I’m sympathetic, Ellen Ruppel Shell, I really am. C’mon, El – you know very well how I feel about shoddy craftsmanship! But you can make the case more effectively than this. At the very, very least, can you cite some sources? 3rd-largest user of wood by *what* measures? Far from city centers, yes, but that’s generally in the suburbs, no? And let’s be honest – who gets any furniture repaired nowadays?*
But put down your 59-cent Färgrik coffee mug and ask yourself: Can we afford to keep shopping at places where an item’s price reflects only a fraction of its societal costs?
*This is one of my least-favorite words. When one of my students uses it (invariably in some grand opening pronouncement about the state of the world nowadays), I cross it out and scrawl “GGRRRAAAAWWWWWW!!!!” across the page. I think they get the picture.
There are two problems with Ikea furniture, one easily fixed, the other impossible to fix.
The first problem is fiberboard, chip board, etc. There’s no solution. Ever.
The second problem is that most decent furniture has glue holding the joints together, in addition to whatever bolts, mortises and tenons, or other means are present. Having each part glued really makes for a much stronger whole.
Ikea furniture (at least the stuff made from solid wood) can be made far more robust by simply gluing and clamping together all the parts. Of course, I strongly recommend fully assembling the item first.
As I save up–with lust in my heart–for the Hile Eastwood Chair and Caledonia Studio Settle (and wait for my mastiff puppy to outgrow his fetish for gnawing on wood!) my butt will continue to plop down on my POS Ikea couch. What can I say: the price was right. I dearly want to surround myself with handcrafted, heirloom quality furniture, made by people in my own home town (well, at least Caledonia is), but it’s going to be a slow process to get there . . .