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Comments (133)

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  bborud
  An architect friend of mine once said that he admired IKEA above all other furniture manufacturers because it made a modern range of aesthetics available to the masses. IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer.And I do have to agree. I can remember what ghastly furniture most shops used to have around here. There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look good, just be practical. (Well, some people like that look, but it is a bit...dull). Sure, there was more solid wood furniture, but guess what: that durability comes at a cost. Not only in terms of money, but also in terms of how easy it was to install and move.And who buys furniture to pass it on to your kids? Your kids will be unburdening themselves of your old furniture before you are in the ground.As for quality: I have owned some pricey designer furniture and I can't say that I'm always impressed with the quality. Yes, if you have a lot more money you can get really well built furniture. But IKEA is more often than not more than sufficient quality. (Also see their "hidden tags" campaign)If I pay $5000 for a chair I have reason to expect a lot from it. And more often than not, pricey furniture doesn't actually deliver sufficient quality to be able to defend the price. (Collectible furniture is a whole different deal where you don't actually care all that much about quality, but more about it being an original piece).For those of you who look down on IKEA furniture, I'd like to hear about what alternatives you think need mentioning. Especially for young people or people of modest means. And I'm not trying to make some clever rhetorical point here. I can't really think of any company that offers what they offer and comparable quality, looks and price here in Europe.
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  vanrohan
  IKEA furniture is great for small adjustments to fit your needs. Not costing a fortune also makes it easier to experiment with it. Since they're so common, it's easy to find CAD drawings for most of them. I did a small hack/conversion on a Billy closet to hide some pipes in our apartment. https://vanderwalt.de/blog/customizing-ikea-billy-to-hide-pi...
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  Beijinger
  There are tons of websites like this: https://ikeahackers.net/I read, IKEA first wanted to have them closed down, but then they realized, it does not matter why someone buys their stuff, as long as they buy it.I like Ikea. I lived in so many countries, and it is an excellent place to buy furniture if you have to. But I consider it "throw away" furniture. Quality is okay or soso and it is unlikely to survive several moves.If you can afford and have a place for long term. Buy better stuff. Used quality furniture, even antique, can be incredibly cheap.
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  ssharp
  Whenever I looked at using IKEA stuff to hack or incorporate into a larger build, the cost, effort, and quality never seemed worth it to me.I built my current desk from some butcher block counter tops and shelfs and 4x4's. I don't think it cost me all that much more from what I could have done from IKEA and the quality is astronomically better.If you're already dealing with saws and drills to hack the IKEA stuff, you really only need to toss is a sander and maybe a router and you can just work with real wood.
• jameshart
  One of the best furniture life hacks you can recognize is that you can replace the top panel of most self-assembly storage furniture items with a custom work surface suited to your usecase.Take two drawer units, and instead of putting the tops on them they were supplied with, put a slab of desktop across both of them with a gap between and you’ve got yourself a desk.
• arjie
  Great work, mate. Workbench looks spectacular. I happened to find a cheap relatively-stable one for my 3d printer but I really should have tried to assemble something like the one you have. In the end it worked out because the measurements land perfectly for my wife and me to have our desks with the printer, homeserver, assistant rig, and Cricut CNC in the middle. But I think she would have enjoyed the IKEA rework more. Good photos of the process too. Thanks for sharing.
• martinclayton
  Some time ago I realised that second-hand Ikea furniture is a cheap source of material for DIY projects. Facebook Marketplace (UK) has plenty of Pax cupboards which provide useful large boards. Prices vary, but you can pick up almost pristine items for almost nothing. If you don't need whole boards, spot damage is acceptable. Buying similar new materials would perhaps be better, but cost considerably more.
• ljf
  I used to spend hours pouring over the https://ikeahackers.net/ site - but never actually hacked much of our furniture (no more than adjusting the height, or changing handles/worktops).As cheap as Ikea was, being in London in my 20s just as Freecycle started, meant we ended up with a lot 'vintage' furniture for free or next to nothing - some we still have now.
• maxglute
  Most impressive / annoying thing about Ikea is how they keep value engineering products, some products are cheaper relative to inflation vs decades ago, but at the same time it be nice if they just settle one some "timeless" perennial basics like lego. The expedite -> kallax transition still lives rent free in my head, and my curse is being able to identify either sku from a distance.
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  noizz
  As a Kallax enjoyer I used to hate that I was limited to ~32cm width and height, it took me years to realize that I can just remove some of the dividers and make the nooks either wider or taller if I rotate (!) the shelf. It obviously affects load carrying capacity, but it's still plenty strong if you are smart about it.
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  torginus
  I was thinking along the lines of Ikea-style furniture from scratch. Most local hardware stores carry these giant CNC routers, and the technicians there can cut particle board sheets to requirements.How cool would it be if they offered a simplified furniture CAD program, where you could choose what material you need how many shelves of what size, etc and it would generate the needed program that would drill the required holes, and would tell you what size of screws and pins and dowels you need to pick up.I definitely would use something like that, instead of trying to cut preexisting furniture to size.
• eezing
  IKEA is trash. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
• sheepscreek
  I love KALLAX the most of all IKEA series. Sturdy as heck, can take a lot of weight, extremely versatile and durable. I've used it as a bookshelf, for putting boxes away, as a wardrobe organizer, you name it. Oh and the price is right. Nothing else comes close.
