IKEA Antilop review

Key features

• Moulded plastic highchair with plastic detachable tray and steel click-in legs

• No-tool, two-minute assembly

• Three-point lap harness

• Can be disassembled without tools for travel or storage

• Suitable as soon as your child can sit up unaided, up to around three years old or 15kg

• Complies with EU safety standard EN 14988:2017

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How easy is the IKEA Antilop to purchase and assemble?

Like all of IKEA’s baby furniture, the easiest way to get hold of the Antilop is by paying a visit to your nearest blue-and-yellow store.

The highchair comes in three different packages, so make sure you pick up all three (four, if you want the cushion that's sold separately). You shouldn’t need to plan ahead to get it home as all packages will fit easily into a standard-sized car boot. Otherwise, Amazon and eBay do have Antilops for sale, but usually at an elevated price.

Once at home, IKEA’s characteristic picture-only instructions won’t hold you up for long. Assembly is a matter of clicking in the four legs, securing the harness and pressing the tray hard on top. Our tester, Katrĩna, had it up and ready to go in two minutes flat.

If you do get stuck, assembly instructions are available for download on IKEA’s website. IKEA haven’t made any assembly videos, but there are plenty of user-generated ones online.

It’s not possible to buy spare parts separately from IKEA, but if your parcel has parts missing you can request them from your local store. And there’s no word of a warranty – perhaps not surprising at only £12.

How does it look?

The Antilop is unlikely to win any style awards with an unfussy white plastic design that prioritises practicality over aesthetics. It looks minimalist and efficient in true Scandinavian style.

While it also doesn’t come in any other colours, the white at least does blend in with most kitchen styles.

-therewillbelies

What's the IKEA Antilop like to use?

The Antilop is a sturdy, reliable highchair that fits easily into day-to-day life and wears well over time.

Its moulded plastic seat means your baby stays put and is comfortable, but because it’s not very flexible you may need to make some adjustments to suit. The seat doesn’t recline, the height and tray distance aren’t adjustable and there’s no footrest, so for smaller babies you may find the cushion (sold separately) is a necessity to prop them up a little.

Still, the Antilop manages to be lightweight enough to move across the kitchen one-handed, wide enough to drop a wriggly child into position without getting their legs caught in the holes, and sturdy enough that there’s no danger of it tipping while in use.

It doesn’t fold and the floor footprint is 59cm x 56cm, which may present a trip hazard, but it does stack with others (useful for multiples and siblings close in age) and disassembles without much fuss.

The three-point harness can be adjusted easily with two hands and it’s easy to click in and out too – essential for managing mealtime protests.

How safe is it?

On their website, IKEA say that they take “the toughest demands in each region, and by regular quality and safety inspections [they] make sure the Antilop lives up to all of them. If a new law or standard is introduced [they] test the chair again”. The seat and tray are made from BPA-free plastics and the chair meets the requirements of the EU’s safety standard EN 14988:2017.

The tray stands 70cm from the floor – about toddler forehead height – but the lightness of the chair and the smooth rounded edges mean that a bump is unlikely to be serious. The tray fits securely and couldn’t be removed by Katrĩna's children, aged nine months and 33 months.

The seat back rises 37cm from the seat bottom, so even a toddler feels safely contained and supported, and the harness mechanism is stiff enough that it can’t be accidentally undone.

All in all, the Antilop came through our drop test unmarked and couldn’t be tipped with a weight present in the seat. The tray, too, looked completely intact after being repeatedly dropped.

Unlike the MyChild Graze 3-in-1 or the Bebe Style Classic 2-in-1, the other budget highchairs we tested, the Antilop’s plastic parts are solid and tough. It’s clear that the chair has been engineered to survive multiple knocks and should serve future children equally well as the first, if required.

Is the Antilop easy to clean?

When it comes to weaning babies and food-throwing toddlers, this category is the holy grail – and here’s where the Antilop really streaks ahead.

The smooth plastic is a dream to clean. No nooks and crannies for toast crumbs or Cornflakes to hide, and easy to wipe down quickly with a sponge. If you do get the supporting cushion insert, it’s machine washable at 60 degrees and can be tumble-dried too.

Katrĩna found that dried porridge and Bolognese sauce both came off with a quick scrub, even after being left for a while. It is possible for dried food to crust around the harness, but these straps can be removed and washed in the sink if necessary. And if a major food catastrophe occurs, both the seat and the tray will happily go in the dishwasher with no ill effects.

-Direwolfwrangler

Final verdict?

Sometimes the best things in life really are the simplest. To get a highchair for less than your monthly nappy bill is impressive enough. For it to be as practical, solid and fuss-free as the IKEA Antilop is almost a miracle.

While not as flexible, stylish or long-lasting as other pricier models such as the Cybex Lemo or the ever-popular Stokke Tripp Trapp, it nevertheless emerged from our tests a top-scorer in every category, as well as a firm favourite on the Mumsnet forums.

Despite the low price point, the Antilop sailed past the budget competitors we tested, but it isn’t just the best budget highchair available on the market. It’s proven itself a worthy winner of our Mumsnet Best Highchair 2019 award. Full-stop.

About Mumsnet Reviews

All Mumsnet Baby & Child product reviews are written by real parents after weeks of research and testing – this includes recommendations from the Mumsnet Talk boards. We work hard to provide honest and independent advice you can trust. Sometimes, we earn revenue through affiliate (click-to-buy) links in our articles. However, we never allow this to influence our coverage.

For more information about what to look for when buying a highchair, check out our buyer's guide.

All prices correct at time of publication