This look lovely and probably felt extremely satisfying once everything was said and done.

What’s the distinction between hacking, whacking, and chopping? And how can we incorporate these terms into tech?

There’s <https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack>

That would be very expensive compared to ikea.

Look at the very popular Lack table, it's made from cardboard hexagons with four pieces of wood-like thing in the corners to hold the legs. You can't make that yourself for cheap, and just the material cost in eg. wood, would be more expensive than the full table in ikea.

Otherwise, there are many youtube channels specializing in woodworking where you can learn all the basics to design your own furniture, but it won't be cheap.

I came looking for this comment. I suspect Billy is the most hacked piece of IKEA furniture!

Wow, that's gorgeous! I hope the other poster isn't right about violating ordinances.

I've been pretty disappointed with "medium quality" slightly more expensive furniture from places like west elm and pottery barn.

Now I will either get older recycled furniture for quality or pieces from IKEA for cost.

I’ve just put an IKEA kitchen in. I had to do a very similar modification to fit the plumbing in.

I think you’re right, and there’s definitely potential for disruption of kitchen and also wardrobe offerings in some countries.

(I say some countries as IME there’s a huge difference in existing competition between countries. For example, I found that the kitchen options in Germany were hugely restricted vs. what I was used to in the UK.)

If you're interested in that I would search for a maker space or hacker space in your area. They usually have tools (like a CNC router) that would be far too expensive for an individual to buy and they let the public use them after taking a short class and paying a membership fee.

People like to complain about it not being solid wood but the furniture from Ikea, such as Lack and Kallax is fit for purpose and remains a low price despite the cost of wood going up a lot. And what you can get at a similar price point from Wal-Mart in North America, or Conforama in Europe, is much much worse quality. Especially the veneer which holds up from Ikea but is more like wallpaper if you spend the same price somewhere else.

You should add some RGB backlighting to it.

My mind immediately went: I’m sure there is some German law or ordinance or regulation against hiding your Gaszähler. This surely goes against die Niederdruckanschlussverordnung.

Now that you have published this online, police will visit you to remove the Billy!

Perhaps I am too pessimistic with German laws.

PS: It looks much better this way.

That is weird.

Why is it inside your apartment?

Does someone have to check the meter regularly?

Anyway, great job.

> Most local hardware stores carry these giant CNC routers, and the technicians there can cut particle board sheets to requirements.

Do you mean local woodshop? CNCs that fit a full sheet-good are very large and expensive and not at your typical hardware store. Especially once they can load and unload, change bits.

Sheet-good sized CNC's are mostly for batch jobs do not really make sense economically for one off designs. You'd be better off with just panel and cabinet saws.

> How cool would it be if they offered a simplified furniture CAD program, where you could choose what material you need how many shelves of what size, etc and it would generate the needed program that would drill the required holes, and would tell you what size of screws and pins and dowels you need to pick up.

This is most modern cabinetry businesses now internally. Some companies have started offering direct to consumer products, but most are still b2b.

I've long been considering this idea as I make a lot of my own cabinetry, and would love to get automated cutting and drilling lists depending on if I'll use screws or dowel pins or some nice wooden joints.

In general, you always start with outside dimensions, board thickness, having a kick plate or not (eg. when you make it wheeled), will you chamfer/round the edges and then the rest is simple calculation. You add internal shelve/drawer dimensions and it can consider those too.

I had some scripts that worked with an older version of FreeCAD and printed the cutting list to a CSV, but it still was not the perfect solution.

Interestingly, local chipboard/MDF shops here in Serbia would do that as a service for you on their CNC machines (at additional cost, obviously :)).

there's an place in Seattle, WA that does this called shelf.me for what looks like zero-hardware self designs.

my shop is next to a cabinet maker who does most of is work in that same birch hard-ply. he's got the full sheet router, but he only really uses it for special projects. its mostly just the big table saw. he's got a subcontractor that just does drawers. most cities have several of his kind of shop, and while they don't have a design website they generally work from napkins. I think that birch ply has gotten really expensive in the last 5 years though.

I did something similar, but just bought the wooden desk top from Ikea. Sanded/stained and added some standing desk legs. Perfect balance between customization and not building from scratch.

I'd be hesitant to recommend a novice to pursue a glue-up/planing project if they weren't already interested in woodworking.

Unless you like the look of veneer on MDF instead of butcher block wood. I think anyone considering IKEA is probably interested in the IKEA finish. After sanding, stain &/ seal is another step people like to avoid

I also did a butcher block top. Cut it down and routed to perfectly flow around what passes for a "straight wall" in this house, spent entirely too long sanding and finishing.

