Ikea furniture owners...

[Laila619]

How has your stuff held up over the years? Are you pleased with the quality? I'm looking to buy some inexpensive furniture and I wanted to know how you like your Ikea furniture and other home items. Thanks much!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I think there are several product lines with different qualities. My parents have Ikea furniture that has lasted 25 years and 8 moves and are holding up fine.

 

[Kunzite]

We've had most of our Ikea stuff for 5-7 years and have never had a problem with any of it. We've sold some of it on CL as our taste changes (the beauty of inexpensive furniture!) but have never gotten rid of something because it fell apart, etc.

 

[chemgirl]

The quality isn't the best ever and its certainly gone down in the last 10 years. I have an old Ikea coffee table and end tables in my home gym and they're solid. They've travelled with me since I started University. I bought the matching dining table about 5 years ago and it was horrible. Not solid and it wobbled. I gave it to a friend after using it for a few years.

I have a Hemnes TV stand and its solid wood. Its decent quality and has moved with me. The only problem is that the surface treatment is really easy to scratch so its covered in little nicks.

If you're looking for cheap, then Ikea might be the way to go. Look into furniture outlets though because I've had luck finding pieces cheaper than Ikea. It takes a bit of hunting, but it can be done.

 

[Rhea]

It varies a lot. We bought an entire household full of Ikea in early to mid 2006. In our tiny one-bedroom flat we needed tall pieces that were inexpensive. I still have the list of everything we bought so could probably give you an exact run down of what pieces held up by their name and inventory number (sad, huh?).

Our kitchen table, a solid wood gate-leg table, has held up wonderfully through 4 moves and daily use, including dragging it outside in the summer.

Our bed is terrible. I swore I'd never buy another Ikea bed. We weigh, get this, 130 lbs each, and we broke the bed in less than 6 months (not like that!). The metal bar in the middle just kept bending and bending. We tried to fix it, but it's just cheap and terrible as was their mattress.

The wardrobe, dining chairs, and desk - all fab!

The dresser and nightstand - okay, but the drawers are damaged quite a bit and clothes often fall through. They don't last through moves.

Coffee table - it was the 2nd thing to go after the bed. It just fell apart one day, shortly after our 1st move. We glued it several times until we found another one.

Couches - didn't buy them from there as we'd heard they were bad. Two of my friends have their sofas and so far they still look great, but they aren't as comfortable as my sofas!

Kitchen cart - wonderful, and sturdy, though was unfinished so a lot of work went into it to make sure it didn't stain easily.

Bookcases - I'll replace soon. They're okay, they get the job done. They don't move wonderfully and the quality isn't brilliant but as they get less wear, it's less noticeable.

Mirrors - easy to put up and super expensive - love them.

 

[Lotus99]

I agree; the quality varies.

I bought a folding side table from Ikea in the UK 20 years ago. When I left the country, I left it with my mother. She still has it and it's still standing/sturdy. It was solid wood, though. I think it pays to really check out the quality of anything you're buying and know whether it's a short-term fix or a long-term item.

 

[mrsjacob]

From my experience, their solid wood products have held up wonderfully. Everything else, has worn out on me.

 

[ChloeTheGreat]

We furnished our first apartment with Ikea furniture. We liked the style and it was cheap (about 7 years ago.) Unfortunately, it didn't last long...my now hubby is a big guy and requires sturdier furniture.

 

[iheartscience]

It definitely depends on what you get, but I've been very pleased with my Ikea purchases over the years. And actually, my parents had a dining room set (MDF) from Ikea for 25 years and it held up amazingly well. They just sold it for $500 on Craigslist when they got a new set a few weeks ago!

I think basically anything that is metal or solid wood is great, and definitely better than the MDF stuff, but some MDF stuff is more solid than others. The Billy bookcases seem to last forever and they're MDF. I would NOT recommend the Malm dresser-it didn't survive one move!

Right now I have a metal bed from Ikea that's great (no longer sold and I forget the name), and I have the leather Karlstad couch that is super comfortable but still nice and slim for my smaller living room. Plus we bought whatever the cheapest wood bed is for our guest room for only $50 and it's solid wood. (Our box spring wouldn't fit upstairs so we needed a bed that didn't require a box spring.)

We also bought a fantastic kitchen island (Groland) that is solid wood and butcher block for only $200. We're in a rental so can't get anything permanent. My dad is a fantastic woodworker and he was very impressed with the quality and the price-he said we probably couldn't buy the materials to make it ourselves for $200!

ETA I forgot I also have the Nils dining room chairs and they're great, too! Ha, guess I have a lot of Ikea! I like to say that Ikea is the real Design Within Reach if you like modern stuff!

 

[tuffyluvr]

I have had mixed results with Ikea furniture. I had a bed that was sturdy when I set it up, but when I moved and took it apart and put it back together it was wobbly and ended up completely falling apart. It seemed like the female parts that the screws connected into got totally stripped when I took it apart. I was careful with it, but I just don't think it was made to last. I also had a small chest of drawers that was terrible to put together--the drawers were flimsy and really difficult to put together, but I helped my friend put together a large dresser that turned out great. She has had it for a couple years and it has help up really well. We also have a dining room table and a set of 6 chairs that has held up great. Sorry if this is terribly unhelpful!!!

