IKEA or American Furniture Warehouse (Arvada, Craig: 2013, apartment, cost)

[emm74]

Neither? I have shopped at both stores. AFW is very much not my style - heavy, dated looking pieces mostly. Probably there are a few things hiding in there I could tolerate but not worth spending the time to try to find them. For Ikea, I would buy things like book shelves, maybe a coffee table. But I don't consider their upholstered pieces to be nice enough quality and I thought their dressers were not sturdy enough for long term use. I would have bought Ikea furniture at a different time in my life but at this point, I can afford to move up to the next price point and buy things that are a higher quality and will last longer. There are plenty of other furniture stores in Denver besides just these two.

[JrzDefector]

I like Ikea because I can get everything I need for the house there, not just furniture. Their styles are simple but appealing and very versatile. It's easily repurposed. I can afford it. Most of the stuff I've gotten from Ikea I've had for over a decade.

As for the ethics, well, honestly, I don't give a crap. It usually works out to six of one and half a dozen of the other. I boycott firms based on ethics only when there is an egregious reason. Chik-Fil-A for example was very vocal about it's opposition to gay rights and it supported Focus on the Family, a charity I disagree with entirely. I didn't eat there for ... good lord, it's been about 5 years and I always loved their food. Only just started stopping there again now that gay marriage is the law of the land. I'm not much of an ethical consumer, but if you want to donate to an extreme organization that goes directly against my values, well, that makes the choice easy. I mean, it was easy to pick another fast food place to patronize.

These days, I'm down on Sonic because I heard their servers get paid crappy and I've long been frustrated by the lack of a tip line on my receipts. I don't carry cash most of the time, and it's embarrassing not to be able to tip when I order something and get good service. There are like five other fast food places to choose from in my immediate area should I get hit with hunger pangs, so why would I go there?

[Mr. Analyst]

AFW seems to be more affordable and offers more traditional furniture options. IKEA has some nice household items, but they tend to offer more modern/trendy furniture styles which I'm not a huge fan of. However, I've had furniture from them that I purchased in college and they've lasted a long time. It's solid stuff. IKEA does have some really cool and cost effective kitchen and bath remodeling options as well.

At AFW, you can walk to exactly the place you need to go. At IKEA, you're forced to walk through their maze, which can be highly frustrating considering how packed it is there on a given day.

Bottom line is that AFW's strong suit seems to be on traditional furniture sets that are cost effective. IKEA's strong suit seems to be on home remodeling projects. IKEA has a lot more going on than AFW, which primarily focuses on furniture.

[TechMike]

I would agree that IKEA is good when doing some minor remodeling.

I recently replaced the ceramic title kitchen countertop in our house with some laminate from IKEA. Their price was reasonable, and my wife liked the style better than what we could get from the big box stores.

We did go with a new kitchen sink that we found at Home Depot though because IKEA's equivalent was just too much.

Our bathroom sink and medicine cabinet are from IKEA. Again, my wife really liked the style. I liked the old one, but my wife gets to make most of the interior design decisions

[Robert5]

I have not bought any furniture in more than 10 years. <shrug>
IKEA does have a very good selection of closet systems that, as far as I know, are not available anywhere else for close to their price.

[Timmyy]

We just bought furniture from AFW and love it. I have only been in IKEA once and I wanted to run out of there screaming. Not my cup of tea. My neighbor across the street redid their entire kitchen from IKEA.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by JrzDefector

I like Ikea because I can get everything I need for the house there, not just furniture. Their styles are simple but appealing and very versatile. It's easily repurposed. I can afford it. Most of the stuff I've gotten from Ikea I've had for over a decade.

As for the ethics, well, honestly, I don't give a crap. It usually works out to six of one and half a dozen of the other. I boycott firms based on ethics only when there is an egregious reason. Chik-Fil-A for example was very vocal about it's opposition to gay rights and it supported Focus on the Family, a charity I disagree with entirely. I didn't eat there for ... good lord, it's been about 5 years and I always loved their food. Only just started stopping there again now that gay marriage is the law of the land. I'm not much of an ethical consumer, but if you want to donate to an extreme organization that goes directly against my values, well, that makes the choice easy. I mean, it was easy to pick another fast food place to patronize.

These days, I'm down on Sonic because I heard their servers get paid crappy and I've long been frustrated by the lack of a tip line on my receipts. I don't carry cash most of the time, and it's embarrassing not to be able to tip when I order something and get good service. There are like five other fast food places to choose from in my immediate area should I get hit with hunger pangs, so why would I go there?

lol! I've never eaten at a CFA, but I avoid fried fast food.

IKEA is a great place to stock a kitchen. They have great dishes and utensils. I just don't buy the things that take a ton of assembly, like a dresser or entertainment unit. We got an entertainment unit from them in about 1997 and while it looked great, it barely survived one move.

[headingtoDenver]

We've bought a few things from IKEA and AFW. Some things are good at both and some things are not good at both. For instance, both my computer desk and my wife's computer desk are from IKEA and they are great desks made from solid pine. I know pine is a soft wood, but so far they still work and look great. They were a fraction of the cost of a decent desk from any other furniture store.

Now, we did buy a couch from IKEA and it was a waste of money. The couch isn't comfortable and is of very cheap quality. I later bought a loveseat for my office which is also a pullout and it is much better quality than the IKEA couch we currently have.

As others have said, are either of these stores great quality? I think you get what you pay for. If you want top notch furniture, you wouldn't be in either of these two places, but that's just my opinion.

[JrzDefector]

Originally Posted by denverian

lol! I've never eaten at a CFA, but I avoid fried fast food.

IKEA is a great place to stock a kitchen. They have great dishes and utensils. I just don't buy the things that take a ton of assembly, like a dresser or entertainment unit. We got an entertainment unit from them in about 1997 and while it looked great, it barely survived one move.

My life would be far healthier if more fast-food restaurants would tick me off.

But I was just browsing the AFW website, and I really didn't LIKE any of their products. Too ornate for the most part. Ikea stuff isn't high quality, but they keep it simple enough that you don't immediately think "Well that's tacky." It mostly just looks utilitarian, which I appreciate.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by JrzDefector

My life would be far healthier if more fast-food restaurants would tick me off.

But I was just browsing the AFW website, and I really didn't LIKE any of their products. Too ornate for the most part. Ikea stuff isn't high quality, but they keep it simple enough that you don't immediately think "Well that's tacky." It mostly just looks utilitarian, which I appreciate.

We have one recliner from AFW, a more modern looking fake leather one. If I get 5 years out of it, I'll be happy. But yeah, most of their furniture isn't my style. Like they had an "extra wide" rocking recliner with camouflage fabric and built in cup holders lol! Perfect for your double-wide

We did splurge on an Ethan Allen sectional sofa about 8 years ago and it still looks and feels like new. But it cost the same as a used Honda