Then put it on some IKEA drawer blocks, because I want drawers, but I'm not equipped to build those in any reasonable timeframe.

Cutting down a desk top is something you can do with sawhorses and some good weather. More intricate things need an actual workshop for good results.

A butcher block desk with 4x4s for legs is pretty simple and forgiving. Matching the quality of appearance of a lot of other IKEA furniture would require quite a bit more skill and tools.

Like a Kallax, unless you're a real wizard you couldn't cobble one of those together without a lot of skill.

I have a few of those butcher block tops because I scaled down my shop, but I just can't throw them away. one was purchased 50+ years ago and my family used it as a breakfast table. they make excellent work benches and tables. they're robust and attractive. really all you need is a belt sander and some food safe mineral oil and you can completely resurface them if they get funky. I usually just weld a piece of 1/4" angle to a square plate for legs and weld a nut at the bottom for a threaded foot, but you can really do anything. it absolutely lovely to have a clean butcher block top for food preparation.

Eh, most IKEA desk hacks is to buy the wooden kitchen countertop, cut it to shape, and put it on some drawers. So you're not really describing anything different.

Billy bookcases though are just slabs of laminated engineered wood cut to rectangular dimensions, drilled with precision positioned and sized holes, plus a stack of dowels and camlock fasteners.

That seems parameterizable.

Thanks!

yeah, those cardboard tables.. I had to glue in 2-4 (5 by 10 cm) stringers and refix legs to them for it to hold a measly epson c8600 and even then it stands on wooden planks to distribute the load.

ikea is a great inspiration for making your own furniture and then a source for bearable spare parts.

It depends on your comparison; a Lack table is maybe an extreme example.

I say this because I’m currently working on a project to build a full kitchen’s worth of cabinet carcasses using good quality 19mm plywood, and I’m aiming for it to be cost neutral with Ikea’s kitchen cabinets, having sourced the plywood from a local DIY store. (Obviously ignoring the cost of my existing tools.)

Which is to say, if you could source plywood in volume (therefore cheaper per square meter) and amortise the cost of the CNC machine and other tools over time, I think it would be feasible to be close to cost competitive with IKEA‘s kitchens.

In 2014, IKEA made headlines when its legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to Jules Yap, the founder of IKEA Hackers, demanding that she hand over the domain name. Good to see the site still online, after the PR department took note that legal teams were not-only filing useful claims.

Ever since then, I avoid sharing pictures of IKEA furniture. Like Mattel, suing barbie blogs of children. If I did not design it, I won't share a picture of it. Even building architects will sometimes sue if you photograph the house.

IKEA is great for stuff where I'm willing to sacrifice some quality for a proportionally large price discount.

But for furniture where quality is more of a concern, and I'm willing to go up a rung on the price ladder, I've been very happy with both Crate & Barrel and Room & Board (noun & noun) here in the US. I have a C&B sectional sofa and quite a few pieces from R&B such as our king size bed, dresser, nightstands, kid's dresser, dining room sideboard cabinet.

They're not $5000 for a single chair range, but $5000 for bed + nightstands + dresser, though you can certainly get stuff for less.

But for "young people or people of modest means" I agree that you probably can't beat IKEA. There certainly are other cheap furniture retailers but you don't really know what you're getting and the style leaves a lot to be desired.

Cool website, thanks for the link!

Really liked this garden sink for barbecuing: https://ikeahackers.net/2017/06/outdoor-sink-perfect-summer-...

For what's worth my father's old apartment somewhere in central europe has this inside of the apartment as well, common in older buildings, my 60s built Prague residential building already have them in basement, we have also (central) heating meters outside the apartment measuring the supplied hot water, same with electricity/power meters (with online readings over fiber).

Only thing inside my apartment (well technically it's vertical shaft going through whole building, but there is small access door to meter in every apartment in case you wanna stop the water in the apartment) is remotely read cold/hot water meters with antenna.

They are usually checked only once a year anyway.

There is also some life stage appropriate utility in its ~disposable entry tier pricing.

For example, having young kids is not a good time to have a nice teak dining room table. (Or new wood floors for that matter) (or really anything nice you don’t want to hide in a locked box or room)

Also, pets, like a cat is wonderful. But without great diligence a more lower mid-tier couch will get clawed up the same as an ikea special. At least it may be more comfortable in the meantime.

I suspect wealth may be having your cake and eating it too—-you have fancy furniture that kids or pets wreck and you file that under dc.

All of it screams for automated materials reprocessing. One can only hope that the collision of robotics and AI will reduce the amount of landfill we create.

