IKEA

WHY ARE THE MEATBALLS SO GOOD?!
It’s been 3 days since discovering the meatballs and I’ve already been back twice for them. I also joined the IKEA FAMILY card so I get a discount for the meatballs. Im addicted and i cant stop…
I will be back tomorrow…

Not the best IKEA I’ve been but the location is good for and opens late most of the week. The Parking is lightly hard to find during the weekends. The food is quite average. But I was most annoyed when picking up for my bed frame the staff left out one of our bed sleights and we had to go back again for the other pair.

It’s Sydney’s original IKEA and surprisingly it’s still as busy as always, even though St Peters is not far away. I just can’t stand the children’s section and I can’t ever imagine being able to stand it even if I had kids. It’s a mission to get out of you only want one thing. But I don’t know if it’s just me getting older, but I find the stuff in there looks a lot cheaper these days.

Dear Ikea,
Recently I’ve been on the hunt for a new bed frame. I wanted to say that we stopped at your store first because there were a few frames that caught my eye. However imagine my disappointment when we came in store to realise that the solid looking frames are in fact cheap pine that wobbled if you even moved on it. Let’s not even discuss the cheap thin pine boards to support said bed. The beds themselves ranged from $ 499 +.
Now imagine my surprise when I walked into a local wood furniture shop that sells Australian wood made to order for less than your beds! And the boards under the bed? Are at least 15 cm thick with the frame not about to fall apart if you wiggle on it.
It cost me less to get them to custom make me a bed and deliver it than it would have cost me to buy from your store.
Either improve the quality of your furniture or stop ripping people off.

As a regular at Ikea prior to discovering the world of Unilocal it is somewhat difficult to write a review without to going into far too much detail about getting meatballs on arrival and the $ 1 hotdogs on the way out, following the arrows and everything on the way, but I’ll try.
There is a child minding service before you head up the escalator. Having never used the service I can’t really rate it but the children all look to be having fun.
At the top of the escalators I strongly suggest you turn left and head to the cafeteria. Swedish cakes, meatballs in decadent sauce and all the other menu options that I’ve failed to try due to the deliciousness of meatballs… Really an ikea meal is absolutely necessary at any time of day and did I mention the free drinks refills? Just don’t expect to get your usual coca cola company soft drink because it’s everything Swedish here!
Once your tummy is full you’re ready to hit the displays. The level of detail in the display rooms is absolutely amazing! Many of the drawers and cupboards are set up with things you would expect to find in the room type you’re looking at, the bookshelves are lined with books and other items and beds are made in all rooms complete with cushions and throw rugs. If you are looking for design inspirations this really is the place to find it. I really recommend avoiding the place on a rainy weekend or you’ll never see anything through the sea of people, normal weekends are bad enough!
Once you’ve made it through the displays get ready to get your warehousing skills on because you have to find all your boxes of flat packed furniture, lift it and scan it yourself. It’s all very well laid out and everything is easy to find but as a mummy of two I have to advise that no one tries to get through this process alone with small children, you won’t make it out with your sanity!
Remember all those yummy cakes and meatballs I told you about earlier, well on the other side of the checkout you can buy all those scrumptious goodies to take home with you! There is a good selection of Swedish foods and lollies that is well worth a look and on the way out grab yourself a coffee to celebrate!
The fun continues when you get home because you get to curse over the pictures that don’t make sense at first glance and screws that just won’t go in straight… Then when you put the second identical item together, it all goes together with such ease that you have to assume you were the issue and not furniture. I really hate putting together flat pack! I guess that’s the downfall for me but the huge variety has me going back over and over again and every time I swear I won’t by flat pack furniture again… Then I do.

I set a new record this visit: must have sat in maybe 20 chairs in the little fake offices and living rooms, and stretched out in, oh, ten, fifteen beds. I highly suggest you try it, it makes the whole «rats in the maze» endeavour much more pleasurable than simply trying to scurry through as fast as you can, cart dripping with things you didn’t need.
You’ll need a good few hours. And when people annoy you, which they almost certainly will — the arguing couples, the thirty-​something daughter snapping at her mother, the insouciant I’ve-been-dragged-here husband — simply smile a beatific smile and float off to the nearest bed. Kick your shoes off. Wiggle your toes. If anyone asks, you’re product testing.
And at the end of the maze? All the $ 1 hot dogs you can eat. It’s like Christmas.

