To think that IKEA isn't that cheap any more?

[Teamumizumi]

Some of the furniture, ie chest of drawers, is £200. I'm not a cheapskate but it's always marketed itself as being stylish furniture at low prices and now it 's gone quite expensive.

Ikea has good prices on some items. DH is Danish so is automatically good at putting together Ikea furniture. I wanted to marry him after assembling 3 pieces of furniture (bookcase, chest of drawers and bed) in less than 40 mins. Seven years on the furniture is still solid. My aunt isn't so good at putting together furniture and DH glued her coffee table together when we last visited after she bought it a year ago.

I buy a lot of the kiddie stuff (they have a fab kid kitchen) and found their long handled spoons to be the best. Money wise we spend the most in the food store at the end. The rye bread in a box is very good as are the herring, lindenberry jam and other scandinavian delights. I sometimes go to Ikea just for buying food. Sadly our local Ikea is no longer selling Daim bars or the lovely chocolate bars. I put in a complaint because finding good chocolate is not easy here in the US.

Ikea isn't cheap, it always ends up in divorce everytime we go. I swear if it wasn't for the meatballs i would never go.

almost not always lol

We've had our malm chest of drawers x 4 for 5 years now - still sturdy and look good, no chips or grubbiness at all (and I'm not exactly houseproud). Best £140 we've ever spent.

The kitchens are bargainous too - where else can you get solid wood worktops that cheaply!

They've stopped selling bilar?

I too have an old malm bookcase as its great - far better than the 'posh' new stuff we recently got. don't know what their quality is like now though.

They haven't sold Bilar for a year or so now. They seem to have stopped selling other brands. I am not happy. I used to go there specifically for the Swedish fish.

Was just thinking the same thought as you OP as their catalogue came through our letterbox this evening. The prices are similar to NEXT furniture for some items and I don't think the quality is that great anymore. Having said that though, the malm chest of drawers are good! But it did seem like that tat level has increased along with the prices the last time we visited.

I have some 'old Ikea' stuff too, mixed up with older furniture and seconhand odds and ends in a rambling cottage which had a bit of a Terence Conran 'The House Book' Habitat style early seventies makeover. Sounds foul eh? But we have a wicked crazy paving and slate plinth with a log burner and pitch pine stairs in the sitting room and built in brick oven/hob units in the kitchen. Rest of kitchen is free-standing stuff but the sink bit is Ikea cream units and big double white sink.
Bloody solid and means I can put random antiques, restored, customised cheap post-war utility furniture and Ikea storage together and it all slots into place. I have to say, I can't fault their Ivar wooden storage shelving. Bloody sturdy and fits anywhere. Have just taken one desk out of the study and replaced it with a wall and a half of shelving.
But the bit I like best is my woven willow chaise Lounge in the conservatory. Only cost 45 quid and is amazing.
However, I am blonde and strong in the shoulder..........

Freshlettice -you must be so proud. Well done.

Wait! They've stopped selling Marabou chocolate???

Hang the bloody meatballs, it's all about the Marabous for me. They were the dangling carrot urging me froward through the battlefield that is Ikea.

Do you mean Dime bars? They advertised a few months ago that they were coming back.

DH and I always end up in screaming rows in Ikea. It always reduces us 2 fairly reasonable mature adults to tantrumming toddlers over which duvet set to buy and whether it's possible to squeeze the 50cm bookcase into the 49.5cm gap so we don't go from one year to the next

When we first moved out we bought quite a lot of cheap furniture from there - a couple of sofas at less then £100 each, etc and last time we were in there they didn't seem to sell the really cheap-cheap stuff anymore

I dont think they sell the cheapest of stuff any more but I do love it and refuseto read the new catalogue online I want the real paper version on my knee with cup of tea and a cake .My favourite ever purchase is the huge dandelion light thing in my living room cannot remember its Swedish name

Oneofmyturns Yes thats them. I couldn't remember the name of them as they are sold here as they are in Denmark - Daim not Dime. Here in the US they stopped selling them and the chocolate so I will have to call our local store to find out if they are coming back. I was so upset that I went to find the manager to complain. I hope they don't stop selling the bread in a box.

I'm still worried that the Marabou ones have disappeared

Swedish crack

Supermum, I remember a few weeks ago, seeing on their website that Dime/Daim bars were coming back. I don't know if it was all stores though.

Ah yeah. The Marabou ones are yum

Recently we've bought stuff from them which has been pretty good - Billy bookcases, and a really nice chest of drawers with a mirror on top for DD2 whose name I cant remember (ha, the drawers, not DD2!!).

But I think their sofas are vvvv expensive - we needed one for our playroom, cheapest at IKEA was £200 and not very nice, and we found the perfect one at the local hospice shop for £80. Mix and match is my view...