> I can just remove some of the dividers

How it's better than that: you can not only rotate them 90 degrees, but you also move the dividers. Now due to how their built, it may not be the sturdiest thing to do but you definitinely can turn a 2x 32 cm into a 1x40cm and 1x24cm. I do that for my PC tower (and the wife's): it's too tall to fit in 32 cm, but then I don't want to waste space. I simply make new holes for dowels (once again, YMMV but I do it since years) and move a divider up.

God please no

> And who buys furniture to pass it on to your kids?

That's just the excuse people tell themselves to justify a purchase.

Yes, the tried-and-true first apartment cheap stuff is still there. But the majority of what's for sale in IKEA these days is of significantly better quality (and significantly higher price).

The best alternative to IKEA furniture is more expensive IKEA furniture.

> Take two drawer units, and instead of putting the tops on them they were supplied with, put a slab of desktop across both of them with a gap between and you’ve got yourself a desk.

Definitely. My go-to is three units (I explained it in another comment too): two horizontal along the back wall and the third one in the middle, perpendicular to the wall. Then I put two kitchen countertops: that's now an ultra bad ass T-shaped desk for me and the wife. Plenty of room for monitors, laptops, the printer, physical notebooks, even plants (!) etc.

> But IKEA is more often than not more than sufficient quality.

I am not so sure about that. There are some product lines that are somewhat OK price/quality e.g. IVAR seems to be OK. But most IKEA products are too much optimized optimized on the cost side for my taste. The good days of "wooden furniture" is over.

Presumably because it's cheaper. Ours was also originally in home; the utility recently came through and replaced all of ours with exterior units, likely at great cost (horizontal drilling machines aren't cheap)

I suspect the tragedy in Pennsylvania [1] was the catalyst. There are lots of potential issues with keeping these things indoors.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrimack_Valley_gas_explosion...

Sidenote "Kallax enjoyer" is a great thing to from an identity around and I'm updating my Twitter bio as we speak

> If I pay $5000 for a chair I have reason to expect a lot from it. And more often than not, pricey furniture doesn't actually deliver sufficient quality to be able to defend the price.

That's not the point. A large chunk of the price is the name on it and the marketing/image you associate yourself with. I thin, as engineers, that's hard to relate to. But that is how it works.

The price is not a reflection of quality, it's an outcome of a process to pick a price just enough people are willing to pay.

I think my GALANT desk with a glass top survived multiple moves, including one that had it travel about 800 km in a trailer. Worked fine until the day I got a standing desk, at which point I put it up online and someone bought it from me. That desk might still be kicking around to this day.

I think really the only IKEA product that has given me issues is the MARKUS chair, and more specifically, the gas spring leaking. Apart from that, I think everything is more or less functional? Even the five-euro LACK coffee table is still fine, even if it has signs of use on it. I've also bought used IKEA shelves and they're still holding up fine.

> For those of you who look down on IKEA furniture, I'd like to hear about what alternatives you think need mentioning. Especially for young people or people of modest means.

I look in antique/thrift/charity/freecycle/secondhand stores or groups. Where I live you can pick up a solid hardwood dresser for a few hundred bucks, because as you say - nobody wants their parents’ heirlooms. And lots of things can be had for free if you can hire a van to collect.

Meter still looks very accessible to me

As long as you can easily slide it out of the way and it isn't fixed to the wall, it wouldn't be a problem for anyone who needs to service it. Therefore, it would not be against regulations, because all regulations in Germany are logical

> If you can afford and have a place for long term. Buy better stuff. Used quality furniture, even antique, can be incredibly cheap.

IKEA is ideal for a certain stage of your life. It's ideal for optimizing vertical space. It's largely function over form. It looks like middle school classroom furniture. And when junior writes on it w/ a sharpie ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

When you have the space for a separate dining room, agreed that used antiques are comparable in price.

I wouldn't touch their couches rich or poor though; they're painful.

>IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer.

I have lived and worked around a fair chunk of the western world, establishing my local headquarters each time, building myself a home.

Long, long ago, I gave up on IKEA for everything except cookware and meatballs.

The reason?

I grew rapidly tired with seeing my living room everywhere. Move across the US, get invited over for dinner with new colleagues: oh, that's my old couch. Cross Germany for personal reasons, stay at a friends place - yeah, that's the kitchen I had in LA. Couch-surfing for a few months in Tokyo? Right, you get the point, same coffee table.

It just became, impersonal. I get it, mass furniture, for the masses, has its time and place and economies.

But as I got older and traveled a lot more out of my own box, I saw the repetition.

These days I go to what remains of those ghastly furniture shops, or the second hand markets, or the good flea markets (which don't accept IKEA stuff) .. and do my best to assemble my living devices from older, antique things.

Its not so easy.

