Calling all Ikea experts! (or Ikea beginners...)

[MyGoofy26]

Love Ikea! So much fun to walk around and see how they set up different rooms. And yep, downstairs is my downfall, LOL!

Pittsburgh is the closest to us since we're just outside of Pittsburgh. If you plan on doing major shopping, I think you could spend a good chunk of the day browsing and browsing again, making sure you have what you need, debating between styles, etc. If you're just going with a general idea of things you want and don't necessarily need, then a few hours tops. If you're going on the weekend, it'll take a little longer since it tends to get very busy. Mid-week, you can move more freely through the building and get through it quicker.

Robinson can be more than a little confusing to navigate if you haven't been there before. But there is a ton of stuff crammed into a relatively small area. So you may want to check online and get an idea of what else is around there that you may want to hit.

http://www.robinsontowncentre.com/
http://www.shoprobinsonmall.com/

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Hey, I've done the "better quality" thing. My living room sofa set is from Crate&Barrel and I paid 3 1/2 times as much for it as I did my family room set from IKEA. I thought when I bought it several years back that I'd keep it "forever" since all I had to do was change the slipcovers if I changed my decor (which was a big selling point on their part). But guess what? We've changed the room in a significant way and it no longer works there. I was going to just live with it but replacing the pretty worn slipcovers would cost $2800 - even during their Custom Sales Event in October. (And some of the pillows haven't held up well and would probably also need to be replaced too.) If I go that route it will be a $7K+ total investment in a set that no longer works in that room. Heck, I can get a whole new decent quality set from IKEA for a fraction of that price.

Point being that styles change, one little thing can make a set "not work" anymore, people move, etc. We've lived in this house for 19 years and believe it or not in that time we've bought 5 sofa sets between our family and living rooms. Only one was fairly cheap (when we first bought the house and needed something to put in the empty room, LOL) but the rest have been good quality. Since I've changed them so often, I've learned it doesn't pay (for me) to go the expensive route. I have a nice leather set picked out from IKEA for our living room (which I wish I could afford right now). I'm kicking myself because on two separate trips I've seen each piece in the markdown section with a problem with a leg which you couldn't even see.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30051615

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00051607

Check out the furniture section on Craigslist to see how often people change their minds about their furniture - and resale value on furniture is pretty much in the toilet.

 

[SandraVB79]

Something else I though about: I like the setup of the showroom: it's divided in small rooms that have realistic measurements. Many furniture store display their furniture in huge settings. Right, as if everyone has a huge bedroom, living room, whatever.
At Ikea, they show you how you can set up a small place. It gives very realistic views and it helps seeing the true sizes of the furnitures (a huge couch may seem rather small if it's in a huge open showroom. If you put it in a smaller room, it will show it's true measurements)

 

[tedhowe]

My Ikea experience. I've posted this before, but I think it bears repeating for the Ikea "newbies".

My comments are limited to Ikea furniture.

In my opinion there are 4 kinds of furniture you can get at Ikea.

1. Inexpensive and poorly made.
2. Inexpensive and well made.
3. (Relatively) Expensive and well made.
4. (Relatively) Expensive and poorly made.

As do many furniture retailers, Ikea carries all 4 kinds of furniture.

The key to getting value shopping at Ikea is to focus on category #2. Category 3 is okay if it is the furniture for you - it's certainly not any worse in overpricing than any other furniture retailer I'm familiar with.

In general, I do not like Ikea's upholstered furniture (chairs, sofas, loveseats, etc). But when it comes to case pieces and tables and chairs, we have been very fortunate to find very good, quality furniture at Ikea that fits our decor at a reasonable price.

As with any furniture store, if you can at all afford it, avoid the particle board stuff. After 13+ years of marriage, we've finally banished the last of our Sauder and Bush furniture to the seldom used spare bedroom, but some it did serve us well, even if it wasn't the prettiest stuff it was functional.

But at Ikea, you can find some lines of furniture that are solid wood, pre-finished and quite stylish. Yes, you have to put it together yourself, but once that's done, it's good furnitire.

When we moved from our townhouse to our current (single family) home, we had to get new furniture - we ended up using Ikea for much of it:

Kitchen table and chairs
Dining Table and chairs
Bookcases
TV Stand
Bar
Bed and two dressers

All of this is solid wood - most of it was pre-finished (a finish that has held up very well for 4 years in a home with two small children)

I could not be more pleased with the purchases.

But you do have to be critical about the contruction when you are evaluating the furniture - if it seems too cheap, make sure its not particle board. If it is particle board, be realistic and be sure you are not overspending.

