Ikea

loch ness

Is Ikea worth the visit?
I have to more or less buy everything for a new house - is it good quality products for reasonable prices??
Any advice is appreciated:)

galah

well, I love IKEA - and you do get quality stuff for relatively cheap prices.
Check out their website.

The only problem is the 'assembly' of the furniture - those diagrams are a pain in the backside, and it can take forever to get it right.

But it beats having to pay for over-priced crap from greedy local retailers with a disgusting markup on everything, so IKEA wins in my book...

sarahhurray

absolutely. If you buy their cheapest stuff the quality is often a bit crap though the design is good and it can tide you over if money is tight. Their more expensive stuff is pretty good quality and way cheaper than what you get here. Get a catalogue though and have decided what you want before you go. The place is mesmerising, you'll end up with a heap of stuff for €2 you never meant to buy and not have the stuff you need if you don't.

The_Conductor

Assembly doesn't tend to be a problem, and the build quality is really good. You get very good quality furniture at a very reasonable price- its good looking, contempory and very handy. If you're not fond of the odd bit of assembling- get your brother/boyfriend/hubby or the postman to do it for you. I'd have no hesitation in recommending a visit.

loch ness

Thanks for all the replies....
I must go have a look so! and do they stock cultery etc etc???

esmeralda

I agree that IKEA is great for a cheap and cheerful contemporary look (without being tatty), and if I were a young person setting up house on a budget I would not hesitate to go and get everything there, thereby saving tons of money and time. There will plenty of time for it to be replaced by posher items in years to come. I still buy tons of accessories there, and yes, it is good for cutlery.

Take a look at the website before you go.

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/IkeaNearYouView?storeId=7&langId=-20&StoreNumber=113

It will give you a good idea of the stuff they have. If you are going on a weekend get there very early because it gets extremely full (not fun!) and if you can only go on a weekend go on the last weekend on the month because there are marginally fewer people (still a bit of bunfight though - if humanly possible go on a weekday).

HTH

aka_Ciaran

I went up a couple of weeks back, arrived the Fri nite and stayed over, then hit the place at 10 am on the Sat morning. I have a saloon car so for transport I hired a Focus hatchback, 70 euro for 2 day with sat nav. The bed/wardrobe packages just about fit in so I would say get an estate at a minimum if you have a lot of stuff to buy. They deliver to the south but charge £100 for 1 trolley full, so could end up being expensive.

The place is massive - I needed a double bed and wardrobe and I spent most of the day there just sussing these out. It's a good idea to get a catalogue or visit their website beforehand and figure out as much as possible what you want. There's a huge range of stuff and a lot of potential gotchas re sizes, parts, etc. For example their double beds are 200 cm long, which is 20 cm longer than a standard Irish double matress of 180 cm. They also come in 3 parts and they may not necessarily have all the parts as they are stored separately.

There's a good canteen there and the food is reasonably priced, plus free coffee and soft drink refills. I also picked up bits and pieces such as cutlery, small lamps, little toys for my sister's kids, etc, as well as some yummy Swedish chocolate and cakes. Would definitely go back there if I needed more stuff for the house.

Electric

IKEA is great we drove up there is Feb and it was well worth it.

Check out their website or their catalogue. My only advice would be to make a list and stick to it. It's very easy to get carried away.

Benster

And another thing - the €/£ exchange rate hasn't been this good for years...

B.

Electric

When we were there they had signs up that they were going to start taking payments in euros from April onwards. The exchange rate would probably be crap but it's something to keep in mind

The_Conductor

Electric wrote: »

When we were there they had signs up that they were going to start taking payments in euros from April onwards. The exchange rate would probably be crap but it's something to keep in mind

The Euro is so strong- its in their interests to do so. I heard an interview on BBC World at the weekend where they were interviewing quite a few shop managers in New York and Toronto who are very happy to take Euro too. I suppose it makes a pleasant change (other than for our exporters that is......)

carrotcake

Interesting thread here about the price differences between Ikea in Germany and the UK. It could end up worth the longer trip. I've just bought a load of stuff in Ikea in Germany, and looking at the UK website it totalled the same number, you just swap the pound symbol for a euro symbol:)

Victor

Moved from Accommodation & Property to Interior Design & Decoration.

311

I've been there a few times now ,no need to go back for a while.

It's an inspiring place to visit ,you would probably do well to visit first with just viewing .

Then go back up and buy what you want ,there's so much stuff on display ,that it's hard to compare online.

biko

You have to see it to believe it really. It's great

niceirishfella

The one in Belfast is good - but if you really want to be blown away - visit one of their stores on mainland europe.

I remember being in the one in Rotterdam, Holland.
GIGANTIC - and the Belfast one would fit into a corner of it.

Glowing

I was in Ikea Belfast a few weeks ago - and there was a 7.00 charge on the bottom of my receipt with 'Family card no." beside it - anyone know what this was?