[Rupert : : Design Student]

Flat Pack Furniture:

I am a design student currently carrying out a project on flat pack furniture, I would be very grateful if you could share your experiences with me. The positives and negatives.

Questions:

- Why do u buy flat pack furniture ?
- How is your relationship with it? Ease of construction, do you have the tools for construction, a satisfying or frustrating experience ?
- How long do you expect flat pack furniture to last ?
- Do you like the design of flat pack furniture or do you feel I could be made to look more desirable ?
- How many pieces of flat pack do you buy per year ?

I will add further questions as the discussion grows, please add anything you feel may be of interest.

Thanks for your time.

[fisheggs]

Hi Rupert!

I buy flatpack at Ikea, only because I haven't had other sources of it.

I have a great relationship with it and enjoy putting it together. To the extent that I have offered to fly across the country to help my parents with theirs.

Expect it to last: I'd say that I don't expect it to fail and would be disappointed if it did, whatever the cost. I have many old ikea pieces that are now serving duty in utility rooms and the like, only because they don't fit the style of our house as much as they used to.

Design: I can honestly say that I really wish that there were more well-designed, higher end flatpack options available to us. I'd pay a lot more for this stuff than Ikea charges now that I'm an "adult" with a real job. We bought moderately expensive flat-pack coffee/end tables from Crate and Barrel and I was very psyched when I found that they weren't pre-assembled. Only reason that I'm not looking to Ikea for this stuff is a desire for higher-end woods and contemporary yet rustic looks that are approached by Ikea's Markor line, but not much else from their offerings.

Good luck on getting more responses!

[DesignDiva]

- Why do u buy flat pack furniture ?

Cost savings: it's usually cheaper
Time: It's usually cash and carry right then, not wait six weeks!

- How is your relationship with it? Ease of construction, do you have the tools for construction, a satisfying or frustrating experience ?

I love flatpack! I love that it's easy to put together and the joint engineering is really quite progressive. I like that it's easy to take apart if you should need to move and can't get it out the door. I have all the tools and prefer to use a cordless drill. My DH prefers hand tools.

- How long do you expect flat pack furniture to last ?

Depends on the material used. Denser material I expect to last longer than flakeboard, but I expect the price to reflect the quality.

- Do you like the design of flat pack furniture or do you feel I could be made to look more desirable ?

I have seen some very clever things done with flatpack, and I think it's a fascinating design challenge. I'd love to be an IKEA designer for a month!

- How many pieces of flat pack do you buy per year ?

That depends...

The only thing I don't like about flatpack is the density...it's HEAVY! And in a small footprint of a box, that sometimes requires strong men. Not that I'm complaining....

[yankeelawyer]

In addition to the comments the others made, I will add that ease of transport or shipping and delivery makes flat pack a plus for me. I have a farm in a fairly remote area and only a small sportscar which does its best to be the official farm truck but has little space to haul stuff. I can get furniture and other items flat pack at IKEA that I would have no hope of transporting myself in that car if they were pre-assembled. And to the extent I have flat pack items shipped to me and delivered when I am not here, I never have the situation where there is some large piece of furniture dumped at the front of my driveway that is then impossible for me to bring inside. With the flat pack boxes, people just leave them on my front porch without a problem.

I too wish there were more high-end options. And flat pack items seem to lend themselves more to customization (hacking) than preassembled furniture, which is cool.

Downside: assembly instructions, includig those from IKEA, could be better.

[Janne]

I prefer flat pack for value for money. It doesn't bother me that it doesn't last as long as good quality put together furniture, because with the value for money, I can always replace it. I expect to get about 5 years at least from it. I've been pleasantly surprised at how long it can last. Even tall bookcases have survived household moves.

It's great furniture if you have a mobile lifestyle. Big, solid, well made, heavy 'heirloom' furniture is a burden I don't want to carry around. There's some beautiful Amish style furniture around where I live but it wouldn't fit in my townhome. With flat pack, I could assemble a floor to ceiling wardrobe (PAX) in an upstairs bedroom. No way could I have gotten a ready made piece up there.

It takes a bit of patience to put it together. We've assembled simple bookcases to a entire kitchen and it's very doable.

On average, we buy about 3-4 pieces a year. It's great when you have kids and you have to update furniture as your kids grow. The lifespan of flat pack suits our purposes.