Ted

 

[miss missy]

Just make sure you butter up DH for all he has to put together when you get home! Mine HATES Ikea because he thinks its all junk and would rather pay the price for "good" stuff. But I am good with Ikea stuff, so I make him do it LOL. This week was a bedside table... a million pieces Oh how he hates that place!

 

[Barb D]

Just make sure you butter up DH for all he has to put together when you get home! Mine HATES Ikea because he thinks its all junk and would rather pay the price for "good" stuff. But I am good with Ikea stuff, so I make him do it LOL. This week was a bedside table... a million pieces Oh how he hates that place!

My DH doesn't help with furniture. I put it together myself (sometimes with help from one of the teens.) I don't know how you "make" your DH do it. Mine just won't.

 

[Mono~rail]

I just wanted to add that there's even a blog about recreating using IKEA stuff: http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/ whoa lol

Wow! I looked around and those people have done some cool stuff. Thanks for the link! I'll have to submit my kitchen/family room once it is done.

You always have the best sites.

 

[ZPT1022]

Problems that we have already encountered with Ikea textile (not saying every single product has it!):
- cotton textile (bed sheets, curtains, etc): They are starched, so the displayed items at the store look well, and the first time you use them at home, they look fine. And then they get washed. They are woven very loosely (not a high threda count) and without the starch, it's like a rag.
- Curtains that are premade: When you buy material and you make them at home, you make sure they are "straight"; it's cut straight, sewn straight, ... The ones you buy at Ikea are not straight at all. My mom once had to shorten some curtains for someone, it was nearly impossible to do a good job because of this. Btw, if curtains are not straight, they will never "fall" nicely, they will always "pull" one way or another.
- Towels: they don't fall apart soon, but they are often not woven straight. I embroider (machine) on towels, and it's hard to get them framed because of this.
There are different qualities in their towels however. In our store, the cheapest ones (they are so cheap I can only wonder if they are made through child slavery) look even worse than rags when they are new.
The nicest quality looks very nice, but are expensive, and then I prefer to spend the same amount of money on "brand name" towels.

Also, the ones sold in the US can be completely different as over here. As a matter of fact, tonight or so, I'll see if they have a US website, and browse through it. Who knows, maybe the whole collection is different!
(i browsed through the website from France and The Netherlands, some items are considerably cheaper over there, so i'm going to drive there and buy them there.)

(can you tell I'm from a family where we work a lot with textile?)

you crack me up! I was just saying that it's funny you've had so much bad luck with their textiles and yet their towels are one of my favorite things there. I made myself crazy looking for huge thick towels, I looked at all the fancy bed & bath places, macy's, target, walmart, I looked everywhere. I was surprised that we found what we were looking for at IKEA and lucky for us they've held up well.

I think these are what we have , only the bath sheet size, and in white:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90067091

 

[helloirishkitty]

If you're looking for places to eat, I suggest Bahama Breeze. Great "Tropical" atmosphere for cold and dreary days (Ropa Joe Sandwhich is FANTASTIC!!). I also recommend the Robinson Clubhouse (http://www.robinsonclubhouse.com/). I call it "Chuck-E-Cheese for adults". It's basic food, but good.

Thanks for the advice! Bahama Breeze sounds great!

Just make sure you butter up DH for all he has to put together when you get home! Mine HATES Ikea because he thinks its all junk and would rather pay the price for "good" stuff. But I am good with Ikea stuff, so I make him do it LOL. This week was a bedside table... a million pieces Oh how he hates that place!

Oh DF is prepared! He's not really the "putting things together" type so I'm sure after this weekend he will not be looking forward to me going to IKEA ever again...

 

[Green Tea]

Thank you for the information on the cabinetry.

Are these sold as flat boxes that would need to be assembled and hung or as cabinets in boxes that just need to be installed?

 

[SandraVB79]

Thank you for the information on the cabinetry.

Are these sold as flat boxes that would need to be assembled and hung or as cabinets in boxes that just need to be installed?

Over here it were all flat boxes. You do get a DVD however that shows you how to assemble it, not the little flyers you get to assemble book cases and the like. I wasn't there when they assembled the kitchen, but my dad said afterwards that this shouldn't be your first assembling project.
Btw, the DVD could be returned, and then you got some money back. Good recycling idea, who needs that after the kitchen has been installed anyways?

