True cost of disposable society - "IKEA is as bad as Wal-Mart"

[mattl]

Interesting read.

First paragraph:

"July 12, 2009 | My mother still owns, and uses, the same vacuum cleaner she bought early in her marriage, just after World War II. She still lives in the house my father -- not a carpenter by trade, but an electrician -- built in the early 1950s with the help of his brothers, a small but sturdy Cape Cod-style dwelling with hardwood floors and solid wood doors that close with a hearty, satisfying clunk (as opposed to the echoey click of hollow-core doors). Today the idea of anything -- a household appliance, a piece of furniture, a house -- being built to last is almost laughable. When your vacuum cleaner stops sucking, you most likely haul it out to the curb and trek to Target or a big-box home-goods store to replace it. Even if you could readily find someone to repair it, the trouble and the cost would be prohibitive. If you need a bookcase, there's always IKEA: Sure, you'd prefer to buy a sturdily built hardwood version that doesn't buckle under the weight of actual books, but who has extra dough to spend on stuff like that? The IKEA bookcase is good enough, for now if not forever."

http://www.salon.com/books/review/2009/07/12/cheap/

 

[toggleswitch2]

"IKEA" in most places.

Affectionately known as "VLA-KEA" (vlakia) in Greece => "Stupidity".

http://www.ikea.gr/content/index.asp?language=1

 

[roto204]

Unfortunately...

...when you engineer a product to perform well and reliably, such that its functional life extends into decades, you tend to saturate the market eventually.

To keep making money, you either have to forever uncover new markets--or persuade people to keep buying what you sell (even though they don't need one because the one they already have lasts and works), or modify your product to have a limited lifespan, such that people must seek a replacement eventually.

 

[favorit]

IKEA isn't either bad or good

some products are cheaply made and go out of production after a couple of years. Other ones are available for decades, like the Klippan sofa

If one has a good skill in choices, Ikea is a nice trade off between low budget and quality . Not to mention the nice design of goods.

Here in Italy trendy (posh?) people often mix high priced, famous badged design furniture with some IKEA pieces.

Needless to say, assembling the content of an Ikea box is one of my favourite games

 

[ronhic]

One of the best pieces of furniture I own came from Ikea...

I bought a drop side table in 1996. It was AUD$149 and is just fabulous. Both sides drop from a small oval to just a shelf 6" wide....seats 4 comfortably or 6 if you're very good friends and don't mind a squish....

 

[roto204]

Totally

Ikea can be awesome--it's totally hit-or-miss. Try before you buy--if it feels insubstantial on the showroom floor, it won't be any better at home .

(Also, assess beforehand whether or not what you're contemplating purchasing will be fun to assemble with an Allen wrench and three hours of your time ;-) )

 

[arrrooohhh]

IKEA is not that bad.

In Australia, we have this budget chain called Fantastic Furniture. They sell ugly, cheap furniture in package deals. They also look terrible in a few years and are often on the nature strip for council clean up.

However Ikea has cheap furniture that actually looks good. So if I was on a super strict, instead of Fantastic furniture and look really cheap to all my friends.

I furnished most of my home with retro pieces from op shops and ebay. However you cant find everything you need in an op shop and I have found that Ikea design fits in quite nicely with these 60's pieces, where as a lot of new furniture is in a hideous "country" style that is completely out of place.

I have an Ikea wardrobe that was very expensive to buy and took me ages to put together but it is strong and sturdy and I have heaps of hanging space. People also comment that it looks good to. So I am happy with my purchase.

Ikea's Stockholm range is quite stylish and reasonably finished.

As for assembling Ikea furniture, I have found an electric drill makes it a lot easier and using a small amount of glue makes it stronger.

So like appliances you get what you spend your money on. Ikea covers all bases from cheap to expensive. Plenty of other firms sell cheap and nasty furniture but Ikea is known all around the world and an easy target for people to take a shot at. JHMO.

 

[scott55405]

I think with IKEA there is good and bad, but there is definitely good. I have a kitchen (dining/dinette) table and chairs, a cabinet, and a couple of the ubiquitous "Poang" chairs which I think are one of the most comfortable chairs I've ever sat in. I found exactly what I needed at IKEA at modest cost and it has all served me well. I had other moving and getting settled costs when I moved to CA and I don't do debt, so it was great all around.

When I got here, all I could find were these huge dining tables and chairs, which I found odd since many homes and apts here are small. Funny thing about the cabinet, that took a while to assemble, but people have actually commented how nice it was and that "I'd never get something that nice from IKEA" (they had no idea that's where I got it from, LOL.

Got a couple nice things at Target too, and a neat 50s desk and end table from Craigslist which I love.