• borgel
  If people haven't listened to the episode of the podcast Acquired about the history of Ikea[1], I strongly recommend it. Fair warning, it's 3.5h long, but the story is fantastic and the hosts do a great job making it engaging.[1] https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/ikea
• culebron21
  At Leroy Merlin, you can order either particle boards, or normal wood boards, whether 16mm for walls, or 30mm for the table top, cut to your sizes (as long as they're rectangular), with end faces laminated as well, and all of that at a fraction of the price.I had a broken cupboard in a rented apartment, and just built a new replacement one for €15. The bureau in the article could cost 2x..3x of this, which is still lower than overpriced IKEA furniture. (Good furniture, that isn't made of cardboard, is overpriced in IKEA.)
• seshagiric
  Creating luxury closets from the modest PAX platform is my favorite Ikea hack read (currently working on such project). And by the way, the non-nerds take it to a different level.https://erinkestenbaum.com/2018/12/12/hacking-the-ikea-pax-i...
• egwor
  Working with blunt blades can be really dangerous. Worth taking consideration for next time.
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  zkmon
  "Hacking" when used in the context of furniture actually means breaking it with an axe.
• kurren
  Enzo Mari's Autoprogettazione Some 52 years ago.https://archiyou.com/articles/enzo-mari-s-autoprogettazione-...
• katsukare-
  For functional sturdy furniture like this, if you are OK with the look, you can make the base/frame from aluminium 80/20 extrusions (the kind with t-slots and all kinds of standard brackets etc for fastening them together). Misumi has a simple CAD interface to design a complete unit, and this generates a single part number for you to purchase everything cut to length, with holes if needed, and all required accessories and fasteners to assemble it. You can easily add a wooden countertop or shelves if desired.It's not very cheap but it's infinitely configurable (unlike Ikea hacks) and doesn't require much skill (unlike building from wood at least if you want it to look OK).
• a1o
  I like the Trofast system for making stuff for storing kids toys and organizing their rooms. Honestly there is a lot to love and customize about their offerings for kids and luckily the good stuff also gets picked up by other manufacturers/suppliers, so you get access to other things that go together - furniture too, but also stickers, and other functional decor stuff. Because kids grow up fast and you may be swapping/change their stuff more often, it’s a god send to have these to help out.
• pbnjay
  Re: the slight wobble, you should be able to find some inexpensive thin-sheet backing board at a hardware store. Use small ribbed tacking nails or glue around the edges to attach it at the back, and it should help stabilize and prevent racking.
• jfengel
  A non-hack I learned about yesterday. I was taking apart an IKEA dining room table. The screws and bolts were obvious, but the top would not separate from the frame.After much parsing of the assembly manual (which took some effort to find online since they don't make this model any more), I realized that the top had slid over a knobbly dowel. Pulling horizontally popped it off.I Sharpied the directions on the bottom before I reassembled it. We'll see if far-future me can figure out what I meant.
• TN1ck
  I recently did my own hack that turned out great - it’s a drawer + desk hack. It takes some planning, but so satisfying when it works out:) https://www.reddit.com/r/ikeahacks/comments/1srj3g9/malm_m%C...
• dclowd9901
  Anymore I almost don't buy any IKEA stuff without intending some modification. I do woodworking as a hobby so it's nice to be able to skip all the rote stuff like building a large flat wooden surface or a square box or table legs. I can just focus on building a highly focused and functional piece of furniture for my space.
• zyralab
  IKEA hacks are the perfect way to get into woodworking. Low prices mean you don’t have to stress about making mistakes!
• bdcravens
  I couldn't find any kind of an enclosure that fits the TidyCat Breeze XL litter box. The toy box drawer (Smastad) was big enough, so I cut an entry hole on one side, and a hole on the back side for removing the pad insert.
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  PeterStuer
  Always wonder why those "IKEA Hackers" don't just start from plain furiture panels. More quality for very little less effort.
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  taude
  People do so much hacking and such on things like the Billy bookcase. They'd be just better off getting the plywood and building the carcass themselves, and it'd be 10x more durable than the ikea cardboard version. I've watched several videos of people spending multiple weekends turning them into built-ins....and then at the end of the day, it's still a cheap ikea, cardboard shelf, that will bow under weight, etc....
• Snoupy
  Minimum Carpentry Protocol (MCP)
• Brendinooo
  Love a good IKEA hack. Readily available, standardized, low-cost materials are a great platform to build creatively!
• mikeaskew4
  Build more real stuff, everyone.
• cptskippy
  What is the device at the end that looks like a laser engraver sans laser module?
• atoav
  Ahh I just created a blog post about my Ikea Helmer modification: https://atoav.com/2026/08/30/ikea-helmer-mod/Turning the thing into something a little bit more mobile.
• iLoveOncall
  I have this whole website dedicated to it bookmarked since a long time: https://ikeahackers.net/
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  greatgib
  The low cost makes it perfect for diy as for an amateur you know that you have the safety to be able to easily buy a new unit if you screw up.Looking into ideas, I was a little bit disappointed to not find community website of people sharing ideas, experiences and results around such hacking.
• uncivilized
  In typical HN fashion, the blog post is a run of the mill “hack” and instead of commenting on the article, a Hacker News instead word vomits their favorite IKEA furniture.
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