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Hacking IKEA Furniture

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Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#251

Post by xxs »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #11
torginus wrote: post #7

I was thinking along the lines of Ikea-style furniture from scratch. Most local hardware stores carry these giant CNC routers, and the technicians there can cut particle board sheets to requirements. How cool would it be if they offered a simplified furniture CAD program, where you could choose what material you need how many shelves of what size, etc and it would generate the needed program that would drill the requ…

That would be very expensive compared to ikea. Look at the very popular Lack table, it's made from cardboard hexagons with four pieces of wood-like thing in the corners to hold the legs. You can't make that yourself for cheap, and just the material cost in eg. wood, would be more expensive than the full table in ikea. Otherwise, there are many youtube channels specializing in woodworking where you can learn all the b…

>would be very expensive

very doesn't even begin to make it justice.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#252

Post by watwut »

bborud wrote: post #69

An architect friend of mine once said that he admired IKEA above all other furniture manufacturers because it made a modern range of aesthetics available to the masses. IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. And I do have to agree. I can remember what ghastly furniture most shops used to have around here. There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look…

> There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look good, just be practical.

I thought that is what IKEA is.

But like, I hate the modern trend of turning "aesthetic" into synonym of "unpractical and uncomfortable". At this point, when I hear "it looks good" I just assume it will be unpractical.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#253

Post by xxs »

post-it wrote: post #52
katsukare- wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People like to complain about it not being solid wood but the furniture from Ikea, such as Lack and Kallax is fit for purpose and remains a low price despite the cost of wood going up a lot. And what you can get at a similar price point from Wal-Mart in North America, or Conforama in Europe, is much much worse quality. Especially the veneer which holds up from Ikea but is more like wallpaper if you spend the same pri…

Solid wood is also a nightmare to move.

Solid wood is cool in a way of being cool. It's dimensionally unstable to a point is not permitted for cabinetry in some countries. Also it's expensive and it takes a lot of time for a tree to grow to be turned into furniture.

In that regard plywood (or glulam) is still wood that can be laminated and stained/oiled, if one insist on wood.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#255

Post by hyperbovine »

I absolutely love hacking ikea furniture, specifically their kitchen cabinets. If you need a bunch of boxes as the base for a project and you’re thinking about building it the traditional way, ie 3/4 birch plywood, I can almost guarantee you that the cost of raw materials alone is going to be more than picking up an similar sized kitchen cabinet from ikea. Yes it’s mdf but in my experience they are super durable and it has never been an issue. Writing this from atop my hacked ikea storage bed :-)

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#256

Post by theCodeStig »

dbdoug wrote: post #165
clickety_clack wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IKEA is fine when you’re just starting out, but after years, you realize that it’s got a shelf life. Good furniture really is better. You can get great stuff for very reasonable prices on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace, and it’s much more solid, durable and interesting than the cookiecutter ikea stuff.

Shelf life? I have items from Ikea that I have had for over 40 years, like Ivar shelving and Poang chairs. And they'll be handed down to my kids....

Those are two of their products that are actually solid wood. No coincidence

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#257

Post by Tangurena2 »

bborud wrote: post #69

An architect friend of mine once said that he admired IKEA above all other furniture manufacturers because it made a modern range of aesthetics available to the masses. IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. And I do have to agree. I can remember what ghastly furniture most shops used to have around here. There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look…

Danish furniture started being fashionable (among the young adult market) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That was veneered with actual wood. I still have my kitchen table that I bought in the mid 80s. Later styles adopted laminated Melamine, which is the current fashion among young adults.

> If I pay $5000 for a chair I have reason to expect a lot from it.

My parents had a leather wingback chair made in the late 80s. They paid around $2500. I use it still. There are some tears in the seating, but for something that's lasted 40 years,

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#259

Post by jaapz »

katsukare- wrote: post #43
bradly wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most local hardware stores carry these giant CNC routers, and the technicians there can cut particle board sheets to requirements. Do you mean local woodshop? CNCs that fit a full sheet-good are very large and expensive and not at your typical hardware store. Especially once they can load and unload, change bits. Sheet-good sized CNC's are mostly for batch jobs do not really make sense economically for one off desi…

In Europe a CNC, or at least good and repeatable saw is available at large hardware stores. You can get any product cut to any shape precisely as long as it's a rectangle. I've not noticed one that offers more than this such as drilling holes. But even if you were to get the wood cut and prepared perfectly, there's still a lot of skill to turn that into nice desk for example, with good joinery, veneer on exposed end…

I see these "In Europe" claims all over hackernews.

You realize "In Europe" doesn't really exist? When you cross a country border, everything is different again.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#260

Post by GreenLightGo »

bborud wrote: post #69

An architect friend of mine once said that he admired IKEA above all other furniture manufacturers because it made a modern range of aesthetics available to the masses. IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. And I do have to agree. I can remember what ghastly furniture most shops used to have around here. There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look…

Nothing better has been invented yet. It’s as simple as it is brilliant.
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