Everyone's always talking about how shoddy it is and how your cabinets will disintegrate if they go through any kind of stress, but all my cheap-ass furniture with a piece or two missing is still going strong after nearly a decade a use. Maybe I'm just lucky and it really is all crap, but I can't shake the feeling that the reason people shit on Ikea is because it's inexpensive.
It's mostly classism and a hint of buyer's remorse. Imagine spending a thousand bucks on a new piece of furniture when you could have spent a hundred for something exactly as functional.
That said my first stop if I need new furniture is craigslist (three of the six pieces of furniture in my room are really nice, big wooden things I got for free) because there's a lot of good stuff floating around out there at Ikea prices but higher quality. Especially if you're in driving distance to a bougie neighborhood.
Long live CL. FB marketplace is for libs.