IKEA Quality?

Zip · 21 Apr 2006 at 20:06

A Huge IKEA store has opened up near by and i can see my mum viseting it quite a bit.
So i was just wondering, what is the quallity of the things they make like?

TheMagicPirate · 21 Apr 2006 at 20:09

I paid 100 quid for this desk.

Its pretty sturdy but parts of the laminate on the wood are wearing/chipped.

But, for £100 I'm happy

Kazatan · 21 Apr 2006 at 20:10

ok, for a while. they break eventually. they are average id say.

by a while i mean an acceptable amount of time for that type of 'thing'

Raymond Lin · 21 Apr 2006 at 20:27

They are not made to last, you bet your arse there won't be any IKEA furniture showing up in the Antique Roadshow in 100 years time. Habitat's stuff (mostly) are much better quality but also cost a bit more.

Thrash · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:25

So Zip you are in Adelaide as well.

I would suggest waiting a few weeks before you visit, my wife drove past yesterday, the car park was full and they were using an overflow carpark somewhere.

It will give all the furniture retailers a big kick and can only be good for the area. We brought some Ikea stuff with us from the UK and will be heading along there at some point as we've gone and bought a house.

Zip · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:30

Thrash said:
So Zip you are in Adelaide as well.

I would suggest waiting a few weeks before you visit, my wife drove past yesterday, the car park was full and they were using an overflow carpark somewhere.

It will give all the furniture retailers a big kick and can only be good for the area. We brought some Ikea stuff with us from the UK and will be heading along there at some point as we've gone and bought a house.

My mum went down on the opening day.
She liked it there so i have a feeling she will be going there when ever shes in Adelaide and around there now

Spud21 · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:30

Been sat at the same ikea desk for about 3 years now, and it's still fine, only cost 80 quid as well, + 30 for the unit on top.

Got 2 IKEA chairs downstairs, been fine, had them 2/3 years, only had to change the pillow type thingy on them, but that was to go with the new sofa as it's blakc and the chairs were red. Got a reclining IKEA chari downstairs, that my dad sits in all the time, still perfect after 2 years.

overall i'd say IKEA stuff is stunning, as long as you don't abuse it it lasts a good while and is well priced IMO.

A.N.Other · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:33

Not brilliant. I've bought two chairs off of them and both had to be returned due to faults. One was wooden and very badly splintered and the other was an adjustable office chair where the seat was welded onto the gas adjuster incorrectly so that it wasn't level.

Nevertheless, I do like their stuff - appeals to my minimalist streak.

Rotty · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:35

not great but better than mfi ( no big deal I know ) but you have to consider how stupidly cheap their stuff is and on that basis the quality is acceptable

jhmaeng · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:38

My view on IKEA is this:

For a rented property that you'll have to move out of, and will invariably find existing furniture a nuisance whenever you move (especially moving from an unfurnished property to a furnished one) - IKEA is perfect. It's cheap enough that you wouldn't have to mourn the financial loss, even if you have to ditch the furniture (in the worst case scenario).

But once I move into somewhere more permanent, I would prefer to have better made furniture that isn't all flat-pack - not the least because things like beds don't seem to stand up too well to being fastened together with a bunch of nuts and bolts (excessive creaking) and some lapses in detail (sharp edges in places etc). I must give special mention to the Billy bookshelves, though - probably the best single item from IKEA, ever.

At the moment, I live in an unfurnished flat that I don't plan to live in forever (2-3 years at best) so me and my partner kitted out the whole flat (literally from scratch, ranging from sofas to beds and desk/shelves, everything) from IKEA for ~£1,200. It's not the cheapest (Argos probably cheaper yet, but not willing to stoop that low) and I will probably have recurring nightmares of being surrounded by massive cardboard boxes after unpacking the endless slabs of wood etc, but all in all it was a pretty good deal.

