Dyson is like the IKEA for household appliances. They are pretty and fancy and somewhat featureful but they never seem to hold up to the truly high end stuff like Sebos/Miele. Those brands will cost you an arm and a leg but they will do exactly what it says on the tin, and nothing more. No gimmicks, just suction.
ikea is where you shop if you want new furniture but can’t afford real furniture. In this context, “real” means made of real wood.
And im not judging, i too was a broke college kid at one point. And many people just don’t have the money. But ikea is ANYTHING but fancy. Its super cheap.
Lots of IKEA furniture is real wood, and lots of "expensive" brands are still flat packed particleboard. Ever bought anything from West Elm?
I'm curious where people are buying "real" furniture, even even they spend "real" money. I've had the best luck with the Amish and at estate sales, but that's not super repeatable.
All the major furniture stores like Ashley or whatever are similar in quality and construction to IKEA -- I don't really think the "cheap" reputation is deserved just because IKEA has $10 LACK side tables available.
west elm pretends to be high end but it’s not. As you said it’s hit and miss, some gems and a lot of junk. As consumers in 2025 we are awash in a sea of cheap junk. It’s frustrating sometimes.
I personally recommend people go to a real furniture store (a large one), where the salesperson is actually knowledgeable and where they offer many brands. Ask for what you want. Specific materials, finishes, price range, etc. Make a note of the brands and manufacturers. Then dig deeper. Often times these brands are featured in a niche catalog or magazine, where you can find similar brands offering similar products.
There are many high quality buy it for life items to be found! But rarely at the convenience of a button click from westelm’s website.
Real furniture stores lay somewhere between being useful and being like a mattress sales money laundering operation. I just find most of them full of gaudy furniture that I’m not sure anyone would really buy (hence my guess that money laundering is involved).
In the Seattle area, the best I could find is Dania, which is a chain that is basically a higher end IKEA that focuses more on furniture (Scandinavian style).
I’ll be in seattle in a few months, maybe i’ll swing by Dania for an hour just to see what they have. Thanks for the recommendation!
Some brands that you might like if you are looking for buy it for life. Some sell direct, some only sell via wholesale to other furniture stores. This is a list from a note i created 3 years ago when i was shopping for a new dining table.
I think Dania and Scandinavian design have stores in many states, not just Seattle. It’s just the best solution we found here that matched our furniture preferences. Online retailers are hard to deal with since it’s not clear what you are getting without showrooms.
Ikea has every grade of quality from cardboard to solid wood to metal furniture.
I will never understand why there are always such comments saying Ikea furniture is bad quality, or in your case not even "real" furniture, come on, it's like you have never even been in an Ikea store.
We can agree to disagree. yes Ikea offers _some_ products that are made of solid wood. But i’d say maybe 75% of their selection is particle board mixed with _some_ wood elements. That was what i saw during my last trip in ikea in 2020, in NY. Their selection of office furniture is similarly sad. Office chairs that might last 10 years with gentle use MAX. A lot of the ikea stuff is what i’d consider “buy it for life if you treat it gently and don’t have kids”.
I think Ikea is wonderful on a budget. But i personally wouldn’t waste my time there, except for rarely used pieces of furniture. im blessed to have more discretionary income these days. The one product i really like from ikea is their PAX closets. I think they are a very good value, despite feeling a bit cheap. I like how customizable it is, and it’s very functional.
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For example the Amish make very high quality wood furniture in the U.S., at a fair price. If that’s not your thing, there are companies that focus strictly on buy it for life high quality wood furniture. My dining room table was made by MS&Wood (based somewhere in bosnia i believe…they sell direct and wholesale to furniture companies).
It must depend on the country then, because IKEA near me propose at least 50% pine wood (except slim pannels which are often chip/particle boards, but sometimes plywood). Since I dislike pine for multiple reasons I don't go there often, but honestly if you don't have any woodwork tools and don't do your appliances yourself, IKEA is good enough.
I have never seen anyone describe IKEA as 'pretty and fancy' before. It's cheap and functional. I can typically get the item I need in IKEA for cheaper than elsewhere and be confident it will be at least average quality. Dyson products are generally far more expensive than the competition.
that is totally not my experience. you don't have to buy the latest and greatest, I've bought a V8 a few years ago. it does it's job perfectly fine like in the first day. it's the only vacuum (of the ones I've owned) that is capable of cleaning the cat hair from my sofa. maybe there are other products capable of that now, some years have passed, but the quality of dyson is pretty top notch.
