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Thread: Why's everybody baggin' on IKEA?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Pleasant Grove, UT
    Posts
    1,503

    Why's everybody baggin' on IKEA?

    Alrighty then, I live somewhere where we don't have an IKEA. I've been into one twice. I don't understand the virulent disdain that so many on here have for them.

    What's the beef?
    It came to pass...
    "Curiosity is the ultimate power tool." - Roy Underhill
    The road IS the destination.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    62
    It's imported landfill. Least around here you can get anything they sell off the free listings on CL. I guess there is a need for disposable household goods but it is all they seem to sell

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Phoenix AZ Area
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    2,505
    None from me. IMHO they have the absolute best products available at the price points they sell. Who can compare, maybe Walmart or Kmart crapola. If I were just starting out afrer college, my first appartment would be furnished by them. Having said that, I don't think many of their items would survive a move once assembled.

    I did buy some of their book cases for my kids bedrooms as they were cheaper than I could build, even if I used sheathing. They look nice, have real beech veneer, and even some hardwood. If you look close, a table that seems to be made from solid beech will have legs that are some cheap core with veneer on all sides, very well done, but veneer.

    I read they they hire very good designers who design trendy items to a strict price point. Like, the best coffee table for $39.

    I bought a kitchen table to use as a desk for the kids room. I was solid butcher block beech, beech veneered rails and legs. About 30" deep by 50" wide. Price, $60. I bought and modified it to fit a 40" open because it was soo much cheaper than buying wood and building from scratch. AND, because all this furniture is temporary. the kids go to college soon and we won't have this furniture once they are gone.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Lake Charles, La.
    Posts
    986
    "Virulent Disdain", thats a good one, I'm going to have to remember that. If veneer is what someone wants, thats fine for them but I can build a much finer set of cabinets that will be superior in both apperance and craftsmanship to any of the mass produced brands.

    I think most of the guys that are knocking IKEA are just calling a spade a spade. They can detect true craftsmanship and have a bit of disdain for anything thats not. The mass produced cabinets look good from a distance, they are designed to catch the eye but when you get up close you can see the difference if you know what to look for.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Courtenay BC Canada
    Posts
    2,750
    Nothing wrong with Ikea..

    Folks who are starting out .. have no money..

    Woodworkers tend to respect quality construction.. Ikea is landfill with a photo finish.

    If folks cannot afford much.. Ikea is awesome.

  6. #6
    The kitchen stuff is really nice for a non-custom cabinet, better than most of the HD or Lowes stuff. The best part is the hardware - everything is Blum and Blumotion. Due to the huge volumes they deal with, you can get Blum hinges and drawer glides for soooo cheap

    Or... you can buy the kitchen cabinet carcasses for just a ridiculously low price and make your own doors. The particle board used in Ikea kitchen cabinets is the higher grade material. It's also great for garages, laundry rooms, and just about anywhere.

    Non-kitchen Ikea merchandise - really check it out first so you know what you are getting.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Rockville, MD
    Posts
    1,269
    It all ships flat that's what makes it easy to transport; a big plus. I bought some when I was on active duty and was transferred to Italy and needed easily shipable temporary furniture for 3 to 4 years. Assembled it in Italy. It worked out fine. Looked nice, sold some to the local Italians when we left. Kept some, and that was 20 years ago. I still have it in the garage where it doesn't take much traffic and heavy use (lightly reinforced by me). But permanent long lasting stuff, no way. Reasonably nice veneer, if you don't have heavy wear on it, it will last a while. Nothing with a solid core.

    We bought a bedside lamp from there recently. Was just the right design/fit for what my wife wanted. She's a Swede and we were there getting Swedish meatballs and Lingonberries when she saw it.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Metro West MA
    Posts
    127
    We recently bought our first Ikea 'furniture' pieces - a storage unit + changing table for the kids' playroom. Its solid pine with a reasonably durable poly finish.

    It has these plastic doors and drawer fronts that a a 'playful' color for the kids, but they would be very easily replaced with doors I could make myself once the kids get older and we want it to look less 'romper-room'ish.

