Well, some of us don’t get the love. I think it’s pretty good if you’re on a tight budget, want new furniture and are willing to spend the time on assembly (sometimes dead easy, sometimes infuriating). If you don’t insist on new furniture, you can usually find something of the same or better quality, already assembled, for pennies on the dollar.
IMO by the time most people can afford the higher-end Ikea products, many will have numerous options available to them – often more convenient (depending on lifestyle), for a similar cost. In that case, choosing Ikea seems to me to be purely a question of taste. And when it comes to taste… well, unfortunately I’ve become a snob in my old age, so most Ikea wares look to me like an imitation of better Scandinavian furniture (made, not only designed there) that rarely if ever comes close to replicating the real deal in terms of quality of materials, design, workmanship or fit & finish.
In other words, now that I can afford better furniture than I could 10 or 20 years ago, I can see no justification for spending time or money at Ikea, and the layout of the store has nothing to do with it.
