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How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

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Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#101

Post by longwave »

rhizome wrote: post #62
kriro wrote: post #59

Still looking for a board game friendly bookshelf from one of the major chains. Depth is the problem, need roughly 30cm of usable depth. I'm currently using IVAR but it's more of a temporary solution. I own about 4 Billy for books they are decent but not great. One thing in their favor is that you can easily add another one. I'd also like it if IKEA would report the usable depth of the shelves in addition to the tota…

As a record collector, I feel your pain. For depth I'd look at the Galant shelves. Even the shallower upper units are 40cm deep, and it's wide enough for games in the way that Expedit wasn't. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59184629/

The open backed Kallax units are the ideal size for storing 12" vinyl, and the vertical dividers mean you don't have too many records leaning on each other. They are also good for larger items that need to overhang the back of the shelf a bit.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#102

Post by usrusr »

pif wrote: post #70

I don't like buying IKEA furniture for two reasons: 1 - With a handful of exceptions, IKEA furniture looks like... IKEA furniture! It reminds Henry Ford and his "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black." 2 - Most important, while I appreciate its hack-ability, it's important for me to get quickly an idea of the budget involved. I understand that there's no standard IKEA war…

I'm genuinely surprised by your #2, because predictable pricing is the number one reason for me to rarely consider anything other than Ikea.

It might be a cultural thing, maybe the difference between Ikea and other alternatives goes along a very different line where you live. Here, conventional furniture stores are still pretty much selling at highly individualized prices, where they pull some random fantasy "regular price" out of thin air and leave it to short term campaigns and the discretion of individual salespersons to dazzle the customer with huge discounts. But if their "regular price" is so much of a fantasy that discounts >50% are the norm, how do I know the 60% discount is a reasonable deal and not something that will still make them laugh at me behind my back, for not driving it down to 90%? I very much prefer paying a predictable margin of which I know that it makes them rich by selling volume over paying a black box margin that might be twice as high as the next guy's because I did not achieve as good a cultural fit with my assigned salesperson, or because they already hit their volume goals for today and are now aiming for the margin bonus. It's annoying enough that I have to play these games with naturally individual transactions like when buying a used car, but for factory new mass produced items like furniture I'll gladly skip on the haggling game.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#103

Post by yoz-y »

smcl wrote: post #89
esra wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to be the common confusion between Slovenia and Slovakia.

It's understandable - their names in their respective languages is "Slovenija" and "Slovensko" which is relatively similar. Tougher still is discerning Slovenia and Slovakia in spoken Czech or Slovak - "Slovinsko" vs "Slovensko" - though context tends to help here :)

Fun factoid. Staff of Slovak and Slovenian embassies meet each month to exchange wrongly addressed mail. http://www.slovak-republic.org/slovenia/#politicians

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#104

Post by johncoltrane »

- Anecdote -

A while ago, a coworker was excited to move to another flat but there was a little something that was going to be complicated: books. He and his girlfriend were both avid readers and their two already impressive collections fused years ago into a massive beast. As we were discussing the "problem", I asked him for a ballpark estimation of the number of books to move, expecting something like "1000 books", but he replied after a couple seconds with "about 12 or 15 Billies".

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#105

Post by smcl »

yoz-y wrote: post #103
smcl wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's understandable - their names in their respective languages is "Slovenija" and "Slovensko" which is relatively similar. Tougher still is discerning Slovenia and Slovakia in spoken Czech or Slovak - "Slovinsko" vs "Slovensko" - though context tends to help here :)

Fun factoid. Staff of Slovak and Slovenian embassies meet each month to exchange wrongly addressed mail. http://www.slovak-republic.org/slovenia/#politicians

That is amazing!

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#106

Post by erikbye »

Living in Norway I've had my share of Ikea products... My feeling towards Ikea is that their products are cheap, flimsy, and bland. I have a few of their products in my home now, but they'll definitely be replaced with something better; why I got them in the first place, considering how I feel about Ikea products? Cheap.

