To not replace all my IKEA stuff

Love IKEA.

For the price I think the quality is usually outstanding.

All 3 dc's bedrooms are mainly IKEA furniture, including the shelving/storage. Then we have odd bits (Kallax, shelving, bookcases) scattered throughout the house. All solid, last for years and look lovely.

On one visit I picked up a small white side table for seven quid. It's very basic but solid. I didn't want anything fancy as it was literally just to slot in between a sofa and the wall where you can't even see it...I had doubts about how long it would last but got excited at the £7 price tag 😂

WELL. That was about 3 years ago and my £7 side table is still brand-new looking - despite being used several times a day with hot and cold drinks being placed on it (usually without coasters) and randomly wiped over with a wet sponge, with zero care. There's not so much as a scratch on the table surface.

I think it's difficult to rival IKEA for things like wardrobes, without building bespoke. We are looking at the moment and keep coming back to IKEA because we can make them exactly what we need, internally, for the same price as similar quality "plain" wardrobes from elsewhere.

I also don't care where anyone buys any of their furniture. As long as they have stuff they love and use as they need, not something I can see how anyone should be judging.

I think they have some great items but after moving house, I am mostly replacing any IKEA bits with higher quality (solid wood, often antique from marketplace for less than the ikea cost to begin with!). The thing I really don’t like about it is that it is so recognisable as ikea and recognisable from almost every rental I’ve ever seen. You just get a bit fed up looking at it. There are loads of “hacks” for tarting up their standard ranges, but that probably ends up costing as much (not to mention in time) as more high end stuff for many people.
can’t beat their cheese graters though!

100% yes, IKEA furniture is very much seen as “starter home” furniture and most people will replace it as they get older/have more money. Probably a lot more so than in the UK.

Depends what you buy, I think. The contents of my kitchen is 90% ikea, and a lot of my furniture - some of it in better nick than others!

Malm doesn't wear as well as hemnes for example, but the price reflects that. I'd rather buy ikea and spend my cash on holidays, than have a crazily expensive coffee table that I have to sit at home and look at 24/7!

Like most places IKEA offers a range from very cheap to high end. Some stuff looks naff and cheap, other stuff is great.

DS has had Malm drawers for years, they are big deep, practical and strong. No need to replace them. We were doing DDs room out recently, we wanted the 3 by 3 malm drawers but they were just too wide for the spot so looked at the Kullen set that were not as wide and they were absolutely crap!

We have a mix of price ranges in our house but can’t beat Ikea for strong storage options.

@Missmarple87 I have two tall chests of drawers in my late daughters former bedroom (now her daughters room). Drawers are now 26 years old!!! I used wood glue in every single joint and dowel as I was building them and they have been moved in and out of the room numerous times for redecoration!! they are still as steady as a rock!!! best buy ever!

Yes, I agree completely its irrational. I think its the association though, and I can understand even though it doesn't really make much sense logically.

Thinking about it, I have a massive prejudice against vinyl flooring/linoleum because I associate it with being really really skint and living somewhere terrible. people keep suggesting I get vinyl flooring in one room and I always react in horror. It probably does come across as snobby but its a (completely irrational) prejudice I have, and we are allowed to be prejudiced about what goes in our houses.

IKEA makes good starter furniture, but it's great value and lasts. No one else nails functional storage nearly as well in that price bracket.

It is possible to overdo it and look like a display room, but if your decor and accessories are from elsewhere, that's quire easy to avoid.

I wouldn't replace it just because it was IKEA, but there are some things we've repurposed or sold on because life changed and we updated to something more specific to last. There were some Billy shelves that were about 20 years old and survived a house move and various room changes but got a bit wobbly to be worth selling on after redecorating.

I love Ikea. It blends well with all my junk shop furniture, nothing better than an Ikea outing, and I don’t like shopping as a rule!

We are sort of....

We have more money now. We don't have to go for the cheapest option. So we can look at more options IF we need something new. We aren't replacing stuff that works and is in good nick just for the fun of it.

I think years ago maybe like 10-15 years IKEA furniture was very samey and a bit cheap but their range has really expanded over the years and they do some really nice bits now.

I am not voting because I think it's a bit of both.

We are going to be replacing our (cheap) IKEA living room furniture soon, with solid wood stuff. But we also just bought some pine kids storage units for the kids there.

I think there are some real gems to be found in IKEA, especially storage items. MIL recently bought some bookshelves that immediately bowed under her books. Our coffee table hasn't survived our toddlers, it will go to the skip, but it lasted 5+ years.

I wish they had more solid pine stuff, I swear the used to!

I love their rugs and other textiles too.

I don't think the quality is poor. Its certainly much better than other cheaper brands. We have a Malm chest of drawers and an ektorp sofa that are probably 8 or 9 years old and still look practically new. I worked in high ish end furniture retail for a long time so have a fair amount of experience, some of the more expensive brands are shockingly flimsy to be honest. People just like to look fancy.

Well, IKEA has different kinds of things from the super-cheap to better quality, so it does depend a bit. I wouldn’t want everything I own to be IKEA but I’m very happy with the things I do have.

Most of our furniture is IKEA and it's been going strong for +15 years, I have no issue with. I can understand wanting to replace the really cheap stuff but there are different levels at IKEA

What a strange way to spend money!

I can think of a lot of things I would be spending that on...

I think your friend's opinion is unusual and you can safely ignore!

I love IKEA but its poor quality, unoriginal, and ubiquitous.

I sort of know what she means...
When I was absolutely skint and furnishing my first flat, a lot of stuff was second hand or Ikea (or second hand Ikea). Its nice to look forward to a point where you can not be skint and not have to buy the cheapest all the time. Not having to buy Ikea is a sign of being financially safe/successful (what I would mean if I talked about being a "proper adult") and permanently settled somewhere. The sign/symbol of not being poor gets mixed up with the important bit (not being poor).

That said, now I have bought my flat most of my furniture is still Ikea. In fact most of it is the second hand Ikea stuff I bought 10 years ago that's still going strong.

I love IKEA and have loads. I had to donate a tall, solid wood bookcase from there when I moved and it was excellent quality - I was sorry to see it go.

I have fab lights, rugs, picture frames and kitchen stuff from there too, plus shoe and coat racks. Really cheap from everywhere is likely to be flimsy, not just IKEA; a friend of mine bought a ton of bedroom stuff from Wayfair which was absolute crap and more expensive.

I love ikea. The cleanness & crispness of my all white office furniture and cheap as chips. I love the hemmes bedroom range.

I bought living room furniture second hand 25yrs ago and passed it on recently still in excellent condition.

I like Ikea for certain things but in my opinion the quality of the furniture is pretty poor. I'm sure there are pieces from 25 years ago that are still going strong but the standards have slipped. Which certainly isn't an issue confined to Ikea. And I don't think that's me being snooty.