Ikea Furniture

[naomiatx86]

Well now I'm so glad I found my 2013 catalog this morning!!

Yea I had been looking at the 2012 catalog this whole time- haha

I love the Malm series but I think we might get the Brimnes series.

I'm so excited-thanks for all the replies & advice

 

[meg1620]

My IKEA bed lasted two years, until I moved and it broke in while moving it out of my bedroom. :-/ I love most of IKEA - but I'll be staying away from a lot of the furniture. (My tv stand has held up well).

 

[ammag]

I have never been able to keep the dresser bottoms from bowing down....right now my daughters he men's dresser is barely functional....I need to try and install l brackets to save it. It took maybe 2 years for it to sag this badly.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I'd say 95% of our house is Ikea.

We are getting ready to get furniture for the master bedroom from there. We are looking at the Oppdal (?) bed and a Pax wardrobe.
What I like most about Ikea is the stuff is not bulky. We had 2 sets of bunks from Raymour and Flannigan in the boys room (3 share one room) and they were so bulky they had no where to play even though we put the bunks L shaped.
Now they have 2 sets of mydal bunks, one of which we raised to make a loft bed. They are minimalistic so we were able to put them on opposing walls freeing up an enormous amount of floor space.
I agree with those that say Ikea isn't forever furniture but honestly no furniture is made to last forever anymore. Since we've been married (20 years) we've been through 5 couches and the Ikea Karlstad leather has lasted the longest. And it's still in fantastic shape.

Sent from my iPhone using DISboards

 

[pigletto]

I agree with others.. it really depends on the product. I think though you can get a good feel for it's durability just by looking at it. A big thick bookshelf is probably going to last much longer than the one with the press board back and held on by tiny finishing nails. I had the latter, moved it a few times and it fell apart.
That being said, we bought our son his desk with drawers there and are pleased with the quality and not worried about it being dinged and marked up because it wasn't super expensive. We'll pay more when he's older and a little more responsible.

 

[sherry7]

If you really shop at IKEA a lot, you will notice that they basically have three different quality levels.

The low end stuff is usually very trendy stuff that will last 1-2 years with regular use.

The mid level stuff is made better, with better materials, and can easily last 3-5 years.

Then you will find the solid wood furniture - not solid wood as in SOLID wood - but solid as in pieced wood that isn't particle board/OSB........................

Ditto on the above.

We have a bunch of the solid pine Trofast pieces in DD's bedroom. She's only 3 now, and I fully expect it will last through college, and then see use as storage in the basement or garage. Here's a pic of the setup we had when she was an infant, but we've expanded it now. We also have the shelves that can slide into the same grooves as the plastic bins, so it can be changed around. The bins come in several different sizes/colors. This is very durable. She climbs on it frequently, and I've sat on it on many occasions. The Trofast also comes in a white particleboard option, but that didn't look nearly as sturdy, and the price difference wasn't much.

In her playroom, we have some of the Expedit pieces. We have this one on the largest wall (bolted to the wall of course for safety), and some smaller Expedit pieces as well. The Expedit pieces are made out of a pressed particle board, but it seems quite durable.

We also have a Poang chair and footstool, which is super comfortable and durable. Ours has the leather upholstery which still looks new after 3 years. They sell them with canvas upholstery too, which is much less expensive, and can easily be changed to a new color.

 

[Sinderelly]

We also have a 95% Ikea home. We put alot of Ikea into our home (we built it) even before we moved in lol. We have:
cabinets
granite countertops
all kitchen appliances
bathroom vanities
light fixtures
Pax wardrobes in the master closet
and every piece of furniture in our home except 2 recliners:
Malm dressers and queen bed for guest rm
a Malm dresser, white leather king bed and nightstands for the master BR
Billy bookcase
Hemnes entertainment center for the basement media room
Ektorp loveseat and chair
end tables
dining table, nook table and all dining chairs
barstools
Besta cabinets in the LR
Mirrors
candles
pots and pans
rugs
sheets and towels, duvet sets, throw pillows
baskets
dishtowels and potholders
vases
picture frames

Our house is modern/contemporary and it was easy to decorate with the Ikea stuff. We are VERY happy with everything EXCEPT the appliances. LOL run!
Our fav is the kitchen cabinets. They absolutely rock!

 

[Sagginit]

We're another Ikea family. My husband was joking this morning that if we move most of our furniture is bolted to the wall- we love the Besta units.

ikea confession along this line.... my largest dresser that i built in my bedroom cannot go down the stairs of my apt building. when i move i will have to take the body apart. i realized this after i had it in my room and built, but i would not have been able to get a dresser in that size in my bedroom if i had not built it and i love the organization i get with that piece. i did not bolt my dressers to the wall. my brother and SIL had never bolted their dressers down and were fine. i just know to only open one drawer at a time to prevent it from tipping.

i think a good way to judge the quality is to look at the displays there carefully. look at how they have worn being touched/played with on a daily basis.

 

[stargazer2892]

Our Malm bed is about 4 years old now and is holding up pretty well, we have no complaints. My parents bought the ekortorp (SP????) love seat and chair's almost 10 years ago and they have held up better then I thought they would. We just bought a Lack coffee table and a EXPEDIT bookcase we are using as an entertainment center and both of them are much sturdier then both DH and I thought they would be. The thing about Ikea is the cheap stuff is REALLY cheap, but the more expensive stuff tends to hold up pretty well. To me it's the little "oh its only 1.99" stuff is the crap that breaks a week later.

 

[pixie921]

We have a TON of Ikea furniture in our home. As many other posters have said, the real wood stuff is awesome. We also have quite a bit of laminate -- several Expedit cubes, and a coffee table. The cubes are great, but I just noticed last week that the laminate is peeling off the corner of one leg of our coffee table. It's only a year old, so I was really bummed, but fortunately, the thing was really cheap and that makes it hurt a bit less.

I'm thinking of going up to our Ikea and hitting the clearance section to see if I can find a leg or two for replacements. They have tons of pieces and parts at deep discounts so hopefully we'll get lucky and find what we need.

 

[E&Cmom]

With the exception of our kids room, the living room and dining room the rest of our house is Ikea and we have been happy with it. DH bought our bed around 2 or 3 years before we got married. We bought the rest of the set when I moved in. We have been coming up to 12 year of marriage and the bed and the rest of the set have held up well. We just replaced our Ikea couch in the family room last year after 12 years. Structurely it was fine just wear and tear after kids and cats. We replaced it with another Ikea couch.

 

[Crystal824]

Our DD's bedroom set is from Ikea. We have had it about a year now and it has held up really well. I will say, her bed is not as comfortable as mine, but it works.

 

[talulabelle]

We had some IKEA furniture from when we were first married, (18 years ago) and back then it was junk. I stayed away from the place for years - recently bought some book shelves there and they were awesome - so we have been buying more and more there and just got the Hemnes furniture for my sons room and could not be happier. (we don't have beds however). I can't imagine paying more anywhere else for dressers. These are GREAT!

 

[kayemgi]

Our dining table is IKEA, I've had that for about 7 years and it's going strong. I have a sofa table that is about 6 years old, a tv stand that is 4 years old, and Billy bookcases that I've forgotten how old they are! All have held up great. I think there are things at IKEA that are not worth buying, but if you go to the store and look at floor models, you can usually tell what's quality and what isn't. I think the bed frames are generally pretty nice. Good luck!