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 a great material for mockups and temporary whatsits, but if you need longevity or even transportability there's better stuff to be had. It just suffers too much from moisture and moving that you end up replacing it time and again.
Edit: thanks for the gold!
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.
I'd probably put nice stuff used (expensive) over IKEA, I've managed to score a lot of designer stuff on cl, and its legit nice
Some of it is pretty low quality, especially the stuff that entirely particle board. But you get what you pay for, frankly tho IKEA could actually stand to be cheaper than it is for the quality.
The true proletariat furniture store is Craigslist.
This is how I've always seen the stuff. I've seen better furniture for free on the side of the road. I've built comparable furniture for 1/3 of the price. It's actually pretty expensive for cheap minimalist furniture with glossy paint. Go on Facebook marketplace or Craigslist every now and then and you'll find better pieces for a fraction of the cost. They might need a fresh coat of paint but it's a much better deal especially if you can line up actual wooden furniture.
I've never heard anyone say Ikea was poor people's furniture.
It's not so bad, it's just relativity bad. A well maintaind ikea piece will last...20 years, max before moisture etc kills it.
A hardwood furniture piece might cost 5 times the ikea, but will easily last 200 years or more if basic maintenance is done.
it's mostly that its all built with particle board/manufactured lumber. Everything that is "wood" burns hot and fast, but it all looks nice. Because it isn't regular lumber it is also easier to break than a normal piece of furniture would be made out of more traditional pieces of wood.
Their metals and plastics are generally fine though, you get what you pay for.
A lot of it is "wood" that's actually made out of oil. MDF delenda est.
That said it's good for cheap shit you're gonna have to haul up to your fourth-floor walkup, or things that your roommates are gonna break.
I think when he said "some of it is made of wood" he was talking about the actual solid wood stuff, of which they actually have a surprising amount.
Ikea is durable enough for me. The real scandal is that they clear cut forests to make all the plywood.
MDF/Particle board sucks, but their stuff that's made from real wood is good. And it's not that Ikea's MDF/Particle board sucks. All MDF/Particle board sucks.
It's a mix. As someone who has learned to appreciate well made things, it's important to recognize that it is not remotely as good as what an actual carpenter would make, and we should respect their labor and skill. At the same time, most Ikea stuff is cheap and perfectly functional. Not every piece of furniture needs to stand the test of time, etc.
If you just assemble it and never move it you might not notice the tendency for half of it to crumble into dust if you have to move house or use it for 5+ years
If you're moving that often you probably can't afford new high quality furniture. IKEA will be far more durable than whatever you get from Target or Walmart, which might as well be cardboard. I don't have much experience with "proper" furniture stores but what I've seen is similar quality to Walmart or Target at 10x the price.
You really want a table made out of solid wood instead of partial board and laminate but the only way to get that is by thrifting. But then the options are limited and often damaged slightly.
ive heard that theres a bunch of fascism in the family that founded it :sweden-cool:
but yeah in my experience its far far better than the other shoddy, poorly-designed shit that you get for the same price, which is apparently often made with prison labour too
i think its mostly a middle class sneer thing, that its vulgar to have the same recognisable lack table or kallax shelves or whatever as everyone else rather than some bespoke wank that costs thousands of dollars
It's classism towards cheap decent looking furniture that doesn't break the bank (there's plenty of good diy Ikea hacks online that make their furniture look like similar expensive items too)
I’ve been living on ikea stuff for 15 years. Even as my economic situation improved, I went to a “real” furniture store and everything was just as cheap feeling if not more so, but 2x the price. I’ve been rocking the same glass ikea desk for almost a decade. My bed, couch, desk chair, tv stand, etc is all ikea and I love it. Do yourself a favor and buy at least a tier up from the cardboard stuff and it will last pretty long.
Plus they have weird veggie dogs.
Their delivery service is trash bc they push task rabbit, but for less money and an extra day or two you can get a real delivery service.
Its the first thing. Its cheap, decent quality and if you put it together with good care pretty sturdy. And some of it looks nice if you're into that minimalist style.
My bed keeps coming loose and I have to get down under it and tighten everything up every 2 weeks or it rocks like wild.
