Cheap flat pack furniture

You can't buy what you are looking for nowadays. Furniture is no longer sold as a domestic utility, but as a fashion accessory.

This makes furniture sold for about 10 times what it actaully cost to make and import. The junk is now sold in boutiques, instead of warehouses.

So as poor people we are forced to drive to our nearest IKEA. What do we get there? Yet more Swedish junk. Again in IKEA you don't get useful furniture but some pinewood flatpacked Swedish conconction. Oh Norwegian Wood! Isn't is good? Well actually no it isn't.

The fun part comes from trying to put it together. Then it does fit because the furniture was designed in metric, and not feet and inches like your home.

Or phone up the warehouse and ask "do they sell furniture in metric?" Yes sir we do. What's the height of your cupboards/wardrobes? 1872 mm sir!

Try buying a small light folding table which you can stash away and easily bring out to use a laptop on. Such useful furniture just does not exist.

Make your own. Jesus did.

All that colonial or Indian junk is fit for is the bonfire.

Cheap flat pack furniture is a false economy. You're better of spending your money on decent stuff or picking it up cheaper second hand. I wouldn't bother with eBay as it's mostly rubbish you will find there, get round the old second hand shops and some of the big charity shops that do furniture.

I bought a side unit and television cabinet from a leading store recently. Together they cost £800.00. Imagine my surprise when they arrived in flat pack. The store did not indicate they were flat pack. In fact, the salesman slated cheap flat pack as part of his sales pitch saying it is better to buy 'well built' quality.
When I built them there was a fault with one of the components. I reported it to the store. They asked what the part number was of the assembly. Almost two weeks later a single part arrived by post, damaged. I've taken it all back now and have insisted on a full refund. They say they cannot do that unless the entire goods are faulty and that they have taken all measures they can to rectify the situation.
My solicitor is onto it now and she assures me that a positive result is a certainty.
Unfortunately, because of the legal action, I cannot name them, or hint at their name. Suffice to say that I shall not be going there again.

I agree with everything in this gripe, including the positive side of flat pack furniture - sometimes you really do need something quick and cheap to put up. For example, you're staying in accommodation for a short time, you knock something together that will do the job for that time, and you're not worried about what happens to it afterwards (well, hopefully the materials get recycled but that's a different gripe). The next person to live there does the same thing so the people who put together the kit remain employed.

But for somewhere long term, where the occupants are mature enough to look after the furniture, then yes, a quality craftsman is the place to go.

Suppliers/maufacturers of electrical goods are obliged to conform to The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006.

The aim of the WEEE Regulations is to make producers responsible for financing the collection, treatment, and recovery of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), and to oblige distributors to allow consumers to return their waste equipment free of charge.

I understand that furniture will typically have a longer life-cycle than say, a computer but if manufacturers of cheap furniture were governed by a similar regulation then maybe we'd see better quality furniture being produced.