I hate that IKEA has such a déclassé reputation

Half of my flat is filled with IKEA furniture. But the older I get the lesser I like IKEA stuff. Except maybe for their kittchens.

I love those Kallax shelves. I have 4. They are almost too perfect and I display them proudly regardless of what anyone thinks.

I just don't have time for a bunch of snotty queens who made a little money, got new hairdos and some expensive clothes and now they think they're ladies, when we all know they are nothing but common frumps whose fathers lived over grocery stores and whose mothers took in washing.

I met my partner when I started making some good money. I was used to living like a student and my apt was mostly Ikea.

He has way better taste, and once we were together, his first act was to ban visits to Ikea.

People turning up their noses at IKEA have no idea what it was like before. IKEA stuff is well designed, generally tasteful and always useful. It’s a certain aesthetic, true. Quality takes a back seat over affordability, also true. But before IKEA it was very difficult to find attractive, inexpensive housewares.

Garbage or not half their inventory is out of stock at my local IKEA.

I bought three rolling carts, with two shelves. Two are in the kitchen...holding plants and cookbooks. The other one is still in the box (will use it later). The assembly was easy and I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality. They're sturdy and the rollers make them easy to move. They can be used for anything. I also have a small round table, also easy to put together...which I'm happy. Each one didn't cost me more than $20.00.

I live in an apartment and heavy statement-piece furniture just would be overwhelming. I love IKEA and have lots of pieces around my place.

Almost everything I've ever bought from Ikea falls apart if you handle it too much. I had great bookshelves, by they just sat there and did fine

I fucking hate Ikea stuff, but can allow that a few things in someone's home can be okay. A place furnished with lots of the stuff is particleboard grim.

For people starting out or starting over, for college age people it has a place. For adults with any resources at all, more than a piece or two is a sinking disappointment.

The furniture is stuff to buy for a college apartment and put (optimistically) in the street when done with it 1 year later. Just throw it away when you're done with it (or it with you), put whatever parts of it remain in the trash.

Ikea is to furniture what Murray Hill is to Manhattan. It's only acceptable for a few years after graduating college. Then you must move on or look terribly dated.

Much like Walmart and now Amazon have destroyed retailing, IKEA has destroyed furniture making: cheaply made, particle board, disposable crap designed to last a 3-4 years then end up in a dumpster.

Why do you care so much what shallow people think of you, OP?

It must suck 2 be u

I wouldn't buy a sofa from them, but I love a lot of their storage type of furniture. It's saved my life in a number of small apartments. I've lived in houses with custom cabinets that aren't nearly the quality of their kitchen cabinets, and you can just swap out the doors if you want to completely redecorate your kitchen.

If you can afford it, buy elsewhere. IKEA is cheap because it's cheap. It doesn't last long.

They are good for pieces but you have to be careful not to overdo it.

You can mix high end and lower end. It makes it more interesting and realistic. Just like with your wardrobe. You wear a pricey, designer piece with something you got at a thrift store. It works.

They have the resources to create longer lasting, higher quality furniture like solid wood and tongue and groove that requires no tools, but I’m guessing the furniture would be heavier, cost more to ship and ruin the cyclic purchasing rate. I also really hate when you see people selling old IKEA for exactly the same price as new. Bitches. Because it’s solid, many high end kitchen remodels are IKEA cabinetry innards with fancy expensive surface fronts. It saves thousands.

I had an all day, Monday remote conference call for work and thought I’d spend it at IKEA so I could shop on my lunch break. My coworkers sniffed on with frowning disbelief- and I didn’t buy a thing. It’s also more expensive than I remember.

The quiet showroom had more than a whiff of desperation.

I bought a houseplant from there over 20 years ago and it's still alive. I suppose I should give myself props for that instead of IKEA. The only other thing I have from there (other than a couple random vases, book shelf "fillers, " etc.) is a TV stand. I've had that for years too. My mom was looking for a new one recently and I couldn't believe how expensive a fucking entertainment stand is...and the quality is shit. My IKEA piece is the perfect size and has never gone out of style.

After my youthful days of buying mainly Ikea, at this point, 20 years later, the only thing I have left is a plastic grocery bag holder.

Ikea "wood" is compressed sawdust and other wood waste material formed under heat and pressure and binder. The surfaces are often paper or hardboard (more of the above) printed and dyed to look like wood. It's all ca-ca. But if it looks good and does its job for 3 to 10 years, go for it. I love IKEA and mix it in with heavy, old furniture.

I grew up during the mid 20th century height of Danish Modern so it doesn't impress me but I can see how people can fall in love with the style, especially compared to the schlock in lower end American style furniture stores.