But, it does accomplish one thing: it's mine. I won't see this setup anywhere else in the world, again.

>For those of you who look down on IKEA furniture, I'd like to hear about what alternatives you think need mentioning.

One should not overlook the value in spending the IKEA budget on tools and instead rolling ones' own ...

In Europe a CNC, or at least good and repeatable saw is available at large hardware stores. You can get any product cut to any shape precisely as long as it's a rectangle. I've not noticed one that offers more than this such as drilling holes.

But even if you were to get the wood cut and prepared perfectly, there's still a lot of skill to turn that into nice desk for example, with good joinery, veneer on exposed end grain, etc and a lot that can go wrong, and you are likely to end up with a worse result than a mass produced desk for a much higher price. This type of manufacturing can't compete at all with the cost optimizations that Ikea can do. So where you see B2C in this space is built-in furniture like for kitchens. This has a limited design space so a lot of the parts are standardized, and the design can be constrained to not have the end user work on details like exposed end grain. I guess this doesn't really have an alternative mass-produced option, so the price comparison is to hiring a contractor, so it makes sense as an offering.

But it's evidently hard to get right. If you go to an Ikea that sells returned goods, that section is filled with kitchen countertops cut to the wrong length (good source of cheap wood for projects by the way).

I’m not sure I understand this perspective, I’m looking forward to inheriting some of my parents furnitures and getting rid of some of the ikea crap.. they are furniture that have been in the family in some cases for over 200 years, and I learned to maintain them and care for them as a kid just as a regular part of housework. Some have had amusing changes in use as the times changed, like an old wardrobe being turned into a chest of drawers as larger wardrobes became available, etc.

I really hope not! But it does look much better this way, it was an eyesore. And the regular heizung guys didnt complain when they saw it like this, so im assuming all is well

> it is unlikely to survive several moves

I have several pieces that have survived 3-4 moves. The trick is when assembling, use wood glue with any dowels. On their own, these dowels only have friction to hold them in place, and over time, the surface of the area where they are inserted compresses, reducing friction. Hence you get that typical side to side sway. The glue mitigates this problem.

IKEA furniture can hold up very well if you follow the instructions precisely and don't disassemble them (in most cases).

We have furniture from IKEA that we bought at least five years ago that still functions great. A mattress we got from them is absolutely stellar with a memory foam topper; all of our guests love it. I think our coffee table is ten years old now.

However, everything goes to hell once you try to take it apart. This is why our mattresses are not on IKEA bed frames. Taking them apart has ALWAYS weakened them significantly. (We use Thuma Japanese joinery bed frames, which are AMAZING for moving and very high quality).

Which is kind of moot when you're talking about high-quality furniture, as they are usually single pieces as well.

No many real furniture out there with entire ecosystem of storage/containers sized for it. IKEA sheet/stamped metal stuff that introduced a few years ago will last forever.

When I moved from LA to St Louis many years ago, there wasn’t an IKEA yet. I was truly confused about where one was supposed to go to buy lamps. Any furniture stores that had them were selling ones that gave off strong grandma vibes.

Lol, that's true. It's even funny.

Their point is the effort vs quality.

I wonder about the psychology. Is it like chain restaurants - the brand name and decades of experience guarantees a floor on quality, with people estimating their DIY as having a much lower floor. Plus the laziness of starting from scratch

Then when you start it's obvious sunk cost fallacy

Solid wood is also a nightmare to move.

I applaud you and your project.

But CNC isn't the silver bullet. What I ended up with is 25mm glued wood for frames, 55mm for tops and 15mm plywood plus veneer for facades.

If you use 19mm for frames, you won't have enough strength for hinges, which would inevitably be abused.

If you use 19mm for tops, they will sag and vibrate. The best top I have is actually 55mm IKEA glued oak.

> Even building architects will sometimes sue if you photograph the house.

? In the US there's the 1a - you can photograph anything you can see (from a public place). In the there's the assumption you can photograph anything without a 'do not photo, military dogs' etc. Never heard of a non-publishable building. Even gchq can be photo's.

Do you have an example of these "furniture panels" that are higher quality and require less effort than a mod to a fully-realized piece of furniture with easy instructions?

I left off "as cheap" because you didn't say it, but it's a huge part of the puzzle that you deliberately ignored, too. But I'm really interested in seeing these "furniture panels" that you're recommending.

The one criticism I can offer on IKEA furniture is that some of it doesn't move well, specifically the particle board stuff which will fall apart at the joints if it's not carefully handled.

Having said that, I also tend to not buy the particle board stuff.

I'd prefer it if IKEA offered more options (dimensionally) on their durable furnishings.

I don’t understand this at all.

