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Why are most sofas so bad?

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Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#111

Post by HdS84 »

rsynnott wrote: post #34

I hear this a lot, but my fairly inexpensive IKEA sofa is about eight years old with no problems at all so far. EDIT: Actually, in general I've found that my IKEA furniture has done pretty well (basically everything in the house is IKEA) with the sole exception of a "Lack" coffee table, whose surface is kinda disintegrating after 8 years (I think it's basically made of cardboard with a veneer...). The name should per…

At least in Germany quality has gone downhill.

I still own some Billies made in 1995 or so by Ikea. Literally massive wood and damn good book shelves. The ones bought by me in 2008 or so very noticeably less well build but still ok. The ones we bought in 2018 or so are shit, especially the shelves are so thin that they begin to sag.

In 2008 or so a friend of mine bought a "kallax" (another name then) and it was awesome, it's still in his basement and looks good. We bought one in 2023 and it's basically only paint, some "wood" and air. It's ok to store stuff in, but it's impossible to drill a screw into the wood. It's like trying to screw paper.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#112

Post by etrautmann »

sircastor wrote: post #61
baby wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some reason people hate IKEA in the US. Was trying to sell a standing desk I bought there for 750$ and nobody wanted it. Ended up selling it for 150$. I also had a Jarvis and it was gone in an instant, even though the IKEA one was much much better. I Often hear people saying that IKEA furnitures don’t travel well or don’t last long. It’s like we’re not going to the same IKEA.

I think a lot of this is attached to a puritan-based work ethic. If something isn't hard to do, or require a lot of time and energy then it's not of high quality or worth having. It's probably a signaling thing too...

Possibly, though some products like the PAX just truly don’t move well even once.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#113

Post by atombender »

HdS84 wrote: post #111
rsynnott wrote: post #34

I hear this a lot, but my fairly inexpensive IKEA sofa is about eight years old with no problems at all so far. EDIT: Actually, in general I've found that my IKEA furniture has done pretty well (basically everything in the house is IKEA) with the sole exception of a "Lack" coffee table, whose surface is kinda disintegrating after 8 years (I think it's basically made of cardboard with a veneer...). The name should per…

At least in Germany quality has gone downhill. I still own some Billies made in 1995 or so by Ikea. Literally massive wood and damn good book shelves. The ones bought by me in 2008 or so very noticeably less well build but still ok. The ones we bought in 2018 or so are shit, especially the shelves are so thin that they begin to sag. In 2008 or so a friend of mine bought a "kallax" (another name then) and it was aweso…

KALLAX used to be EXPEDIT. Both were made from honeycombed cardboard (mostly air, as you say) covered with very thin sheets of painted MDF. Maybe there was a time EXPEDIT was more solid, but I had one in the 1990s, and it was just like this.

You can drill the thin wood in IKEA furniture like this, but you have to reinforce it.

IKEA has always had a mix of wobbly instacrap and solid stuff. I remember they made a short-lived modular shelf called BRODER [1], which was solid steel and came in wall-mounted or freestanding configurations, the kind of solid thing you want in a garage or storage space. I was shocked at how high-end it was. It was discontinued to cost and low sales.

[1] https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3209/3641557199_eb0860e9eb.jpg

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#114

Post by amluto »

plugin-baby wrote: post #84
amluto wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had multiple fancy chairs, purchased from a famous high end brand with a very high end showroom in a very high end design center, fail very quickly. The failure was due to their vendor (fancy, in France) using nice solid finger jointed hardwood, well finished, in a place where that construction was completely inappropriate. High quality Scandinavian-style plywood probably would have lasted decades. Nice material…

Where is hardwood inappropriate? Genuinely curious to know

The chairs had four legs, each of which radiated out horizontally from a central point (they were swivel chairs) then turned downward to the floor. The legs were about 1/2” wide, maybe a bit more. They were maybe 1” tall (vertically in the horizontal section and horizontally in the vertical section).

So the grain needed to run horizontally in the horizontal part to support the bending load. It was probably best for the grain to be vertical in the vertical part, although that was maybe less critical: that section was mostly in compression. It probably also looked better that way.

