Is IKEA furniture expensive or affordable to most people?

I consider the prices both high and unrealistic.

The level of material in, for instance, HEMNES coffee table is not in line with its $120 price. The material represents, at the outside, maybe $50 to purchase - please note that that is purchasing the materials at retail. IKEA's cost will be wholesale, a lot less. The machine work to cut it to size and install fasteners is negligible.

Not joking. Negligible. The machines are huge and expensive and not cheap to run, but they can generate thousands of joints and fastener installations per hour. I would estimate the added machining costs of the table at not much more than $5.00.

Shipping and handling. No idea what that costs. It depends on where the table is made, and that's probably China.

Considering a similar table of no better quality can be had at Walmart for about $75, I believe a fair portion of that $35 difference is in the name.

You would do better to take your $120 to a place where you can purchase lumber, buy some wood and some screws, a screwdriver, carpentry square and a saw, and build your own table.

And then build another with the material you have left over.

My experience with IKEA furnishings (and in one memorable instance, appliances) is that it is cheaply made of the cheapest materials and not very sturdy.

As a counterpoint, in about 1988 I purchased some Pine Factory crate style furniture. The sofa, for example, cost about $300. That's equivalent to about $615 now so it was a pretty expensive sofa - but I'm still using it! It looks great and wears like a cast iron pan - without pushing it over a cliff, it just keeps being what it is, a sturdy sofa. So far it's cost me the equivalent of $22 per year (2016 dollars, not 1988) for a good, sturdy sofa.

For an IKEA sofa to deliver at that level, it would have to last at least 14 years. And I just don't see it happening. In fact my mom bought some IKEA sofas for her living room five years ago and is rapidly becoming displeased with how they've held up. I don't think they'll go even ten years.

Is it cheap to buy today: maybe. Depends on what you call cheap. Is it cheap to own: no.

Can you do better: definitely.

Ikea's $499. slipcover couch was compared to similar styles by higher end manufacturers and found to be of the same quality, at a much cheaper cost.

Because most of IKEA furniture is receive in pieces and put together like a kit, it is not well made with quality carpentry joinery.

I think if you chose carefully, you can get value at a reasonable price

I believe IKEA has a lot of items that are cheap, but that doesn't make them affordable. They advertise that they are inexpensive because they use a cookie cutter process to make their items, but to me, a $1000 bedroom set is indeed expensive, especially if you'll have to buy another one in a couple years due to its poor quality.

Yes, they have $5.00 lamps and $10.00 tables, but what good does it do your pocketbook to buy these items if they'll just break and need replacing?

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I believe it's quite affordable for most people. Of course some people will find it expensive, but for most, it's very affordable.

Very affordable.

They have different models of different stuff but usually the most basic models are always affordable

The furniture is cheep, however that reflects in the build quality and materials used.