Everybody has my phone and my AirPods, or a model close to them, and that’s fine. I don’t need my AirPods to have a monogamous relationship with me.

Couch: I'd never get from IKEA. Comfort really matters.

I have 2 IKEA beds. Quite happy with them!

Ditto dressers and nightstands.

I don't see why I'd get something more expensive.

Also "estate sales/auctions" and/or online returns auctions.

A month ago I got an entire king-size bed headboard (with storage), with cabinets on each side, and a bridge that connects the two cabinets across the top (and has lighting - also there is power in the headboard - needs a few upgrades though).

It was made in 1986 - solid wood.

I paid $1 CAD at an estate sale...

Now, the matching dresser with a tri-fold mirror was $175.

Why the difference? No one wanted the hassle of disassembly for the bed unit - but many felt they could probably flip the dresser.

Admittedly, I had to rent a U-Haul (say about $100 including gas) and rope in a family member to help with the move. (because, it had to be at least 800lbs of awkward parts...)

So, my all in was $276 plus some auction fees.

But - still cheaper, more durable and better looking than most "DIY assembly options".

OTOH - if we move again, this sucker stays with the house...

I have had goodluck with this and have gotten many pieces of furniture that will last for the rest of my life used. It is very hit or miss based on your location though and it does restrict your style choices.

I once paid $3500 for a very deep and low chaise lounger/sofa. It was very high quality. You did have to get used to having your feet on the seat because it was so deep, but it was a great guest bed.

But more importantly, to me, at the time, it looked very cool in my tiny downtown apartment.

I've got the Ikea PLATSA wardrobe and none of their organisers fit properly in the drawers. My wife instead got some of the MUJI organisers and those fit much better because they're made of cloth/canvas thus bendy/squishy.

A lot of people have the exact opposite desires. There are millions of people who have the exact same things because they saw some influencer recommend it and they thought it was cool. I think it's probably the majority that want to have the same things as everyone else, very few people strive for uniqueness.

For years I consistently wore a Seiko around people who had watches that cost more than my car. Proudly. When asked why I didn't have a "proper watch" I'd point out that their swiss masterpiece wasn't nearly as accurate as my cheap quartz watch.

They'd laugh because they knew it wasn't about the accuracy.

And I'd get some satisfaction from the fact that they thought I didn't already know that.

I too own things where the price tag can't be justified by the objective merits of the product. So I do get it. But what they have in common is that these things generally are very good -- but you can get the same level of quality for less. I won't buy a low quality product with a hefty price tag.

Anyway, these days most people around me wear some kind of smart watch. And the funny bit is that the people who own expensive watches now have to choose: show off or practicality :-)

Eventually, even IKEA becomes “collectible” and not owned by many people. For example, I can no longer find my beloved (and inappropriately named) “Jerker” line of desks which are great for walking treadmills.

Five years is not much in terms of a furnitures lifespan, i own some pieces my grand grandmother already used that got passed down the generations.

I highly doubt this will happen with ikea furniture. But thats the tradeoff for cheaper and affordable stuff i guess.

Sure, but somebody has to be home if the gas company wants to look at it.

For what is worth, I had an IKEA kitchen for 12+ years, we disassembled it and gave it to some people that could reuse it, and it's still fine. OTOH my IKEA couch fell apart in half that time, but my wife fixed it up and it lasted until we renovated. We gave that away too.

IKEA has a wide range of products, some fall apart quickly, some last longer.

> I’m looking forward to inheriting some of my parents furnitures and getting rid of some of the ikea crap..

I think you are confusing the perspective of the GP here.

Your perspective is that of the "kid". You like the parents' furniture and eventually want to use them and that's all fine.

But GP is describing the parent perspective which, they argue, shouldn't be to plan life such that the kids will be inheriting and using things later. That puts pressure on them to actually do instead of making their own choices. It's a subtle but important difference.

I see similar issues with people buying the neighboring lot and building a second house there such that eventually their kids can move in their with their family, once they have one. Some kids certainly so, and that's great. But think about your own life, would really have wanted to do that? Or grow up feeling that's expected of you? Most of my friends live half a day of travel away from where they grew up. Most of them would despise the idea of moving in next to their parents. Which doesn't mean they don't love them, just that they value their independence and made choices free from the constraint that it needs to be exactly there. (Besides, a couple usually consists of two people and they often didn't grow up in the same neighborhood.)

Generally, trying to plan for leaving inheritances (of substantial value) is overvalued. Modern society is striving to less dynasty building and I think that's a good thing. A lot of the poor/rich divide is rooted in that and governments should discourage it (through inheritance tax) rather than encouraging it (through e.g. lack of actions against housing costs which forces people to get a big inheritance to be able to live anywhere.)

