We have been shopping at IKEA for years.(But never spent an 8 hour day there!)

Glad you liked it!

We have one in our neighbourhood. Their food is good. The furniture has the 30 foot look IMHO. We have bought some of it. Its good looks have a durability issue. It really isn't quality in that it doesn't withstand moving very well. Much is veneer covered MDF. They do have a very nice "take a number" service department should you find missing parts in pieces requiring assembly - most do. If you are after the modern look it is definitely worth checking out. I can understand being there for eight hours - it is very maze like in set-up. I understand the newer stores are more user-friendly in terms of navigation.

Went once. The place was set up like a casino. Once you get in the escalators and exits are placed where you cannot see they to get out quick.

The food in the cafeteria was fabulous, and priced right.

I was going to buy some small items and stood in line FOREVER. I finally realized none of the lines seemed to be moving and left all my stuff there and got out of there.

They should have an express line for those who only are buying a few small items so they do not have to stand in line while people are checking out entire kitchens - right down to the kitchen sinks.

What does IMHO mean? Isn't the furniture durable? I also don't understand why it wouldn't withstand moving, does the furniture fall apart? Looked like good quality to me. Is this your opinion or did you do some research?

By the way our store in Tampa is the newest built and largest one so far.

IMHO...in my humble opinion.

The furniture seems to be popular with college kids and young people setting up house for the first time. My daughter got a wall shelving unit, seemed cheap. And if you go on Craigslist there is tons of IKEA stuff that people want to get rid of. The modern look isn't my style, anyway. I got a kick out of looking at their kitchen organizers and gadgets. I live about twenty five miles from the IKEA across the street from the Mall of America. (and yes, the food was intriguing and HANDY).

IKEA is known for having cheap (in price and quality) furniture. Don't get me wrong, I have quite a few nice things from there myself, but it's not known for quality.

I love buying housewares, decorations, and such from IKEA, and bookshelves, but I would never buy a couch or bed from there.

I do have a love/hate relationship with the store. They have alot of cool things for really good prices, but the store is so big and crazy it gives me anxiety. Kinda the same way I feel about Costco.

There are different levels of IKEA furniture. Some is definitely heavier and better, and some (with the lower price tags) is less likely to take a lot of hauling around. Don't think that all their items are the same, there is something for every budget.

I love Ikea. I used to shop there when visiting family in the big city 900 miles away. Since we moved, it's only 45 mins. away! GREAT for bookcases (you can get real wood or junk) and where else can you get a toilet brush in a holder for $1!! Rugs, kitchen gadgets, storage containers, shelving, dishes. . . . And the cafeteria. . . thumbs up!

I love IKEA. Unfortunately the two nearest ones are over an hour away. I go about once a year. Love their gadgets. Never bought furniture. I love their cafeteria. Good food and good prices.

What I meant by doesn't withstand moving is that it tends to fall apart when moved - especially if some disassembly is required. The screws don't hold very well. The couches look great initially but don't withstand the passage of time very well in terms of durability. It just looks "tired" quickly. Great for college students or those setting up their first homes on a budget. The gadgets are great!

Well, it depends on what you buy. Their Markor line, for example, is solid wood and very nice looking. Lots of things are veneer over particle board, but then so is the bedroom furniture I bought 10 years ago that cost *lots* more than if I'd bought it at Ikea. Veneer-over-substrate is an accepted method of manufacturing furniture, and not just cheap furniture. They do it so you can get the look of good wood with the stability of manufactured panels.

Add to that the fact that much of the furniture is modern, and lots of people don't like modern furniture. Certainly, some of the stuff is cheap and won't last, but some is quite good.

The kitchen cabinets, for example, consistently rate very highly with Consumer Reports, and carry a 25-year warranty. I just bought them for my kitchen, though I used custom doors, as I wanted a more old-fashioned look. The boxes are certainly as strong as anything else out there once attached to the wall, and you can get full-extension drawers, soft-close mechanisms, and all sorts of innovative organizers for *way* less than with other manufacturers. (Compare $21/drawer for soft close with one medium-priced line I looked at to $7-8/drawer for Ikea.

I'm a big fan, and one of the things fans do is Ikea-spotting. Shelter magazines, even expensive ones, are full of stuff from Ikea, and home-design shows use Ikea all the time. You just have to have an eye to pick what looks good and what will last from the other stuff.

I love good antiques, and I love good furniture, but I can't afford Henkel-Harris or Henredon for all of my house, which means I'm going to have to mix in less-expensive things. Ikea is a great source for the less-expensive things. And their idea of displaying items as used in a room or house is brilliant.

I was seriously going to buy a slipcovered sofa and slipcovered chairs from Ikea for my sunroom if I didn't find ones I liked on Craigslist. The slipcovered stuff comes in several fabrics and could fit in my shabby chic room.

