I've started wood-gluing together my IKEA and other flat-pack furniture to try and increase its usable life since - as you said - it's counterproductive to dis/re-assemble most of it anyways. I've not been at it long enough to claim effectiveness, but so far nothing has started to wobble.
replyI do the same. I don’t plan to take it apart but wood glue is part of any woodworking shop and I don’t see why assembling Ikea should be qualitatively different. I want my assemblies to stay together, not vibrate, to feel sound. Gluing joints is fundamental.
replyThis is the way.
replyEven the cheapest cardboard-filled IKEA units hold together much better when glued, and makes moving the units less stressful (no more "it's creaking / skewed when I pick it up").
For what is worth, I had an IKEA kitchen for 12+ years, we disassembled it and gave it to some people that could reuse it, and it's still fine. OTOH my IKEA couch fell apart in half that time, but my wife fixed it up and it lasted until we renovated. We gave that away too.
replyIKEA has a wide range of products, some fall apart quickly, some last longer.
The finger jointed pine stuff is much more robust than the mdf or hardboard products.
replyIKEA does stuff not out of MDF and cardboard?
replyyes, the lingonberry drink they serve in the cafeteria. :)
replyactually they had some metal garage shelves that I thought would be ok.
They turned out to be SUPER flimsy and wobbly.
I think they optimize for shipping weight, which means 'solid' suffers.
I’ve heard their kitchens are far higher quality than the rest of their products. Why - not sure.
replyFive years is not much in terms of a furnitures lifespan, i own some pieces my grand grandmother already used that got passed down the generations.
replyI highly doubt this will happen with ikea furniture. But thats the tradeoff for cheaper and affordable stuff i guess.