OK so I usually shy away from IKEA as a result of past experiences wandering its labyrinthine halls with the (non)soothing sounds of other peoples screaming children milling about my feet… unable to escape the store due to it being crammed with people… and screaming children… and a confusing layout… oh dear.
That sounds more like a nightmare. To avoid said nightmare, I’ve found that its best to shop here early! This means before 11am. The proximity of this time to breakfast means you can be relatively caffeinated throughout the process — thus making it more of a fast paced dash of pleasure.
The store has the usual IKEA layout, with the top floor featuring sample configurations of rooms using IKEA furniture so you can see the size of things, what things would look like together with other things, and play with drawers etc. The bottom floor, aptly called the market hall, features all of the items you can carry away from the store: from kitchenware to furnishings, linen, plants, candles, knives, and also the flat packed furniture such as bed frames, couches, shelving, and anything else you can assemble with a handful of screws, cam nuts and an allen key (some say this is a therapeutic process… some people say a lot of things).
All in all when you visit IKEA you will either:
a) leave with a bunch of stuff you didn’t know you needed (read: browsing)
b) acquire a bunch of cheap to moderately priced furniture of medium to medium-​high quality, which you can have fun assembling at home
c) consumed a multitude of Swedish delicacies from the store cafeteria, such as salmon and meatballs (and machine-​coffee)
d) be consumed in a crowd of furniture seeking families, with an immediate desire to find the closest exit, but a lack of knowledge in which way to turn (read: you should have visited in the morning…)
IKEA. THE must-​do Swedish shopping experience, in Australia.

Everyone knows the furniture but I want to talk about the restaurant. All my friends in the US and Canada rave about the Ikea restaurants there because you can get a pizza or burger for $ 2 and feed a family of 5 for $ 10.
Here it’s very different. During the day you have plates which cost $ 8 – 12. These are your usual meatballs, fish & chips, chicken that you’d get at any food court. The sizes are also similar, though some of the items appear less oily than a food court. But it’s all made from the frozen Ikea food you can buy downstairs. Not exactly cheap. You get drink refills and free water but that’s about it.
For breakfast it’s worse. There are 2 choices, again $ 8 – 12. Sausages which look like shrivelled up oily zombies and scrambled reconstituted egg powder and meat balls. Not appetising at all. Unlike other places you can’t change items you don’t want (oily zombie sausages) with something else.

IKEA! Everyone knows the place. Your one stop for everything homewares!
It’s The Swedish supergiant of home wares and it also had a cafeteria too!
This review is going to be based around the cafeteria inside of ikea.
This place caters for people of all ages food wise from baby food to salmon for the adults. And price wise it’s pretty hard to beat!
Children’s meals like meatballs or pasta and chips is $ 3.99 and adult meals are around $ 10 they have cakes muffins salads wraps baby puré and jelly. Not mention down stairs after the checkout you can buy pizza hot dogs and ice cream and they have their own little Swedish food stall so you can cook the food you ate here at home!
Way to go ikea
P.s the meatballs are my fav!

The flat-​pack company! Who doesn’t love IKEA? The Swedes seem to know how life is best done.
Although, you can get lost in the copious amounts of bedroom and kitchen furnishings set up’s. However, if you know the short cuts you can be in and out of here in 15 mins flat!
It seems on the weekends this place is like a couples retreat! They are everywhere… So if you want to avoid the crowds you can always go in the early evening as they close at 9pm most nights!
The restaurant sure does serve up some delicious sweet potato fries and ribs. Sugary treats to ease that sweet tooth of yours and also Salmon and veggies for those health freaks. Open until 8.30pm most nights.
Great bargains and gift ideas.
Check it out for yourself!

After my furniture delivery woes, I now love my new furniture. I went back last Sunday to buy a few more things to decorate my home.
Good quality items at good value. If I could take my last update back I would.
Thanks Ikea, you have solved my delivery issues with finesse the last time I had to pay you a visit. Thankfully as of last Sunday, my experience with you was quick and seamless. Thank you :)

A fun way to waste hours of your time, imaginging all the DIY projects you could complete and how your home can look better!

Food for thought — IKEA has a restaurant — do you think you have to build your own sandwich?

IKEA. You love it or hate it. An endless maze of cheaply made and yet well-​designed homewares, some people see IKEA as a creeping spectre of globalism and other people see it as a place to buy a cheap and nice lamp. Where you rest on this issue is up to you, but I can safely say that this place has enabled me to set up a house cheaply and efficiently or to fill a need quickly on many occasions.
Of course, if you want something a little different, you can try some IKEA hacks, projects which involve using pre-​existing IKEA products to create something new. I’m about to work on this felt iPad case, which you can find here:
Who knows what kind of Frankenstein you will develop with the bits and bobs here? Something useful and Swedish, no doubt.

I’m not here to shop, rather, because it’s the only establishment inside the entire Rhodes shopping complex that offers wifi. It’s a large industrial space commanding sunnies for the obnoxious fluoro lighting (and my post Melbourne Cup hangover). A vast cafeteria setup I reckon fills right up every Saturday and Sunday morning. The hot breakfast for $ 1.95 including snags, bacon, scrambled eggs, tomato and hash browns reinforces my theory. I’m onto these guys. Reel em in nice and early with a cheap as it gets breakfast bargain, so they can spend hours meandering the Ikea retail maze. That’s the only way out… as I soon begrudgingly discover. Richard Marx and Billy Ocean blasting in the background is a welcome distraction from the screaming kids in the play area. The Swedish meatballs with mashed potato and lingoberry comes in three sizes to fill every stomach. The line is long and I’m impatient so I reach for a ready made smoked salmon wrap ($ 5.95) and head for the cashier. I’m then confronted with someone’s Atlantic salmon fillet with carrots, potato cakes, and chive and dill sauce ($ 11.95), and realise my impatience has cost my tastebuds. The salmon looks good and smells even better. Another popular starter is the Swedish meatballs… go the whole hog with the meatballs, Swedish apple cake, and apple or pear cider for $ 10. Add salad and bread rolls for just $ 2.50. And $ 2.25 for unlimited coffee and tea or unlimited soft drinks. Important to get your energy levels up before you navigate your way out of there.

