Hello IKEA friends!
My wife and I have been IKEA customers for over 35 years. That’s why our house is furnished with IKEA furniture, some of which is over 30 years old and has survived three moves. So it was completely natural for us—admittedly without much thought—to choose IKEA’s PAX wardrobes when furnishing our newly renovated bedroom.
What a disappointment! This weekend we assembled the first wardrobes and were let down both by the design and the quality of the particleboard used.
PAX Design – Feet
======================
A PAX wardrobe has no feet. This means the two side panels in particleboard go all the way down to the floor. Our very old IKEA kitchen cabinets (from decades ago) were built this way too. However, many years ago IKEA moved away from this concept for kitchen furniture and introduced feet. Why? Anyone who has seen what happens if a particleboard touches water even for a minute or two knows what I mean—the particleboard swells immediately and irreversibly, and the entire cabinet becomes unsalvageable and must be discarded. Unfortunately, with PAX wardrobes in the 21st century, we are still at this level. A real shame! I had expected a better construction—especially since IKEA offers better solutions in their kitchens. And please, from decades of life experience, I know what can happen over time in a bedroom, even if there is no dripping faucet or leaking drain.
PAX Design – Hammer-in Nuts in the Bottom Panel
=======================================
In the bottom panel, two hammer-in nuts are hammered in. A leveling foot is screwed into the threaded nuts. This whole setup is so unstable due to the low-quality particleboard that even the slightest shear movement causes the nuts to tear out over a large area, resulting in total damage to the cabinet frame. This type of fitting is so low quality that probably 90% of wardrobes moved during a relocation or renovation—and where the leveling foot was not unscrewed beforehand—become defective immediately. Of course, the instructions say to unscrew the leveling foot first, but who remembers that after years? IKEA always presents itself as forward-thinking, resource-saving, and environmentally conscious. But in this case, IKEA has clearly not thought ahead. A pity! There are better and more durable solutions than hammer-in nuts in such fragile particleboard.
PAX Quality
==================
The particleboard material used, at least for the PAX wardrobes we bought recently, has a consistency like crispbread. Fits IKEA, I guess. I’m not a carpenter or wood expert, but IKEA particleboard used to be denser, finer-grained, tougher, and more durable. We tried to seal the rear crossbeam of the PAX wardrobe, which is pure particleboard without any protective coating and would swell immediately if exposed to water, with varnish as a precaution. That was hopeless. Even applying a small amount of varnish to the open-pored IKEA particleboard causes immediate swelling… So we bought laminated particleboard strips from the local carpenter for little money and protected the open edges with edge banding. Comparing a “standard” everyday particleboard from a carpenter with the original IKEA particleboard—what a difference. The carpenter’s particleboard has smooth, fine-pored cut edges with a closed, firm surface. The IKEA particleboard has large pores and loose chips at the cut edges. You can simply crumble the IKEA board with your fingernail and pull out the rough wood chips easily.
Clearly, IKEA saves a lot of weight in transport by using the cheapest particleboard quality that just barely meets the furniture’s functional needs, increasing profit margins and maybe slightly lowering the consumer price. But for me, it means furniture like this cannot be moved again after assembly, let alone relocated. So the only option is immediate and final disposal! Over the past 35 years we have bought IKEA furniture that has survived almost three moves largely undamaged. This new generation of IKEA furniture will not experience that anymore but will take it for granted that IKEA furniture cannot be moved but must be thrown away and rebought again and again.
That’s not sustainable!
fotokatze
My wife and I have been IKEA customers for over 35 years. That’s why our house is furnished with IKEA furniture, some of which is over 30 years old and has survived three moves. So it was completely natural for us—admittedly without much thought—to choose IKEA’s PAX wardrobes when furnishing our newly renovated bedroom.
What a disappointment! This weekend we assembled the first wardrobes and were let down both by the design and the quality of the particleboard used.
PAX Design – Feet
======================
A PAX wardrobe has no feet. This means the two side panels in particleboard go all the way down to the floor. Our very old IKEA kitchen cabinets (from decades ago) were built this way too. However, many years ago IKEA moved away from this concept for kitchen furniture and introduced feet. Why? Anyone who has seen what happens if a particleboard touches water even for a minute or two knows what I mean—the particleboard swells immediately and irreversibly, and the entire cabinet becomes unsalvageable and must be discarded. Unfortunately, with PAX wardrobes in the 21st century, we are still at this level. A real shame! I had expected a better construction—especially since IKEA offers better solutions in their kitchens. And please, from decades of life experience, I know what can happen over time in a bedroom, even if there is no dripping faucet or leaking drain.
