Cabinets falling apart

[Mr Pig]

when things fall apart they weren't put together properly or have been subject to heavy handedness.

In general I agree but some cheap wardrobes are terrible. The panels are very big so the forces on the joints can be huge. You really need to look carefully at the construction before you buy them.

 

[ComedyPilot]

At first I though this was a political thread.

 

[Arch]

...and named by people who've jumped off the wall, pushed it over and are now using it as flooring.

I gather the naming thing is down to a chief exec having some form of dyslexia, which meant that relatively random alphanumeric codes were difficult to get his head round, whereas actual words that meant something were ok. I seem to remeber that there are themes - something like bathroom stuff being place names, bedroom stuff being colours or something like that...

 

[Arch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA#Product_names

Ha!

 

[Speicher]

My freestanding wardrobe in the bedroom is about thirty years old, and starting to show its age. When I go into furniture shops, all sorts, not just IKEA, and other names too numerous to mention, I cannot find anything as sturdily built as my existing wardrobe. Is it likely to be worth getting a expert cabinet maker to re French Polish the doors, and replace the hinges?

 

[Crackle]

My freestanding wardrobe in the bedroom is about thirty years old, and starting to show its age. When I go into furniture shops, all sorts, not just IKEA, and other names too numerous to mention, I cannot find anything as sturdily built as my existing wardrobe. Is it likely to be worth getting a expert cabinet maker to re French Polish the doors, and replace the hinges?

The older stuff is good. Got some stuff in the house which came from Germany before Ikea arrived here. It's much better than stuff you get now.

 

[postman]

I once went out with a female assistant from M.F.I. We had only been going out for a week and her leg fell off.

 

[dellzeqq]

In general I agree but some cheap wardrobes are terrible. The panels are very big so the forces on the joints can be huge. You really need to look carefully at the construction before you buy them.

That's the key point. Screws into chipboard can handle small stuff, but wardrobe doors are big stuff. It's not just IKEA, though - most shop-bought furniture is the same deal. Even John Lewis wardrobes are pretty ropey.

 

[dellzeqq]

Oh -and (plug here) we got our wardrobes made to order, delivered and built from solid oak from Wood Empire in Battersea for the same price as a John Lewis laminate special. And they are extraordinarily well put together.

 

[dellzeqq]

My freestanding wardrobe in the bedroom is about thirty years old, and starting to show its age. When I go into furniture shops, all sorts, not just IKEA, and other names too numerous to mention, I cannot find anything as sturdily built as my existing wardrobe. Is it likely to be worth getting a expert cabinet maker to re French Polish the doors, and replace the hinges?

French polishing isn't that difficult. Time consuming, but, given that it costs a fortune to get somebody else to do it, worth a bit of practice. The french polish I put on a sideboard twenty years ago (now in the posession of the first........don't go there) still looks good. So I'm told.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

on a slight tangent, the funny s-shaped double sided allen key that came with some ikea table or something is absolutely the perfect tool for tightening the p-clips on my rear rack where it clips on to the seat stays…

 

[Night Train]

Is it likely to be worth getting a expert cabinet maker to re French Polish the doors, and replace the hinges?

If you like the wardrobe then it is worth finding out the cost of repair. It might be less then you think if you find the right person.

What is actually wrong with it?

 

[Speicher]

There is a noticeable scratch on one of the doors. The wardrobe seems to have lost some of its structural integrity. The biggest problem, is finding a (replacement) wardrobe in a sort of walnut or teak sort of colour, rather than beech, birch or sandalwood or whatever, as I would like it to match the other furniture in the room.

There is a French Polisher not far from here, I might ask him to visit when he is next in this area, and get an estimate.

 

[Night Train]

That would be a good idea, Speicher, nothing to loose. He may be able to advise on resecuring the rest of the wardrobe. Timber does shrink over time as moisture is lost and so that would cause the whole structure to loosen up a little. Sometimes it is just case of screws being a little loose or joints that need regluing. Something that age would have used animal glue so it is fairly easy to clean and renew like with like though it can be time consuming.

 

[Llama]

My whole flat is IKEA (student when I kitted it out), everything is still in one piece, agreed that use proper tools not the throw away ones they provide, buy a WERA set of allen keys, some decent wood glue and read the instructions and you can't go to far wrong.