Daniel Beetsma

Review of Ikea Utrecht

Ikea is supposed to be great value for money, near...

Ikea is supposed to be great value for money, near the value end of products. With low prices, and decent quality, the price/quality ratio is high. At least, that is the image that Ikea wants to market: high efficiency Swedish stuff, save money by leaving the assembling to customers. It's somewhat true, but after a decade or two of buying and owning several pieces of Ikea furniture (meaning their goal is reached), it becomes apparent that the stuff just fails after a while, and the price/quality ratio is actually not very high. Bookcases like Ivar are a solid buy, but do not think that this quality extends to the entire collection. Their lamps are badly produced, their teak garden sets are fake teak with very bad coating (not oiled), their chairs break down pretty fast, and the drawer closets have failing drawer slides, pretty much from the first year on. The food is iconic but bland, and the 1 euro hotdogs should probably be replaced by a more green/animal friendly alternative - the time of as-cheap-as-possible-meat is, in 2018, over. Or should be.

Nevertheless, if you need cheap furniture quickly, and you don't like to scour the second hand market, and you don't mind that it falls apart in a year or five, you don't mind that your room looks like everyone elses, and you want to have choice from a great assortiment - sure do pay Ikea a visit. And pay attention to their bookcases because they may last a lifetime.

Support is actually dreadful with Ikea Netherlands referring you to the local store, and vice versa. No call logs seem to be saved / managed, and often the best solution is to drive to the Ikea again (that is what they want) and solve it at the store.