Dearest Ikea,
We love you. We really do. But yesterday you exploited that relationship and I just can’t bite my tongue this time. Just because “some assembly required” is one of the terms of our relationship, it does not mean that we want to put together every single thing that we buy from you. This means you Kassett storage box.
Sure, putting together your furniture is often part of the Ikea fun. Not only do we gain an affordable and stylish item for our home, but it comes with a guaranteed sense of accomplishment. But there’s no pride in having to assemble my own cardboard box. None at all. Need I remind you that an item like this comes free (and fully assembled!) with the purchase of simple things like shoes and cereal? So why must each of yours require multi-page instructions, a dozen screws and 15 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back?
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a break from all that allen wrench action. But having to punch out 24 holes by hand was a bit ridiculous. You even went as far as to perforate the holes, but stopped short of removing them completely. Really? Or was that a bonus gift. I get a storage box AND complimentary confetti?
In summary, it took me nearly an hour (and 48 screws!) to put together the four Kassett boxes that we bought this weekend. That’s more time than it took me to assemble the Expedit bookcase that houses them. They do look pretty darn good in the end. And I can’t complain about the $6/box price tag. But please, charge me the extra buck or two that it takes you to ship a pre-assembled box (I know shipping things flat saves me money, but a flat bookcase or bed is a lot more of a space saver than a 11.5″ box). I’m begging you. Help me help you help me. And I’m sure that loving feeling will come a-floodin’ right back.
Sincerely, John Petersik
PS: Thank goodness the top of the box came pre-assembled. That, my friend, could’ve really been a deal breaker.
Megan says
I know exactly how you feel. I bought 3 of these boxes about a month ago and I think the blister on my finger from hand twisting the nuts/bolts has finally healed. What is that about??
Morgan says
Oh no! I should have warned you!
I own two of the green boxes, and went thru the same thing you did. I love IKEA, but I found this particular project to be somewhat ridiculous. Thanks for sharing the ups AND downs of your home improvement!
Good luck with the basement/crawl space, I can’t wait to see pictures!
Christin says
Bravo John. Bravo. Thanks for saying what I, and so many others I dare say, also feel. I love Ikea, but sometimes it just hurts to have to put EVERYTHING together. My husband and I have spent much time assembling Billy Bookcases (6 actually in varying sizes) to then have to assemble 8 of those very same boxes. It’s a little heartbreaking, no? However, congrats on finishing them all! Can’t wait to see your and Sherry’s next basement update!
Laurel says
We have the same boxes – I feel your pain.
Janis - Glasgow says
I feeel for you but this is oh so strange as I bought a couple of these a month or so ago and they came ready-made – maybe they think we folk in Scotland don’t know how to put stuff together – Thanks IKEA for that though!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Janis,
No fair! They come pre-assembled in Scotland?! Maybe someone over there sent them a note like ours (if only it were that easy…).
xo,
s
Lorrie says
I wish that I could feel your pain!
Living in Missouri, we are IKEAless and it hurts….really, really bad! We have the catalogs and online access, but for whatever reason nothing is ever available to ship to our area. I think I have mentioned this to you before. It is soooooo frustrating for those of us needing and wanting to decorate on a budget! Has anyone else had this problem?
Ashley Crawford says
I feel your pain. I had the same situation with the CD boxes from IKEA. It was *almost* not worth the assembly time, only almost.
Mary Mcmenemy says
So true! I just bought these same boxes for my daughter’s room and was surprised at how much assembly was required. Of course the first one I put together w/out consulting the pictures and didn’t put the label holder in first. So I had to disassemble and start again!
Vic says
Hahaha! I felt the same way when I bought my first set of them! I think I’m a glutton for punishment though because of course I went back and bought more.. and I’m pretty sure I see even more somewhere in my future! I just love the way they look with the little silver accents! I tend to treat myself with beer at the end though instead of ice cream! Good luck!
Sara S says
Haha!! I thought the same thing when I bought 2 of those!
Jane says
Too true! :) Thanks for sharing – I was seriously questioning my assembly time management skills after I put my six boxes together!
Liz Futch says
Bahahahahaha! THAT was hilarious!
Caitlin says
Hilarious!
Though I do like how even the boxes come flat. More fits in my car that way! ^_~
Sarah @ Dream In Domestic says
Too funny! So true, though. We all know you guys love DIY, but this is a stretch, I’d say.
Jkravis says
I recently purchased the two of green boxes and a half dozen matching magazine holders as well. I had no idea what I was in for. I managed to give myself a nasty paper cut and stabbed myself twice with the metal label holders. My hubby caught me in the midst of a conversation (one-sided of course) with these dear boxes. They do look good on our Markor bookcase and house my otherwise sloppy collection of magazines. If I had to do it all over again, I’d splurge and buy the baskets. Lol.
