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?)

Yup I agree we spent £370 on a dining table last week and it's not that great.

25 year old coloured beakers still used every day. Go Ikea!

@CountrySmile You can’t beat the meatballs!

bingewatcher you should've got one from M&S a couple weeks ago in their sale. We got a Padstow one with grey legs, less than £280 (now back at full price) and it's gorgeous. I'm glad I bought the one I did because the day after it was delivered for free and put together by the delivery guys and all packaging taken away too I nipped to Ikea and saw the one I was going to buy for about £350. It wasn't nearly the quality of our new one. So despite me saying above that I love ikea, in this instance I would have been disappointed.

@ScreamingValenta it's a bit high as a sofa if you have the mattresses stacked but if you're able to put one behind it then it's a good hight.

We had it in the L if our living room with a book case to make a reading corner then we moved house and dd has it as her bed, choosing that over the painted oak bed she previously had. I have to agree the day bed is comfier. Her old bed is now at my parent's house.

Am conflicted, like others here - I do happen to have a lovely chest of drawers I bought in their Remnants Section for next to nothing. I also really like their sofas (cheap AND comfortable). But now I have some core basics, I rarely shop there. Their textiles are often very strange designs - rugs, etc. Also their stuff does look cheap sometimes. My son's bedroom is all IKEA, and it does look clean and smart - but a bit characterless and charmless - sometimes it looks like an office! IKEA always add loads of personal things in their website photos and instore to get round this - cushions and pictures on the wall in their photos etc - but most people would feel totally overcluttered and cramped with all these additions. If you can afford it, it would be nicer to have good furniture to begin with though I've never been able to afford it myself

Plus, I think close up, their stuff doesn't look as good as in their beautifully designer-designed photos!

With their big loft windows and spaces - not like many UK flats.

Well it is cheap, but I think in most cases it looks it. So you get what you pay for.

I don't like Ikea furniture for the living areas or bedrooms, but I do think it's really really useful for things such as glasses/mugs for every day use, bins, bedsheets, extensions and light bulbs, storage boxes, other small items. We go on a twice yearly pilgrimage for these kind of things and always enjoy the cafe too!

I've heard their kitchens are very well made. Just waiting for them to update their range as none of them are grabbing me at the moment.

The blue oval cheese grater with lid is the best thing in the world(slight exaggeration ). Had it about 20 yrs.

kk.org/cooltools/ikea-chosigt-cheese-grater/

We've kitted ds2's bedroom out with brimnes double bed (massive drawers and half the price of the John Lewis equivalent, which had terrible reviews) pax wardrobes and a 15 year old chest of drawers which was ours in our last house. We have loads of aging levsvik and, with autistic kids, have really appreciated the massive, lockable TV cabinet, back from the days when a 28" TV was the size of a small car.

Thank you @m0therofdragons - that's useful to hear.

@ScreamingValenta I should add that I'm 5'4" with short legs so that may not be an issue if you're tall.

Sadly no - 5' 3, also with short legs! But it would be easy to slot the second mattress behind it, as I'd be putting it by the wall and there's plenty of space in from.

In front, that should say.

Countrysmile officelike is the right description for it, I called it industrial looking upthread, it is quite characterless,, though I do love our new Pax wardrobe, it is in the box room so I don’t have to actually look at it. We have M&S furniture, bought in the sale and JL Ercol downstairs.

We have the hemnes range for our bedroom and I love it, very solid and similar to more expensive pieces

My favourite bit of furniture I own is a Laura Ashley sideboard we picked up for £150 from a second hand place. Looked it up on the LA website and was selling new for 950 did go down to 550 in the sale but still. the quality is amazing but I will never have the money to just buy what I want so ikea it is most of the time

Clearly you missed the spiced biscuits and lingonberry jam. Worth the trip for that alone!

If you were looking for high quality, why did you go to Ikea?! Better off looking at second hand heirlooom type stuff. Takes more time though...

Yeah YABU.
8 or 9 years ago, I didn’t quite get it,
Then I got my hemnes bedroom set, I think it set us back about £600 if that....8 years later and it still looks as good as when I bought it.
I’ve never had furniture last as well.

DDs bedroom stuff from ikea has always done well, infact DH sold her old bed, when it was all collected he told me he sold it for more than we bought it for 5 years before.
It all wears well and I always try IKEA for stuff first.

That being said some bits can be fairly expensive for what they are.

I admit, I don't have more than a few small kitchen things and some plates at home, because the style doesn't go with the rest of my house... but we have put in a load of Kallax as display units at work, at a college library. They've taken a lot of knocking into/over, and still look perfect. We've just put in some desks, which seem much sturdier than the ones we get for twice the price from specialist suppliers.

The older stuff (1990's) was better quality, furniture and linens. The bedding is pretty rubbish now compared to then, still have some of the good cotton bedding but the newer stuff has all gone after a couple of years. The towels have gone crappy too, used to like their towels.

'Chuck out your chintz' was the best time for IKEA quality. I find the new stuff is ugly and tacky looking but there are a few little things like the sock octopus which could be improved by being able to hang it with the tentacles against the body instead of sticking out, and the hideous green apple corer which are useful, and the apple corer doesn't break apart and slice you fingers off like the ones on Ebay.

I love the Grundtal ? stainless steel shelves. i have them in my kitchen for pots and pans and in my bathroom as a towel shelf/