[quote]You can mix high end and lower end. It makes it more interesting and realistic. Just like with your wardrobe. You wear a pricey, designer piece with something you got at a thrift store. It works.

Exactly. Most of my tables, shelves, storage things are IKEA, while the heavier stuff like my sofa and bed are from other furniture stores.

Actually, IKEA has in the last 5 years or so offered more solid wood furniture. You just have to read the labels.

I was there yesterday and the shit was all picked over. I go for odds and ends and shit I’m never getting a piece of furniture from them again given I don’t know how to put it together.

So used to the cheap prices at IKEA, I never knew expensive Scandinavian furniture existed! I have friends with nice Scandinavian furniture and I just assumed it was Ikea

OP you type poor and pretentious.

Like all brands, IKEA makes some good stuff, and they make some crap. I'm always amused when someone asks where I got some piece and when I say "IKEA" they don't believe me, replying "I didn't know IKEA made that!". Like IKEA doesn't make storage units with doors, bookshelves and tables.

I'm also an IKEA supporter. I think people automatically think dorm room shit like the photo below but they have some nicer stuff as far as bookcases and dressers. As someone mentioned upthread, I wouldn't get a sofa or bed from them. I've been slowly migrating to Wayfair as a lot of IKEA comes in either just white or black brown though it seems they're incorporating some more grey.

Ive heard Ikea's kitchen cabinets are good quality

I like their lighting, especially for smaller spaces.

"bitches would have as field day if I dared to put something so obvious in my house"

I would've assumed the nexus of not giving a shit what others think and the age of someone who writes the above sentence would have already occurred.

These are shelves. Put them inside of a closet for storage space if you dont want them used for decor.

Also, "quality" is not an ephemeral concept with cheap furniture and goods like this. They're always photographed to avoid showing the very obvious signs its a cheap Ikea piece. The way it fits together in reality is often imperfect. Its easy to fuck up the assembly, even if you know what you're doing. My friend was a handyman who would complain about this. He knew how to assemble this stuff and people would complain about flaws once assembled because the pieces that fit together often didn't fit together perfectly or would break. That's what you're paying for with Design Within Reach. A piece where they actually get it right and if they didn't will swap it out. With Ikea, if the piece isn't perfect, they might take it back, but now you've got to disassemble an assembled piece (practically impossible without a sledgehammer) and take it back to the store.

Nothing wrong with Ikea. And you can see in the store under bright light exactly why these pieces are cheap. For something like shelves, you might want to go for it. With a dresser or something with moving parts, you can tell how cheap it is in the store and determine if its up to your level of acceptable quality

I still have the very first piece of furniture I ever bought, a short chest of drawers I got at the Potomac Mills IKEA outside DC in 1989. It’s in my basement now, but It came along with me on moves from coast to coast and back again. I don’t even particularly like it and the quality is really poor with plastic drawer sides and a cardboard bottoms.

Back then it wasn’t easy to find cheap furniture with a modern aesthetic. Low end furniture meant tacky early American type stuff, so IKEA was a godsend.

I imagine IKEA has taken a hit from Wayfair and the like since you can get any style and any price range flat pack furniture delivered right to your door.

[quote]I hate that IKEA has such a déclassé reputation

But, based on your posts, you're okay with war, the end of US democracy and a repeat of the Civil War's issues, the triumphs of the militant-insect-horde of China, starvation across the globe and the fact that we are over the edge with climate change, which will make the planet unbearable for much of the life on it.

Poor IKEA.

^^ Girl, what?

I love some of their lighting. Also cabinets. I have a wall hung one in my bathroom and love it. Very well made.

However, I did have a whuge IKEA mirrored wardrobe fall apart in the Northridge quake.

Frank Lloyd Wright designs fell apart in the Northridge quake. Are you really surprised your IKEA furniture succumbed to it too?

[quote] I've been slowly migrating to Wayfair as a lot of IKEA comes in either just white or black brown though it seems they're incorporating some more grey.

Another vote for Wayfair but I have no problem with Ikea.

I haven't bought anything from there in a while but when I was in my 20s it was a go to.

Their simple color selection and similar styled pieces meant that things just looked fine together in my apartment.

Their swedish meatballs are the best!

I don't see what's wrong with getting a few pieces from Ikea. Not particle board, though. It is like mixing up your wardrobe with high and low. If you're confident and have a sense of style, you can definitely pull it off.

How often does IKEA introduce new furniture? I see a lot of the same exact pieces now that I saw after I furnished my first post-college apartment almost a decade ago.