I've had the same experience with dog hair and our Dyson Animal vacuum. We've had it repaired twice. Once for the hose, the other for something in the motor that went awry. Even the people at the repair shop said they're worth repairing since their performance stays consistent for so long. It was a couple hundred bucks total for both repairs to get another 7 years out of it? 100% worth it.
Still have that purple and grey beast. Best vacuum by a mile and still going.
Similar experience here. I bought a refurb V8 that weirdly needed service right away, but on the flip side, I got a new motor/electronics for free since it was under a fresh warranty. About 4 years later I still really like the V8 general vacuum tasks with the caveat I have mostly hard floors and no high pile carpet.
Or the Nilfisk consumer vacuum cleaners. They used to be frequently seen in Dutch households, nowadays less so. Indestructable.
My first confrontation with a 'Dyson Airblade Wash+Dry short hand dryer' was after paying 50ct to enter a newly modernised toilet on a Dutch railway station. I got totally splashed with water blown out of the sink, all over my clothes. Quite embarrassing to walk out a toilet like that.
Culturally, the Dutch expect higher quality at reasonable prices (love to see frugality as part of a national identity!). On the whole, American ad culture has us convinced that we must either suffer with worse tools or spend more on a name brand with increasingly diminishing returns… to say nothing of the conspicuous consumption we’re all nudged/shoved into.
no, but companies like Dyson that promote conspicuous consumption do very well in the US where they might not otherwise because of those cultural differences.
Disagree. We have had to replace the battery twice in our Dyson cordless. Dyson charges $130 for the OEM replacement battery (yes there are cheaper aftermarket batteries available).
The last time the battery failed we decided to buy an entire Shark cordless vacuum + accessories kit for less than an OEM Dyson battery. That shark vacuum is still going today 5 years later on the original battery.
I disagree. The best cordless vacuums all follow the same basic flow-through (e.g. https://a.co/d/bpto7LL ) design and are around $30 USD.
The cost multiple of a Dyson doesn't even result in incremental performance.
The singular use case for a Dyson cordless is frequent cleaning of an uncarpeted floor in a public space (e.g. coffee shop, gym) as it does have substantially reduced noise while running.
> The singular use case for a Dyson cordless is frequent cleaning of an uncarpeted floor in a public space (e.g. coffee shop, gym) as it does have substantially reduced noise while running
This problem was solved before electric vacuums ever even existed. I can still remember the days of seeing these things being used in hotels and restaurants: (google non-electric electrostatic sweeper)
that’s maybe fine for cleaning a car or some crumbs in the kitchen. It’s a solid vacuum. But not so useful for cleaning a room or house…different use cases.
The suction on the dyson v12 is fantastic at max speed, so it’s great for quick carpet cleaning. I also appreciate the very quiet hardwood floor attachment. I’d recommend it to any apartment dweller that’s not cost conscious. If they are, i’d recommend a cheaper shark vacuum.
I have a corded oreck and a Dyson stick vac. I absolutely adore the oreck, and I rarely use the Dyson.
In terms of maintenance and performance the Oreck is a reliable, one-click WordPress install, and the Dyson is a few dozen fickle micro services.
I got the Oreck for like $20 on Craigslist a decade ago because it was listed as "broken." I bought it on a whim to see if I could repair it after one of the famous vacuum guy reddit AMAs. Without exaggeration, it may very well be the best $20 investment I've ever made.
I was amazed how simple it was to disassemble and reassemble. There were surprisingly few components and every single one had an appealing heft and remarkable quality.
As a somewhat funny aside: The woman I bought it from said she had three teenage daughters and it couldn't keep up. The first time I serviced it, I removed enough hair for several wigs.
Ever since, it's worked incredibly and in the rare event performance has started to suffer I've been able to service it myself multiple times over the years, and replacement parts are readily available. It's designed to be maintained. After each service it works literally good as new and I fall in love with it all over again.
Contrast that with my hand-me-down Dyson. It's awkward as all hell to store. Battery is pathetic and charging is a pain. So much delicate plastic. It clogs practically every use; though to be fair my children and animals are all filthmongers. The components feel cheap, and I can't help but feel like it's hostile to the average consumer attempting to repair it. It's deteriorated in performance even though I've used it lightly. If I had spent even a single dollar on it, I'd be so pissed.
