Sorry, this is a bit of a rant…

I had to assemble an IKEA flatpack cabinet today.

I always find this process painful because, to me, the instructions are always lacking (and a lot of other flatpack kits have followed IKEA’s trend of picture-only guides). How hard is it to put a name below each component on the parts page (so I know what this weird thing is when it appears on page 22!), or indicate what’s the top/front/back/etc.?

Today it would have been really helpful to know which edge was the top and front for the sides of this kit, rather than flipping back-and-forth through the manual to work it out. The irony is that they got so close to realising this was a factor, since the instructions did actually have two procedures (depending on whether your ceiling was high enough to stand the cabinet up after assembly or whether you needed to assemble it in-situ).

Is it just me and does everyone else just find it easy to follow the instructions, or do a lot of other people struggle with them too?

  • reversedposterior@lemmy.world
    2·
    5 days ago

    I kind of enjoy parts of it but I fully agree with your point about having a little bit of a description or labelling rather than images that you have to stare at for ages to make sure you are putting the right thing in the right place. I’ve complained about this exact same thing to others.

    Personally I’ve found that the metal stuff works a lot better than the wooden stuff from IKEA. The holes and screws are all machined and precise so there is less room for error. The wooden stuff sometimes doesn’t line up or you split the wood or something else goes wrong a lot of the time.

    • Australis13@fedia.ioOP
      2·
      5 days ago

      I understand that they’re trying to make it language-agnostic, but I do think it would be helpful to at least have the part names on the components page (even if they’re given in multiple languages). Today’s kit had a jig for the nails to help you align them for attaching the back panel of the cabinet, but it wasn’t initially clear what it was for (even with the picture “demonstrating” its use). Labelling it on the parts page would have saved time trying to work out what it was for, especially since (at first glance) the picture looked like it was some kind of spacer to keep the top of the cabinet off the wall!

      I agree about the tolerances on the wood kits too. You’ve got to be really careful screwing in the pins that are used as part of the joins, since if they’re not perfectly aligned it can be a real pain to get the two pieces to fit together.

    • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.caEnglish
      32·
      5 days ago

      I buy a lot of IKEA stuff for home and work. I have literally never had an assembly problem or alignment problem. Nothing ever cracked, and the furniture lasts forever.

      I hate to break this to you guys, but those pictogram instructions are designed for someone with a third grade education world wide.

      • Australis13@fedia.ioOP
        2·
        5 days ago

        Well, all I can say is that clearly there’s a subset of people that those pictograms don’t reliably work for. I am tertiary educated, so well beyond third grade!

        As for the products, I have not had issues with longevity - most of the kits are chipboard (particle board) and I have reasonable expectations for it (as long as you avoid moisture it can last ages).