6 comments for Tuesday questions: A piece of Ikea »

1. You can get one for free from Ikea. Granted, getting to Carson or Burbank from Santa Monica can be a bit of a pain by transit (although you can view it as a grand adventure, I suppose).

   Comment by Don Hosek — June 12, 2007 @ 1:49 pm

2. As Don mentioned, Ikea will give you another one if you can get there. (It’s helpful to bring the instructions with you so they can see the part #)

   I once bought a table there which was missing some wooden pegs, and once I bought a cabinet with a defective door latch. Oh, and once I had a chair break, and they replaced the whole thing, which was pretty damn cool. (I was just expecting to get the one broken part replaced.)

   Don’t get the wrong idea.. most of the Ikea stuff I buy has not been defective or missing parts.. I just have a lot of Ikea furniture.

   Comment by Tim Buchheim — June 12, 2007 @ 3:37 pm

3. I like Ikea because they make so many products, and they prove that nice design doesn’t have to be expensive.

   However, they are not very green.

   The furniture isn’t very durable, so you end up replacing parts regularly. It’s hard to fix things yourself because the pars are specialized (you can’t get that doodad at your local hardware store!). Then there’s the whole particle-board air-pollution thing, the big-boxiness, etc.

   I think the low prices and the low durability make people treat their furniture like it’s disposable. Kudos to you for trying to fix up your drawers!

   I know the company has tried to green itself up…. Mostly by pushing CFLs and something about using sustainable timber (anyone know more about that?). But every time I go there, I feel some serious green guilt. I’d rather spend more money on well made, durable new furniture that will last a long time (even better, used furniture!).

   But that’s probably why I don’t have enough furniture in my house!

   Comment by Rafi — June 12, 2007 @ 3:52 pm

4. Home Depot carries Ikea replacement parts in the Hardware section

   Comment by jimmy — June 13, 2007 @ 12:40 am

5. Last I had a missing IKEA part, I called them and had them ship it to me. Yes, it cost a bit extra - but the mail carrier is coming my way anyways, so I saved a trip *and* got to be nice to the environment ;)

   Give them a call, explain that you don’t have a car, ask for shipment. Or go to Home Depot - I just have no idea if there are any ones close by

   Comment by Robert 'Groby' Blum — June 13, 2007 @ 3:09 pm

6. I had no idea that Ikea had such wonderful replacement policies! I did go to the Burbank Ikea via bus once — but I think I’ll just not use the drawer until the next time I happen to need to go to Burbank and can drop into Ikea on the way — Thanks everyone, for letting me know ’bout Ikea’s policies :)

   Rafi — I hear you with Ikea not being eco-perfect. They are, however, in a bit of a middle ground, if one considers biz as usual in the US. Ikea has to live up to European standards — higher than the US, as you can imagine — that’re safer for the consumer and for the environment. That said, they are def. not the cutting edge peeps. You do have to look for the FSC label to make sure you’re not unwittingly clearcutting rainforests. This is the reason I always recommend that people give 2nd hand furniture shopping a good chance before resorting to Ikea.

   I often hear the argument that — just by making furniture so cheap — Ikea’s promoting a disposable mentality re: furniture. However, I’m of the opinion that this disposability issue has more to do with indiv. mentality than Ikea. Meaning: I’ve owned Ikea pieces for a long, long time without having them break on me. In my experience, the disposability of Ikea has more to do with people deciding to replace stuff that doesn’t actually need replacing than with any faultiness with the longetivity of Ikea furniture in itself….

   Comment by Siel — June 13, 2007 @ 7:10 pm

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