I think I may be in the vast minority on this one, but I have been to Ikea exactly one time and absolutely hated it. I hated that the store was like a gigantic maze with only one way in and one way out, virtually forcing you to walk through the entire store. I hated it that every example of the item we were looking for (a wardrobe) was very flimsy and overpriced. We ended up getting a nice, antique solid wood wardrobe at a thrift store for about the same price.
I don’t get it the whole Ikea fascination, but readily admit it may just be me. I also freely admit that they may have some good, inexpensive stuff but I was so unimpressed on my one visit that I will intend to go back.
It has been several years since I’ve been in one but at that time they had very reasonably priced furniture that had good design, as opposed to other American stuff at about the same price that just gets churned out. It’s about more than just low price, although nowadays maybe they are trying to graduate out of the low-price space.
I used to have several of their items (entertainment cabinet, leather chairs), and buying stuff of comparable quality in a department store or fancy-pants furniture store would have cost triple what I paid.
You can’t really compare a thrift-shop value to a store carrying new items. If that’s the comparison then the only thing you would buy new is consumer electronics.
I said meh. I can see its appeal in some ways. Lots to choose from and you can get some good ideas by looking at their displays. The layout is a freaking pain in the ass (but there are short cuts if you know where to look.). The lines are ridiculously slow and if you’re purchasing furniture or something they have to fetch from the warehouse, you can tack another hour onto your visit. Don’t get me started on the nightmare that is assembling the furniture once you get it home. All that being said, I think it’s a good business model. If there was one close to me I’d probably buy housewares there.
At some point in nearly everyone’s adult lives they’ve had a house full of IKEA stuff (assuming you live near one), because it’s new, it’s cheap, it has a distinct style, it does what it’s supposed to do, and it tends to last exactly as long as you need it to.
Hopefully as you get older you can afford better furnishings, the kind that’s made of solid wood, and you slowly replace that laminated chipboard crap piece by piece, but there’s nothing inherently wrong or bad about IKEA stuff.
They sell a lot of crap. Fiberboard stuff that even a poor college student shouldn’t buy. Who thought it’s a good idea to use fiberboard in a bed???
There are a few sort of okay made things here and there. But they aren’t easy to tell apart. Some have a real wood veneer that makes it look like real wood all the way thru.
Shop the catalog. Read up on how it’s made. Be very careful.
And then go to an unfinished furniture store and get something that will last longer and look better.
No chance in heck I’d spend any more time there than I’d have to and the layout is pretty confusing at times but their Swedish meatballs are very tasty and they have some decent home goods at decent prices.
I don’t buy a ton of their furniture but a lot of their small stuff is great for the price. Pillows, napkins, cutting boards, kids play stuff. They have a really cool mix of all sorts of odds and ends, usually in a colorful cool style.
We’ve moved on and have some money, but we still have a guest room, children’s rooms, a seldom used basement, and office, a laundry room. It would be a waste to fill those rooms with a bunch of high priced stuff that might not get used that much, and if we filled all those rooms with stuff from the thrift store or antique shop the place would look like my Grandma’s house.
Several years ago, I bought a sofa at a local store. In theory it was going to be 4 weeks to get it. In reality it was 4 months. The last time I went to ask when could I expect it, the owner kept trying to shrink. I said “oh, I’m not going to yell. All I’m going to say is, don’t complain that people go to IKEA.”
My current good armchair is from IKEA. I chose it with my mother, as she’s got a bad back; my brother Jay’s wife (who spent her childhood in a sort of torso cage - talk about bad backs!) said “ooooh!” when she tried it. It definitely has the seal of approval of the whole family. Delivery time: next day.
In fact, I just looked around me… and everything in my living room / office is from IKEA. The armchair, a black table with extensions, four chairs, a small piece of furniture on wheels which serves as the stand for the music center, a piece which they called an alacena (cupboard) but which I use as a clothes closet, and a banco calzador (a bench with room underneath to place shoes) which currently serves as the stand for the TV and router as well as to hold the shoes I have on rotation. Stuff bought at different times and in different places, but it works together.
It’s good for what it is - decent design, cheap, but doesn’t last forever. If you want something nicer, or that will last longer, IKEA isn’t the place. I have a couple decent prints of the Metrodome and the northern Chicago skyline from there that have lasted a few years, which isn’t a difficult thing when it just hangs there.
The store design is terrible if you just want one thing and don’t want to browse. It’s definitely a full afternoon trip for me.
If you want one thing and you really know which one, go straight to the warehouse. You can search for its location in the webpage (if you do that, do it in the same day), do it once you’re in the warehouse, or the warehouse workers can look it up for you. You don’t need to know the model so long as you remember what it looked like and the specs you wanted (they have things such as the same model of table in two different widths and three lengths).
Mostly nay…IKEA has some good offerings, some bad. The way their pieces compliment others is nice, but it is what it is…cheap furniture. I would hesitate to use their furniture for any heavy use area, making repairs to particle board is a PITA. You’ll find similar shortcomings from any cheap furniture at a big box store, though. If I am looking for good pieces, I’ll scour Craigslist or thrift shops for real wood, and with some light refinishing, I can get a very nice piece that will look good and stand up to wear. I don’t get all the hype, though
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We used to have a “Lack” coffee table. If it ever snapped in half, which it never did with “heavy use,” it was $40. At that price they’re essentially disposable. Just buy another one!
The food hall I like a lot. The restaurant too, even though it’s simple fare.
Some of the furniture, lighting and kitchenalia is nice.
I don’t really like flat pack furniture, especially chipboard or MDF. I might buy the occasional piece of furniture if it’s real wood or metal.
Much of the stuff in IKEA only looks really nice because you see it presented in a context together with all the other slightly quirky style elements - when you buy an item alone and get it home, it’s a bit disappointing.
I don’t know what they sell today but I have a coffee table from there I bought over 20 years ago that has a heavy glass top and solid pine base pieces. I also had a solid pine entertainment center. If everything is particle board now, they’ve gone downhill, although even some expensive stuff these days is made with particle board.
Mixed feelings about Ikea. The recliner in which I’m current sitting is from Ikea–about 10 years ago. (Yeah, it needs to be replaced, but I got my money’s worth from it.) The KALLAX Shelf unit has evolved over the past 8 years from Hallboy’s shelf for collecting junk to now a side/sofa table (turned on it’s side, duh) in the living room. Again, I would say I’ve gotten my money’s worth from it. I also have some housewares stuff (plates, towels, bathroom rug) that I got from Ikea that were pretty inexpensive and will do fine until I decide I want something different and/or redecorate.
On the other hand, some of their stuff is not up to snuff. The Ikea Sultan Hogbo mattress we got for the guest bed was so stiff, we joked that it was equivalent to a prison mattress and came with the optional shank and orange jumpsuit.
