I'm looking at getting a new sofa, and Ikea's 3 seat Ektorp Sofa currently has my eye. What I want to know is, would it take a combined weight of, for extreme's sake, 700 pounds and not give out? I have some heavy relatives, and I don't want the couch to break under use.
lol Best bet, if you have access to the sofa, is to look for solid construction. Tell the sales people you want to flip the thing over to inspect the underside. I mean really abuse the thing on the sales floor, then ask for one from the back. That is the sole purpose of 'floor demos', to be demo-lished.
I always found the biggest issue with Ikea anything is that it's not built to be moved around much. Computer desk's for example, cant survive a lot of apartment moves. As for weight, I agree with outlawaol. Take a look at it on the floor. I've seen some Ikea stuff that is pretty solid. And other stuff that is just not up to par.
Try the flame test. If it is particle board it will only take about 5min to ignite and burn up. If it is hardwood it will take about 30min. And I wonder why i keep getting kicked out of furniture stores.
Oh! Me and the deaf, dumb, blind nymphomaniac triplets! Serious couch testing. Were I young again. john
Yeah ive had an ikea table destoryed by a 7 stone girl... Sofas might be a little better built tho RwD
I love the things they sell, but rarely does their stuff feel solid in-store. During assembly, slipping in some grommets and less skimpy nuts/bolts will greatly reduce squeakiness in the long run. If the thing you're buying seems too gimmicky, it probably doesn't actually work in a real household.
I've found they range from tough as nails to as flimsy as a piece of paper. Just best to test the ones in store really and try to figure out if they'd be ok.
Your living room must be EPIC Some of it is grand. I have quite a lot of shelves and cabinets etc in my uni house from Ikea and the landlord actually got a large "L" shaped sofa for our living room last year. It's really well built and has had 8 or 9 of us on it at a time watching movies etc and hasn't shown any signs of being weak or breaking. Some of them are great but some that we saw on the shop floor were flimsy so like the others have said you just have to take a good look at it before you buy it. Make sure there are plenty of cross-members on the underside, and that it's made from pretty thick wood - those are good signs of a strong sofa.
I think the sofa range is plenty hefty enough really. I had a sofabed at home for a while, and although it was a rubbish bed, it was very robust indeed. As said, just pitch up and start molesting the example on the demo area.
this. most of their really cheap stuff falls apart very quickly. but the more expensive ranges are very good. their GALANT range of work furniture is very robust and can take being moved around and dismantled a lot, mainly because all the screw points are into plastic lugs drilled into the wood surface rather than just straight into the wood. your best bet is to go into the store and be quite heavy handed with the stuff as you check it out, watching for any creaks or flimsiness. that, and just stay well away from the cheapest stuff they sell. (another thing: ikea beds? awful. stay together well enough but SO CREAKY. ugh. really, really can't wait to get a new one)
As above, it could go either way (flimsy rubbish or solid as a rock). I've typically found (unsurprisingly) that it is the more expensive stuff that is more solid, by which time the price is on par with other places that don't come with the Ikea look/feel/stigma. Our Ikea wardobe is only 18 months old and isn't healthy. In hindsight I wish we'd spent more on something more decent up front rather than saving a few pennies and having to replace it more frequently.
Having been kicked out of ikea bristol for taking photo's i would recommend anything with a guarantee of 10 years as they are build to last. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S39839762 is a nice product and has a steel frame.
Sofas are usually ok, had a few springs go in some that I got from there.. Beds on the other hand. Don't bother. My girlfriend bought one recently and the slats keep falling through due to the side bowing out because of the pisspoor quality of the struts that are meant to keep it rigid and in shape. It's currently being held together with lashing and ratchet tie downs meant for trucks.
YES. don't buy the flexible slats. ugh. it's not nice when you are asleep in bed all relaxed and POP *fall*
My bed has slats which aren't held in place so they all seem to migrate together in some kind of weird bed-slat entrophy. Also trying some of the softer mattresses is Ikea felt like felt on top of a rock. I'm barely 60Kg/120lbs (freakishly light) and I still went for the hardest mattress.
Ikea beds are funny sizes aren't they? They only take dodgy continental-European sizes mattresses? Or is that just FUD?
