What furniture store doesn't suck?

[StageLeft]

We need some bedroom furniture. Apparently people who burn money in their hearths go to Stickley furniture and the like. We just want to spend a few K on a bedroom set that isn't made of particle board and going to collapse if it's moved. I'm reading a lot of bad stuff about all of the companies we've checked out (all major chains). It's hard to know what percentage of actual sales these complains represent, though.

Are any of the big chains known for decent furniture and averse to a screw you customer mentality?

 

[OCGuy]

Ikea is the BEST

 

[Ns1]

craigslist is the best, by far

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I miss the place I got my dining room set from. It's all solid, but they lost their lease and went out of buisness. There is a place my parents have gotten a lot of furniture from but it's only a local chain and they're way the hell expensive (IMO).

 

[blackdogdeek]

we got a great bed frame at west elm. i don't know if it's only an east coast retailer or not. the other pieces were from macy's (nice), ikea (utilitarian and ugly) and target (good enough).

we also sometimes look at crate and barrel but they are pretty expensive (like the west elm stuff that isn't on sale)

 

[MJinZ]

Well, Ikea has some OK stuff if you're not concerned about it lasting you many many years, and especially if you are not settling down, I wouldn't hesitate to get some stuff there.

However, pick and choose carefully, some Ikea stuff is pure crap.

 

[Bryophyte]

We couldn't find much in the way of well made furniture, so we went with a shop that makes it themselves. We have started to replace our cheap crap with custom made, for a decent price. All hardwood, fantastic construction, any finish we want.

 

[NoCreativity]

I would look for local places that have only a couple locations. That's where we seemed to find the best quality/price ratio. JC Penney had some decent stuff, though a lot of it was garbage.

 

[IronWing]

Antique stores can have good stuff. There was a lot of poorly made furniture way back when though.

 

[highland145]

We couldn't find much in the way of well made furniture, so we went with a shop that makes it themselves. We have started to replace our cheap crap with custom made, for a decent price. All hardwood, fantastic construction, any finish we want.

This if you can find it for a good price.

In laws owned an "antique" store, with ~75 seller booths, for years. Solid oak furniture in good condition came in all the time. I couldn't buy the oak for what it was selling for. Some may need refinishing but over all a great deal.

Or time for your own shop.

 

[Fritzo]

Ikea is the BEST

LOL. Don't strip your allen wrench!

Usually family owned stores are going to be best as they will order from smaller volume suppliers. Look in the phone book for those "not on TV" places and check for things like solid wood construction, etc.

 

[Juddog]

Ikea is awesome but it's a 3 1/2 hour drive for me to get there.

 

[SandEagle]

vcf.com

 

[AstroManLuca]

Friend of mine bought rental return furniture. Matched sets that were barely used (again, used for rentals like staging and other things) for much less than new prices. I'm not sure where you can go for that stuff but it's something to look into.

 

[PepePeru]

after searching for a couch + love seat recently, i couldn't agree with you more.

Pushy vulture salesmen that won't leave you alone. Cheap shit, trying to sell the 'stain protection plan' and the like.

We ended up with a pretty cheap ashley set, which I'm not really happy with, but whatever. It was pretty much shit or get off the pot time, we'd looked for about 2-3 weeks and the SO was getting impatient with my fickleness.

 

[Bryophyte]

Ikea is great for short-term use furniture. It's college Sauder-grade furniture with better style...but it's cheap, poorly constructed shit that will fall apart under normal use within a short time.

 

[Juddog]

Ikea is great for short-term use furniture. It's college Sauder-grade furniture with better style...but it's cheap, poorly constructed shit that will fall apart under normal use within a short time.

Your story is cool and all that, and imma let you finish, but the Ikea jerker desk was the best of all time!

 

[vi edit]

Ikea is great for short-term use furniture. It's college Sauder-grade furniture with better style...but it's cheap, poorly constructed shit that will fall apart under normal use within a short time.

Pretty much my opinion of it too. Great for pimping your pad on the cheap. And nothing more.

As for Skoorb...I just say go look at a locally run oak/hardwood store that sells solid wood stuff. I've bought tables, desks, and chairs from those type of places in the past that have withstood moving across multiple states...multiple times and held up very well.

 

[StageLeft]

Ikea is the BEST

You see in fact I think Ikea is a hell hole. All the furniture there is designed to explode after a short time, it's terrible laminated crap.

craigslist is the best, by far

We're trying but pickings are slim.

some Ikea stuff is pure crap.

100% literally pure in every definition of the word. I think it's a furniture store for fresh college grads furnishing a studio apartment and nothing more.

We couldn't find much in the way of well made furniture, so we went with a shop that makes it themselves. We have started to replace our cheap crap with custom made, for a decent price. All hardwood, fantastic construction, any finish we want.

We get some stuff from an unfinished furniture place and I've built some decent stuff but it takes a long time and I have too many projects, plus there's a big diff between an end table and a chest with drawers but I'm going to check on the unfinished place again. Most of the furniture is solid wood.

LOL. Don't strip your allen wrench!

haha, too true!

We ended up with a pretty cheap ashley set, which I'm not really happy with, but whatever. It was pretty much shit or get off the pot time, we'd looked for about 2-3 weeks and the SO was getting impatient with my fickleness.

This is basically right where we are. I don't want to buy laminated particle sh*t or other crap that's going to fall apart and only looks nice in the store until the first season of drying out or whatever and it's rinky crap.

 

[JMapleton]

Nebraska Furniture Mart - the country's largest furniture store.

 

[BoberFett]

Furniture stores all suck. They're just slightly behind used car lots on the sleaze-o-meter.

Worry more about the manufacturer than the store, that's what makes the difference.

 

[ss284]

Crate and barrel isnt amazing, but styling is decent, and materials are better than ikea.

 

[BurnItDwn]

When I bought my sofa and kitchen set I wound up setting on getting stuff from Value City Furniture and Harlem Furniture.

They both have a mix of trash in with the "solid" ....

Bought a leather sofa in 2004 from Harlem, it's still in great shape.
Bought my kitchen table and chairs at Value City in 2004, in perfect shape.

I've moved once since then as well.


My dresser is a semi-cheapy particle board one, but it's lasted over 15 years...
I have a nice coffee table that a friend of the family made from Oak, it's awesome!

Otherwise all my bookshelves are cheapies (have a bunch since I stick all my dvds, books, games, and lots of PC junk in them)

I have 1 cheapy desk that I keep my printer on, and use the deskspace as an actual desk, then 1 cheapy computer desk that I use for my work laptop, then 1 cheap computer stand that I use fro my server, and then a desk I built using 2 file cabinets, a 6 foot countertop section , 2 by 4s, and particle board for my windows box and spare box ...

Sadly, most of my furnature is Walmart, target, ikea, cheap crap ....

 

[Uppsala9496]

Ikea does have some solid wood furniture. Then again, you are still assembling it.
It will be a fraction of the cost of everywhere else. If you are only looking short term (10 years) then it is a great deal. Allows you the excuse to get new stuff if the style goes out.

I HATE Ikea furniture, yet ended up getting 3 dressers and 2 bedside tables from them (all solid wood with NO particle board pieces). In the process of putting my place for sale and wanted to make the room look good.
If everything survives the move, great. If not...well, I'm not out a ton of money.

 

[CraigRT]

I disagree that all Ikea is crap. Some of the stuff is great, and it's fairly obvious when you are comparing something that sucks, to something that doesn't.

I bought a desk there a few years ago... The thing is really solid.. It's well designed IMO. I searched high a low before settling on my Ikea desk.. It is one of their better quality pieces.

That in no way speaks for everything they sell, however.