IKEA has truly become a household name. With their large variety of furniture at affordable prices, buyers are really spoilt for choice. However, with upgraded designs constantly replacing older ones and certain items not selling as well as they should, your favorite IKEA items can become discontinued at any time.
If you have a few pieces of IKEA furniture and one of them happens to break or needs a minor repair, you might find it difficult to secure replacement parts if the item has been discontinued. Here’s a guide on what exactly you can do when this happens.
Discontinued replacement parts can be obtained on various online platforms or by buying second-hand furniture. Standard parts such as hinges, screws, or dowels are likely still available in IKEA stores. The same applies to only recently discontinued furniture parts. Some other parts can be handmade.
Standard Parts Are Likely Still Available
As time goes on, wear and tear can happen to your furniture, especially if it is placed in a high traffic area like a bedroom or living room.
For example, a hinge from a bathroom cabinet or outside chair might become rusted and need replacing, or a screw may break off and fall out of your favorite office chair.
Even if the furniture pieces themselves have been discontinued, nothing is standing in your way of getting replacements for standard parts such as hinges, screws, or dowels.
IKEA will still be using these parts on their other products in production. Therefore, they are readily available for you in case you need them.
If you find yourself in this situation, just contact the IKEA store where you made your purchase and request the needed parts or go online and place the order. You should be able to get them in no time to fix your furniture.
Recently Discontinued Products
Sometimes a drawer can break, or a wheel can break off your moveable dresser. Usually, IKEA can provide replacement parts.
However, if these parts are for a piece of furniture that has been discontinued, it might not be as easy. This will mostly depend on how long ago the item was discontinued.
If you learn that the item was discontinued only recently (maybe in the last couple of weeks or months), the IKEA stores might still have the product-specific parts in stock or a neighboring branch will have them. In that case, you should be able to get them.
Keep in mind that you can’t always rely on this option. After the discontinued stock has been depleted, there is no more chance of getting the product-specific parts at all – once they’re gone, they’re gone for good because they are just not being made anymore.
Try Online Second-Hand Sales Platforms
If you really love your piece of furniture and absolutely want to repair it instead of replacing it, you will be motivated to find the replacement parts wherever you can. One way to do so is to search online second-hand sales platforms for these parts.
You should be able to find certain replacement parts on various online platforms, sold by people who had previously bought the product and have spare pieces on hand, or by companies selling similar replacement parts.
For instance, you could make use of the platform Craigslist. Simply search for your piece of furniture on the site, and emphasize that you are looking for spare parts. Craigslist usually has thousands of sellers, so you will be likely to find what you are looking for.
You might be lucky and get your item delivered directly to your door once agreed upon by the seller, or you may have to collect the item yourself. The added benefit of Craigslist is that the visible price is never really the final price. Always feel free to negotiate a price that better suits your pocket.
Another great online platform is Facebook Marketplace. As with Craigslist, search for the item you are looking for, and you will receive a number of options for sale. You can even go further and filter the options according to color.
The great thing about Facebook Marketplace is that you can see who the seller is, their seller rating, and any reviews people might have left for that person.
It is a great way to ensure that the product’s seller is legitimate and won’t take you for a ride. For safety concerns, this is really important if you have to collect the item yourself, but some sellers do offer delivery at the buyer’s cost.
eBay is also an incredible online platform to source your replacement parts. eBay offers the buyer worldwide shipping that can range from free to about $20. The products for sale are all from individuals who want to sell their new or used items.
However, with eBay and all other online platforms mentioned (and those not), please be cautious of scammers who can swindle you out of a decent sum of money. If a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is.
Buy a Product to Use for Spare Parts
If it is proving difficult to find the replacement parts you are looking for (which could happen quite often as people might not be willing to sell only parts of furniture), you might find more luck if you decide to buy the whole piece.
You will simply need to buy a duplicate of your current item. Then you can use the recently bought double for spare parts for your original piece.
Alternatively, if the duplicate piece is in better condition than your original item, you can keep the old one for spare parts or try to sell it and make back what you spent on the replacement.
These products will usually be second hand so you can probably get them for a reasonable price. If the items are in bad shape, you can negotiate the price down even further.
Alternative: Make a New Part
Your last resort at getting replacement parts for your discontinued piece of IKEA furniture would be to make the parts yourself.
If the IKEA furniture is really worth it – maybe it is a piece you simply cannot let go of or can’t find a suitable replacement for – this might be the right option. You could either commission a carpenter to make the replacement part (such as a leg for a chair or a new drawer) or choose to do it yourself.
For instance, if you need a shelf, you can buy the necessary wood, cut it to the appropriate size (which can be done for you by Home Depot), and finish it off as required. It will definitely require a lot of effort and time on your side.
It might even end up costing you more than the furniture is actually worth, so really think about whether the piece of furniture is truly irreplaceable.