Ikea over here offers a service where they assemble/ install the kitchen for you.
Have you already installed the software where you can model your kitchen in 3D? My brother found that very helpful, and I did it to model the bedroom. It can be downloaded from their site. You put lots of parameters in, like how big is the room, where is electricity and the like, where are doors/ windows, and then you drag and drop the cabinets and all the accessories. In the end, you can print a list of all the different items you need to order, and you get the price of the whole thing.

 

[Green Tea]

Over here it were all flat boxes. You do get a DVD however that shows you how to assemble it, not the little flyers you get to assemble book cases and the like. I wasn't there when they assembled the kitchen, but my dad said afterwards that this shouldn't be your first assembling project.
Btw, the DVD could be returned, and then you got some money back. Good recycling idea, who needs that after the kitchen has been installed anyways?

Ikea over here offers a service where they assemble/ install the kitchen for you.
Have you already installed the software where you can model your kitchen in 3D? My brother found that very helpful, and I did it to model the bedroom. It can be downloaded from their site. You put lots of parameters in, like how big is the room, where is electricity and the like, where are doors/ windows, and then you drag and drop the cabinets and all the accessories. In the end, you can print a list of all the different items you need to order, and you get the price of the whole thing.

Thank you for the information!! I assumed we'd go in with measurements, their little piece of paper and tiny pencil and figure it all out. Not sure when we ill do this, but this is great information and will go design my new kitchen right now!

 

[PaulaSB12]

Well call my house a dorm room, then, because lots of my furniture is from Ikea. Sure, I'd love Ethan Allen but I don't have that kind of budget.

I have tons of Ikea bookcases, a desk, my coffee table, wardrobes...

You could spend a lot more than a couple of hours, depending on whether you want to browse or if you know specifically what you're looking for.

I really like their Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria.

I agree all my bedroom furniture is Ikea, the only problem I have is the easy slide drawers unfortunatly Tippy tail the cleptomanic moggy can hunt all sorts of underwear from them . What are the american stores like to get round? the uk ones are easy to get lost in.

 

[SandraVB79]

Thank you for the information!! I assumed we'd go in with measurements, their little piece of paper and tiny pencil and figure it all out. Not sure when we ill do this, but this is great information and will go design my new kitchen right now!

Out of our experience:
For about everything they seel at Ikea, you go in, see what you want, write down what pieces you need for it, go to the "warehouse" part of the store an dgrab it.
This isn't so for kitchens. Best thing is to be well prepared (their kitchen catalog explains what to do): Measure everything up, play around with the cut-out kitchen cabinets, plan in the pc planner, print the whole she-bang and bring it to the store.
There, we had to make an appointment. Yes, an appointment, and they are limited per day. You better be there early. Someone of their staff will go over it with you (the better you are prepared, the smoother the process). They want to make sure you thought about everything, didn't forget anything. Then they give in the order and set up arrangements for pick up/ delivery, installation if needed, whatever.

Check to see how it works in the US, but I'd think it's a global procedure.

 

[Green Tea]

I hope they will make appointments via phone. I am about 3.5 hours away from the nearest store. I will go for appointment and order, and return for pick up, but golly, I don't want to drive up and find out they won't see me!

I have kids heading off to college in the fall though. The kitchen should be the last thing I am considering!! But gosh, a new kitchen sure might help heal the empty nest feeling.

 

[SandraVB79]

Their kitchens look good and aren't expensive, there you have an excuse

We have 3 Ikeas within 30 minutes drive, and another one that is about 45 minutes away, so or us it's not too bad.
We even check out price differences in The Netherlands and France, and if it's a decent price difference, will go there to buy it

 

[helloirishkitty]

We have 3 Ikeas within 30 minutes drive, and another one that is about 45 minutes away, so or us it's not too bad.

I'm so jealous! That is my dream scenario...

 

[Cindy B]

Their kitchens look good and aren't expensive, there you have an excuse

We have 3 Ikeas within 30 minutes drive, and another one that is about 45 minutes away, so or us it's not too bad.
We even check out price differences in The Netherlands and France, and if it's a decent price difference, will go there to buy it

I have two about 30-45 minutes away.

I'm glad to hear about the kitchen cabinetry. It sounds like your family has high standards of quality (per your textile comments) and your comments on the cabinetry really helped me decide on what to do.

Thats interesting about the DVD. I'm not sure what they do here in the States.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I'm just cheap and easy to please.

And exactly where IS the Tag Fairy??

 

[arabesque]

I also love Ikea in fact we have been buying there since living in Germany in 1980, we still have the kitchen table we bought 26 years ago. Can anyone tell me if theres an Ikea near Orlando or Sarasota?