As for my books I wanted something more sturdy and went with what's just known here as a "Bombay bookshelf". Got it used, don't know which company produces them; unsure if it's related to the Canadian company.

https://s1.postimg.org/l6f3izmkf/bombay.jpg

There's actually an Ikea dresser in this photo.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#107

Post by test1235 »

tehwebguy wrote: post #16
michaelvoz wrote: post #2

I dislike IKEA furniture - It never seems to go well, and always in a different, hard-to-plan-for kind of way. Either the bed frame slats will crack at an odd place, or the bookshelf will bend under the weight of too many books, or perhaps a layer of plastic-ish(?) faux-wood will peel off revealing the flimsy glue pressed wood-ish material inside. I understand the appeal of well designed, flatpacked, self assembled f…

We've had mixed results: Bed - it was 200 or 300, lasted 10+ years. Veneer peeled off in 2 places (scraped it like crazy moving it 2x inc. up/down stairs, stored it for a year). Sold it in the end, crazy. "Cubes" Bookcase - had it for 6+ years, moving it 1x was enough to make it too wobbly for us but still were able to sell it. Tip: leave 1-2 cubes empty and arrange books by color, looks awesome. Med + small coffee t…

I think the MALM drawers are just as iconic - I've had so many of them as I've moved around different homes (and subsequently donated to charity when I didn't have space). They're probably made of the same crap substrate and laminate as everything else, but they're quite heavy and feel substantial.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#108

Post by kriro »

onion2k wrote: post #63
kriro wrote: post #59

Still looking for a board game friendly bookshelf from one of the major chains. Depth is the problem, need roughly 30cm of usable depth. I'm currently using IVAR but it's more of a temporary solution. I own about 4 Billy for books they are decent but not great. One thing in their favor is that you can easily add another one. I'd also like it if IKEA would report the usable depth of the shelves in addition to the tota…

Every branch of IKEA is littered with tape measures, and every product they sell is on display somewhere, so you can check practically every dimension of their products. They encourage customers to be hands on with the furniture. That's one of the most brilliant bits of their design thinking when it comes to their stores. I've never seen it anywhere else.

Only if the store is close by or you're willing to make a somewhat spontaneous decision. Imagine driving 3h+ to the nearest store, measuring the stuff not being 100% sure if it actually has enough space etc. etc. Also the IKEA in store experience is a total nightmare for me (it sucks all energy out of me and sometimes even creates mild anxiety depending on how full the store is) so I'd rather get as much preplanned as I possibly can to minimize in store exposure.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#109

Post by Freak_NL »

fpgaminer wrote: post #84
Terribledactyl wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have solid wood options, but you have to hunt for them. Also, they tend to up the price and it's "fancier" looking. Your comment makes me wish I had the space to get back into woodworking, but I just bought Ikea today because it fits into a small car and apartment easily.

> Your comment makes me wish I had the space to get back into woodworking, but I just bought Ikea today because it fits into a small car and apartment easily. Yeah, I wish the hobby was more accessible. It's relaxing in a strange way. The work is hard and laborious, but I find a sense of peace, almost like mindfulness, when I'm standing over a piece of wood licking the sand paper back and forth, or concentrating on m…

Woodworking as a hobby really seems to touch upon something for those of us who work on a computer all day long. The physical aspect is rewarding; whatever you create is real instead of the ephemeral virtuality of software.

Moving from an apartment to a house with room for a (small) workshop was liberating in that respect.

Ikea furniture truly is well engineered though, and I agree with the environmental benefit of Ikea flat-pack furniture — although I am critical of the mindset it fosters where furniture is now a consumable rather than a long term investment.

Whenever people dump broken and worn down Ikea furniture by the road side for collection by the municipal garbage service, I forage a bit for the clever Ikea hardware (like those handy demountable nuts and bolts used in the Billy) for use in my own projects.

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