IKEA - wonderful or overhyped?

JupiterKid

I was out at the IKEA store with a friend with a view to buying a couple of chairs and some kitchenware. I had never set foot in the place until a few weeks ago and I wondered what all the hype was about. It's very like any furniture/kitchen store but on a bigger scale.

Anyway we got the chairs in flat packs and assembled them but I thought to myself if you were buying something bigger like a wardrobe or table it might be a bit of a challenge to assemble.

So - do AHers think IKEA is the wonderful everyday or greatly overhyped fare?

The_Valeyard

Flat packs, flat packs everywhere and a day spent trying to put the stuff together only to find one screw leftover which is probably the screw needed to keep the whole thing together.

jimmii

I enjoy putting flat pack furniture together. Its what I like to do after I have finished doing VAT returns.

Birneybau

I think it's fine, nothing more, nothing less.

Charlie19

It's great for a game of Hide and Seek.

Woshy

I really love IKEA

I just wish you could order the stuff online so you wouldn't have to actually go there. You can get stuff delivered but you have to actually go to the shop to purchase it.

miezekatze

Got a lot of our furniture there, worked out a lot cheaper than if we'd got it somewhere else. I like the style as well. It's a bit of a hassle having to assemble it all yourself, but it's not that difficult.

dan1895

Woshy wrote: »

I really love IKEA

I just wish you could order the stuff online so you wouldn't have to actually go there. You can get stuff delivered but you have to actually go to the shop to purchase it.

Soon. That's all I can say on that matter.

cloud493

I wanna go out there just to see this famously cheap canteen.

_Brian

Its just a shop..
Go if you need something, don't if you don't.

Miall108

Prefer LEGO myself

tink2

I like it but find it easier to pick out stuff online than in the shop always end up picking up silly small bit too when I'm there

delthedriver

Depends on what you are looking for !

Reasonable quality at a reasonable price.

Ideal for fitting out rental units. Cheerful, latest styles.

It is a pity they don't do an online service.......yes one can order on line but still need to visit the shop!

Mallagio

Flat packed furniture making is a gift that only a few can master.... I'm thinking its a place that people like to go & view and pretend to think that they'd be able to handle it....

A D.I.Y. enthusiasts wet dream I'd imagine.

Desolation Of Smug

Buying a full kitchen is Duuuulllllll. You'd visit the Pope faster. And he wouldn't leave you a few bits short.

Tigger

ikea is substandard at a high price
i priced a kitchen and gt the same from an irish kitchen wholesaler for half the price

Stone Deaf 4evr

the key to most flatpack furniture, and how to make it last longer, is to actually glue everything as you assemble it, it'll prevent bits and pieces coming loose over time, specially those poxy fixings that are like metal dowel, but you twist an oversized plilips head capped thing to tighten the pieces together - usually found in drawers.

Dawn Rider

I'm rubbish at flat pack stuff, so I give it to the kid to assemble. She loves it, even does other people's (friend's and family) when they get IKEA stuff.

Sh1tbag OToole

Ikea makes a killing off selling bits of particle board from China cut into rectangular pieces. You are better off buying some real furniture which is not necessarily expensive.

Most of the stuff that comes out of there is so simple you could make it with a few hand tools and a jigasaw and some paint.

Aongus Von Bismarck

It serves the same role as Pennys does for fashion. It takes the ideas of high-end designers and knocks out cheap copies for the masses. The quality just isn't there though. It wouldn't be the type of place I'd be visiting to furnish my apartment. To each their own.

Toots

I really like IKEA, they've got a huge range of stuff and you can actually see what it looks like when it's built, rather than just going by pictures on a website. I think it's particularly handy if you live in an apartment, because the stuff seems to be designed to be as functional as possible in as small a space as possible.

Anything I've bought there was excellent quality, and the one and only time I had to return something because it was damaged (mirror panels for a sliding wardrobe door) there was no hassle at all. I was worried we'd have trouble because we had no way of proving they didn't crack in the boot of our car on the way home, but when we got to the counter we were given a full refund straight away, no questions asked.

mad muffin

IKEA furniture, especially the particleboard, is designed to be assembled in the view that it will never be disassembled.

delthedriver

First visited IKEA in Dubai , thought it was amazing.

Have also been in their shop in Malaga on several occasions and their shops in UK and Dublin.