Sunny Pritchard says
THIS is why I have the Teen Minions to do my bidding! I have 20 of those boxes, and they assembled themselves when I wasn’t even in the room….
Nichole says
Hilarious and oh so true!
Sarah says
I’ve had 10+ of these boxes in every size through four moves and disassemble and reassemble them every time. It becomes less challenging with each move but the time it takes me to find the little bag of screws and nuts seems to increase in proportion to my improved assembly skills. Don’t ever move!
Live a Colorful Life says
To Lorrie above: We live in California and have an IKEA distribution center close by, but the nearest IKEA is four hours away. That’s just so wrong.
And John, this was hilarious. Thanks for brightening my day. It doesn’t really make me want to order these boxes for myself, but they sure look great when they are assembled!
Sara says
I feel your pain. I would gladly pay more for those to already be done also. And, thanks for the teaser photo! I can’t wait to see how this project turned out…
renee brown says
Damn clever and relevant.
This is why you two have such a following!
Mary @ StyleFyles says
They do look pretty great though.
I love the close up of the screws….really puts the exclamation point on the ridiculousness of the assembly process.
Looking forward to seeing how the basement project turns out!
Alison (a girl in her element) says
We just purchased about 8 of those boxes and 4 of the magazine holders. I thought I was being over dramatic when I got exasperated at assembling these. Thank you for assuring me that I am not alone.
Julianne Hendrickson says
I JUST posted about that same idea at Ikea–kind of drives me crazy!!
http://hendricksonjd.blogspot.com/2009/11/ikea-fun.html
Monica says
I have six of them in my office…I’d almost rather put furniture together than do that again! Your post totally made me LOL…been there, done that.
Susan says
hilarious. i totally agree! please be sure to let us know how long they really last and if they stay together nicely over time. :O)
anna see says
I’m with you on this one. At least if you had covered a box w/ contact paper you would feel slightly creative.
Tara Farley says
if only i had access to ikea…..or target…..sigh….
lori says
Wow! I really didn’t feel the pain on these guys. I have those same boxes in green and white and the larger ones in orange … and maybe I’ve just assembled too many cheap cardboard IKEA boxes (anyone remember the red ones? Or the rainbow stripe ones?), but they don’t seem so bad. So, no fear. The more you do, the easier it gets. And you can whip those babies out in 10 minutes (for all four). Although that confetti is kind of annoying …
Juliana says
I agree wholeheartedly! I have four of the red ones and those little screws are extremely easy to drop. Ugh.
Amy says
Thank you for giving me to laugh about on a hard day at work!
Christie says
I totally did this exact same thing this weekend! I bought a set of these boxes for our girls artwork and I knew I had to put it together, but seriously. Screws? For a box? Oye. Glad we could join together in this nonsense this weekend (but I still love Ikea)!
Kate says
At least you can purchase things at the stores instead of having to order them!
I ordered maybe 12 items, one of them was backordered so they cancelled my entire order? They don’t give the perk of sending an order confirmation so I had to re-find all the items I had picked out.
I called to state how ridiluous it was to cancel an entire order due to 1 item not being avaiable. The 1st question…”are you on the East Coast or West Coast”. Um neither I’m in Missouri. They then rudely said “That’s East Coast.” Like I’m supposed to know which half of the states they group Missouri in!?
All these small items arrived in HUGE boxes with no protective packaging or filler & everything was damaged. I was too frustrated to deal with trying to return it. Now we spend the extra money to drive to Chicago & visit an actual store! :)
laurel says
Susan – I’ve had several of these boxes for close to 6 years now; still in great shape. They’re mostly sitting on a shelf, but they do hold a lot of stuff and do just fine when I pull them out.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Laurel,
Thanks for that info for Susan! We love when people pipe up and help each other out- and it’s great to hear that our boxes should last for the long haul. Hopefully long enough to forget the torture required to assemble them…
xo,
s
Margaret says
Hey YHL, so it’s not often that I disagree with things you post and being that I read your blog daily that’s saying a lot. But I have to disagree with you on this.
I recently purchased a few of these boxes myself for the first time and it took me about 20 minutes to put together 4 of them. I did this sitting on my couch watching TV.
I don’t have a problem with the self assemble because when you think of it, if they were to ship them assembled think of how many more shipping boxes they would have to use. While 11.5 inches doesn’t seem like a lot when you are picking up two think of a hundred and how many boxes that would take to ship them.
Also if they were already assembled think of how dirty they would get from everyone touching them in the store and they aren’t made out of the thickest material so they would be pretty easily crushed.
With you guys trying to live your life greener I would think that you would consider the impact on the environment instead of being so quick to shovel out a few extra bucks to waste more trees and energy to make bigger boxes and ship them.