In any case, the actual construction put a finger joint in the horizontal section just past the turn, so a tiny bit of vertical grain wood extended horizontally over the turn. And several of the legs cracked just along the side of the finger joint, and one failed completely after about a month of gentle use.

The design plausibly could have worked if the joint went diagonally through the turn or was below it. But plywood is strong along both in-plane axes, and the legs could likely have been cut in single pieces from sheets of plywood with strength to spare.

Attractive plywood, even from hardwood species, is readily available. The plies are visible along the cut edge, but this is actually a style people like, especially in Scandinavian furniture. Even IKEA sells some nice chairs with plywood elements, at entirely reasonably price points.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#116

Post by JohnFen »

baby wrote: post #46
rsynnott wrote: post #34

I hear this a lot, but my fairly inexpensive IKEA sofa is about eight years old with no problems at all so far. EDIT: Actually, in general I've found that my IKEA furniture has done pretty well (basically everything in the house is IKEA) with the sole exception of a "Lack" coffee table, whose surface is kinda disintegrating after 8 years (I think it's basically made of cardboard with a veneer...). The name should per…

For some reason people hate IKEA in the US. Was trying to sell a standing desk I bought there for 750$ and nobody wanted it. Ended up selling it for 150$. I also had a Jarvis and it was gone in an instant, even though the IKEA one was much much better. I Often hear people saying that IKEA furnitures don’t travel well or don’t last long. It’s like we’re not going to the same IKEA.

I don't hate IKEA at all, but I've found that a lot of their furniture doesn't last more than a couple of years. I consider it "temporary furniture".

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#117

Post by gnicholas »

39 wrote: post #73
gnicholas wrote: post #71

We bought some sofas secondhand when moving into our first home. They were great, and they held up well for many years. But ultimately we sold them and bought new ones because we didn't know if they had the fire-retardant chemicals that used to be mandated in CA (until they were discovered to be carcinogenic). The new sofa (from Costco) seems good but the sofa chairs (from Wayfair) are not so good. It seems like the…

Wayfair is largely dropship trash.

Yeah we used filters to search for just solid wood (no MDF), but apparently even the "solid wood" stuff is still pretty flimsy.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#118

Post by HdS84 »

atombender wrote: post #113
HdS84 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Germany quality has gone downhill. I still own some Billies made in 1995 or so by Ikea. Literally massive wood and damn good book shelves. The ones bought by me in 2008 or so very noticeably less well build but still ok. The ones we bought in 2018 or so are shit, especially the shelves are so thin that they begin to sag. In 2008 or so a friend of mine bought a "kallax" (another name then) and it was aweso…

KALLAX used to be EXPEDIT. Both were made from honeycombed cardboard (mostly air, as you say) covered with very thin sheets of painted MDF. Maybe there was a time EXPEDIT was more solid, but I had one in the 1990s, and it was just like this. You can drill the thin wood in IKEA furniture like this, but you have to reinforce it. IKEA has always had a mix of wobbly instacrap and solid stuff. I remember they made a short…

Thanks, that's fascinating. Ar least in my recollection, the expedit I knew was comparable to a Billy in wood density, but I might be mistaken - it's nearly twenty years.

Funnily, the most sturdy piece of furniture we own is from Ikea. Two massive desks build from solid steel frames and a plate made with wood furnishing. Totally indestructible, weighs a ton and was made by Ikea in the 99s or so. Funnily enough, we didn't even know that they where from Ikea. We inherited them from my father in law and were cursing their weight like "man I wish Ikea made this, than it would be easier to carry". After dismantling them for transport we discovered various Ikea stickers. Sadly we don't know the model, just that they where manufactured by Ikea.

The most endurable piece of furniture I know of is the kitchen of my mother in law. Made in the 70s or so it uses resopal finishing and the counters itself looks like new, despite years of heavy use and non stop smoking.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#119

Post by [deleted] »

kalkr wrote: post #56
o11c wrote: post #15

Despite the article mentioning other things, it seems like at least half the problem can be avoided by never buying furniture online.

I ordered a dresser once from a local store, they bought some cheap crap from Amazon and passed it off as "shipping from storage". It arrived broken and I couldn't get my money back, which I probably would have if I got something similar through an online retailer.

[deleted]
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