Though I'm really getting too far from the topic as that was about furniture. :)

I live in Europe, never ever seen a CNC in a hardware store.

I ordered my kitchen fronts from such a place, to fit on … an IKEA kitchen. Giving it a different look, but the benefits of standardised units and the IKEA universe. This was customised mass-production, but still about 3x IKEA price point.

At least here, you'll also find a lot of IKEA furniture at those stores as well. Most of the nicer stuff tends to go to higher end stores and ends up being rather pricy.

> I’m looking forward to inheriting some of my parents furnitures and getting rid of some of the ikea crap.. they are furniture that have been in the family in some cases for over 200 years, and I learned to maintain them and care for them as a kid just as a regular part of housework.

Your experience is an extreme outlier.

Most people don't have parents with such old, valuable furniture.

Of those who do, most don't value it themselves.

Of those who do, most don't know how to take care of it.

The reality: Kids often live far away, in smaller houses/apartments. They're married and their spouses may not like the old furniture - they've already invested in the furniture they bought. Also, as people get old, they often need to downsize, so they have to get rid of much of the furniture while alive.

When you have 3+ kids, you can hope at least one of the kids will value it. These days, having 3 kids is an outlier.

For me, personally: I just don't like heavy furniture. I wouldn't want to figure out how to get it into my house, positioned where it's needed, and who's going to move it later if I decide to change the layout of my rooms? Pain, pain, pain.

I don't see this mentioned enough! Wood glue will improve the stability massively.

Obviously beds and huge bookshelves might need to come apart again, so use your best judgement. But chairs, dressers, end-tables, etc. are completely worth it.

I have an IKEA LANDSKRONA (in Gunnared dark grey) and it's a good sofa for like 650 €. I don't think I've really considered sofas to be that markedly better than mine even if they're double or quadruple the cost.

Good to know! It slides in/out like a puzzle, so should be fine then.

It's very use and location dependent. I'm going to get a good or at least relatively good dining room table. Some cubbyholes/shelves for a closet? IKEA is fine. I also have an IKEA bureau in my bedroom. I occasionally wonder if I should have splurged on a "real" piece of furniture but it saved me thousands of dollars and is perfectly adequate.

LACK is a good inflation indicator, it costs 7.99€ now.

Exactly. I've referred to Ikea as the MacDonald's of furniture. Which is a little harsh and I do own a few pieces.

There is a requirement for having a vents if you are boxing in that device.

One high and one low one, this is so the gas does not build up in case of a leak.

Would highly suggest you get that sorted, your insurance might be void in case you do get a fire.

Taking photos and publishing photos are 2 different things. The first one doesn't involve copyright for a start.

In the UK at least, furniture panels from B&Q, Wickes, Selco, etc, are very much inferior to the stuff some IKEA (e.g. METOD and PAX) furniture is built from. That was why I used PAX carcases to create built-in wardrobes. Plain furniture panels would have been lower quality.

> In the US there's the 1a - you can photograph anything you can see (from a public place).

Just because you can photograph it does not mean you can necessarily publish it. IP rights are a recognized exception to the 1a

They move OK if you dismantle them.

Check the "Freedom of Panorama" article on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_panorama - lots of restrictions around the world.

This makes any assembly 1-way, though. Some people (with a very high time:money ratio obviously) might find the collapsible, portable nature of Ikea an advantage.

You need a vent there as well so gas can't build up.

IKEA is fine when you’re just starting out, but after years, you realize that it’s got a shelf life. Good furniture really is better. You can get great stuff for very reasonable prices on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace, and it’s much more solid, durable and interesting than the cookiecutter ikea stuff.

I've started wood-gluing together my IKEA and other flat-pack furniture to try and increase its usable life since - as you said - it's counterproductive to dis/re-assemble most of it anyways. I've not been at it long enough to claim effectiveness, but so far nothing has started to wobble.

> In Europe a CNC, or at least good and repeatable saw is available at large hardware stores. You can get any product cut to any shape precisely as long as it's a rectangle. I've not noticed one that offers more than this such as drilling holes.

That's not the case in the US.

The big box hardware stores have a large track saw vertically mounted that can cut full sheets of wood, but there usually isn't someone working who is trained to operate it. They also have a rickety cart with a hand saw and tape measure attached with too short cables that you can try to use to make your cuts of dimensional lumber.

I'm not using CNC; I just agree with the previous poster that there's an opportunity. (I'd note that none of your subsequent post related to the comment you made about CNC?)

