board back.
I like the $1 mousepads, the coils to put your wires in, the different sized lids you can buy separately for pots and pans, the different sized pots and strainers for pasta, the small sheets for the oven which are smaller than any kind you can buy in the US. You can make a few different hors d'oeuvers and put them in the oven at varying times with each other. All in the same department. I have very bad arthritis in my neck and Ikea makes these cheapo small pillows for $3 that are PERFECT for putting behind my neck when I read in bed or watch tv and I even sleep with one. When you have neck arthritis, most pillows push your neck forward too much or are too firm. These pillows are just right --thin and soft. Now my partner and my mother use them after trying mine. I have a few in my car. They are genius.
Ikea now has the same kitchen countertops as Home Depot and other stores -- but for much less money. Silestone, Caesarstone, granite, laminate! Etc as well as the old standby butcher block. If you are good at building things, you can put your own kitchen together. People do it -- they post their work online in their own blogs or on Ikea Fans. Lots of young people who want to be landlords renovate housing and then rent them out with self-built ikea kitchens.
r83, do you know the name of those pillows?
Ikea kitchens are great for non-kitchen uses as well. We have a cottage in the country. We made a widow seat out of IKEA kitchen cabinets with a slab of butcher block as the seat. We have additional storage and additional seating. A friend uses the kitchen cabinet cases as store fixtures. Since they hang on the walls, they do not become property of the landlord. The come with glass shelves and are easy to light with an IKEA lighting kit. Another friend has a large apartment in Washington Heights with very wide halls. He used the kitchen cabinets to create a Shaker Wall. One wall is entirely cabinetry from floor to nearly ceiling. Great for an apartment with large halls, but no closets.
R85, I don't know the name of the pillows but they are usually in a big bin and the last time I bought them they were $2.99. They usually have ridiculously colorful graphics, but a travel sized pillow case fits them perfectly. They are small -- maybe 12" by 8." They are rectangular, not square. They are not the small, square light blue pillows that sell for $1.99. They look something like this
http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/2f/3/AAAAAlCKl6AAAAAAAC8wwg.jpg%3Fv%3D1170540855000
Thanks, r87. Will try to find them next time I'm in an IKEA.
r85.
r81 If it doesn't outgas formaldehyde, what is it that it outgasses? I can only take being there long enough to buy and run before I get a migraine. And I don't think it's the Swedish meatballs.
[quote]Honey, I'm old enough to remember attending the opening weekend of Ikea's first store in *North America*, in Nepean, Ontario. Is this the IKEA where the little monkey in a shearling coat was found in November?
Pottery Barn?! LOL. They overprice their stuff. Trust me on this. People are fools to shop there.
I've bought shelves and a chest of drawers at Ikea that fell apart...irreparable. Junk. But I bought 2 umbrellas there that are the sturdiest umbrellas I have ever owned. They are now 13 years old and are as good as new. And lamps that I've bought there have been good, too. I think I'd avoid buying larger furnishings there.
[quote]Is this the IKEA where the little monkey in a shearling coat was found in November? I'd just like to interject how glad I am finally to know what this kind of coat is called, thanks to that monkey.
IKEA sells the best bath towels. They're huge and textured and absorbent like no other I can find anywhere.
Some things are just crap, but some are Craptastic!
The IKEA Swedish meatballs have a unique flavor, unlike any other meatballs available in the U.S.
Its the horsemeat that adds the special flavor, R96. If Walmart sold this same shit (and probably does sell a lot of it already) you'd all be up in arms.
I never see the Daim three pack candy bar anymore or the dessert they used to sell in the cafeteria that had toffee in it and was topped with a small Daim candy. But I sure see a lot of that gross green marzipan Princess cake in the caf. Nobody buys it.
We have a basement with no outside entrance that we would like to get a new sofa for but we need something sectional because we cannot get it down the steps. Does anyone know where else but IKEA to get a sofa that is in pieces?
IKEA's MDF and particleboard are held to the highest worldwide standards (German) for offgassing. VOC's are very, very low and there is no formaldehyde.
Even though I'm in my 20s and on a very tight budget, I still prefer to shop around for gently used quality items than to spend the same amount or (often times) more for IKEA crap that falls apart on you and somehow doesn't quite look like "adult" furniture. Craigslist and even places like Goodwill often have much more solid furniture items for sale than IKEA does, and at a fraction of the price. Granted, you have to relentlessly hunt around for what you're looking for if you use this avenue - chances are, you're almost never going to find what you want for the price you want right away, but it's been worth it to me. I bought my first sofa from a guy on Craigslist that he was selling for $200 after he had bought it for $900 only two years before. I went an entire month without a sofa because I was being very picky about what I wanted and what I was willing to spend, but I'm really glad I did. I still have that sofa, and I'm planning to have it for MANY more years. It was pretty much in mint condition when I bought it and still is, it's very sturdy and high quality, it fits my taste perfectly, and it actually looks like "grown up" furniture which was very important to me. That being said, I agree that IKEA has great bargains on lots of cute smaller items. I doubt I'd ever buy furniture there though.
if you're in San Francisco, a great newish alternative to Ikea is a big two story junk store called Stuff. It's not cheap, but has character and items made in The Before Times, so they hold up better than post-TBT era products. we're also flush with thrift stores
[quote] Pottery Barn?! LOL. They overprice their stuff. The funny thing is that Pottery Barn started out as an alternative store with very low prices. They sold a lot of dinnerware, drinking glasses, small rugs. Then they branched out into furniture and it was a country kind of pine stuff. I still have a pine jelly cabinet I bought there for $199. Any similar sized cabinet today would be on sale for $1200. They also had lots of lamps and decor items for reasonable prices. Now they hardly have any small decor and they sell desk lamps for ridiculous prices. Everything was made well. Better than Ikea. But one day they decided to sell sofas and armchairs and everything changed. Even their website isn't the same -- they'll have a rug for sale and just show a 2 inch corner of the rug in a huge roomful of furniture. Oh yeah, that's helpful. And their rugs shed like crazy. There used to be tons of small Pottery Barn stores all over NYC. I used to go to the one in my Yorkville neighborhood after Christmas and buy ornaments and other Christmas decor. Now I think their Christmas decor consists of spindly branches and paper stars doused with dark glitter. Blech.
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