IKEA Billy

> IKEA sells many products in a couple tiers. E.g. if you get the cheapest billy bookcase it'll just about barely hold up if it's full of books and you don't nudge it. Agree, but still I just replaced a Billy bookcase that was over 15 years old and moved in 5 different places with me. It was really ugly looking in the end, and due a replacement. But even Ikea in more recent Billy they replaced metal parts for plastic ones and the "wood" seems even worse.

I have a study furnished solely with IKEA furniture. Billy bookshelves, Galant tables, a wall shelf, etc. Tables are really well made. So are the bookshelves. They are sturdy, high quality and withstand to abuse. There are high quality items, and there are fine and high quality items. What he uses the latter. Take an example. He uses fountain pens (so do I). Montblanc inks, a Lamy 2000. They are not expensive for what they are, yet they are fine instruments. They are made with care. I have tons of inks, yet Montblanc and a couple of brands really stand out in reliability, writing comfort and color quality. Same for L2000. It’s a very understated but a completely handmade thing, with great attention to detail. It’s even too much pen for that money. The furniture he uses are the same. Understated, yet fine. It’s not there to make a statement, but to be enjoyed by their owner. I share the same sentiment. I do not buy anything to impress anyone, but to enjoy. Nobody, sans my wife sees my most prized possessions. I got them to use and enjoy, that’s all.

All the stuff I've brought from Ikea has been pretty good, quality-wise. I've got a set of billy bookcases, a metal-framed desk from their 'desks for office' range, two double beds with mattresses, and a 5-seater sofa. It's all lasted fine. Of course, as a veteran DIYer and woodworker, my furniture has the benefit of being assembled right and treated with respect. And nobody in my household weighs over 150 lbs, which probably helps this stuff last longer.

At least in Germany quality has gone downhill. I still own some Billies made in 1995 or so by Ikea. Literally massive wood and damn good book shelves. The ones bought by me in 2008 or so very noticeably less well build but still ok. The ones we bought in 2018 or so are shit, especially the shelves are so thin that they begin to sag. In 2008 or so a friend of mine bought a "kallax" (another name then) and it was awesome, it's still in his basement and looks good. We bought one in 2023 and it's basically only paint, some "wood" and air. It's ok to store stuff in, but it's impossible to drill a screw into the wood. It's like trying to screw paper.

I discovered recently that IKEA actually do a deeper Billy that you can order online. I've seen them as deep as the Kalax. I used to work there and never knew. Might be helpful for the overhang

Weirdly for me: IKEA. I’m within ~240 miles of an IKEA in Canada and an IKEA in the US. While they’ve started to inflate some items to meet currency conversion rates, some items are still cheaper for me to purchase in Canada directly and bring back to the US. For instance, even at small scale: one BILLY bookcase, article number 205.220.46, is $90 CAD (~$65.70 US) at IKEA CA and $79 USD at IKEA US. YMMV coming back across the border but in my experience I just got waived through the border every time I told them I was “just coming back with some cheap crap from IKEA”.