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Comment by tonyedgecombe | Hacker News Reader

I seem to remember a survey that showed people who assembled their own Ikea furniture valued it higher than people who didn't.

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That is strange. Even as a Swede I would probably value a Billy more if it came pre assambled, so I was not made actively aware of low quality materials and holes drilled in not-quite-the-right places.

Maybe a cultural thing. I always got the impression IKEA is more respected in other countries, while in Sweden it is seen as cheap furniture owned by everyone.

I think it's certainly seen as cheap elsewhere, but usually of better quality than comparably cheap furniture.

I think that's true. But, in addition, in the US going to an Ikea is usually a bit of an expedition as there aren't that many stores. The stores themselves make things a bit of an event because they're different from the norm, have a fairly nice cafeteria, etc. Add it up and there's a certain aura to Ikea furniture that wouldn't exist if you picked up the exact same box at the local Walmart.

A standard of living thing, you Swedes are richer than almost everyone else.

At some point, McDonalds here (ass end of Eastern Europe) was a place where well-dressed grandparents took their well-dressed kids on Sunday lunches.

Right now Ikea is something people aspire to, as a mark of getting into the middle class. There's A LOT of cheaper, crapier local stuff, with bleached pine wood you can leave a visible dent on if you drop a plate on. (Funny thing is, many of the same furniture factories also work for Ikea.)

It is cheap, and it do not hold up well - but that is why it is cheap.

It's not all rubbish, I've got a solid wood kitchen table from them which is already quite a few years old and looks like it will last a long time.

Their solid wood and better-than-usual-finish furniture are not cheap though. So that goes out the window.

The phenomenon has actually been the subject of a couple of studies, it has been dubbed "The Ikea effect"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA_effect

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