> Greentext

Absolutely untrue.

Ikea is not the same grade as custom made real wood furniture, that is true. But it is exponentially cheaper and easier to transport. And on top of that, speaking specifically about Ikea vs other similar options, it is roughly the same cost but in my experience higher quality.

If you go buy flat pack consumer-assembled furniture from a big box store like target or Walmart, in my experience you've got at least a 40-50% chance that you are missing a piece, it's damaged, the instructions are shit, etc. Since we started buying stuff at IKEA I have done quite a few builds. Never once have I even had a missing piece. But on top of that the quality control on the machining and fit of parts is head and shoulders better than equivalent options from other big box stores. I never have to force things, they fit as designed, etc.

I'm not here to say Ikea is super high quality furniture compared to real, heirloom quality furniture. But it's laughable to claim that it doesn't occupy a very useful and necessary niche between real furniture and Walmart crap.