The layout in each store is identical

On each visit to IKEA it fascinates me the volume of shoppers and the trolleys laden with goods.

IKEA must be doing something right

Cienciano

Restaurant is decent for the price. But the shop is painful to walk around. Takes about 2 hours to go there and buy one thing.

Dawn Rider

delthedriver wrote: »

On each visit to IKEA it fascinates me the volume of shoppers and the trolleys laden with goods.

IKEA must be doing something right

It's a pity their till operators are soooo slow.
If you see two trollies in front of you, get your book out…

Desolation Of Smug

Dawn Rider wrote: »

It's a pity their till operators are soooo slow.
If you see two trollies in front of you, get your book out…

It goes to feck at the checkouts and at the "collection point" - the portal to hell. Sit there like a tool for what feels like days, craning yuour ears for when the spanner vaguely calls out your name/number. We draw straws at work for who has to suffer it - we collect a lot of stuff for clients out of there, desks etc. I like going in for small stuff, but for a bigger order, I'd rather pull out my own fingernails with a pliers.

dee_mc

I like IKEA but only since I copped on to shortcuts etc, it's handy enough once you know the layout. I just find it a bit claustrophobic after a while, so always print a shopping list and no pissing around getting lunch there, in and out in 60 to 90 minutes, not so bad!
The quality is good for flatpack and their kitchens are great, so it's worth the hassle once or twice a year.

c_man

I'm 29 years of age and have yet to buy any furniture.

tampopo

Overhyped.

hfallada

Its great. Before IKEA all we had was either ****ty, horrible pine furniture or expensive furniture like IKEA. Now we have affordable furniture from IKEA. Try getting a quality desk elsewhere for €60.

Desolation Of Smug

hfallada wrote: »

Its great. Before IKEA all we had was either ****ty, horrible pine furniture or expensive furniture like IKEA. Now we have affordable furniture from IKEA. Try getting a quality desk elsewhere for €60.

They do quality desks now?? :eek: Must have only come in this week, eh?

JupiterKid

The cafe in IKEA is great - such good value for their tasty meatballs but going through the warehouse to pick up your flat packs is pretty stressful - especially if an item you have thought was in a certain place on a particular aisle is actually elsewhere. Plus the tills are very slow.

Kevin McCloud

I borrows my uncles mobility scooter when I go there, be all day walking around it otherwise.

NachoBusiness

Was in the place once and after twenty minutes of walking I realized that the place is a claustrophobic's nightmare. You can't go backwards. I mean you could but you don't know how far you're in and so you keep walking thinking that you're nearly out so you're better off to keep going than to double back. Course that's what they want you to think. There are no windows either so you can't even jump out. I started walking faster and faster and ended up running at the end, close to tears to be truthful.

It's genius really as you have to cover every inch of the place before you can leave and they know damn well by that stage you will seen at least three things that are so well priced you will just have to buy them, whether you need them or not. I truly felt like I was suffocating for the last mile or so. Felt like I was in some weird Swedish version of The Shining and then I seen the car park in the distance through a window. I just paid for my velvet throw and maple wood salad bowls and left as quick as I could. Never again.

BnB

I went to Ikea for the 2nd time last week.

I HATE it. I HATE it with an utter passion.

Reasons I hate it..

1) Lack of choice. They have a big huge shop filled with furniture in 1 Style (I think they call it..."Crappy apartmenty minimalistic cheapo crap"). If you don't like the first bit of furniture you see inside the door, you might as well sod off home for yourself, because you won't like the rest of it. Go to a normal decent furniture shop and you will find lots of stuff in lots of different styles

2) I hate the way you can't just walk in to get one thing and sod off. You have to follow this path of doom through the shop to get to the end while you lose the will to live. Last week I was looking for one particular bit that my wife sent me a pic of. It took me about an hour to reach the till. WHY WHY WHY ?

3) The till operators are horrendous

While I was waiting at the tills (roughly 20mins so I had a lot of time to think) it struck me as I observed my fellow drones, that the Ikea people themselves must be surprised with the smap that the leave lying around the shop that people will stick in their trolleys and buy.

Shenshen

I like IKEA.

I particularly like a set of shelves I got from them decades ago - they've been with me all my adult life, and I kept adding on to them to accomodate my collection of books and comic books. I find them extremely hard-wearing (books weigh a lot, and many more expensive shelves will sag under the weight. Not mine, though), very easy to assemble and ver adaptable to any size room.
They've moved house with me many times (from home to the town were I studied, to my first job, to Dublin, to Cork and a few times in between) and are still as good as new.