This comment was not meant to sound rude or ignorant. I love you guys and your blog is great! I look forward to reading it everyday. Thanks for doing what you do!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Margaret,
We totally respect your opinion! Thanks for sharing. We’re all about agreeing to disagree (after all, we know not everyone will agree with all of our 1000+ posts). We do many many things to live clean and green (including composting, being a one-car household, using eco-friendly cleaning products, recycling, using a rain barrel, eating organic, supporting local farmers, sleeping on an eco mattress, and writing many other posts about being kind to the planet, etc) but I guess everyone has a few indulgences that that they dream about, and in our case it’s pre-assembled Ikea boxes!
xo,
s
Karla D. says
They turned out great! I know how you feel, I have four of them and I thought it was super annoying. I doubt it will change though. In order to keep costs low/reasonable, the shipping of these items is easier and less bulky when flat like they are instead of pre-made, which allows for more to be shipped.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Karla,
Yeah, we know… but we can dream right? And apparently there might just be hope since a reader from Scotland (Janis, waaay above this comment) mentioned that in Scotland they come pre-assembled. Lucky Scots!
xo,
s
Christen L says
Been there, done that. We have the green in our office. I considered purchasing the white for our guest bedroom, but it had not been long enough for the painful memory to go away. (You know like childbirth…)
They do look so nice on shelves, though. Maybe someday…
malinda says
I bought 4 packages of these boxes and after putting 2 packages (4 boxes) together the other 4 where left until almost 6 months later.
Yeah… couldn’t handle it… my poor fingers! :-(
micah says
Another Kansas Citian here who wishes we had an IKEA! I think the closest one is Chicago. You are so lucky!
Teresa says
Hilarious…we had a similar experience with the karlstad sofa this weekend. We took all the pieces out of the boxes only to discover there were no directions. Luckily, my hubby is pretty handy and was able to assemble it rather easily. Then we proceeded to open the packaging for the slipcover and out comes the directions to assemble the couch. Seriously, who opens the fabric package (sold and packaged separately) before assembling the couch?
Not sure how putting the directions for the couch in the separately sold slipcover package saves on costs, but Ikea we love you still!
cadillac sioux falls says
A cardboard box that takes screws? That is bizarre.
julie vanpay says
Darn! I am driving to Ikea in Schaumberg Il on Fri and was going to purchase those boxes for the Expedit bookcase I wanted as well. I didn’t know that you have to put them together and after your comment, I think I will be purchasing baskets now. Thanks for the 411
Joanne says
Be thankful for those perforations! It could be worse… you could have gotten a FIRA mini chest with drawers (http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/80073304). It comes with approximately one million nails and ZERO premade holes. I ended up using wood glue. Give me a Kassett over that any day :D
mrs. limestone says
This post is hilarious!
You are sooooo right. I can’t even deal with buying their little things anymore b/c this sh*t drives me up a wall.
Kelly Gray says
this was hilarious!!! And so true…they have some plastic storage boxes that you should be able to “snap” together quite easily that seem to take and hour to put 4 boxes together….love the letter, and I agree with paying the extra $1!!! putting together my entire dresser by myself was easier than the silly boxes!! haha
Haley says
Loved the letter! But….I too wish I could feel your pain….we have no IKEA and according to an article in this past sunday’s paper…we will not be getting one probably ever!. There has been rumors that IKEA might come to Syracuse which were squelched (and hard) by IKEA’s PR guy. Not enough people to support a store. bah humbug!
Heather says
Well done! I feel your pain.
I’ve written my own letter to IKEA, and it didn’t help anything. In my case, I live in Savannah and the nearest IKEA is in Atlanta, which is a 4 hour drive away. BUT… IKEA has a distribution center in Savannah. The stuff literally comes off the boat from Sweden in Savannah, and I still have to go to Atlanta to buy it. If I order if off the internet, it still goes to Atlanta, then gets shipped back to Savannah (for an insane amount). How does that make any sense?
I brought this issue up to IKEA. After several emails in which I conversed with a machine, I finally got a human response. They said that the Savannah distribution center was not set up to handle retail customers. So I asked them if I could at least order things over the phone, and pick it up at the warehouse. Nope. Can’t even do that.
IKEA… if you really wanted to save me money, you would save me the 8 hour round trip and tank of gas it takes me to get to Atlanta when the stuff I buy comes into the US 15 minutes from my house. Seriously.
Miranda says
I too, had an annoying afternoon when I bought these boxes. I only bought 1 set- and will never buy them again because they were so lame! Really Ikea, its a box- you can’t make it a little easier? Maybe the lack of people in the directions was to blame….. oh wait, those little people they have on everything never help things anyway!
Laura says
I bought four 2-packs of these boxes from my local IKEA (Houston) a few weeks ago for an organization project and it took me forever to get them assembled. So it doesn’t matter if you order it or buy it at the physical store, if it’s from IKEA it always needs assembly.
Kristen says
Oh my gosh, this post made me laugh out loud, literally!! I was thinking how awesome those boxes looked, but really, after reading all this I don’t even want to deal with them!!