Comments on: Three Tiers of Furniture Quality

By: Mats

Mats — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 07:06:10 +0000

I agree with Tim, who writes: “I would tend to place them in the mid-range, despite their low average cost.”

The reason for that is that IKEA do provide superior value in terms of quality for the price. In sharp contrast to most of their competitors IKEA also do reliability testing on a lot of their products.

In the Swedish edition (and perhaps in international editions) of the IKEA catalog they tell about how IKEA put sofas and beds to rigorous mechanical testing, equal to multiple years of heavy everyday usage.

For this reason I would hesitate to buy a similarly or even comparably higher priced leather sofa from a competitor, while I would trust IKEA to provide me with a product that I can use for the next eight to twelve years to come.

By: Michael M

Michael M — Sat, 12 May 2007 10:17:40 +0000

I think gaining understanding for this subject is really important. The more we know the better we deal in different type of situations that we come across. Here is another related page that may be of interest to some, it’s all about amish furniture, here it is http://www.woodcraft-furniture-magazine.com/Amish-Furniture.php

By: T.

T. — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 18:57:33 +0000

My boyfriend and I purchased 3 waist-high drawers for the bedroom to store clothing a year ago. While assembling the pieces were wobbly to begin with. Within a month we had to reinforce everything with gorilla glue and industrial staples to support the boards to hold the clothes up! We’re in our early 20s and sure everything falls apart, but we’re still finding our place in life and moving again in May and will be returning to Ikea for replacement disposable furniture.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:42:42 +0000

Since Gomer Bolstrood is simply a figment of Neal Stephenson’s imagination, I haven’t seriously attempted to purchase decent furniture new. Eventually, of course, I’ll be getting either 2/3 or 3/4 (depending on what order my mother’s generation dies in) of my grandmother’s furniture…but for now, my fiancee and are are mostly living on the stuff she inherited from her own grandparents…supplemented by some things bought from antique stores. The only thing we have that’s new is our mattress and box spring…and those are a place where you want the benefits of modern civilization.

By: Diana

Diana — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:14:00 +0000

I don’t even bother much with the normal furniture stores, I find alot of good pieces either in flea markets, antique stores or gasp, YARD SALES! Actually, when we moved from PA to KY, I was wondering how we’d ever afford to buy a matching coffee table/end table set. Seeing that Walmart and Kmart were selling pieces of crap for over $100, I keep searching the yard sales. One day I found a very nice coffee table and end table set for $35! Our newest bedroom furniture is a chest of drawers, long dresser, and 2 matching end tables, along with a headboard/footboard that’s too small for our bed. This set cost us $300, and you could tell was sitting in someone’s attic or basement, but was in terrific shape after we vacuumed out the insides and cleaned them all over. I would’nt waste my money in a fancy expensive furniture store unless I had Oprah Winfrey’s bank account!

By: Fazal Majid

Fazal Majid — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 06:36:23 +0000

Particle board is junk, but medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is superior to genuine wood for furniture. It’s essentially fiberglass, except it uses wood fiber instead of glass fiber, and has better stability than wood because it is more homogeneous.

The best furniture you can get is the old fashioned (think Shaker style) made of wood, and made entirely with joinery, no glue, nails or screws. Small companies like Thos. A Moser still make them, but they are incredibly expensive. A better option is to find a skilled carpenter in your neighborhood and ask him to make the furniture for you. Some people do it as a hobby, and are really good at it because they care about the work.

By: Madame X

Madame X — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 21:58:00 +0000

I’ve been shopping for furniture too– I definitely fall into the camp of thinking it’s better to buy good quality stuff that you’ll be able to use for years, especially for things that need to hold a lot of weight or get a lot of use. I would never buy some crappy particle board bookcase– I’ve seen too many of them that are rickety, and the shelves break and they fall apart if you move them even once. (I have a ton of books, so bookcases are really important to me.) And a couch is something you want to sit comfortably on quite often, probably. I have read that Crate and Barrel’s furniture is very good quality and I liked the things I looked at in the store (the stuff in the actual furniture department more so than the stuff you have to assemble yourself). I bought a couch and chair from Room and Board, where the prices are the same to a bit higher, and almost all their stuff seems well-made. Their catalog is definitely worth checking out if they don’t have a store near you.

By: ~Dawn

~Dawn — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 21:24:01 +0000

I love the old stuff, if it’s lasted 50-100 years, it will probably last another lifetime

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:27:05 +0000

Most of the furniture I’ve had up to this point in my life has either been a family hand-me-down or something on the low end. For me, buying better furniture would mean buying Flexsteel (http://www.flexsteel.com/) or getting the Amish here to make it for me. The Amish furniture can be expensive but this stuff will last a lifetime. I bought a few dining room chairs and they are fantastic. I’m a very big person so chairs don’t last long for me but these are still solid as a rock after 5 years of use. My parents bought Flexsteel stuff years ago and of all the furniture they bought in their lifetime, that stuff holds up the best.

By: Derek

Derek — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:31:00 +0000

It is getting harder and harder to find high-end furniture. There was a store near us that closed its doors and we got some killer deals. Talking to the owner, he said that no one is buying “good” furniture anymore, mainly because the days of having the same living room set for 20 years are gone. People are re-decorating more often now, and furniture is a lot more “disposable.”

I’d second some of the comments on trolling used furniture stores. We’ve gotten some stellar deals. The solid wood bedroom set we bought when we first got married 10 yrs ago is still holding up great (though now is in our guest room). Price paid? $200 for two dressers, a mirror and night stand.

By: CC

CC — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:32:01 +0000

This is very timely for me! My girlfriend and I were walking through Value City looking for a love seat, and I had the same realization that I must be officially getting older now!

By: Serena

Serena — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:19:17 +0000

What about antique stores? I bought my bedroom set – solid wood, bed frame, two dressers, two nighttables – for $800 = it wasn’t a true “antique” but it is all in great shape and will last forever (real wood, real joints, etc)
A lot depends on the look you want – but if you’re not looking for super modern, this can be a great way to go – btw, it was marked at $1100, and they gave me the set for $800 if I would take it within a couple of days – a lot of small antique stores are looking to get things out quickly to make room for “true antiques”.

By: Tinyhands

Tinyhands — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:47:01 +0000

I generally consider IKEA/flatpack furniture to be disposable. I don’t like disposable things on principle and while it might take a very long time to recoup the expense (generations?) buying something of quality is more often my first choice. One way the rich stay rich, by the way, is by buying things that retain value.

By: Becca

Becca — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:30:26 +0000

No Ikea item I’ve ever bought has fallen apart. This is 10-18 years now and the oldest items have been through seven moves. My particleboard bed is ten years old and been through two moves with no issues. My particleboard dresser was purchased and put together in 1989 and been through all seven moves, still intact but admittedly with quite a few dings.

By: Passeryby

Passeryby — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:30:01 +0000

Two things you might consider are a) Costco and b) estate sales. Costco sells pretty good furniture, but it’s not cheap stuff, nor is it inexpensive. However you do get what you pay for, and you can also dicker around with the price when it comes to floor models. (At least I’ve done it)

Estate sales are a goldmine, but it takes a lot of hunting around. Plus, there are good estate sales, where stuff is reasonably priced, and there are sales where if you opened the toilet, you’d see a $20 price tag on whatever might be floating around.

The problem with both of these methods is that if you are looking for something in particular – “I need a daybed” – it’s tough.

p.s. love the site.