I have some freak brain (and IKEA experience) which usually let's me do IKEA pretty well. What was it that happened in your case? I'm curious what brought you to that point.
Maybe they moved? In my experience, IKEA furniture that isn't solid wood (more and more of it is heading that direction to their credit) tends to not make it more than 1 move.
I just got done (mostly) reassembling a wardrobe. It's a bit more wobbly around the edges. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't put the shelves back in the exact spots (wasn't thinking and didn't label them during disassembly) or if it's something else, but once we decide it's not good enough for the room upstairs where it now lives, it's getting put in the dumpster.
I tend to assume that IKEA furniture shouldn't be actually taken apart once put together, and so far that's worked out fine for us. There are some pieces that are obviously repeatable (table legs screwed into metal mounting brackets) but with a lot of the steps you can feel as you're doing it the first time that it's not going to work well if you have to undo it.
True. Adding a few 2" screws (into pilot holes) makes an enormous difference to the rigidity of their (e.g.) wardrobes and kitchen units. Even on first assembly, but especially if you have to take apart and rebuild.
IIRC when we wanted to move one of the pretty large IKEA dressers that had to be at least partially disassembled to fit through the door there was no non-destructive way to dismantle it. And that was not about trivial things like the back panel being nailed, but about fasteners of the actual structural parts being inaccessible once you put the whole thing together. One would think that going through the assembly steps in reverse should work, but for some reason it did not. I ended up breaking few structural braces (~18x48mm pieces of fiberboard) at the back of the thing to take it apart and replacing that with wooden beams of the same size.
This "trend" of furniture being made of composite materials makes no sense to me. They're obviously so much weaker. I've had nightstands that sway like a tree in the summer breeze. Furniture today though doesn't feel much cheaper. Even the "luxury" brands these days, who charge big bucks, sneak in composite.
>This "trend" of furniture being made of composite materials makes no sense to me.
Solid wood is expensive, in a lot of the world.
And for furniture, you can't do a good job with cheap wood - if it twists or bows the doors won't close right, or the drawer will be tight. Need a hole in a particular position, but there's a knot? You're going to have a bad time. Wood with loads of knots doesn't look great. And of course, some types of wood cost a lot more than others.
Chipboard with veneer, though? It's super cheap. You can have any colour you like. It machines consistently, with no knots or checks like that. The response to temperature and humidity is even and consistent. If you need more strength, you can just order thicker boards. Sure, you can't leave it outside in the rain - but so what?
The main downside to flat pack furniture is a lot of people don't manage to assemble it right. A nightstand will end up in an awful state if the person who assembled it forgot to nail the back on properly, or used a short screw where a long screw was called for, or put a part in the wrong way around.
It depends, a lot of composite materials are actually stronger than just solid wood, while being lighter and easier to move. Sometimes there are too many shortcuts though.
Wood veneer over cheaper materials has been common for over a century at this point though.
It does make the furniture much lighter and therefore easier to move. I once had to move a plywood dresser and it was an experience i'd rather not repeat. Light furniture on the other hand is a pleasure to work with.
It was actually an order issue. I had ordered a child’s loft bed for pickup and went to go pickup when I got the email to tell me to do so. When I showed up they said they didn’t have it because they sold it. Apparently just because you order something for pickup doesn’t mean they can’t sell it off the floor.
I bought a bed that when built according to instructions would end up broken. I tried to blame my son, then I dug in on the details. Absolute garbage. Through it in the box,sort of, hauled it back in and demanded my money back. While I was waiting in line I was staring at signs exclaiming the policy about no refunds. Dude saw the look on my face and didn't say one word, just gave me money back. I ordered a replacement from Amazon made out of steel.
For the curious I did actually end up using very similar materials to ikea themselves. Pine for wood and melamine particle board. It cost me twice as much and took me 2 days to cut and assemble. Worth it.
Some IKEA furniture is great, some of it is terrible. 10-15 years ago, it was where you'd go when you needed a great-looking nightstand or coffee table for a fair price and didn't overly care how long it would last. These days, you can expect to pay a premium for the "IKEA aesthetic" and shopping experience.
Personally, the main thing I can't stand is that you have only limited ability to "choose your own adventure" and just go straight to the thing you're there to buy. I don't want to spend 25 minutes wandering through their corporate-curated displays to get to the kitchen faucets.
I think they still have a good price on AA NiMH batteries, though.
Edit: I am speaking to the US stores, I have no idea what IKEA is like closer to their homeland.
>Personally, the main thing I can't stand is that you have only limited ability to "choose your own adventure" and just go straight to the thing you're there to buy.
Sure you can, just go down to the basement area where you pick up all the boxes anyway. You only need to browse if you don't know what you want.