IKEA is also always good for all the little things - from cheese graters to potted plants.

I don't think I'd get a full kitchen from them (mostly because I don't like the styles they do at the moment), but everything else I might consider.
I also have to admit to being one of those weird people who like putting furniture together - I will happily offer to do it for friends and family, too.

vienne86

I like the way they dispay stuff, and they have quite good ideas for kitting out small spaces, but I find that I go to look, and buy elsewhere. It was crazy busy on Monday.

Mr E

Shenshen wrote: »

IKEA is also always good for all the little things - from cheese graters to potted plants.

The little things on the middle floor are the killer. You go here not expecting to buy much, and leave with a pack of 3 scissors, 4 espresso cups, a bath mat, a few towels, a potted plant, ice cube trays, some glasses, some bulbs, a wall clock, some storage boxes, a laundry basket and some of those apple glazed chewy biscuits that your dentist would love....

Yeah, I love Ikea.

ZiabR

You get what you pay for. I don't think there is anything wrong with the stuff from it. Yes it can take awhile to put together but I have a few items in the house and they are still standing. The price wins out most of the time.

There are little tables there that are 4.99. Great for kids room etc and if they get broken it is not the end of the world. They can be replaced for 4.99

Ush1

I wouldn't go often but I think it's worth it for a bit of a project.

Got fitted wardrobes from there and saved a lot of money instead of getting a carpenter to do them. Plus you can really customize it and then change it easily enough if you want to rearrange compartments.

jester77

Some of their stuff is great. I bought a large set of wardrobes, 2.5m high & 5 or 6 M long, about 10 years ago. Have moved 3 times and it was so easy disassembling and reassembling them. They weren't exactly cheap at the time, but cheaper than custom ones that would probably have been thrown out by now.

jester77

BnB wrote: »

3) The till operators are horrendous

While I was waiting at the tills (roughly 20mins so I had a lot of time to think) it struck me as I observed my fellow drones, that the Ikea people themselves must be surprised with the smap that the leave lying around the shop that people will stick in their trolleys and buy.

You should use the self checkouts, best thing ever and gets you out of their in a fraction of the time.

jaykay74

Seems from a lot of the answers that people aren't aware of the shortcuts that mean you can skip large sections of the shop. Apart from maybe being delayed at the till its possible to go get your item and to the till pretty quickly.

Reggie.

Never been to the IKEA store

fleet_admiral

The meatballs and 'mash' are lovely and Im partial to a hotdog or ten on the way out too

polydactyl

I love the place, key to it though if you are doing a big item shop (not just browsing) is look it all up online, create a shopping list online, this gives you the warehouse section locations, skip the main floor head straight to basement and get your stuff and use self check out.

Managed to buy complete bedroom set including wardrobes and was in and out in an hour.

Boom_Bap

I live quite close to it, I only go in there to eat the odd time now. My most recent trip was to buy a matress, in and fooking out of there.
I pretty sure I know all the shortcuts at this stage as well from just going in and getting what I need and getting out.

The stuff is decent as well, fairly durable furniture and handy to put together.

The meatballs are the main reason for going there though. Plus, buying a pack of meatballs in the shop on the way out.

Meatballs.

Mountain Rescue

But In 3 wardrobes in the last few months.i think the secret to assembling the stuff from Ikea is to glue it all together,it will then stand up perfectly to the every day abuse we give our furniture,prices are great up there quality is good and meat balls are devine

circadian

I can't stand it. Having to follow the path through the store, which is always rammed, to get one or two things you know you're looking for but want to see in in the flesh, to be sure of what you're buying.

It can take an age to check something out, get to the warehouse to pick it up and pay for it.

Aongus Von Bismarck

I really cannot believe the number of posters around here who say they like the Ikea meatballs. Absolutely vile and disgusting pustules of cheap meat and filler dosed in violently oversalted gravy. They may be cheap but they are very bad value. The only use for them I can think of is if you suddenly felt a desire to have an impromptu game of handball in the Ikea restaurant and needed a rubbery sphere to use as the ball.
The artificially smoked salmon wasn't much better.

The quality is very good I got two couches for the siting room and they came with a 10 year guarantee.