Ikea dresser -- will it fall apart?

[Anonymous]

Here's my question: I'm considering buying Ikea's Hemnes dresser, but I don't want to shell out $300 for something that will fall apart. (My impression of Ikea furniture is that it falls apart easily, but maybe that's because I've only gotten my Ikea stuff second-hand via Craigslist.) Anybody have experience with the Hemnes?

(In case you're wondering, I need a dresser that I can put together myself because our stairwell is very narrow and tricky to navigate.)

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

LOVE my DS's Hemnes dresser. he has the taller one. I think it's about 3 yrs old now, almost. I love the look.

It is much, much sturdier than the IKEA dressers of, say, 15 years ago. In particular, I am impressed with the upgraded "fine furniture" drawer glides used. They're every bit as smooth and durable as the drawer glides in my and DH's $1800 Drexel Heritage dresser.

[Anonymous]

No experience with Hemnes in particular, but our child has a 7-year-old Ikea dresser. While it has served us well, the knobs now fall off and the piece is due to be replaced. We also had two wardrobes that, by 5 years old, had permanently bowed shelves and sides.

Any Ikea furniture purchases will either be shelving/storage (with which we've had better luck) or something we plan to replace within 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Yes, ours has - the bottom pieces of the drawers have warped out of the treads and we keep having to pop them back in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, ours has - the bottom pieces of the drawers have warped out of the treads and we keep having to pop them back in.

Is this the Hemnes dresser or a different one?

[Anonymous]

We've had the Hemnes for 3 years - used it as a changing table, too. No problems - love it.

[Anonymous]

We've had the Hemnes dressers (both the long, low dresser and the taller chest one) for about 5-6 years now. We even moved houses and they held up very well... Still quite sturdy and nice. The only problem we've had is that one of our cats jumped onto the tall one and "missed" slightly, so there is a claw scratch on the top drawer. But they've been great.

[Anonymous]

We've had a Hemnes dresser for about 8 years now -- moved probably 2-3 times in that timeframe. It's in rough condition (probably should be replaced). That could also be because it's for my husband's things and he is a bit rough on everything.

We also have a lot of pieces from the leksvik collection and they have held up really well through all those moves.

I am cautious about buying ikea furniture... some has served us really well and some hasn't.

[Anonymous]

I bought a Hemnes dresser for my son's room 2 years ago - I found in the as-is room for $100 and it seemed like too good a deal to pass up. The drawer glides are nice and it has held up reasonably well, although we've also had problems with the drawer bottoms popping out (one of the lessons is that you can't use pressure-mounted drawer dividers.) Also, the wood is pretty soft, so it tends to be prone to marks and gouging. For me, it was well worth it for the transition from baby room to big kid room... but I doubt it will survive much beyond that.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP, but we just got the low Hemnes dresser to use for our new baby and I appreciate all the info about the drawers. It's good to know that it generally holds up well (I was also impressed with the smooth sliding).

[Anonymous]

I have a dresser purchased from IKEA in 1986, when I was still in high school. It has been dragged from college, school, various apartments - and now is in my baby's room and still looks good.

I just bought a Hemnes dresser a few months ago - it looks great and is actually more solid than the 20+ year old one, so I'm guessing I'll get 30 years from this one!

[Anonymous]

started to fall apart at about 4 years for us. looking to get rid of it now at 5 years.

[Anonymous]

I think the main thing with Ikea furniture is to take your time and make sure that you assemble it correctly, first time. We have some that I assembled and some that DH assembled. He made fun of me a little cause it took me so long.. well the stuff I assembled is holding up better. The shelves where he messed up and we had to take apart again, are now really wobbly but the exact same shelves that we got right first time are pretty sturdy. Make sure things are lined up well before screwing, etc.

[Anonymous]

I don't have that particular dresser, however about 80% of the furniture I have right now is from Ikea, and it is very sturdy. Make sure you take the time to assemble it correctly and it should be fine.

[Anonymous]

not necessarily. I have an IKEA mini-chest of drawers in my closet to hold my workout gear and it's going strong after years of daily use. I think they've improved the quality of their stuff in recent years.