 

[iLander]

We bought two lamps from Ikea, hanging pendant lamps, that looked gorgeous. One is fine, the other just mysteriously died after 2 years. DH had to wire them both in, so it's not the wiring, just one decided to die.

I think MDF furniture is pretty lousy wherever you get it from. We bought a lot of it in the '80's and it all fell apart because the glue dries up. We bought it from a bunch of different places. It's also SO heavy. I didn't realize it until we got wood pieces of the same size and they were so much lighter.

I love a lot of their stuff though, very cool.

 

[Laila619]

Thanks everyone! Sounds like it's sort of a mixed bag...some things are really great and others not so much. But for the money, I suppose if it falls apart in a few years, it won't be too big of a deal.

 

[Gypsy]

I've bought some of their stuff over the years and been pleased with the quality considering the cost, generally. The struts need tightening like once a year, I find and do strip and need replacing at times. And if you aren't going to need to break it down and re-assemble it often, I've found that with their tables and bookshelves using gorilla glue to reinforce everything is smart (from the get go, not once it's broken).

I don't care for their chairs where you have to assemble the back. If it comes with the back already on, it's fine. But you have to put the back on, they come loose.

Generally, if it doesn't get too much use (bookshelves) then you will be happier than stuff that gets a lot of wear and tear (bed).

ETA: I go generally think that for some pieces there are better values. I've had great luck with stuff with good reviews on Overstock. Pier One pieces on sale are much higher quality than Ikea. Also World Market furniture (for chairs especially). I wouldn't buy everything from Ikea.

I'm planning on buying another Ikea piece soon, a bookshelf I will put on it's side and use as an entertainment center.

 

[Silvia]

I agree about the beds, if you get the type where the slats only go halfway and there is a metal beam which runs down the centre of the long way, it will probably twist and you'll fall down- it's happened to 2 of my housemates when I was sharing.

We've had other stuff though and it's been quite solid, Billy bookcase, giant Expidit, a desk and they are fine. I have some cheap $99 drawers, they're ok except you can't pull them all the way out. We also have some expensive drawers, but the bottom of the drawer falls down (our fault for putting plates into it when it's designed for clothing though).

We have a carpenter friend and he cringes when we get stuff from ikea
This is a pretty cool site where they modify ikea stuff if you're handy http://www.ikeahackers.net/ I love looking the site for ideas but unfortunately do not have a creative bone in my body

 

[missy]

It definitely depends on what you get, but I've been very pleased with my Ikea purchases over the years. And actually, my parents had a dining room set (MDF) from Ikea for 25 years and it held up amazingly well. They just sold it for $500 on Craigslist when they got a new set a few weeks ago!

I think basically anything that is metal or solid wood is great, and definitely better than the MDF stuff, but some MDF stuff is more solid than others. The Billy bookcases seem to last forever and they're MDF. I would NOT recommend the Malm dresser-it didn't survive one move!

Right now I have a metal bed from Ikea that's great (no longer sold and I forget the name), and I have the leather Karlstad couch that is super comfortable but still nice and slim for my smaller living room. Plus we bought whatever the cheapest wood bed is for our guest room for only $50 and it's solid wood. (Our box spring wouldn't fit upstairs so we needed a bed that didn't require a box spring.)

We also bought a fantastic kitchen island (Groland) that is solid wood and butcher block for only $200. We're in a rental so can't get anything permanent. My dad is a fantastic woodworker and he was very impressed with the quality and the price-he said we probably couldn't buy the materials to make it ourselves for $200!

ETA I forgot I also have the Nils dining room chairs and they're great, too! Ha, guess I have a lot of Ikea! I like to say that Ikea is the real Design Within Reach if you like modern stuff!

That's good to hear Thing!! Our cats have absolutely destroyed our 4K ABC Carpet couch so we caved this past Sunday and went to IKEA and purchased the Karlstad...it is super comfortable and we figure it can hold up to cat ripping/scratching as well as our expensive ABC carpet couch LOL... I am impressed with the comfort and look of this couch I have to say. The quality seems decent for the price and while it is not as good quality as our(before it was destroyed) ABC couch it certainly is pretty nice! Of course we have only had it for 2 days now so we'll see how it holds up.

We also purchased a few things from IKEA for our beach house and my dh was impressed by some of the items. He does woodworking as a hobby and he couldn't figure out how some of their items were so inexpensive as it would have cost us more to make some of the stuff. Of course as many have pointed out here it does depend on the item as it varies wildly at IKEA.

 

[Lottie]

For the most part the quality is great for short term use but I always assume it won't last. All of N's bedroom furniture came from Ikea and has been/is being replaced with Aspace - the Minnen bed was awful, terrible quality and the other pieces just didn't stand up to a house move very well but I think would have been fine had we not moved. H has the Mamas and Papas set that was passed down from N and that looks as though it could easily outlast me.

The one thing that has lasted incredibly well is a tv unit that shortly after buying I realised is completely awful - sod's law!

