I think I paid $150 for a mattress from Ikea (it might have been the ‘Sultan’, but I don’t remember). That’s got to be about 20 years ago. Haven’t gotten round to getting a new one, but that’s OK. My mattress is still fine. I’m thinking I might like a softer one, as I bought the firmest one they had; but I don’t have to have a new one. I think I got more than my money’s worth. Imitation Wood Products You’ll Use Every Day:
I agree with this. My bed is the same age as my mattress. It’s solid pine, and as solid as the day I put it together. Dinnerware:
‘You can get the same thing elsewhere for the same price’? What kind of argument is that? Where’s the advantage of not buying at Ikea? I have two cups and saucers that I bought at Ikea. They’re my espresso cups, since they hold about 16 ounces of the black stuff. No one else had ones that I liked as much. I like Ikea’s flatware. I have the ones with the clear blue handles with the bubbles in them. (They probably don’t have them anymore.) I like the way they look, and I like the way they feel. I’m not into ‘fancy’ (‘faux-fancy’) flatware, and these are perfect. Sorry if my table won’t make the cover of Poseur Monthly. For me it’s about functionality. Quality Cutlery:
No argument here. Things with Complicated Assembly Instructions:
:dubious: I’ve built two beds, a few tables, several bookshelves, some lamps, and a wardrobe, and haven’t had any difficulty. I’m not a handyman. Even though I framed and drywalled a cabinet for my water heater (which is indoors) and it turned out perfectly square and level, it always surprises me when something comes out right. The wood flooring went together well and easily too. It ain’t rocket surgery, folks! It’s just putting things together.
I have plenty of things from IKEA, from tables and chairs to an entire office and kitchen gadgets including cheese graters and stainless steel teapots. I haven’t bought the really cheap stuff though, which seems to be some of what the article recommends avoiding.
Buying the top of the line products from IKEA is a great way to get excellent functionality that is often unique and inexpensive relative to department store products. About half the IKEA stuff was transported to my summer cabin, so the compact sizes and the flat packaging were perfect for that. Assembly was never a problem for any of it, so I’m not sure what the complaint was there (disclaimer: I do have an engineering degree and am good at spatial reasoning ).
The only one I agree wholeheartedly with is cutlery.
The Sultan mattress that I bought 6 or 7 years ago is still doing fine. It’s one of those with a frame built in so it’s twice as thick as a regular mattress and three times as heavy. It was very cheap though and has withstood lots of vigorous activity.
There’s really crappy imitation wood products at Ikea, although there’s nicer ones too, so I only sort of agree with that. My Billy and Expedit bookcases are still holding up, and the Pax wardrobes have survived two big moves.
I like Ikea’s dinnerware. They’re utilitarian. I wouldn’t stock my whole kitchen with it, but I bought a whole bunch of their $.79 dinner plates and they’re probably the most used items in the kitchen. I wouldn’t serve dinner to the Queen with those plates, but I use them for prepping ingredients and plating and they take a whole lot of abuse everyday. My SO broke one of them a few months ago and it was no big deal, we just picked up a few more the next time we went to Ikea.
Complicated assembly? Please. I’m quite spatially challenged and I don’t have much trouble with assembling most items. I leave it to my SO though, who’s a pro at it.
My main complaint with Ikea though, is their tendency to cheapen their products. It’s nice that they try to make products cheaper for their consumers, but sometimes it results in such a drastic quality drop in their product that it made a formerly good deal into something I would never buy.
My lesson learned:
Never buy bedding or anything else made of cloth that needs to be washed.
I once purchased a sheet set in a brilliant pattern.
The quality was “eh” at best (I now know of “thread count”) but the worst crime:
They needed ironing if you washed them because without it, they looked so horrible.
I’m a big Ikea fan. My house is filled with their furniture. And I too have been burned by particleboard, particularly a bookshelf which crumbled and a pair of malms (particleboard dressers with cardboard bottoms), both of which which fell apart. The bookshelf I repaired with glue, screws and doweling, and it works fine now. I ditched the malms though. I think the bookshelf was a leksvik.
I have a kongsvik for a bed, it’s solid wood but it’s not perfect because it’s a four-poster and one of the posts is wiggly. Eventually I might dowel it or something but for now it’s still hanging on.
However, I have a great wooden bookshelf, which has survived several moves. I also have a cheap desk which I put together out of a giant particleboard piece (it’s one of those things that’s about 1.75 inches thick, and scratches really easily) plus a couple of sawhorse-like legs. The desk sits higher than a normal desk, and it’s -huge-. I’ve modified it a lot though to fit everything I need.
The crowning achievement of Ikea though is my gorm room. (The Gorm is a modular shelving unit.) I have so much storage space thanks to Ikea and their gorms. In fact I bought my parents a gorm as well.
