by Jan Wognnugh

Created on: January 21, 2007   Last Updated: April 23, 2007

The furniture at IKEA was never meant to be as sturdy or as high quality as the good old teak or oak furniture that the older generation has probably been accustomed to.

IKEA's furniture gains its point of entry into the furniture market based on certain values and mantras such as making designer furniture available to the mass market at an affordable cost. By mass producing for the mass market, they are able to achieve economies of scale by distributing world wide and bring customers decent furniture at decent prices.

It is not difficult to see that most of the tables and cupboards that IKEA sells are really not always made out of solid wooden blocks but instead, they are usually laminated wooden chip boards. The material by itself is passable in terms of durability. and IKEA prides itself on having put its furniture through rigorous testing as seen from its mean machines on display in stores.

Some factors to bear in mind before we decide if IKEA furnitures are bad quality. In conventional sense, a furniture is judged on 3 aspects; material, design and workmanship. In IKEA's instance, material and design are two factors within their direct control. I.e. if IKEA uses low quality aluminum screws that bends out of shape at minimal pressure,then IKEA is the culpable suspect for your flailing IKEA furniture at home. Design wise, aesthetically speaking, IKEA has already won the hearts of many.

As for the third factor which is not within IKEA's control: Workmanship, the fact that all furniture from IKEA is packed in flat packs and assembled by YOU the user through the guidance of an idiot-proof assembly guide, whether the piece actually stands or fall after you have put it together pretty much lies with your aptitude for building pieces of furniture and following instructions. Having said that, while IKEA's furniture material might not be the best, it is still rather durable and as a company with a global reputation, they have a duty to ensure that the material quality is acceptable, at the same time, the low cost of IKEA furniture also encourages frequent changes, additions and new buys based on the aesthetic appeal of their products, so with that in mind, IKEA furnitures are definitely not the type that you would keep and maintain for the next generation, unlike your antique teak, rosewood or oak furnitures.

As such, with materials not designed to last lifetimes and generations coupled with suspectible workmanship, it is not hard to see why many have jumped to the conclusion that IKEA furnitures are of low quality.

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