[Joann23456]

I used to buy flat pack furniture just because it was cheap. Now, I buy it because it's usually a good value. It bothers me to spend double or triple what I would pay at Ikea to buy something that's still particle board with laminate veneer. It surprises me how much of the furniture in traditional furniture stores is made of the same stuff.

For the most part, if I'm buying new, I can find gorgeous, well-made furniture for much more than I want to spend or the same stuff that Ikea sells, only a lot more expensive.

That said, I don't expect any of this furniture to fail, and none ever has.

[fisheggs]

The "fail" issue reminded me of a comment I wanted to make...I have to ask about whether a lot of the anecdotal comments about IKEA furniture being "cheap" and falling apart have more to do with how people treat "cheap" furniture compared with furniture that they spend $$$$ on. I just have to think that few people are putting plastic covers over their Klippan sofas or, heck, even asking people to be careful with their glasses of wine! At least not in the way that they would for a $10K couch.

It's kind of like a lot of the criticism about Ikea kitchen cabinet installations - yup, if you install it poorly and surround it with the cheapest appliances you can find, it won't quite look the same as those $50K kitchens we see in the magazines. Even if the cabinets are the same quality.

[Narf]

Originally Posted by fisheggs

The "fail" issue reminded me of a comment I wanted to make...I have to ask about whether a lot of the anecdotal comments about IKEA furniture being "cheap" and falling apart have more to do with how people treat "cheap" furniture compared with furniture that they spend $$$$ on.

Well, there's some truth to the cheapness, as I have personally experienced.
Reputation ... how Ikea earned it.

A lot does have to do with expectations, however. Indeed, most folks aren't going to care as much about a $300 sofa as opposed to a $3000 one. The same goes for a $50 TV stand as opposed to a $500 one. Unfortunately for Ikea, these very same folks will bad mouth about the poor durability of their cheapest product and compare it to the durability of something many times the price. With most items, moving up in price offers a likewise increase in durability and overall quality.

[ikeaopklompen]

- Why do u buy flat pack furniture ?
Usually it's more affordable and it's mostly in stock, as opposed by horror-stories with waiting/delivery times up till one year.
It's also easier to adapt it due to changing life-style. And as far as Ikea is concerned: clearly priced, no vague discounts, no pushy salesmen (m/f) ("only today I can give you so much discount")

- How is your relationship with it? Ease of construction, do you have the tools for construction, a satisfying or frustrating experience ?
From what I've made until now I find the construction pretty easy although you've to 'read' the instructions very well too avoit msitakes. And yes I do have (or borrow) most tools, although an electric screwdriver and drill is very handy.

- How long do you expect flat pack furniture to last ?
As long as any other furniture.

- Do you like the design of flat pack furniture or do you feel I could be made to look more desirable ?
Why should I buy flatpack furniture when I don't like it, so the answer is yes. And more desirable? Probably but that's the same with 'normal' furniture.

- How many pieces of flat pack do you buy per year ?
Last 1 1/2 year I bought a lot. But how do you count? A Pax wardrobe plus 5 Komplement drawers is 6 items or just one? In case of the first it's about 50 items, but I expect it to go down a lot because I've got most things.

[choqokat]

i can't remember how i learned about ikea and its flat-pack ways, as this was before an ikea store opened in new haven, connecticut. i took delivery for my son's bed (and a few other things) and i really appreciated the value even with the added shipping cost.

when ikea-new haven opened, i took one 2-hour trip (for a tv console and sideboard) and everything fit in my forester. when i learned that boston (mystic river area) was going to get an ikea, i waited. waited. waited. the townspeople gave ikea such a tough time that ikea decided on stoughton, massachusetts, instead. lucky me - it's just a 35min drive.

now i own an elantra hatchback and stuff still fits! last year i bought about 5 large flat packs, but during the sofa event i had to rent a van. great deal there! this year i really need to get a built in wardrobe (my tiny bedroom has no closet) as the pax system is 'a la carte' and much less expensive than box dressers/bureaus that i would still have to assemble. these 5 pax frames will probably be my last flat pack purchase for quite a while.

i, strangely enough, really enjoy figuring out ikea instructions and i review them at least 5 times before i begin assembly. no matter how frustrated i get, i think they are great exercises for the mind.

the only thing i got rid of (donated to sister's new place last month) was a poang chair because it didn't match or fit in my current apt.