We’ve also got pillows, blankets (no bedsheets), a Varmanel couch which fell apart and has been discontinued, four dining room chairs, and plenty of kitchen gadgets – they make the absolute best garlic press I’ve ever found. Also, I bought my butcher knife from Ikea, it’s thick and heavy with a full tang and it’s easy to sharpen. I don’t know what you guys are talking about, with your disdain for Ikea knives – this one has served me well. However, I bought a $6 nonstick wok that was worth every penny – if $3 per meal before it breaks counts.
My rule of thumb - if it’s made of metal or glass, it might be good. One piece plastic and soild wood items are generally ok. You can probably do cheaper for finished multi-piece wood items, but they’re okaay. Expect low quality for fabrics (and toys) and you won’t be disappointed.
I don’t really agree with this, and I consider myself an avid home cook.
People get unbelievably precious about knives. I have no doubt that the expensive ones are good , but I don’t think they’re anything like essential, and for most things, you don’t need a ‘set’, you need a big one and a little one - as long as they’ll take a decent edge inexpensive ones are plenty good enough.
Don’t buy a “jerker” desk-mine fell apart.
Agree with the comment about knives-one of the BEST knifes I ever bought was a cheap-ass “Ginsu” knife (are they still made)? That thing cut through everything and kept an excellent edge. Plus, it was only $5.99!
Those expensive carbon stell german knives are fine-but not worth the enormous pricetag.
I’ve had a few things from IKEA over the years and all of it was crap. It either fell apart or was just such poor quality I ended up tossing it. I’ll never buy another thing there again.
I bought a solid wood coffee table from Ikea around twenty years ago. I kept it for six years or so, and then when I moved, my brother took it and it’s now in his family room. It does fine with two kids, two dogs and so forth. I just checked their website to see if they still sell it. They don’t and most of their tables now seem to be particleboard.
And I’m so happy with the two ceramic knives I got from IKEA I’d dance if I wasn’t sitting down. For starters they feel right in my hand, which is more than I can say about 99% of the knives I’ve ever handled.
Re. assembly, I think that you shouldn’t buy things that need assembly if you are organically unable to look at the pictures before you start assembling. Middlebro learned to look at the damn pictures after he royally screwed up his son’s wardrobe: me, the only time I’ve had to redo an assembly it was not from IKEA and the difference between two almost-identical pieces was the placement of one hole in each of them. If like me you love a puzzle and you’re the kind of person who’ll read the car manual when stuck in 0km/h traffic, IKEA is just a giant toy box.
I do get IKEA tables where the top is thick particleboard, but that’s because I like huge tables (my ideal table is about the size of a helipad) and I like changing them. Get sick of a black table? Go back to IKEA and buy a tabletop in red.
I also bought a mattress set at IKEA 10 years ago, and it’s still wonderful. (Well, my ex has it now, but he sees no need to replace it, nor does his girlfriend.)
Even the particleboard stuff has it’s place for a certain budget. When I separated from my husband, I left with literally nothing besides a few kitchen things and boxes of papers and clothes. I know these particleboard dressers won’t last forever, but they’ve made it through two moves intact (with the clothing packed inside them), and they give us a place to put our crap. The particleboard desktop? Not a problem; it’s big, it’s simple, and it doesn’t need to bear weight except in one direction.
I don’t buy particleboard book shelves any more, though. Learned my lesson there.
I also agree to disagree about the dishes. I spent less than $50 for one set of IKEA’s dishes in eggplant purple *and *one in white. I stack them alternating, and they look wonderfully stylish that way. If they chip, I don’t care, I can get more - and they don’t chip any worse than other dishes made of ceramic.
For similar reasons, I love IKEA wineglasses. $12 for a dozen? Hell, yeah. Now I don’t fret at parties, worried about my stemware. If it someone drops one, it’s not a disaster, we just clean it up. It was a buck. Contrast this to the $60 my ex-MIL spent on *each *crystal wineglass from Nordstrom’s for us…they’ve never left the china cabinet, because if I dropped one, I’d feel terrible!
Malm bed: utterly fantastic. I’ve used it for 7 years and abused it mercilessly, and it’s still as solid as it ever was. I love the low profile. The dresser is good too.
Expedit bookcase: Sure, there were a ton of pieces, and I am not exactly a handyman, but I still managed to put it together myself. It’s held steady for something like 5-6 years now.
Klippan sofa: This is the only thing that’s broken down on me. I bought one 7 years ago, and it held steady for about 5 until the seat came loose from one of the arms. Even then, it’s such a low profile that it was still usable, and I didn’t bother replacing it until last year. I wanted to get a sturdier couch, but I had limited transportation and budget and another Klippan wound up being the better option. It looks like they made some advancements in the construction, and I expect the new one to last as long or longer than the old.
I don’t know that I would necessarily want to only ever use Ikea products, but they’re durable as hell and a good fit for a relatively small house.