For my project, I believe 19mm is plenty for carcasses - just about every mass-produced kitchen uses 18/19mm chipboard frames, and they can last for decades, outside of abnormal abuse. The main reason for using the same size is easy compatibility with standard doors/fronts together with standard fitment hinges/runners, all of which I'll be purchasing. The tops will be either granite or concrete.

People often place their home in a different category than computer accessories.

And even in your example people spend a lot of time picking out cases or decorations for those items.

This is in a thread about them having to be beautiful and modern. "Modernity" seems to boil down to actually being a bit afraid that your AirPods could have a near-monogamous relationship with you, and that this would mean that you're falling behind.

Monotony and monoculture is not beautiful in some people's opinions. It seems that part of the definition of beauty is exception.

Back in the 1990s, it seemed literally like every other person had that Ikea bentwood rocking chair. So I relate to your point. Ikeas poor-sellers remain obscure though.

You don't stare at your AirPods, they don't create the room vibe, whereas, arguably, the furniture does, along with the lighting.

rooms are way different that phones tho

it's called personal style

To be truly fashionable, one must be /ahead/ of fashion

My hypothesis is that phones are inherently personal and personalisable: it’s our photo on the lock screen and our text messages in the app.

Whereas most people don’t even consider attempting to personalise their couch or their car, so the desire for personalisation is satisfied by having a wide variety of options and colours prior to purchase. And also by having styles rapidly evolve so that many “trendy” and “anti-trendy” options are available at the time of purchase.

iPhones and speakers (headsets, earsets) are accessories, furniture is more permanent (unless it’s near-disposable). You don’t typically update furniture every two to three years (with exception for people who like to show off their wealth and remodel every four years).

The finger jointed pine stuff is much more robust than the mdf or hardboard products.

I’ve heard their kitchens are far higher quality than the rest of their products. Why - not sure.

I agree with the observation but also just no different before and after

Just going to assume this is a locale or property quirk

This is a complex topic and I’m not going to do it justice in a comment, but I feel like modern society might just be destroying social mobility in the name of what you described, while the already rich are dynasty building just fine as usual via a variety of legal means only available to them selves.

I've owned a lot of IKEA furniture, and at no point have I ever considered disassembling them. And I don't think IKEA really even advertises their stuff to be a flatpack-to-furniture-to-flatpack design.

Define “good”.

I couldn’t justify the cost of the furniture I really want. So off to IKEA I go!

And if you have a bit of skill at choosing and assembling IKEA furniture, then you can customise things on the cheap so at least it can look the way you want.

I'm sure I'm not the only person to have built a wall unit in a bedroom only to learn, later, getting it out the door, and through the hall, and down the stairs turns out to be job for Dirk Gently.

That said, moving some of this flat pack furniture has been a mixed bag. Some move well, some don't.

I did have a wall unit, a $99 hardware store particle board piece assembled with big screws and those interesting, round cam fasteners. It survived three separate moves, including one where it flew out the back of my pickup truck onto asphalt (thankfully in a gas station, vs the freeway I was about to get on). Corner got dinged, door flew off, but it survived!

But I've had other pieces that assemble and are rigid, when torqued around through the moving process start to come undone. The particle board and fasteners are designed for loads only in specific directions and tend to not do well, and fail, outside of those.

Idk, I never cat problems with getting a random Home Depot employee to cut it, the problem is that they are usually very rough cuts, far from square and precision

Shelf life? I have items from Ikea that I have had for over 40 years, like Ivar shelving and Poang chairs. And they'll be handed down to my kids....

I've got a bunch of BILLY bookcases that have survived several moves and are conveniently easy to mod with basic power tools.

Sadly, I don't know if it's worth trying to keep them at this point, because they replaced the previously decently durable wood veneer surfaces with glued on wood-pattern paper wraps (https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/ikea-furniture-inflation...). It's lead to me having a mix of old ones that still look like the day I put them together and new ones where all the corners are already visibly raveling from the wear of a single move.

I don't disagree with there being an opportunity or using CNC, I only point out that pinning everything to materials suitable to widely available CNC is too limiting.

Like, using plywood for verticals is overkill, they don't experience any bending, while 19+19 is 48 so you might as well use glued wood board for example.

This is the way.

Even the cheapest cardboard-filled IKEA units hold together much better when glued, and makes moving the units less stressful (no more "it's creaking / skewed when I pick it up").

I doubt a billy book case is anywhere near air tight.

While helping friends move, as one does, I often challenge them to disassemble and reassemble their IKEA gear and still have it tight on the other side, so to speak, of the particle board ..

Some do it with grace, some of us with a bit of duct tape. Others, not at all.

