OP has clearly never priced out solid wood furniture. A single mission-style sofa--by which I mean something made using Gustav Stickley's plans--will typically retail for well over $3000 US. ...Such as this version--from the original Stickley company--that has an MSRP of >$9000
OPs whole shit is wrong, honestly. I have a house furnished on quite a lot of Ikea shit that's been going strong for 10ish years through multiple moves? Though I don't disagree that I'd rather have better materials like real wood that can be refinished and really can last a century, that is not happening for anywhere near Ikea prices.
Exactly what I’m thinking, can furnish a whole place for a price of some of these solid wood furniture.
Speak for yourself, I have multiple IKEA furniture that’s lasted me for 10 years. You just have to be careful and take care of your stuff.
Nice, I have absolutely nothing like that within my area.
I used to keep an eye on the marketplace sites for a while, but after a few months gave up because there was usually fuck all good furniture and the good deals get snapped up instantly.
Dealers spend all day watching these market places (I’ve met at least five in my local area), the second they see a deal they jump on it, then post it back on with a 500% markup.
That "bureautje" thing looks like the random crap furniture my grandmother had in her house.
I actually like putting the flat packs together. It's like Lego for adults.
Sue me.
In the UK before Ikea, it was MFI (colloquially known as 'Made For Idiots') that was even lower quality chipboard horrible furniture.
Yes, Ikea isnt some handcrafted solid wood furniture but until most people can afford that stuff, it will do.
Yeah what's with this idea that solid wood furniture costs the same as IKEA's equivalent. That's just not true. If it was no one would buy IKEA furniture so it's obviously not true.
Mr green text is a lying git.
... What? I have Ikea furniture that's lasted 10+ years, through 5+ moves including disassembly and reassembly every time. Nothing took more than 20 minutes to assemble, and I definitely believe this furniture can outlive me.
Real wood furniture is heavy, hard to sell, and expensive to buy. It requires a guarantee of long term housing or a disregard for the long term nature of the furniture.
Ikea is(somewhat) cheap, functional, can be broken down and moved in a car, and when your lease is up, so is your particleboard coffee table.
I have an antique entertainment cabinet that I nicknamed "the burden" that was given to me for my first apartment. It's heavy as all fuck, has tried to kill me everytime I've moved, doesn't fit a TV larger than like 32", and nobody wants to buy it. It makes a great piece for an aquarium setup, but has now been relegated to storing junk since I had to give up the aquarium
I'm moving at the end of the month for the first time in a decade, and it sure as hell ain't coming with me. I'll try to sell it, I'll give it away, or I'll trash it; but it will no longer be my burden. Hopefully someone wants to come get it, because it really might last forever and I'd hate to see it just trashed. But I refuse to be it's keeper any longer
I've acquired far too much furniture I'd like to keep in my current apartment and I'm terrified of having to move. I'm terrified to hire movers which will trash everything, terrified of the stress of loading my own truck and dealing with the post move out nonsense. I moved like 9 times in a 5 year span during college and it never got easier. I hate it more every time.
No one wants to buy the furniture in a timely manner, you cant buy anything cheaper to replace it.
Going through it right now, after renting the same place for literally 10 years. I was out of state for work when my landlords told me they were selling it. They gave me extra time, because for one month of the notice I would be out of state... but it suuucks. Had to come home after my contract ended and immediately scramble.
Just signed a new lease (the market is fucking rough) and am now trying to condense a decade of of my life. It'll be nice to have everything sorted and condensed and my dogs will have a bigger yard now... but fuck me, it wasn't something I was ready to just jump into. But c'est la vie I guess
As someone that worked in a cabinet shop for years, all mass produced furniture is going to be basically the same quality as what you buy from IKEA. It just feels cheap when you do it yourself.
You'll notice most responses in this thread are saying "5+ years ago, 10+ years ago, 15+ years ago" but if you check out IKEA prices and quality post-Romanian wood poaching bust, and post-Ukraine/Russia war, it's like night and day.
A couch in 2021 was $799 USD for a 3 piece sectional, now it's $1599 USD, and their entire "Solid Wood" search category has been replaced by "Wood + Particle Board + Veneer / Wood-like finish", as their solid wood category was removed. Now you have to discern every piece by eye and material quality.
Most of the furniture in my home is from IKEA, but imo it's gone dramatically downhill and will probably continue to do so.
Everything's going up in price though, seems redundant to cover Ikeas inflation without reflecting what its done to the solid wood industry as well.
For me the modability of Ikea is ideal(ikeahacks). I definitely prefer function over form most of the time so easy to move and adapt Lego furniture is really cool. And I genuinely don't understand how people break so much furniture if it's not meant to be slept or sat on...
Flat pack stuff has been around much longer then IKEA. The real wood stuff was great, but heavy and inconvenient to transport. That's why the flat pack stuff caught on so fast.
Particle board is heavier than un-processed wood. Ikea does sell some stuff made from actual wood if you look for it. I bought an unfinished pine table from them for $60 a few years ago.
That's just false. Particle board is without a doubt less dense than actual wood.
Not Ikea specific, but proper wood furniture only really makes sense if you're staying somewhere long term, have your own house, etc. If you have to move every couple of years for work, because rent is getting too expensive, etc etc, solid wood furniture is really inconvenient and expensive to transport.
Clothing and furniture is overproduced as hell; evidence: Festivals, urban pavements, informal dumping grounds, wood waste power plants, clothing markets in South Western Africa.
Fuck that IKEA is to Swedish cousine what chipotle is to Mexican cousine
The problem is any of the stuff like shelving or say a load bearing surface like a desk. Those flat surfaces are almost always MDF or whatever cheap engineered wood products IKEA uses. The furniture looks nice initially, especially for the price, but the horizontal surfaces always sag after 2-3 years even under low weight. I have a dresser, a desk, and shelving that all developed this problem and some of the shelves barely have anything on them.
Weird, I've had some IKEA dressers and bookshelves for a decade that have been completely fine.
Same here, most of my flat is ikea stuff and they've been going strong for 10 years. I don't buy the cheapest options at ikea but still, a kallax will easily last you that much if you don't jump on it. Only thing I don't recommend is mattress.
If you put it together properly it tends to last a while. Unlike Jysk furniture which will collapse due to the stress of assembling it.
