Anyone here in the area made any large purchases from Ikea that required delivery? What was your shopping experience like? Delivery process?

I will need to do some furnishing here in the next few months and wanted to expand my options beyond what's here locally.

Don't they just come in a bunch of little pieces that could fit in your mailbox?

It is temporary furniture

Ideal for people who have a small place to furnish

Ideal for someone that does not own a truck or suv

Is "Rooms to Go" considered a higher quality of product?

Ikea does not deliver the furniture themselves; instead they use an outside company and the charge is astronomical. When I looked into a few years ago they wouldn't even deliver to College Station; however, I think that has changed now. Your best bet is to go to Houston or Round Rock, pick out what you want, and bring it home yourself.

low quality cheap furniture.

We got a living room set from them a few years back. So far so good. (Rooms to go)

2nd schnauzer mom. Renting a uhaul and picking it up yourself is cheaper. Delivery is outrageous!!

I would have to disagree that Ikea is cheap, throw away furniture. Is it high quality?... no, you pay a price for that. But, I have lots of stuff from Ikea for my small boys and it has lasted quite a while. I think it also depends on the assembly.

During our poorz days we bought quite a few pieces there. We always borrowed/rented a truck and hauled it ourselves.

Rooms to Go is a slightly better quality product than IKEA and definitely worth it if you've ever had to put together any big pieces of IKEA furniture. However, IKEA stuff really isn't that bad on quality. I have shelves, desks, and a tv stand/shelf piece that I've had for over 10 years from IKEA and they are all still functioning and look relatively new. If you're super hard on furniture, they might not be the best choice but they are about 1000% better than anything you can get at Target or Walmart. On delivery, I've had Rooms To Go in the Woodlands deliver here 3 times with no problem and not too expensive. I've never had IKEA deliver because we've always just borrowed a truck and brought it home.

Where do the in-town options rank in the quality/price spectrum? Any other out of town options that I didn't mention that are worth looking at?

Does anyone have any experience with Adams Furniture in Huntsville? I've been looking for a sofa locally, but not having much luck. My family is tall (youngest is 6'2) so furniture shopping is a challenge for us.

I had an order earlier this year it as like $100 to deliver. They sent two guys in a truck from Houston. They bring everything in and put it where you want it. You can either pick the stuff yourself locally, pay for it and set it aside for shipping which I think is every Monday OR you can go through Ikea Direct for an order. I bought a good bit for a room I was redoing and It cost $40 to have them pick it all out and get it ready for delivery and then the $100 for delivery.

I have not had an issue with quality. If your hard on furniture that could be an issue. Perhaps if your fat or something you want to steer clear of certain pieces. I think they have some rather unique kids furniture as well as other pieces I like and do not see elsewhere. To me the look tends to fit well with a minimalist / simple design. Many of the pieces and accessories also work better in smaller places.

A few years ago, there was a local outfit ( a couple of guys and a truck) that was running back and forth for Ikea deliveries. I don't know if they are still around or not.

I've purchased from Adams in Huntsville without problems although that was 14 years ago and I lived in Huntsville at the time.

Google coaster furniture and acme furniture. Look at their websites and if there is anything you like let me know and I'll call and get a price for you. Not really a furniture dealer but I am set up to buy from both these companies and can order something in if you like.
Jarrad Mcleod'03
Jbm at thesleepstation dot com

We paid about $150 a few years back when we purchased a lot of items and lived in San Antonio. All pieces are now over 10 years old. Boys solid wood bunk beds, still going strong (that set has been discontinued). Their dresser drawer glides did not hold up that well (I suspect that they were standing in the drawers), but I reinforced with screws and all is fine. We purchased an Ektorp couch and 2 Ektorp chairs. During one move (we've moved those 4 times), one of the feet was crushed in a bit. Ikea replaced our sofa free of charge. It had a 10 year warranty or lifetime-one of them. I did replace the slipcovers on them about 2 years ago.

Do I think that Ikea makes some cheap furniture? Yes. Do they have solid pieces as well? Yes. I have 4 boys. If they have withstood them and our military moves, then I'd say they are pretty solid.

I typically go to Round Rock for Ikea stuff. It's not a bad drive. The U-Haul is a good idea. If you really wanted another alternative, I would invest money into pieces at the Pottery Barn outlet in San Marcos.

I've purchased many, many Ikea items over the years - going back to 2005. They are all still in use and are fine. No problems. I like their stuff. The entire floor in our house is Ikea laminate floor as well.

In the past, they would not deliver as far as college station. So, I'd have to borrow a truck to get items home on occasion. And, with the floor, it took me 4 trips. I had room for more, but I had to worry about the weight in my car. I figured out how much I could carry per trip to not exceed the weight the car could handle. That was a bit of a pain.

We did the kitchen remodeling using IKEA kitchen early this year.

The delivery fee is a flat $200 fee. It's delivered every Tuesday for College Station area.

Here are issues we have:
IKEA store will only allow you to place the order on the items that are in stock. If not, you can place a request with credit card authorization form, and once the items are all in stock, someone will call you and you authorize the purchase. But we end up calling IKEA, and it's not easy to get connected. IKEA phone system works in a weird way that sometimes it just repeats itself.

IKEA will call you the day before delivery, and the delivery guy will call again about 2 hour before arrival, which is nice.

When delivered, we didn't count (theoretically you should check one by one with your order, but it's almost impossible if you order 130+ items like us, so you just count). A week later when I counted, I found several items missing, and some extras. I have to call IKEA. It took about a hour to speak to customer service. Then it's straightforward, they set up a re-delivery and exchange (I found one damaged item) without asking too much questions. However, they failed to deliver at the coming Tuesday. I called the delivery guy (who left phone number last time) Another hour on the phone, I was told that there was miscommunication between them and delivery team. It was delivered a week later.

Later we found a few more damaged items, and went to IKEA directly to exchange. I have to open the item at IKEA immediately to ensure there is no damage, and lucky me immediately find another damaged one.

Overall we are ok with IKEA. But it might be unacceptable for many.