IKEA operates in thousands of cities across multiple countries, generating millions of dollars in revenue and profit. The successful business model has been built on low cost furniture and self assembly. Despite the affordable pricing, there are a few disadvantages to buying at IKEA.
The company operates on Just-​In-​Time Management, where items are ordered based on past turnover. This means that items are not always in stock, causing a delay to furniture assembly if parts are not stocked. A repeat visit to IKEA may therefore be necessary.
The quality of goods is average due to cheaper materials used and assembly taking place in China. The contemporary, modern look at affordable prices means that customers can regularly update their furniture.
The staff are few and far between and have little knowledge about the products and their whereabouts. A little more product knowledge would be a great advantage. It can be frustrating trying to find a staff member only to hear them confess they know little.
It is very difficult to find your way out of IKEA, especially because there is only one exit and you have to walk through the maze of goods to reach the exit. Before reaching the checkout, customers must pickup the pieces of furniture in the warehouse before going through to checkout. This can be tedious when trying to find the pieces and can be difficult if the goods are heavy and far from reach.
Delivery is overpriced and is not included in the price. Delivery from an external company can result in breakages which are often not covered. Self assembly must then be undertaken, which is time consuming and sometimes more difficult than it looks.
However, if you’re on a budget, Ikea can be the perfect solution to your monetary constraints. Ikea stocks affordable products that are idea for first home buyers.

Think of flat pack furniture and the one name that pops to my mind is IKEA. They have managed to build their entire business on that concept. Quite ingenious I think.
Ikea has a huge selection of furniture at vey affordable prices. It is the perfect one stop shop for decorating or renovating your home on a budget. They offer furniture and furnishings, so you can mix and match to guarantee satisfaction before paying for it.
The quality is quite poor though in my opinion as they mainly use particle board, which is not solid wood. Also after a few months, everything just reminds me of how cheap it is and I find myself wishing for more designer stuff.
I also hate the fact that once you enter the store, you cannot escape, or make a quick exit. You always have to go ’round their aisles and rows and pass almost every product to get to the exit. I absolutely love their dishwashing brush and for $ 2.50 (cheaper if you’re an IKEA member) it’s a steal! But every time, I step in to buy that, I end up spending 25 minutes getting to the exit. Money vs Time? Hm. I seriously need to start analysing my priorities!
What I love about IKEA, is their design style. Their showroom displays their enormous collection and you will often find the same product used in a different room or in a different way that it constantly inspires me to think differently.

IKEA is built on the open plan feel which makes the store easy and effortless to navigation, while the signage cleverly guides you around the several areas of the store. On most the store is clean, although some products did appear in the wrong section, due mostly to discourteous customers.
Once you find someone to give you a hand, they’re very approachable, and seemed happy to help, although mostly directional information, and not a full service sales approach. (i.e. pointing you to the product as compared to walking you there).
Although the staff are not overly knowledgeable on locations of stock, without the use of the computers, and this interrupted the flow of the experience.
Most stock is available in the stock hall, and staff were helpful on how to find/​order stock which may be at a different location. So if you’re thinking about buying a lot of products, bring a large car or trailer.

Ikea is the brand I love to hate.
I love their furniture, it’s simple, funky and affordable. I hate the experience, time-​consuming, stressful and seriously, what is with the food there?
I know that Ikea has invested a lot of time trying to get people to like their shopping experience, this is yet to change my views though.
So here’s my top 5 tips to Ikea Homebush.
1. Do not go on the weekend.
2. If you must go on the weekend go early or late in the day but avoid lunchtime.
3. Go on a Monday night. It’s calm and relatively empty.
4. If you know what you want aim to get there one hour before closing time so you can race through the store and avoid the random «it just looked really cool» purchases.
5. Don’t park in the designated Ikea parking area it’s always full and stressful. Park a floor above and use the pedestrian ramps to get your vehicle.

No review of IKEA in Sydney? That needs to be fixed!
Accessibility: An easy 5 minute stroll from Rohodes train station /​5 stops from Central. What more could I possibly ask for?
Range: The Australian stores seem to run a limited range of c. 80% of what is available in Europe — but it’s still sooo much better than what you find in other places
Prices: Should I say «normal»? For example: I needed bed linen. The cheapest one I could find at Maroubra Junction was 69.90. At IKEA, a full set (bed linen, single duvet cover, 2 pillows) was 17.99. That’s four for the price of ONE. Dig this? Oh and should I mention my flatmates (not knowing the price) spontaneously complimented me on how nice it looked?
Service: A bit below average. Although some staff were exceptionally nice, the packing area had run out of supplies (packing paper). When I tried to get someone to fill it up, I got sent around in a loop only to hear «we an’t got none». Wasn’t a big deal though.