In praise of an Ikea item

[Drago]

IKEA bookcase and slightly modified desk in my music room. Inexpensive and sturdy, just like me.

The shelf thing under my laptop is also an IKEA item.

 

[slowmotion]

I bought twelve of their five drawer kitchen base units to store tools and stuff for work. That was over fifteen years ago. Each of the sixty drawers has been loaded with well over fifteen kilos of bits and bobs and the runners still work smoothly.

Excellent products.

 

[FrankCrank]

A lot of positive feedback so far - great to see.

Mrs Crank has a better sense of direction than me, so prefer her to accompany me in the Ikea store, rather than alone and wandering round like an idiot looking for the way out. Besides, our store is cashless, and she has the app on her phone to make any purchase.

 

[FrankCrank]

is that an old Samsung Note an the left?

I'm still using mine as a mini tablet/remote control.

It's a Samsung J7 - a budget phone popular in SE Asia and India, not sure about UK.

I reckon on getting around 3-4 years out of my phones/tablets and laptops, any more is a bonus. Very wasteful I know, but technology bounds at such a pace.

My oldest functioning bit of kit is a Sony VAIO laptop of many years vintage. It was bequeathed by a friend back in the UK, as he said he was getting a new one. I really miss those old batteries that just detach from the back. Try replacing the battery on any modern laptop

 

[Drago]

A lot of positive feedback so far - great to see.

Mrs Crank has a better sense of direction than me, so prefer her to accompany me in the Ikea store, rather than alone and wandering round like an idiot looking for the way out. Besides, our store is cashless, and she has the app on her phone to make any purchase.

You'll need a weeks worth of MREs, bothy bag, GPS beacon, and crampons.

 

[spen666]

Their furniture is often rock solid and outlives far more expensive alternatives.

I find if I need to decide on a product, a quiet think over 17 hotdogs often helps.

Are you on a diet?

Surely you need meatballs and Daim cake as well to make a balanced decision

 

[FrankCrank]

Are you on a diet?

Surely you need meatballs and Daim cake as well to make a balanced decision

........and don't forget them choccie bars.

 

[Shortfall]

Got an Ikea stainless steel frying pan for about fifteen quid that is brilliant. Most of their assembly instructions are absolute bab though.

 

[Punkawallah]

Ooo! I can do this one! They did a phone/tablet stand (no idea what they call it) that I use mornings to sit the tablet in and check CC et al! It’s a wood block with slots cut in for the device, does the job, and could at a pinch be used as a cutting block :-)

 

[silva]

Got an Ikea stainless steel frying pan for about fifteen quid that is brilliant. Most of their assembly instructions are absolute bab though.

You got to be sure with IKEA, because they're very good in making the metal look like stainless. I'm pretty good at spotting stainless on sight, but in their case I need a magnet to be sure.
If the magnet clings it's not stainless.
If it attracts a little, it's kitchen stainless (the cheapest 304 grade).
If it doesn't attract at al, it's the next expensive stainless 316 grade, which is chosen when salt may be present.

What is also possible with IKEA, is that a very thin outer layer / coating really is stainless.
But underneath it, not stainless, downto even no metal at all - woord, plastic, whatever.

IKEA is made easy to assemble, disassembly is quite another story.
In cities foreigner suburbs free place gets every now and then filled with furniture that was disassembled without (dedicated) tools.
That's also why the state sponsored second hand shops say they don't like IKEA.
A rather wondering statement since why would second hand shops disassemble first what they sell. But as turned out, in order to get the working hours filled, they disassemble furniture hidden in their magazine, to then reassemble in the shop so shoppers can see they're Men At Work.

Some of IKEA's products can't be disassembled without it being destructive.
IKEA's products also are not to be put in a same basket, prices vary, so do the ways it was done with.

 

[annedonnelly]

Ooo! I can do this one! They did a phone/tablet stand (no idea what they call it) that I use mornings to sit the tablet in and check CC et al! It’s a wood block with slots cut in for the device, does the job, and could at a pinch be used as a cutting block :-)

View attachment 797730

I've got one of those but I made it myself by cutting a slot in a piece of wood.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I've got one of those but I made it myself by cutting a slot in a piece of wood.

Surely it can't be as simple as that!

 

[Shortfall]

You got to be sure with IKEA, because they're very good in making the metal look like stainless. I'm pretty good at spotting stainless on sight, but in their case I need a magnet to be sure.
If the magnet clings it's not stainless.
If it attracts a little, it's kitchen stainless (the cheapest 304 grade).
If it doesn't attract at al, it's the next expensive stainless 316 grade, which is chosen when salt may be present.

What is also possible with IKEA, is that a very thin outer layer / coating really is stainless.
But underneath it, not stainless, downto even no metal at all - woord, plastic, whatever.

IKEA is made easy to assemble, disassembly is quite another story.
In cities foreigner suburbs free place gets every now and then filled with furniture that was disassembled without (dedicated) tools.
That's also why the state sponsored second hand shops say they don't like IKEA.
A rather wondering statement since why would second hand shops disassemble first what they sell. But as turned out, in order to get the working hours filled, they disassemble furniture hidden in their magazine, to then reassemble in the shop so shoppers can see they're Men At Work.

Some of IKEA's products can't be disassembled without it being destructive.
IKEA's products also are not to be put in a same basket, prices vary, so do the ways it was done with.

Not gonna argue with you about the quality of the steel but it's had about five years of regular use and it's great for cooking on, easy to clean and very robust. I've got a few cast iron pans too which were also relatively cheap and which are equally robust but need reseasoning every now and then a little bit more TLC to keep clean.

 

[Drago]

It's easy to sum up IKEA quality; IKEA stuff is great, except for the stuff that isn't.

 

[Punkawallah]

I've got one of those but I made it myself by cutting a slot in a piece of wood.

Does that make it ‘engineered wood’?