    If it had dados and plugged screw holes, it would be almost identical to what I could build myself, and it was WAAAY less time for me...

    I think with the Ikea, as with most place that sell goods targeted for the lower end of the price scale (Harbor Freight comes to mind), there are pieces that aren't worth the effort to drive there and then there are some real gems. I actually think Ikea happens to have a higher percentage of gems than most of the low cost stores I frequent.

    My brother happens to be a real Ikea nut...him and his wife like the modern looking furniture - and Ikea offers it for pretty low prices. He actually breaks out the poly glue when assembling their furniture.... his attitude is that the good furniture wouldn't knock down anyways, so by gluing it together it helps bring the Ikea up a notch... just another viewpoint for you.

    -Chris

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by chris beserra View Post
    The kitchen stuff is really nice for a non-custom cabinet, better than most of the HD or Lowes stuff. The best part is the hardware - everything is Blum and Blumotion. Due to the huge volumes they deal with, you can get Blum hinges and drawer glides for soooo cheap

    Or... you can buy the kitchen cabinet carcasses for just a ridiculously low price and make your own doors. The particle board used in Ikea kitchen cabinets is the higher grade material. It's also great for garages, laundry rooms, and just about anywhere.

    Non-kitchen Ikea merchandise - really check it out first so you know what you are getting.
    Exactly..... I couldn't buy the materials to make cabinet drawers for what I could buy the entire Ikea cabinet. And the're pretty good quality - certainly good enough to last the 20 years that most cabinets need to last before they're ripped out for remodeling....

  10. #10
    A month or so ago I saw a Cragslist add, Ikea...Furniture assembler.

    50 bucks a hour. Two hour minimum.

    Hey, that's great. I mean whats your overhead? A screwdriver?

    Tough times.

    Per
    "all men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night....wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."
    T.E. Lawrence

  11. #11

    25 years and counting

    My wife and I bought a bunch of Ikea office furniture over 25 years ago [before I even knew what a circular saw is]. The stuff is still in great shape. It's been moved twice by commercial movers (who did not break the stuff down). Still standing. The finish is still in good shape. I have no idea of what their is stuff is now but I would imagine it hasn't changed much since they are still in business.
    If sawdust were gold, I'd be rich!

    Byron Trantham
    Fredericksburg, VA
    WUD WKR1

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Saugus, Kelpafornia
    Posts
    607
    Because I don't like it when somebody comes to me for a custom project, then gets indignant when they don't get an Ikea price.
    If you can't see what all this imported crap has done to the USA and the American labor market, no amount of explanation can help you see clearly.

    I'll give you this much, it beats the crap flooding in from China.

    "Ya know, Vern, some folks will never be able to see the forest through all them trees!"

  13. #13
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    266
    What's the beef?
    The Swedish meatballs they have are pretty darn good. DW likes Ikea and I've suffered through assembly of a few wardrobe closets among other things which included a few trips back to store .......... never seemed to have it all in stock and remaining stuff came in piecemeal. DW rolls her eyes when I call it the "Swedish Cardboard Furniture Store". All in all though it's good stuff at it's price point- better than most anything else I've seen. I couldn't have built the wardrobe closets for the same money. They've held up fine, survived a move, and now do duty in the basement. I think some of the beef is that for many, Ikea has become the symbol of a "disposable society". Heirloom it most certainly is not but I think it has it's place ................. hopefully not again at our house.

  14. #14
    Who cares about the furniture, I go there for the swedish meatballs!!!

    Seriously, it is like any other store, it all depends on what you're looking for. Some items work some don't. Same with high end stores.

    I got some nice table legs, metal, for my desk (solid core door slab) that no one else carried.

    Michael

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Mid Michigan
    Posts
    3,559
    Could be that the image that Ikea brings to mind is that it is the Harbor Freight of the type of items that they sell. Most of the time the items work if not over used or abused.
    When I first started setting up a household everything was raw, self assembled particle board that served me well until I made enough money to buy better. Like John wrote they now occupy a place in the basement and shop still functioning fine.
    David B

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