[drew]

^ true. When my wife and I first moved into an apartment, we went to visit my sister in Calgary, and came back with half of IKEA in the back seat of the car...

That being said, after having owned this furniture for a number of years, we have both sworn off IKEA product completely (except the kitchen gadgetry of course). We bought the "higher end" solid wood stuff, TV stand, kitchen table, chairs, coffee table, etc. and 4 years later the stuff looks absolutely beaten to hell.

It's dented, pitted, scratched, chipped. It is slowly ending up in the back lane for the junk collectors to grab. Our kitchen table was basically ruined after ONE poker game (splashing the pot with clay chips dents the table!)

If you are young, starting out my advice is to AVOID IKEA furniture. If you do buy it, get the cheap shit, cuz it will be garbage in a couple years anyway. I recommend looking for used stuff, go to antique places... get creative.