R40, that's the cool thing about IKEA, IMO. It's pretty classic in style, rather than trendy. Quality, that's another story.

Ikea sells mass-produced objects to the masses, so it is by definition déclassé. Ikea would not be true to its mission if it turned out weird fancy things that only appealed to the upper echelon of society.

I have a room full of white Hermes bedroom furniture and it looks fab.

I think ikea is cheap for furniture but way overpriced for the quality. Their $1000 couches are still pretty ugly and uncomfortable.

The strongest memories I have of IKEA are from childhood, hiding in the cupboards and moving all the little pencils around and changing the scatter cushions in the displays like a mischievous pixie, while my Mum was shopping.

The canteen food was vile, if memory serves, especially the notorious meatballs and sausages. However, iirc the cloudberry juice they sold in big. cartons was divine—do they still sell it? (not been to an IKEA in well over a decade)

[quote] I did have a whuge IKEA mirrored wardrobe fall apart in the Northridge quake.

Your superior vanity and insular preoccupation with your material surroundings displeased Mother Nature. So she broke it. Call it ritual damage.

[quote] changing the scatter cushions in the displays like a mischievous pixie

Mary!

I like this ode to the great Swedish conglomerate.

"If you don't have a home, you can buy one there!"

I can't believe that IKEA doesn't pay corporate tax in Sweden. They make BILLIONS!

I think their quality used to be decent. We bought a sofa 20 years ago, and that thing was virtually indestructible. We still have a Tullsta chair that is just starting to quit after daily use.

What I dearly miss is a pair of tiny wool rugs, maybe 1.5’x3’. They were a deep red, thick pile, with two or three little horse/dog figures. They were also indestructible. We used to put one just inside our apartment door, to put wet/snowy boots on. The other was - kitchen rug. I’d love to have them again, we tossed them when we moved. Figured we’d just get new ones.

They are responsible for the likes of this criminally ugly shit.

If you don't care about how you live, Ikea is the place. But if you do care, do better.

R49 The company is owned by holding companies in the Netherlands and Liechtenstein.

It's a good place to buy dishrags. Sometimes curtains. I bought an excellent latex mattress there at an extremely favorable price.

But furniture? Oh, hell no.

The quality of their stuff declined dramatically, and now people can buy better elsewhere just as cheaply, including the scandi aesthetic. People no longer want chipboard furniture, they know it’s toxic in terms of indoor gases, but it’s all Ikea offer. Why would you pay for chipboard when you buy local solid wood shit for the same price.

Wayfair has a better selection of decent cheap furniture.

If you're young and don't yet own your own home IKEA is fine. As we get older, however, typically we want nicer pieces. But in truth all furniture (like clothing, shoes, appliances, etc) has gone to shit over the last 20 years unless one wants to pay out the nose. over

Wayfair is crap, too.

Much of my condo is all from Ashley Furniture. They're relatively inexpensive as well, but if you take care of your furniture and aren't rough with it, the pieces will look nice without breaking the bank. I usually replace my furniture every 7-10 years anyhow. There's always 20 somethings moving into their first apartments that are more than happy to buy it off me at a much cheaper price.

[quote] I can't believe that IKEA doesn't pay corporate tax in Sweden.

Paying taxes is overrated.

[quote]I think their quality used to be decent. We bought a sofa 20 years ago, and that thing was virtually indestructible

I bought a chair there (one of those ones with a giant cushion) back in college and I had that thing for almost 15 years.

I kept waiting for it to fall apart and it JUST WOULD NOT.

I finally put it outside and some kids came at carted it away in a truck.

Too many asses had sat in it by that point. People who were long gone. It looked brand new.

I think a lot of the reason why Ikea furniture falls apart on some people is because they put it together incorrectly. I called a handyman person to put together my Kallax shelves and those things are sturdy as fuck.

I had to replace a TV stand, and a friend had one in her basement which was ~1990s era IKEA. Looks new and in great condition, other than a couple of chips. That thing is solid!

The only IKEA item I've had fall apart on me has been the small metal Helmer office cabinets. If you don't line things up just right and fold down the inner tabs correctly, the top pops off. But then again, if you put stuff on the top of the cabinet, there's no problem - that is until you want to move it. But, as I have 3 of them, I evidently do like them.

I would never buy any of their particle board furniture, but they do offer some solid natural wood pieces. They're softwood, but pure wood nonetheless. I've had two Ikea pieces, a couple of bedroom dressers made of solid wood for about eighteen years now and both are as good as new. By going Ikea back then, I was able to get about double the storage space I could have purchased for the same money elsewhere.

^^^^ Their for they're above. Oops.