To wonder if it's all crap?

[TheDamnedTruth]

Ikea furniture...

Is it really just crap?

Looking for baby furniture so it really needs to be absolutely solid.

good quality for what you're paying - look at other furniture for the price and you'll see. We have a still looks like new tallboy from about 20 years ago - the same money spent at MFI would have fallen apart within a year or so

Our two IKEA sofas are fab: utterly indestructible. But every single 'chester draws' I've bought from there has been total crap. Even the more solid sturdy ones seem to have cardboard as the drawer bases and they all fall apart after a year or two.
In the last couple of years we've chucked out 4 and replaced with a new or second hand solid wooden ones. I always search for dovetails now!

I think it's very functional and sturdy. Not like that old flimsy mfi stuff. If anyone remembers it. Collapsed if you looked at it sideways.

My dads a joiner and says flat pack is mostly fine it's just you need someone who knows how to put it together properly and with the correct fittings etc

I am still using units bought in the States 15 years ago and shipped back to the UK fully assembled, they are fine!

I regret the amount I spent on my matching oak furniture for the nursery tbh. Wish I'd gone to ikea and saved the money for the more important things.

And my expensive wooden high chair was quickly second best when my sister gave me her ikea one. Just so much more practical

I've always had lovely Ikea furniture. Some of their very cheap stuff isn't the sturdiest but most of it is very stable and lasts well.

I've got the stepladder and I use it a lot for reaching kitchen cupboards and for sitting on in the kitchen.

We have lots of Ikea stuff, Pax wardrobes, some 17 years old have survived being dismantled twice and reassembled and another house move where they were kept intact.

We have desks, wardrobes and storage units in both children's bedrooms. I will admit to having a whole 4m run of Pax wardrobes in the children's playroom which stores coats, shoes, a 32" tv, xbox, wii etc. The children dive, roll on, bounce sit on an Ikea sofa bed to game. All items are still in a good state despite 7 years of abuse.

Some items are solid wood, some are not. It depends on how much you want to spend. I mean my FIL still has a sideboard that he bought in 1982 (has the sticker on the back which we saw when we helped him move it) I wouldn't give it house room but it cost a lot of money as it is G-Plan so he keeps it despite it not matching anything else due to the age and style. Each to their own

My home is practically all IKEA, and the furniture has lasted quite sturdily for almost 5 years now. I would suggest paying for having it assembled if you can - I did, and have had absolutely no problems with anything.

One of our beds is Ikea. We got it from Ebay resale, mind. It's pretty solid.

The ikea changing table we bought last year seems to be pretty indestructible. Also the gulliver cot we got is brilliant (and top of their range mattress).

The stuff is easy to assemble if you do it properly. The stuff I've had assembled by men needed reassembling as bits were put on back to front. Really. They assume that it's a 'blue job' and fail to read the instructions.
A male pal invited me round to help me assemble his billy bookcase - he just watched bless his lazy cotton socks.

Oh and any other highchair ever is pointless. The Ikea one wins hands down.

Ikea ranges suit varying budgets. There are plenty of decent sold ranges. I have the white/off white Hennes range in my spare room and it's been brilliant; sturdy and good quality and still looks new and fresh 5 years after I bought it all.

*Hemnes

I love IKEA but you need to be realistic, some of it is utter tat.

The bad stuff is utter shite. Wobbly, stiff, uneven, bad paint finishes.

The good stuff is wonderful. Gorgeous looking, well made, withstands the 'rattle test' and still standing after over a decade.

We bought DS the Stokke cosleeper when he was born and HATED IT. We replaced it with the Gonatt cot when he moved into his own room and never looked back. It's incredibly sturdy and a really nice colour - has withstood a year of use with barely a scratch and DS is a bloody tank, bless him

Oh my god, when I think about the rattling that we used to have with the Stokke I get chills

Yes tivthe Ikea high chair. Easy to clean and no nasty corners for trapped mushed up toast soldiers and porridge to get stuck in.

The quality of their stuff has gone down hill recently. We've moved to a bigger house and were buying extra stuff and the new stuff is very poor compared to the older stuff.

Eg I already had a Hemnes chest of drawers from around 8 years ago which still looks like new. So we bought an identical one to go next to it so we'd have one huge sweep of drawers. Big mistake. The new one looked fine until it stood directly next to the old one. The wood is thinner, the finish is poorer and everything is just a tiny bit smaller now. I was very disappointe.

Everything we have had from Ikea has been excellent quality.

We bought the £30 cot from Ikea 5 years ago and it lasted through two babies and has just gone into the loft for any future babies. Honestly I was surprised that it lasted especially as one child like to bounce in the cot but it's still as sturdy as when we first put it together.

I love ikea furniture.
I bought DDs cabin bed from dreams it was £600+ inc mattress
I bought DS cabin bed from ikea at £250 cheaper!
Both beds have been dismantled and rebuilt following a housemove, the ikea bed is as solid as ever and I managed to get a replacement panel for free as a price got damaged in transit.
The dreams bed really needs replaced as the screws are as tight as we can get them yet the bed has been very wobbly and noisy since we moved.

Our lo's nursery is decked out in Ikea nursery furniture. It's great!!

STUVA cot is very very sturdy, and makes a lovely cot bed which will last years.

Hemnes is solid wood. We had a low chest of drawers and used that with a change mat on top as a changing unit (cot top changer with raised edges. Attached it to the unit with a strap so it wouldn't move)

Pax wardrobes are excellent for baby stuff because you can easily reconfigure them for different sized clothes as baby grows.

Love ikea stuff - some of it is cheap & cheerful - a lot of it is quality stuff.

The main problem we've found is stuff like Hemnes, even though mainly decent wood, has the plyboard-y drawer bottoms which inevitably collapse. Or maybe I just cram too much in drawers.