Yuck yuck IKEA!

Just moved back to TW after being in Beijing for 8 years. I have sent a 40FT container with my furniture and other things. But I was looking at Taiwanted for a few things that I do need and always prefer to buy secondhand when I can. To recycle is always best. But after looking at the ads on TWed, I think its only for people that have no taste. Just IKEA IKEA IKEA IKEA!!! Yuck! The best is some were selling IKEA things that are a bit broken and asking a price which is close to the original price. One funny one was someone who had a SAMPO coffee maker 2 years old and was asking 500NT$, you can buy a new Philips for 450NT$ at Carrafour. aiya!

You just don’t understand furriner’s tastes. :wink:

Its just that IKEA FURNITURE has no SOUL!

I’ve also noticed that big noses charge more for 2nd hand stuff than locals. Thank God for a combination of local missus, language skills and Yahoo auctions.

I know what you mean. They are so stupid! I have seen so many “english teachers” come to Taiwan and will sell things for the almost the same price they paid. Nimrods!

I am quite satisfied with the stuff I’ve bought in local furniture stores, cheaper and better quality than IKEA. IKEA is too crowded for me, and I prefer when a store throws in free/inexpensive delivery.

I also bought several pieces of 2-nd hand furniture in the past, and I agree that you gotta be more careful because I’ve seen them charging quite a premium. Got a couple of deals, like with my huge bookshelf for only 1000, from a proper 2-nd hand furniture store in Xindian.

Still, even for a newbie, I’d reccommend to get nice new stuff. You never know how long you’ll stay! (and getting rid of 2-nd hand stuff is too much of a hassle)

Its the people who buy it off them who are the nimrods, surely?

can’t beat the 39nt breakfast.
With endless expresso for the gingerly ones.

Psst! Wanna buy a Klorpsht? Good condition. Some water damage on the particle board veneer. I’ll throw in a fishtank. Great deal for somebody new in Taiwan, trying to set up shop!

hahahahahahahahahaha

Can’t argue with that! Plus it’s not that inexpensive (for that quality level) and they don’t deliver for free, so why would you bother? I know a good furniture shop in Neihu that has a good range of prices and quality levels. We bought a lot of bookshelves with glass doors and got a much better deal than at Ikea, with personal discussion with friendly sales people about the implications of the different quality levels and choices. We got free delivery, too.

Ikea is also a trap. It’s set up like a maze, forcing you to go through the whole store. Even if you want exactly one thing and want to be able to walk straight to it then to the cashier, they won’t let you, which is SO BLOODY IRRITATING that I go there as little as possible. If there’s ever a fire in there, most of the customers will die, unable to find the exits quickly.

Ikea is good for a few inexpensive knickknacks, and the Swedish meatballs at the cafe are good (and inexpensive).

[quote=“Dragonbones”]

Ikea is good for a few inexpensive knickknacks, and the Swedish meatballs at the cafe are good (and inexpensive).[/quote]

The Taiwanese furniture stores I have seen offer poor quality at higher prices, and don’t start me on the design. Ikea is not grat quality, however the design itself is OK.

I like my Ikea desk, which is the biggest desk I have seen here. It is formed like a boomerang, and it works well. I like my nIkea bed, which is cheap and has given good service, even though I have taken them apart and reassembled them a couple of times.

That said, I hate their mealballs, they suck, way too salty.

Yeah, I’m definitely not talking about the average local store. As for the design, well, some people like things with a clean, modern design which are made from cheap materials. I don’t like simple modern designs, and loathe things made from cheap materials, so IKEA is a loser on all fronts.

I agree with Dragonbones – there are indeed many good furniture stores here, some very good indeed, at far better prices and usually with personalized service and free delivery.
All kinds of stuff. We recently got several beautiful high ladderback dining chairs in a kind of Charles Rennie MacKintosh design. Solid teak throughout. NT$2,200 each, reduced to NT$1900 because we bought four. Free delivery. Compare that with what? NT$1,700 for a shitty birch ply chair with tubular steel legs from Ikea?
Suuuuuure!

By the way, you don’t have to go through the maze at Ikea – there are all kinds of “secret doors” leading to the next section, so you can basically walk straight through. They don’t like you doing this, though, so a stink eye and a suitable means of deployment is needed.

As the Sandman says, you can get pretty nice deals in the local stores. Xindian has several streets full of small, medium and huge furniture stores, some even with interior decorator services. Temptations, temptations…

You know, you can even order your own stuff. I am saving for a couple of custom made biggish pieces.

Furthermore, I do also prefer solid wood rather than DIY stuff -too much patience required to assemble- and heaven knows I do not trust to sit on those things. I can get the same stuff on Yahoo Kimo for a third of the price, if I wanted.

Yup, you can tell them the dimensions you want, if it differs from what’s in the catalog, and they may be able to have the factory make it, with very little change in price. You can also order things like extra shelves very easily, whereas in places like IKEA and RTMart that’s probably difficult or impossible.

One good place to order furniture from is Muji. The only problem is most locations except one at Zhongxiao Fuxing has some items. But you can also order from the cat. The quality is amazing and the design is very clean and simple.

[quote=“sandman”]
By the way, you don’t have to go through the maze at Ikea – there are all kinds of “secret doors” leading to the next section, so you can basically walk straight through. They don’t like you doing this, though, so a stink eye and a suitable means of deployment is needed.[/quote]

Yes, you just open some bookshelves and go through the bad quality back of it. :wink:

I have to admit that I bought my silverware at Ikea. Was tired of tasting the metal form the silverware I bought in the local shops. But I have to say that I have found some pretty good deals in local shops for furniture. Like a 2 seater 1/4 thick leather sofa made in Italy for the price of 8000$ (and that was new).

If you are buying furniture just take your time and don’t buy everything at the same place (as we men like to do) (fuck I hate shopping).

:wink:

The 39NT breakfast.

As a Swedish person I’m offended by that comment! :wink: