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?

  • Australis13@fedia.ioOP
    2·
    17 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.