I happened to find a nice white slipcovered sofa on CL for $50., not Ikea.. but it fits my needs.

I would have had to paying shipping though since the nearest Ikea is in Chicago and I am closer to St. Louis. I've never been in an Ikea store.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea sofas

lydia, a few months ago i got the loveseat version of that in white for $351 plus another cover for $11 :-0 (got a $50 promo gift card too and $11 credit for using debit) BUT it is a sofa for my dogs to sit on in my office/craft room and look out the front windows. i use it once in awhile to sit and read, & crochet or knit.

i searched high and low to find one under 6' long and that would fit under the marble window sill and not be a pottery barn one for $2K. that room is also small and i wanted a small scale sofa that was close to 20" deep. what i like about it was that i can sit on it and my feet hang straight down, the seat is very shallow. i am 5'2" and it fits me well and my elderly big dogs can jump up on it too w/o needing a step. my DH is 6'7" and he hates it, too small! my living room sofa and chair & a half is pottery barn, very heavy, very large infact the scale of it is off, too big for that room. i have to sit on the edge of it for my feet to hang straight, i HATE that. mostly i sit w/ my legs curled up or indian style.

is it quality? well it's nice for $350 lol! will it last? no that is why i got it and not pottery barn, i don't mind wasting $350 over 5 yrs i won't spend $2K or more for a doggie sofa. it came in a box in pieces and DH and i loaded it on a cart, into the truck (it would have fit in my SUV), & got it into the house all by ourselves. something like that is not meant to last long lol.

i do love their accessories, glassware, curtains, lamps etc... i buy trendy cheap things from them because i don't mind replacing them quickly, i don't expect them to last thou. i have been researching their kitchem cabinets and like mentioned above i will probably use their guts and nice wood doors. i like some modern but i also like classic pieces. we do not use any furniture in our house that is not all wood, has nothing to do w/ stability, it's an allergy issue.

i like the way our orlando store is set up, it's only 2 yrs old. i have a curse thing going w/ our orlando store, everytime we go there something bad happens, once my cherokee died, once DH got a call he was not going to get senior design class that semester etc... i actually put off going there for a yr even thou i needed that loveseat badly lol and it's only 20 mi away. i remember many many yrs ago when they came to chicago, all the fanfare lol ~ liz

I would LOVE to go to one and spend 8 hours and a thousand bucks! lol I keep hearing about their fabric and neat kitchen stuff, I want to browse, browse, browse!

I think the nearest one to me is about 8 hours away.

I think the best part of Ikea furniture is that the off-gassing of materials is limited, because Sweden's limits are much, much lower than ours.

There's one near me and I love it! Hubby bought a bookcase from them, got it home to put it tohgether and there was some hardware missing. They gladly gave him the missing parts, for free. I absolutely love their food. I had raibdeer meatloaf with lingonberry sauce, it was fabulous! I go there maybe once a year. It's always crowded, my only complaint.

"I think the best part of Ikea furniture is that the off-gassing of materials is limited, because Sweden's limits are much, much lower than ours."

You make a very good point. Not only that but since ALL the items they sell are sold internationally, they choose to comply with a myriad of safety standards set for by numerous countries. For instance, their ceramic dinnerware has the lowest lead content, due to the very strict standards set by some countries and states.

They don't make different products with differing standards to sell in different regions.

I didn't know that about the other products, dilly dally, but it's good to hear. Maybe I'll have to get up to Palo Alto and check out their dishes!

Crate and Barrel, based in Chicago, has similar stuff. I'm OK with their kitchen cabinets or small items like rugs or dishes, but the furniture? Fine for a first apartment or kids' rooms. It's (immediate) future landfill.

I also have issues with IKEA as the world's third largest lumber and wood products buyer -- lots comes from the third world.

crate & barrel they are not quite as trendy and into the ultra modern style. i actually like their glassware, dishes and kitchen items more. i used to shop at the original store when it was restaurant glassware supplies for stuff when i was 18 lol. dec 1985 my mom got me my dishes for christmas, their stoneware white set, i had not even moved out yet lol. all these yrs later those are my everyday dishes, unchipped till DH came along :-/ my drink glasses are from 1985 too (classic barware), have not lost a one yet.

i like their furniture styles better too ~ liz

I think Crate and Barrel is a lot more expensive than Ikea. I like their stuff too.

There is one in Atlanta I go to but can't imagine spending 8 hours there (unless I got lost!) I do like IKEA though. Bought new dishes there recently.

Linda

And bring home a bag of frozen meatballs for easy dinners. I think I need to make a trip to Ikea soon, but it's more than an hour away and I need to plan ahead.