To think IKEA isn't cheap/good value

[hadenough]

I've just returned from a shop at Ikea. I should start by saying I've never been its biggest fan, but went to buy stuff for my new kitchen.

We went through the whole maze from start to finish, and there was virtually nothing I'd buy if I'd had the money/been furnishing my whole home. Yes you can buy the odd cheap thing, but it's either quite ugly or clearly not built to last. Indeed, when I think of IKEA I think of rogue landlords speeding around the place buying the cheapest tat they can find.

I moved house in the Spring, and have actually found buying online to be far cheaper - it takes a while to find things, but it's on the whole less stressful than trailing around IKEA and I've found expensive looking fashionable furniture for waaaay less.

In the end I spent €300 (live in Europe) and felt a bit cheated when I went to pay.

Did I miss something (it was definitely rammed with people, so perhaps?)

Totally, completely disagree.

I really want to go to Ikea tomorrow for some meatballs after reading this post. The doughnuts at the end are lovely too.

And the Daim cheesecake

We have loads of Ikea items in our house. Som of it has lasted years and many house moves, some came and went, some was too cheap to be true. There is nowhere else comes close for storage - we've looked. It's a lazy jibe to say it's all cheap flat pack. They have a business model and target market - you can take it or leave it.

I've seen some terrible put together ikea furniture.

My friends had a fisher price little people garage they'd put together and the cars got stuck because it had been put together wrong. They can't manage lego kits either so I really don't know how they expected to put cupboards and beds together properly.

I think you need to look at the instructions and have the right tools.

I love my IKEA furniture.

Wish they'd bring back the chocolate honeycomb spread.

I hate the way they make you go through the maze
And nearly divorced ex DP over a kitchen
However I have 3 storage units and 2 chests of drawers which refuse to die after 20+ years
DS has recently refitted his bedroom with IKEA modular units
I’m on the fence

Not a huge fan of their furniture, but it's good for homewares on a budget - huge wine glasses for only £1 each, lightweight summer synthetic duvets for £3.50, mugs, rugs, lamps, all sorts of essential basic home stuff that is actually quite nice and great value.

Okay, I've read everything and I see from the responses that I have perhaps been unreasonable.

I'm 10 minutes from IKEA, so if my purchases today work out, no doubt I'll be back, and I promise I'll look at it a different way.

I liked the meatballs and coffee too!

I have an Ekeskog sofa that is still going strong and hands down the most comfortable sofa we have. I have another sofa -new -from Mext which is also very nice, but is not as good as the Ekeskog.

I ordered some new covers on eBay for less than £200 and they are also fav.

That said, I have Hemnes drawers in spare bedroom -looking forward to replacing those...with a Pax wardrobe!

Apologies for the typos above....I need reading glasses!

Billy, poang, malm have all done me great service. Most of it is near to 20 years old now. I had an Ikea sofa that I didn't think was good value but then I'm not too impressed with the successor which came from a fancy shop and cost a hell if a lot more.

It is cheap - apparently it lasts a long time. It looks rubbish, though.

It's not supposed to be the absolute cheapest, but cheaper than comparable design and quality. And I think they manage that. Incidentally, I saw a KALLAX knock-off in a local shop this weekend. But it was wobbly and rickety and looked like the veneer was about to peel off. Not the same as the real thing.

We went through the whole maze from start to finish, and there was virtually nothing I'd buy

I don't like the shops - I fnd it hard to find things we want.

On-line though is good you can see the products better IMO - though its then getting them delivered or finding them in store which is the issue.

Most of the stuff from IKEA lasts forever. I buy most of my Kitchen pots and pans from them. Not the 'going to uni' range, the more expensive one. I inherited a stainless steel stock pot and saucepan from mum which is now 25 years old and it looks brand new.

I was never a fan either, but I love our Poang chairs and footstools. They are really comfortable and easy to move. Altogether we have six in different rooms, and they are great for sitting reading.

I love IKEA. DH and I have moved around Europe more than I would have liked and I love the fact that IKEA is an instant cure for culture shock because it's the same everywhere (bedding excepted - they would be doing us all a massive favour of they had just stuck with their standard sizes rather than adapting to every local standard, so our Belgian and Swiss pillowcases get on with our British pillows, but we couldn't find British sheets for the Swiss mattress, and the kids' German stuff doesn't fit anything else) and the stuff that we've bought has mostly lasted well. They don't take all that well to disassembly and reassembly, we have some Malm drawers that are wobbly now, but I don't think they were designed to be taken apart that many times. We've got one that was moved... 6 times, before we chucked it out.

We have a couple of bits in the house that aren't IKEA but it's literally like four things. Lots of tables, three of which were in houses when we bought them, and then one big nice oak table that was down, in Heals, and a nice armchair from John Lewis, and then the IVF worked and that was the end of our brief flirtation with posh furniture

They had an offer on recently where anything you spent in the restaurant you could take the cost off of your next purchase. We were planning to buy new wardrobes anyway so went there with the intention of eating like kings, seeing as it was effectively free. It's really hard to spend much money in the restaurant, it's so damn cheap 😂

I actually think the solid wood more expensive bits of furniture are very good and good value. It's just the particle board crap I hate.
Wait..those of you saying you have moved Billy bookcases lots of times-did you take them apart to do this?? Is that what you're supposed to do?
I truly couldn't be arsed to disassemble all my furniture every time I moved! I take apart my bed and thats it.

We have a massive unit on one wall of our lounge. We bought it in 2000 it is about 12 foot long and was made up of the kallex range. It is a mix of bookcases and drawers with display sections for ornaments. It is brilliant because we designed it for us and our stuff. It still looks really good 18 years later. It came in about 26 boxes and took the whole of a bank holiday weekend to assemble.

I wish they’d bring back the freestanding Varde kitchen.

I’ve used it in 3 houses. I’ve painted it, added extra doors, different handles, worktops etc... looked like a handmade kitchen.

Annoyingly, I still see pictures of it crop up in house mags when they have articles about freestanding kitchens.

You went to ikea, hated everything about it, but still spent €300?!