There's a lot of traditional Swedish food that is pretty good, but they just don't do well "on the market" because in the end, they look extremely bland or sound disguisting (pickled herring, anyone? No? Bah).

One thing I love about IKEA is that mostly you know what you get... Buy their cheap furniture, and you can rest assured that something will be badly fitting or something is missing... By some weird miracle you mostly end up with a functional piece of furniture anyway though...

They do have some really well designed and thought through things, some of it dirt cheap too.

Oh, and voidcore, hadn't realised that you are svensk... Tjena hejsan...

I've never bought anything bad or "badly fitting" from IKEA, it's mostly been relatively top-notch. Of course, after about 10 years to the day, it completely falls apart. But I think that's a design decision.

Of course, IKEA has a incredibly wide variety of stuff. Some stuff (like their slippers, or their trashcans) are just piecemeal crap that you use until they break, and then buy another one. I bought like 10 bed-sheets the other day, for less than 150 SEK (~15 Euro) to use for banners. They're crap, but if all you need is a bit white sheet of cloth, there's none better.

I live next door to the country that created IKEA.......Scandinavia rules!

I have had some funny experiences with things that aren't exactly standard in size or hight. Means you have to buy all extra pieces at IKEA. Smart buisness

I found that Ikea-furniture is "non-moveable". You can buy it and put it in your apartement but when you move out, the best thing to do is to just sell it to the person that is moving into your old apartement.

If you try to move it, it will just fall apart (except the smaller pieces).

Ahh, and don't buy their food. It is really horrible!

(Why does my spell checker refuse to work in this forums?)

I'm currently in the throes of re-designing/building my office ...nothing available anywhere actually 'suits' so I'm digging out some MDF and the odd jigsaw and will be building my own.

The number One criterium is that I have a spot for the computer box with 'rear access'...so adding altering cables isn't a pain in the bum.

That, and placement for plan drawers, Drawing Board, A3 copier, etc ....nothing 'off the shelf' will ever do...

Any of you ever spare thought towards earthquake proofing? There is apparantly a massive one building up on the west coast that has yet to cut loose. Its a tossup as to when it will actually happen but the smart people say "probably within our lifetimes".

I have about 50 odd pounds of stuff shelved over my computer desk and if the big one hits it will all rain down on me and my computer.

I found about this recently, there is a 20% chance of it happening by 2050, All I will wory about if I lived on a hill side, ex: West Linn, OR, will the houses actually stay an not slide down the hill, my desk is made out of metal same with computer being steel sided so I am not to woried about that, I used to live in California and they are way past due for the big one by like 20 years.

I love going to IKEA for finding ideas. But frankly, a lot of the stuff isn't that cheap for its quality. Supposedly, they make an extreme amount of profit from people walking through the entire store picking up "small" stuff like icecube-makers for the freezer or a plushie that is also the lid of a boiling can or that floor lamp for $15. Stuff that you absolutely don't need but will buy nevertheless because it's so damn cheap and who cares? Well, those items have like a 500% to 1000% profit margin. In retrospection, although I don't buy IKEA furniture more than I have to, I have on the other hand never walked away empty-handed. They do have a nice variety of office chairs that are expendable.

My computer desk is from IKEA. As is my chair, dresser, lamps and a pretty nice futon bed.

If you don't mind assembling it yourself you can find some good quality stuff at very good prices.

The instructions are good, as is the hardware. I supplied my own hammer and screwdriver, but any special tools are included.

And a big factor in the lower pricing is that they are world-wide. They sell the same stuff in such a great volume all over the world. And in these bad economic times, places like IKEA are getting more and more attractive - especially for those of us on a very tight budget.

BTW....my Kitchen is IKEA ....

Anyone want about 20 Allen Keys....ALL the same size?

What are you people talking about? Everything on IKEA fits everything else on IKEA. If you really tried, I'm sure you could create evil, man-eating shelf/sofa hybrids!

While not everything is cheap though, I don't agree that a lot of the more expensive stuff isn't cheap for it's quality. The majority of IKEA stuff is so simple that you have to TRY to break it.

And yes. Expendable office chairs! IKEA is the savior of the habitual LAN:er!

You know whats funny about IKEA, there instuction booklets on assembling things such as cabinets, are like caveman drawings.

Maybe it's different in other countries, but in Sweden you don't have to go through the entire store. There are shortcuts, although not well marked in the store, they do appear on the maps.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2142/2266410321_8c0e039f5c.jpg?v=0