What do you think of IKEA?

I’m an IKEA fan too. It’s where I bought my cat.

I’ve only purchased some frames and a lamp there; but it’s so much fun to wander those aisles and look at all that stuff!

I can get lost in there for hours.

The maze-like layout and lack of windows can account for that, though. ;)

I love IKEA for the housewares.

We have some great curtains from there, containers and such. We also bought my nieces bed there.

I do think the quality is hit or miss (had a lamp fall apart a week after we bought it).

There’s a rumor one is opening near us (in Somerville).

putting together ikea furniture is one of the greatest pleasures. I make all my friends let me put theirs together too. LOVE IT.

my apartment in chicago was sponsored by IKEA (and guinness, but that’s another story).
i love it; and when you move, it breaks down like an all-star.

great stuff. (oh, and did i mention .75 coffee and $1 hot cinnamon rolls?!)

My inner engineer appreciates the care that goes into the wordless assembly instructions, the accuracy of the hole alignment and mating parts, the fact that all the pieces are present and accounted for… In other words, they’re great at putting themselves in the place of the guy who’s gonna get stuck doing the assembly and making that process as painless as possible. Many other companies fail miserably at this.

I found a minor error once in one of their plans and notified them. They were already on top of it and corrected the error.

I wish there was one close to where i live.

I love it. I wish there was one closer to me or at least more easily accessible. I eat there when we go, because it’s cheap, pretty yummy, and totally an important part of the experience.

Cheap scandinavian crap!
We have had em for years,it’s all crap poorly made crap.

@EmpressPixie have you had the apple pie thing? so good I used to eat there on my lunch break, and that was my favorite dessert, esp. with coffee.

but seriously, the cinnamon rolls are amazing.

Back on topic :P I like IKEA because of its simple, contemporary style. I am a big fan of the Modernist period where architecture was completely functional and utilitarian. When I’m designing a book or a website, I keep the framework simple and leave complexity to the content. A functional framework is the vehicle through which a reader or user navigates a design, and the simpler it is, the more easily it can communicate its message. The user won’t have to be so caught up in just navigating the project that they miss the message, breaking the communication.

Anyway, that is my long winded way of saying IKEA is awesome lol

I have a love/hate relationship with Ikea. Some of it is crap, and some of it I love. After my divorce, I bought just about all my new furniture at Ikea. Bed: uncomfortable and long gone. Desk: eh, it was alright. Bookcase: still in use, love the look but it is a bit wobbly. Kitchen chairs: looked great, broke quickly. Dresser: Love it, still in use. Kitchen table: Best deal of the bunch! Still using it and receive tons of compliments on it.

All that said, I still drool over the catalog, and would love to spend an entire day at the store :)

@eponymoushipster & @EmpressPixie: You are so right about the food – so good and so inexpensive! If I lived closer to the store, I swear I would go there everyday for breakfast! What a boon to many people in these hard economic times. You can get a whole and hearty breakfast for less than $2.00

Ikea is great for these things: cheap food, low priced furniture, doo dads, tea lights, lamps, most things under $100.

Ikea is bad for these things: any substantial furniture purchase you intend to hold onto for many years.

I’ve bought a fair deal of Ikea stuff, and my parents have as well. I can count on my hands the number of pieces we still have. It’s simply low quality merchandise. I bought a couch/bed (not a hideabed, but a bed that bent [mountain fold] one-third of the way to become a couch). We kept it in bed mode for most of the time, only putting it into couch mode rarely. But it still broke well within the year we bought it, first the couching mechanism, then the supporting slats started breaking. After I threw it out, I resolved to never purchase anything over $100 from that store. And that was a great decision for me. I bought a few lamps from them, 2 $20 ones and one $40 one, and those are not only gorgeous but very sturdy.

I love going there to look at the stuff. But I’ll never buy a large furniture piece from them again.

It is a great place for accessories, not something that regularly would need to be taken apart or put back together if you plan on moving. If you need to take it apart ever again to fit it in a car to move it is not worth the purchase. It never seems to go back a second time around. I have nick nacks, mirrors, curtains, pillows, candles from Ikea. I think their dishes are fun and cute but I don’t think I would purchase large amounts of furniture from them.

A friend of mine bought a bed frame from there and while it is lovely I have no idea how it is going to come apart or go back together the same.

I do agree I can spend hours in the aisles just perusing the merchandise. But I happen to love that modern eclectic style!

Are you blind?It’s all crap!

My wife and I bought an Ikea bed over 20 years ago. It has been disassembled and reassembled more times than I can count. I expect that we’ll get many more years use out of it. Crap? Guess I am blind.

I’ve had good luck with their furniture, lamps, linens, and housewares. Unfortunately, the nearest store is 3 hours roundtrip! So I usually incorporate a trip there if I’m running to Baltimore or DC.

Assembling IKEA furniture is one of my favorite things to do though! And their food is surprisely good and cheap.

Affordable mid-century-inspired European design? Love it.

Veneered MDF? Hate it.

When it’s hardwood though… good.

Exactly, PnT. In all of it’s categories of furniture Ikea has a range of qualities and prices. If you’re looking for a dining table, they’ll have everything from a super-cheap laminate thing to a sturdy solid wood piece. People shouldn’t expect a long life out of the cheaper versions, but at some point in most of our lives, we need cheap stuff that we won’t cry over if it gets trashed. Anyone with kids, dogs and cats knows what I mean.

I don’t know of any other place that would give you better quality for the same money. If you want the stuff to last, look at their higher priced pieces.

So…@leeds – you’re saying you don’t like their furniture?

I think I’m right. I’m good at reading between the lines. ~

I love the housewares and the food. And the free ferry from the city to Red Hook and back if you shop there. The lamps are cute. I have one piece of furniture from the store and it’s all right. I spent a good deal of money on it and it’s up to the job so far.

I have a love affair with that catalog every year.

Their housewares and kitchen equipment are a fair price for fair quality—it’s not a ridiculously good deal, but it’s about what you’d get at any housewares store.

Their furniture is all over the place. I’m not sure any of it is heirloom quality, but it ranges from moderately priced and rugged to cheap and disposable, and it’s pretty clear when you examine it in the store which end of that spectrum any given piece is on. And some of it is bizarre, which makes visiting the showroom very entertaining.

I’m a huge, huge IKEA fan. Not everything is a good deal, but it’s the best place to find stylish stuff at a good price.

I have a lot of furniture already because I’m old, but whenever I’m in there I want to get a new apartment, fill it with their stuff and begin a new life. Clean and witty.

I think their kitchen cabinets are great – at those prices, the only alternative is Home Depot, and except for their Shaker-imitiation style, those will look dated in another 3 years but last for 16, so that you will be depressed for a long long time.

I adore it. It’s always good value for money, and even though I bet you can buy better things in other places, you’d have to pay 10 times as much for something that is only slightly better. Plus some of the things at IKEA are so practical, simple smart ideas that work (as opposed to other cheap crap that doesn’t). And I love making things myself, and everything is portable, even in a normal car. Unfortunately there is no IKEA where I have my permanent base (a flat I own), and I move around too much to get more than the odd table or chair. But I love everything they have.

i just went to ikea for the first time last year, and it just fascinates me. they had a seahorse. light. instant life-long love and adoration.
i’ve only bought a few things there though. my room, unfortunately, simply will not fit the entire store in it. so i must limit myself to an incredibly soft pink blanket and a silly poster. oh, and a cup of coffee and a slice of some delicious fattening thing.