Glad to hear everyone agrees that most couches are pretty subpar. I bought $10,000 worth of stuff from a high end furniture place because the French girl started working there. Then that boat got stuck in the Suez Canal, the shipping container finally arrived months late, and it was empty. So I got a full refund and she still got her huge commission, and after reading this the couch probably sucked.
Why are most sofas so bad?
131–140 of 762 posts
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
For some reason people hate IKEA in the US. Was trying to sell a standing desk I bought there for 750$ 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.
$750 for an IKEA desk is crazy money. Does it have hydraulics to raise and lower the desk? But depreciation on IKEA is huge because while it can last a long time within a household, it moves very poorly so if it has been moved or reassembled once or twice, it’s likely near end of life. But hard to evaluate that, it’s not like it has an odometer — hence value for used it very low.
Those desks do have hydraulics: https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/bekant-desk-sit-stand-white-s09...
Ikea's goods usually come in different price ranges with the most expensive often not being 'cheap' but 'cheap given the quality'. That being said, often their cheapest stuff is the best value for money because it's so cheap that it lasting more than a year would be a miracle (but they usually do!).
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#133I just spent about $700 having new cushions made for a 50+ year old Danish Teak sofa that I inherited from my grandparents. The original cushions were long gone, but the wooden frame was still in great condition. I sourced high-quality foam and wool upholstery fabric from Maharam and took those to one of the best upholsterers/furniture restorers in Los Angeles. They did a wonderful job and now I have a super-comforta…
Is it super heavy? I've noticed weight often equals how long something will last in good condition, and old furniture is often way heavier and bulkier.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#134I 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…
I got an IKEA couch about 9 years ago. It was like... $700? The construction is definitely very cheap and you can tell if you flip it on its back, but it's very comfortable and sturdy enough that it still feels solid in normal use. I don't think "cheap" construction is necessarily a bad thing, honestly. There's ways to do cheap construction such that it works just fine.
Ikea has to engineer it. They are a global company and they can invest in engineering to avoid as many returns/refunds. It's worth it to them.
So while the materials are cheap and the style not high end, from what I've seen they maximize the engineering to make it durable.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#135Next time you stay at a mid-range or better hotel, notice the furniture. They don't but junk because in the long run it never lasts, and whose going to pay for a nice hotel room with tacky furniture? A couple of months ago, we stayed in a newer Holiday Inn Express. The bed and cabinets were very nice and well built.
I imagine holiday inn is all custom built to spec.
All the hotel brands have design schemes, and contract with certain designers who the hotel owners have to buy from.
For example:
https://www.charterfurniture.com/products/hospitality/desk-t...
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
For some reason people hate IKEA in the US. Was trying to sell a standing desk I bought there for 750$ 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 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".
It really depends. IKEA runs the entire range of very temporary to actually pretty good. The trick is knowing which is which, although price points are usually a good indicator.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#137I've liked reading this blog - https://insidersguidetofurniture.com/buyers-guide-to-furnitu... and basically what it comes down to is most modern cushioning will fail in five years or so. You need 2.5 density foam or higher, or you need a "uncushioned" style couch.
I second your comment on high-quality foam. If you're looking at re-doing some old furniture or having your own made, study up on foam - not just the density - which is important - but also the type and grade. Decent stuff should last 25+ years - and be more comfortable along the way.
(A little tip - the density you want for proper comfort varies by the thickness of the cushion, the weight of the intended users, and the whether it's the seat bottom or the back. The back needing a softer foam.)
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
Back in 2012 I furnished a home with Ikea furniture. Yes I hate them. You'd spend $60 on a book case and spend the next 4 hours trying to understand what the instructions mean and how to build it. You also needed a partner to hold corners together. Now today, the furniture instructions are better and instead 16 different weird fastener, there are 8. Its a frustration thing. Ikea didn't really do anything but be low c…
I think this every time I built something ikea, then I build something from another brand and I discover a new abyss, then I go back to ikea. It's a cycle.
Yeah I don’t get the complaints about IKEA instructions. They have the best furniture-assembly directions I’ve seen.
They have a lot in common with old LEGO set instructions. Maybe people who hate them didn’t do a bunch of that as a child?
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Kallax is cardboard? Those brilliant bastards. Honestly those cubes at least the 4x4 are perfectly fine. And cardboard is a hell of a lot more sustainable than solid wood and probably particle board
Structurally they're fine, and can hold a fair amount of weight. Just treat them well; don't cut/drill into them or let them near water (the cardboard gets soft), don't overload them, and don't move/lift them while they're filled with heavy objects. While they're cheaply made, they're not among IKEA's worst products, I think.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#140Last time I bought a couch, a new one, it set me back $6,000. It took me the better part of eight months to find it. Solid wood. Proper joinery. Thick padding. Pig skin leather. We kept it for 20 years before giving it to some friends who had it reupholstered where I expect it will last another 20 years. I used to have some expensive, but ultimately crap, book cases. Book cases are not designed by people who own a lo…
>> it set me back $6,000.
The issue is that most modern households in the U.S. can not hack that kind of pricetag for a sofa / couch. Hell, I could never spend that kind of jack on a couch, even if I literally saved up for it (which would take years)... it is just far too much of a percentage of my income for one furniture item.
So, how do we solve that issue (e.g. its good, but if it is 10% of your gross annual income, how could you afford it)? Either people need to get paid more, or ???