PAX Design – Hammer-in Nuts in the Bottom Panel
=======================================
In the bottom panel, two hammer-in nuts are hammered in. A leveling foot is screwed into the threaded nuts. This whole setup is so unstable due to the low-quality particleboard that even the slightest shear movement causes the nuts to tear out over a large area, resulting in total damage to the cabinet frame. This type of fitting is so low quality that probably 90% of wardrobes moved during a relocation or renovation—and where the leveling foot was not unscrewed beforehand—become defective immediately. Of course, the instructions say to unscrew the leveling foot first, but who remembers that after years? IKEA always presents itself as forward-thinking, resource-saving, and environmentally conscious. But in this case, IKEA has clearly not thought ahead. A pity! There are better and more durable solutions than hammer-in nuts in such fragile particleboard.
PAX Quality
==================
The particleboard material used, at least for the PAX wardrobes we bought recently, has a consistency like crispbread. Fits IKEA, I guess. I’m not a carpenter or wood expert, but IKEA particleboard used to be denser, finer-grained, tougher, and more durable. We tried to seal the rear crossbeam of the PAX wardrobe, which is pure particleboard without any protective coating and would swell immediately if exposed to water, with varnish as a precaution. That was hopeless. Even applying a small amount of varnish to the open-pored IKEA particleboard causes immediate swelling… So we bought laminated particleboard strips from the local carpenter for little money and protected the open edges with edge banding. Comparing a “standard” everyday particleboard from a carpenter with the original IKEA particleboard—what a difference. The carpenter’s particleboard has smooth, fine-pored cut edges with a closed, firm surface. The IKEA particleboard has large pores and loose chips at the cut edges. You can simply crumble the IKEA board with your fingernail and pull out the rough wood chips easily.
Clearly, IKEA saves a lot of weight in transport by using the cheapest particleboard quality that just barely meets the furniture’s functional needs, increasing profit margins and maybe slightly lowering the consumer price. But for me, it means furniture like this cannot be moved again after assembly, let alone relocated. So the only option is immediate and final disposal! Over the past 35 years we have bought IKEA furniture that has survived almost three moves largely undamaged. This new generation of IKEA furniture will not experience that anymore but will take it for granted that IKEA furniture cannot be moved but must be thrown away and rebought again and again.
That’s not sustainable!
fotokatze
I’m not sure if this is a matter of old versus new, but rather luck regarding which version you get. I also had different drawer slides in three batches of drawers I bought (first version 1, then version 2, and then version 1 again). Apparently, IKEA often offers similar products in parallel that are probably from different manufacturers but not truly equivalent. I’ve had a similar experience with hinges with soft-close mechanisms. Sometimes the dampers are clipped on, other times they are integrated into the hinge. However, the drawer slides themselves are generally not really good, but at best not really bad either.
F
fotokatze3 Mar 2015 00:26Hello,
... What frustrates me is the downgrade in quality of the drawer slides.
I received "Komplemet drawers" in two different packages; the "older" ones have slides (with green dampers) that operate much more smoothly and look visibly higher quality. The new slides (black damper) always show resistance when opening and closing, making the drawer difficult to move... Hello Pax enthusiasts!
We went to the local Ikea three times until we had matching cabinet hinges. I just don’t understand why there are three different versions of the exact same item numbers in Ikea’s stockroom.
fotokatze
PS: Despite all the difficulties! Now, after about four months, our bedroom still brings us joy (or maybe even more so because of all the effort). The only thing left is the pull-out pants rack, which I need to take out and disassemble again, as it’s so stiff that it’s really a problem to use it without applying force.
R
Riodererste8 Mar 2015 17:40So, dear all,
I am a carpenter and had the honor this weekend to assemble several meters of the current Pax system for good friends. Without going into all the details... My personal opinion: this stuff is junk! And absolutely overpriced. I would never have it in my house.
Well then, with that said...
I am a carpenter and had the honor this weekend to assemble several meters of the current Pax system for good friends. Without going into all the details... My personal opinion: this stuff is junk! And absolutely overpriced. I would never have it in my house.
Well then, with that said...
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