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Comment by liotier | Hacker News Reader

> replacing IKEA furniture every 2 years

What the hell are you doing with your Ikea furniture ? I have stuff going towards twenty years, no problem.

Ikea is perhaps the ultimate YMMV brand.

I have a sofa I bought in 2005. I keep thinking I'll replace it after my next move, but even after several since then, it barely shows a fraction of its age (though I will admit a lack of kids or pets has likely helped).

I also bought an ottoman at some point after the sofa. It never looked great to start with, and I threw it out before the first move.

I have a desk of similar vintage to the sofa. I'm typing at it right now. I think I've been in offices with contract-grade furniture less durable than it.

I bought two different Ikea dressers over the years. One I didn't bother taking with me on the first move; the other is still holding up great several moves later.

Most of it really doesn't like being disassembled and reassembled, so moving home every year or so would do that to the lifespan

In my experience, the trick is to move them without disassembly or with minimal disassembly (removing only moving parts like shelves that are planned to be removed) like any other furniture. Nothing weird with that: Most traditional furniture items made by a carpenter would be equally incompatible with disassembly.

Likewise, if you're not planning on moving then you can make Ikea furniture much stronger by adding wood glue between the pieces during assembly. That way it stays tight and nothing comes loose or flexes.

I second this. Ikea furniture is great until you have to move it. Nothing wears and tears faster.

You clearly haven't tried moving with your local "designer furniture center" "high quality" furniture. IKEA is pretty much as good as the "quality furniture", when it comes to moving.

If you have kids, it's likely they are eating it.

Left them in a sandbox with a feather and an anvil and came back to half the anvil and feathers spread around everywhere.

While sarcasm, never underestimate how insanely destructive children are.

It highly depends on the region and the local manufacturers they use. IKEA furniture is of very good quality in the Baltic/Scandinavian region in my experience, and significantly poorer quality in the UK.

I’ve also seen many packing mistakes (like two right sides of an armchair and no left side being packed) and similar in the UK that I never encountered around the Baltics/Nordics. I think a lot depends on the work and business culture in the region, as I’ve noticed more emphasis on quality in a lot of things in Scandinavia.

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