To not replace all my IKEA stuff

[Missmarple87]

Why are people so snooty about IKEA? My friend told me she was slowly replacing all of her IKEA home stuff because she didn't feel it was 'grown up' enough. This was in the context of me discussing a purchase - the only one I liked was IKEA.

Now my house is by no means 100% IKEA but a surprising amount of the furniture is (storage, shelving, kids beds, a desk etc). I actually really love the airy, scandi look and it works well in my home with my art and paint choices. If you choose wisely, it also lasts and doesn't NEED replacing so feels wasteful to do so.

Are you snooty about IKEA? Or do you love it? (Would love to see photos of IKEA stuff looking amazing if anyone is willing!)

Yanbu I love IKEA! In my experience people who think this way really lack imagination and knowledge on how to style and maintain furniture. They also are heavily influenced by the elitist social media community that are constantly trying to out do each other, like anyone has to live in their home other than them. I am doing my house up, a proper Reno and still will use some of my ikea stuff from where I was previously. Why wouldn't I want a tall chest of white drawers for example? But my algorithm on tik tok seems to know in doing up my house and there is a LOT of snootiness on there with people who are doing similar, showing off antiques and good taste is one thing but the comments on a lot of these videos are asking why people would dare to make a choice they don't agree with like paint colour on a wall etc and it'd silly.

My 4 bed detached house is full of Ikea pieces I bought for my first 1 bedroom flat 10 years ago. Back then I thought it was my starter furniture and I would replace it over time, but it's lasted so well considering, it just seems wasteful to replace it just for the sake of it for landfill!

IKEA is wonderful. Its great to buy cheap bookshelves and bookcases. Things like KALLAX are so useful and adaptable.
My Ikea stuff has lasted for many years.

Love it! Why would you change what you love? I am in my 70s and think IKEA is great, even though I could afford to buy more expensive stuff (not boasting, but it’s relevant). I’m a great believer that you should have what brings you happiness in your home, and to heck with anyone else!

Yes that's the thing. She knows i could afford to buy more expensive stuff but I'm choosing not too. I think the IKEA stuff blends in pretty well with the house and the overall mood is calm and serene, rather than fussy.

Also - so curious to know if there is any snobbery about IKEA in Sweden itself!

I've thought about this before! I suggested to my mum that she could get her new wardrobes from IKEA and she was really surprised at the recommendation. We've had IKEA furniture that has lasted years, but I do think it depends what you buy.

I like Ikea for certain things but in my opinion the quality of the furniture is pretty poor. I'm sure there are pieces from 25 years ago that are still going strong but the standards have slipped. Which certainly isn't an issue confined to Ikea. And I don't think that's me being snooty.

I agree, the more expensive stuff from IKEA is definitely higher quality (and just not that cheap, really). The really cheap stuff can be very flimsy. I have a sideboard which is about 20 years old (second hand for me) and it is unbelievably sturdy.

I love ikea. The cleanness & crispness of my all white office furniture and cheap as chips. I love the hemmes bedroom range.

I bought living room furniture second hand 25yrs ago and passed it on recently still in excellent condition.

I love IKEA and have loads. I had to donate a tall, solid wood bookcase from there when I moved and it was excellent quality - I was sorry to see it go.

I have fab lights, rugs, picture frames and kitchen stuff from there too, plus shoe and coat racks. Really cheap from everywhere is likely to be flimsy, not just IKEA; a friend of mine bought a ton of bedroom stuff from Wayfair which was absolute crap and more expensive.

I sort of know what she means...
When I was absolutely skint and furnishing my first flat, a lot of stuff was second hand or Ikea (or second hand Ikea). Its nice to look forward to a point where you can not be skint and not have to buy the cheapest all the time. Not having to buy Ikea is a sign of being financially safe/successful (what I would mean if I talked about being a "proper adult") and permanently settled somewhere. The sign/symbol of not being poor gets mixed up with the important bit (not being poor).

That said, now I have bought my flat most of my furniture is still Ikea. In fact most of it is the second hand Ikea stuff I bought 10 years ago that's still going strong.

I love IKEA but its poor quality, unoriginal, and ubiquitous.

What a strange way to spend money!

I can think of a lot of things I would be spending that on...

I think your friend's opinion is unusual and you can safely ignore!

Most of our furniture is IKEA and it's been going strong for +15 years, I have no issue with. I can understand wanting to replace the really cheap stuff but there are different levels at IKEA

Well, IKEA has different kinds of things from the super-cheap to better quality, so it does depend a bit. I wouldn’t want everything I own to be IKEA but I’m very happy with the things I do have.

I see that but it's all a bit mixed up. As someone already said, places like Wayfair are cheap, flimsy rubbish most of the time but somehow 'better' than IKEA. M&S/Next are often not too differently priced to higher end IKEA (and I often don't like the style). I like Cox and Cox, Graham & Greene and Tikamoon but not a full house worth as that looks equally overly 'styled' from one brand.

I don't think the quality is poor. Its certainly much better than other cheaper brands. We have a Malm chest of drawers and an ektorp sofa that are probably 8 or 9 years old and still look practically new. I worked in high ish end furniture retail for a long time so have a fair amount of experience, some of the more expensive brands are shockingly flimsy to be honest. People just like to look fancy.

I am not voting because I think it's a bit of both.

We are going to be replacing our (cheap) IKEA living room furniture soon, with solid wood stuff. But we also just bought some pine kids storage units for the kids there.

I think there are some real gems to be found in IKEA, especially storage items. MIL recently bought some bookshelves that immediately bowed under her books. Our coffee table hasn't survived our toddlers, it will go to the skip, but it lasted 5+ years.

I wish they had more solid pine stuff, I swear the used to!

I love their rugs and other textiles too.

I think years ago maybe like 10-15 years IKEA furniture was very samey and a bit cheap but their range has really expanded over the years and they do some really nice bits now.

We are sort of....

We have more money now. We don't have to go for the cheapest option. So we can look at more options IF we need something new. We aren't replacing stuff that works and is in good nick just for the fun of it.

I love Ikea. It blends well with all my junk shop furniture, nothing better than an Ikea outing, and I don’t like shopping as a rule!

IKEA makes good starter furniture, but it's great value and lasts. No one else nails functional storage nearly as well in that price bracket.

It is possible to overdo it and look like a display room, but if your decor and accessories are from elsewhere, that's quire easy to avoid.

I wouldn't replace it just because it was IKEA, but there are some things we've repurposed or sold on because life changed and we updated to something more specific to last. There were some Billy shelves that were about 20 years old and survived a house move and various room changes but got a bit wobbly to be worth selling on after redecorating.

Thinking about it, I have a massive prejudice against vinyl flooring/linoleum because I associate it with being really really skint and living somewhere terrible. people keep suggesting I get vinyl flooring in one room and I always react in horror. It probably does come across as snobby but its a (completely irrational) prejudice I have, and we are allowed to be prejudiced about what goes in our houses.

Yes, I agree completely its irrational. I think its the association though, and I can understand even though it doesn't really make much sense logically.