I do the same. I don’t plan to take it apart but wood glue is part of any woodworking shop and I don’t see why assembling Ikea should be qualitatively different. I want my assemblies to stay together, not vibrate, to feel sound. Gluing joints is fundamental.

I've had a lot of my Ikea furniture for over a decade. That includes a dining room table, several bookshelves, office table with glass top, coffee table, and several other things I've forgotten about, and we have some dressers that are years old as well. And several of these pieces have been involved in a move or two.

Applying care and some wood glue during construction will yield a very solid product for years to come. And you have to have a little bit of taste and discretion when buying, as Ikea indeed has a wide range of quality among their items. Any item that has real wood will definitely last.

Interesting. Judging by the number of "skinnable" computer and phone apps, a lot of people seem to really care about this kind of personalisation. I have never so much as changed the default background on a phone that I've owned. I think I changed the background on my first Windows computer, decades ago, but not since.

I wonder how many are like me.

We're talking about the masses. Non-cookiecutter stuff costs more. Not everyone can afford to pay 5x or 10x what an IKEA product would cost.

Some of it is very good, although you have to dig to find it. They use real wood in many pieces; it's not all disposable.

I don't think that the good stuff is popular, though, and it certainly isn't highlighted. When a durable (often secretly classic) design slips in, it doesn't last more than a few years. The price is usually too high and it's usually too heavy (for their audience, not for me.)

I've still got some really elementally designed and sturdy mounted shelves from them that I've carried from place to place, and installed and removed many times, for the past 30 years. They were probably discontinued 28 years ago; I couldn't find them in back catalogs and AI couldn't even help. I would have started to doubt that I got them from IKEA except that I have one set of components that is still in the packaging. It's simple steel and simple wood, and the wood (IKEA pretending like a plain flat wooden board is a product) is easily replaceable.

I have to be honest, I don't really value furniture that is heavy for the sake of it. I like hippy-futons, simple wooden tables with drawers and removable legs, transformer chairs*, etc. Being able to be disassembled and easily moved or stored is something I value, and being able to be flattened against a wall so the room can be temporarily reconfigured (a requirement for colonial US furniture) is ideal (double drop-leaf tables are wonderful.) Wood and steel are durable, and simple designs with standard hardware are easily reparable.

[*] https://www.core77.com/posts/58815/Different-Design-Approach...

IKEA does stuff not out of MDF and cardboard?

> I've owned a lot of IKEA furniture

same.

> and at no point have I ever considered disassembling them

That is wise. I don't claim disassembling it for move was a good idea, but it compressed my stuff into a compact car.

Consider also that some of their beds don't fit through a doorway built (esp if doorway is not code width) so some level of disassembly may be required for mere room-to-room moving.

I'm only calling out a tradeoff that may or may not apply. Not everyone is you and me.

> I don't think IKEA really even advertises their stuff to be a

The whole point of this thread (this site?) is repurposing outside of creator intent.

It has nothing to do with air tightness.

If it leaks slightly it could keep the gas/air at an explosive ratio within the box.

Best to just have it vent out into the room. then it's noticeable.

I’ve got a 10 year old Ikea bed that has passed this test twice now, even though I’ve lost some pieces.

I challenge you to dissemble your bespoke furniture and have it still usable after reassembly

It depends very much on the furniture, I think citation needed on exactly which items you’re talking about. Name and shame!

The big wardrobes? They are the worst combination of impossibly heavy, awkward to disassemble and expensive to repurchase - best bet is to sell to the next occupant. On the other hand I have a solid table and chairs and they flat pack and reassemble perfectly. Same with bed frames. Shelving units go straight in the van. I wish the office desktops had metal threaded inserts for the legs instead of nylon, but otherwise also have moved several times and no real issue.

If it’s even available.

I think most of America’s options are the big warehouse furniture places or an ikea if it near by, they do delivery well.

yes, the lingonberry drink they serve in the cafeteria. :)

actually they had some metal garage shelves that I thought would be ok.

They turned out to be SUPER flimsy and wobbly.

I think they optimize for shipping weight, which means 'solid' suffers.

Funny you should mention this. Just yesterday my wife and I went to the local Ikea to pick up some bookcases. I was originally just going to buy a bunch of the Billy bookcases; we have a few and know their limitations.

But then I noticed they had a much better series called the Hemnes made with actual solid wood shelves and legs so you can route power cords and clean under them. Nice.

So instead of a bunch of Billy's for $70 each I ended up with a bunch of Hemnes' for $350 each. We'll see if it's worth it when they get delivered tomorrow.

In fact I regularly do that with the tables and chairs which were built in a local factory here in Vienna in 1918, and they are rock solid.

Hemnes is a municipality in Norway. 10 minute drive from where I grew up.