 

[justginger]

We've had their solid wood coffee table and end table for quite a few years and they're in excellent shape. Other than that, we stick to decorations and accessories. I think it's fairly easy to tell what is good quality and what is not - if it feels flimsy from the beginning, it only goes quickly downhill from there. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase from them on the more sturdy items.

 

[stargurl78]

When we bought our house almost 3 years ago, we put a lot of money into fixing it up and since we needed all new furniture, we really could only afford to go to Ikea. So our entire bedroom set, our desks, mirrors, coffee table, shelves, and TV unit are all from Ikea. Everything has held up very well except for the bed (I think its from the Malm series). The bars in the frame kept sliding and the mattress kept collapsing on one side. Finally my dad made us some wood supports to screw into the frame and its been fine ever since. The coffee table and the TV unit do have a couple nicks on them since we have 2 cats but they are that dark black-brown color so I just fill them in with marker. But other than that everything has held up surprisingly good for the price. We are going this weekend to buy a new dining set and a wardrobe.

 

[luv2sparkle]

We have bought a few things at Ikea, a leather chair and ottoman for my son's room, and a fair amount of cabinets. My laundry room
table is a kitchen island with a wood top and the cabinets over my washer and dryer and my sewing room cabinets. Everything we have bought there has held up well. My floor to ceiling cabinets in my sewing room have etched glass and green (light) bead board backs. I love them.

I have found a lot of pieces there that could have been in a pottery barn catalog for a lot less. You do have to pick the stuff that is made with the most quality materials for the best results. When my daughter was married she bought most of her furniture for her apartment
at Ikea, and her place was beautiful. I remember buying a glass table with chairs for her kitchen and it was just a couple hundred buck and very cute. It was a particularly great value imho.

I love to go into IKEA and look at all the room and kitchen displays. Probably one of my favorite things to do.

 

[Pandora II]

I practically have a Phd in IKEA.

Some products are better than others - solid wood generally a lot better than not. I LOVE their kitchens - again though I buy the solid wood options and customise them.

I'm also a member of IKEAfan - a website for customising IKEA pieces. They have some great ideas over there.

In general it's my first port of call if I'm looking for something.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

We have the Hemnes dressers and nightstands and I love them. We have had them for two years and they still look new.

 

[mary poppins]

I had an IKEA wardrobe, coffee table, television stand, desk, kitchen cart and swivel desk chair on wheels for a little less than four years. They all held up well except the desk chair. I didn't take any of the items with me when I moved, so I can't speak as to how well the furniture would hold up in that circumstance.

A prior poster mentioned World Market. DH and I have a dining table and chairs from World Market that are beautiful and good quality. The were also reasonably priced.

 

[decodelighted]

I'm sitting in a 15 year old Ikea roll-arm chair right now. Have put a stretchy fresh cover on it due to cat abuse but it's still good in every other way. Also in the room: an Ikea dining table, two dining chairs & a desk chair. Only the desk chair is a *failure* -- looks good, hurts my tush.

 

[kenny]

No Ikea thread is complete without a link to the 10 most ridiculously-named products.
I mean, just TRY to pronounce some of these names.

http://flavorwire.com/225706/the-most-ridiculous-ikea-product-names-and-what-they-mean

 

[MichelleCarmen]

We have some Ikea furniture and have learned some has held up GREAT and we've moved a lot...other stuff has fallen apart.

We have a kid's desk and mini-dresser and the desk literally has had to be rescrewed into place a few times, but the mini-dresser is in perfect condition after many moves.

We got a solid wood coffee table that's in mint condition after maybe five moves.

Book case held up great and another dresser for kids which has held up well, but both are delicate and I have taken extra care when we've transported these items because the back panel on the bookcase is very thin.

I think the best buys we've made from Ikea have been small decorative things. They're priced SO reasonably that you can find a cart full of fun candle holders, etc., for under $100. I have ceramic plant holders, glass candle holders, various shaped candle holders, etc, and all have lasted for years and are fun because I can rearrange them according to season.

A realitive of mine has boughten stuff from Ikea over the years and EVERYTHING has held up well and I think she's moved a few times now. She's gentle on her stuff.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I've bought some of their stuff over the years and been pleased with the quality considering the cost, generally. The struts need tightening like once a year, I find and do strip and need replacing at times. And if you aren't going to need to break it down and re-assemble it often, I've found that with their tables and bookshelves using gorilla glue to reinforce everything is smart (from the get go, not once it's broken).
.

This reminds me...I'm pretty sure my DH reinforced with glue or something when he assembled the furniture we bought.

 

[kefira]

I second IKEAfans. I used to read there a lot before we moved and I had to give up on remodeling our kitchen in Seattle. There are some very creative people and amazing projects on that site.

We have a MALM bedroom set. I guess we've been lucky with our bed, because it and everything else held up through 3 moves over 4 years. We never disassembled the dresser or nightstands, only the bed, but it's all still in very good condition. I think the bed is meant to not need a box spring, but we use one anyway (a shallow one). I wonder if that helps with stability?

I've had various other pieces over the years, and most of it lasted pretty well. I tend to be fairly gentle with my furniture, so that probably helps. For the price, I think the use you get from it is generally fair.