Originally Posted by bnuk

I see a lot of ikea stuff not as being cheaply made but as being designed simply. It's still well made. So often in order to get some that is quality you have to get something that is more than you want. It's like most companies will put zero effort into the design if it is going to sell for a cheap price.

Its hard to explain but here is a good example.

I wanted some bamboo blinds for my porch. Home depot and Lowes had the ones with thick peices of bamboo and heavy duty latches and all but it would have been like 150 for 3 of them. Wallmart had these plastic ones that just looked shitty. Ikea has these simple bamboo and rope shades for like $7 a peice, they are simple but well made and look nice.