Ikea is all about making stuff the cheapest they can get away with at every price tier. It's all crap; pick a layer and dive in. ![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif)
mnem
*poot!*
No, it's about making things as cheap as possible to manufacture and ship, while maintaining a sense of quality.
It works, and yes, there are tiers in it; choose wisely and you'll have things for life. I've got IVAR and BILLY shelves from last century. Our kitchen is 25yo FAKTUM, with original fronts. Does it show? Yes. Does it work? Yes. Will we swap it? Yes, in 10 years or so.
One thing I won't buy from IKEA again is plumbing. Non-standard, and marginal spares support. I exchanged the maze of drain pipe under the sink when it was 20 years old, and had to buy IKEA again to get things that fit. OTOH I installed it right this time (we bought the house with it) and now we don't have clogging problems every 6 months anymore.
The tier above, if it's going to be good looking and functional, means
at least an order of magnitude in price. It simply is unrealistic, except if you make flea market or garage sale bargains. We've got a few pieces like that, mostly from other Swedish manufacturers. Of course they're better; probably their lowest tier is level with the most expensive IKEA stuff.