Zip · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:41

jhmaeng said:
My view on IKEA is this:

For a rented property that you'll have to move out of, and will invariably find existing furniture a nuisance whenever you move (especially moving from an unfurnished property to a furnished one) - IKEA is perfect. It's cheap enough that you wouldn't have to mourn the financial loss, even if you have to ditch the furniture (in the worst case scenario).

But once I move into somewhere more permanent, I would prefer to have better made furniture that isn't all flat-pack - not the least because things like beds don't seem to stand up too well to being fastened together with a bunch of nuts and bolts (excessive creaking) and some lapses in detail (sharp edges in places etc). I must give special mention to the Billy bookshelves, though - probably the best single item from IKEA, ever.

At the moment, I live in an unfurnished flat that I don't plan to live in forever (2-3 years at best) so me and my partner kitted out the whole flat (literally from scratch, ranging from sofas to beds and desk/shelves, everything) from IKEA for ~£1,200. It's not the cheapest (Argos probably cheaper yet, but not willing to stoop that low) and I will probably have recurring nightmares of being surrounded by massive cardboard boxes after unpacking the endless slabs of wood etc, but all in all it was a pretty good deal.

Did you have to put every thing together with a tiny allen key or is that a myth?

Messiah Khan · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:42

If you want quality.. go to Argos!.. No really, I bought a tv cabinet from there for something like £40. When I got home, it turned out not to be laminate but instead was made of solid oak! Im sure the wood must be worth more than £40 on its own. As for Ikea stuff, its certainly not bad, but you do have to be a bit carefull with it, as a lot of its liable to get chipped, splintered etc.

Edit;

Zip said:
Did you have to put every thing together with a tiny allen key or is that a myth?

90% of the furniture they sell is flatpack, so yes its likely that you will have to use an allenkey.

cheets64 · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:52

Ikea is ok but you can never beat local built pinewood furniture, Ikea do a lot of funky stuff, the one in Warrington is a no go area, everything about the store is pap, the car park, the layout of the store and the pick up/return point is like a flea market.

jhmaeng · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:52

Zip said:
Did you have to put every thing together with a tiny allen key or is that a myth?

Not only that, but some things actually needed tools that weren't provided with the flat-pack. Namely hammers and screw drivers. Was supremely annoyed to find that, having just moved in with much of my stuff still in storage (including screw drivers), and after the shops were shut in the evening, we couldn't actually assemble the bed properly in time for the first night. :mad:

Had to do a half-job, pray that it didn't collapse while we slept, then had to finish the job the next day.

But to answer your question - yes. I think I have about 25 of them in the house. Naturally I never want to see one ever again.

Oh, and if you even remotely value your spare time (and skin on your hands), a power drill or motorised screw driver is essential when doing lots of these assemblies.

SuperMan · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:47

I work there on the returns department. Most stuff is okay some stuff is pure poop. Stay with the big rangers as they are the best designed MALM, BILLY and PAX. (stay away from aspelund beds)

Nismo · 22 Apr 2006 at 08:33

We have a set of IKEA bedside tables, chest of drawers and wardrobe amongst other bits and pieces from there. Think they are all from the Pax range, and they seem very solid, certainly noticably better than anything you would ever get from Argos etc.

jamoor · 22 Apr 2006 at 09:26

cheap and cheerful imo,,

go down there for the cheap food.

VeNT · 22 Apr 2006 at 09:41

IKEA isn't bad, its just not GOOD.

got some stuff from ikea few years back and its still going strong.

wozzizname · 22 Apr 2006 at 09:48

I've found that their quality varies a lot - the dearer stuff can be very good, but the cheapie items are built down to a price and won't last too long.

William · 22 Apr 2006 at 10:09

Depends what you buy really, they do solid wood stuff, naturally it costs more - however it is still cheap and reasonabley good build. The problem is the joints are usually cheaply manufactured, dowel joints on chairs etc. On the chipboard stuff, the joints are still as bad and with all things laminated you find the veneer peals off.

But it is cheap and is alright.