Planning my first trip to IKEA

[Imzadi]

It also can be useful to head straight for the cafe and go in backward if the stuff you want is near that side. Probably 8 out of 10 visits I make are to the lower floor only; you can do that by going through the doors under the entrance escalator.

Yes, once I found out about the Swedish meatball sundaes and learned that the restaurants are usually near the lower floor EXIT, if I'm just going in for a sundae, I go in the exit. The exit is towards the back or along the side, near where the "Pick up" or Loading entrance is. I go in that way and just reverse follow the arrow signs to the restaurant.

At one Ikea I went to, the "As Is" section is also around there.

 

[JLTraveling]

Lots of people like going to Ikea for the experience and the food (and if you sign up for the free Ikea Family program, the free coffee!) The upper floor is kind of like a modern-design museum in some respects, except that you can touch and fiddle with everything.

When my kids were younger they loved going to Ikea just to walk around and discover things to fiddle with and hide behind, because some of the designs Ikea makes are pretty ingenious. (And no, not when the kids were really tiny, and they were not allowed to run wild and get in others' way; just to quietly indulge their curiousity.) I even like to do that sometimes; the nearest one is only 10 minutes from my house, and it can be a pleasant way to spend an hour or so on a rainy afternoon.)

It's also a fantastic place to train a service dog on a wide range of behaviors. Lots of different tables to get under, mockups of all sorts of indoor and outdoor spaces, moderate crowd levels, Swedish meatballs to ignore...

 

[irlandaise]

It's looks similar to this, which is a Kallax (real) 4x4. I love it! Has storage, yet is open & airy.

Obviously you don't live in earthquake country!

 

[slo]

We love IKEA!
As others said…..go with enough time so you can meander around. We’ve bought so much at IKEA - my DD21’s entire bedroom set is from there. My favorite section is the kitchen section - so much stuff and their napkins are the best. We load up on napkins every trip. Their baggies are awesome too - nice and thick. We actually need to take a road trip to our IKEA sometime this summer.
Have fun