Shop Smart At IKEA

Even if you don’t have an IKEA near you, you can order some of their products online or from their catalog and have them shipped to your door.  IKEA offers some insanely cheap prices on many of their items, but not everything at IKEA is a great buy.

Here’s a list of solid options that are safe to buy at IKEA:

• Home Decor Accessories: Candles, vases, mirrors, lighting, rugs, accent pillows, and other decorative accent pieces.  We have an awesome hanging spice rack that is solid, well built, looks great and was ultra cheap.
• Kitchenware and Accessories:  Some of the smaller kitchen items like utensils and cooking dishes are a great deal and good quality. Specialty glasses like wine glasses, beer pilsners, and martini glasses are all good buys.

• Bedding and Curtains: Pillows, duvet covers, and window coverings are often stylish, well made and worth the money.

• Closet Organizers: They look great, are functional and they have tons of inserts and options, plus you can do an entire closet for a few hundred bucks.

• Organization and Shelving: IKEA’s specialty is creating more space out of a little space, which comes in handy if you have an apartment or small home.

Things to stay away from:

• Furniture: Not all the furniture at IKEA is crap, but a lot of it is.  Most of it is junk and it looks like something for a college dorm room and/or cheap version knock offs of legitimately cool modern designs..  I wouldn’t invest much in their furniture, because most of it is pressed wood and it won’t last. A better bet is to look for solid wood pieces, especially used and refinish them yourself.

• Laminate flooring: I’m not sure if any other IKEA item can lay claim to having more horror stories.

• Cabinetry and Appliances:  They have good looking stuff and they really know how to put together good displays to give you a visual, but most of it really isn’t much of a savings and again your dealing with pressed wood and questionably low quality components.

• Mattresses: This is another area where their prices just aren’t that great.  Better off looking for local deals.