Ikea Effect: The Science of Cheap, Crappy Furniture

[Spalted Walt]

"We don't need no stinking aprons."

[Bill]

I have a hunch the former style will have a Much longer lifetime. I've repaired/maintained a few tables, and I think the new design is (1) Not as strong and (2) More difficult to repair. I suspect that the "mortise" is the weak spot---partcularly if it's cut in particle board. By the way, don't underlook "duct tape" as a possible repair medium--assuming no one looks under your tables. PDAMHIKT.

[Electric Comet]

cheap crappy usable

choose two and it seems people are happy with cheap and usable

because they keep buying it

will there be a trend back to well made furnishings or will the masses just not care

[ads]

Just don't let your kids stand on the table. I'd expect the load limit to be appreciably less than the table with aprons and corner braces...

[Larry Kraus]

The linked article

shows that the design is move away from particle board, using solid wood frames in a torsion box construction. The "wavy" mortise & tenon would never hold up in particle board.

[ads]

Need a box for the 3D printer I'm building. Using an $8 IKEA end/side table as the structure and will add hinged plexiglas sides (for access & visibility). Basically, I'm making a cube with no bottom. I get precut and finished pieces that create a (mostly) square frame that's the correct size - and for less than the lumber and paint would cost. Durabililty? Unless I drop the table, it should survive well. The only weight on the table will be the filament spools (about 1kg each). Cheap? Yes. Ugly? Probably. OK for sitting on the workbench? Definitely.

[Bill]

I'm not sure that most of the parties involved really want it to hold up for a long time...otherwise, you woodn't need to replace it...

[krw]

I don't much care for IKEA furniture (I have one drawer unit that our printer sits on) but they're a great source for butcher block slabs. Put an apron on it and they make a rather nice table. ;-)

[Tim Daneliuk]

It's not intended to be. Engineering is about design for an intended purpose. These tables are intended to be inexpensive to buy and replace, rarely to fix. They are not heirlooms. For many people, they're the first piece of new "furniture" they buy on their way up the economic food chain.

FWIW, I also buy the occasional tool at HF if I don't need to use it in heavy duty or continuous application...

[Tim Daneliuk]

If you allow your children to stand on a table, I'd suggest the problem is parenting, not the table :)

[Bill]

*Whose* intended purpose (in this case)? ; )

[whit3rd]

OK, it's a variation on a pocket keyhole that engages a wooden head. The head is tripled, and cut curvy so after it bottoms, it'l at least start to slide into the narrow part where it'll hold.

I'd be tempted to brush a little linseed oil into the receiving slot before assembly. There's some interesting puzzle-box possibilities, after joining a panel you could slide a second panel into position that blocks the first from loosening.

I could produce such a router bit with a few minutes of grinding, on a straight bit, and make the dowels by working the router bit against a blank in a lathe.

You could use it, for instance, to mount a skirt to a tabletop.

[Leon]

Manufacturing.

[notbob]

I figure the later.

My ex taught me about antiques.

Costly? Yes. Worth it? Yes.

Anecdote: Went to the closest Ikea to see what all the hub-bub was. Found early CFL light-bulbs for 1/3rd what HD was charging. Then, after going thru their "maze", was dumped at the gardening/return section, jes before the exit door. Got to see all the returned junk and why it had been returned. Scary!

I quit shopping at Ikea. ;)

nb

[DerbyDad03]

Even if their light bulbs were 1/3 what HD was charging? Why not just go there for the stuff that you would buy - but pay more for - someplace else?

I buy lots of consumables (vinyl/nitrile gloves, zip-ties, etc.) at Harbor Freight because they are cheaper there than anywhere else. All it takes is a little discipline to avoid buying the stuff that sucks.

[Leon]

Discipline or a sense of smell. If it does not smell right is it not right. ;~)

[notbob]

Actually, I did. I came back (with a friend) and purchased a hanging kitchen rack. Again, 1/3rd of what everone else was charging.

OTOH, I looked at a Captain's bed for my daughter. You know, a single bed with under bed storage drawers? I looked closely. All fiberboard! Jes like Levitz! Nevermind. ;)

nb

[Leon]

I will say this about that type furniture. It is good and lasts a long time as long as you never move it after assembly.

[notbob]

True enough.

I hadda huge fiberboard bookcase. You know, the kind with the lead slug inserts, in which to attach the fasteners. Lasted forever ....until I moved. It disintergrated upon disassembly and I tossed it in the dumpster.

nb

[Greg Guarino]

When our daughter was a small child we bought several items from Ikea. There were no heirlooms, to be sure, but most of them had a pleasing "clean lines" style and did the job. Her "high-bed" was an unqualified success, actually; sturdy enough, with lots of room underneath for storage and play and inexpensive enough to make sense for the few years she would use it. The cubbyhole bookcases we bought were chipboard, of course, but the "beech" veneer had a nice color to it the cubbies held an awful lot of stuff that needed holding.

A couple of years later, we decided to buy a dressers for our daughter's room. In the interim, the quality had deteriorated noticeably. For one thing, the two units must have been from different batches; the stain didn't match. In the previous incarnation of Ikea, they'd have shipped a replacement. No longer. The chipboard also had bigger, coarser chips, and any non-visible surface was left bare. Although I was pretty experienced at putting flat-pack furniture together, the pieces didn't fit as well as the earlier stuff.

I think that's a shame, because their earlier, better stuff fulfilled a need: decent-looking functional furniture at an attractive price. We're a little more flush these days, have most of the furniture we need, and I intend to fill in here and there with pieces I build myself. But plenty of other people could use an affordable alternative.