Backing up PiesForYou here:
IKEA's furniture is very, very well made. If you have ever bought anything from them you will agree that every single piece always fits perfectly. The packaging is excellent and there are no small scratches or any issues with the transportation.
Recently I installed high dollar garage cabinets in some fancy house's garage. Price was 5K for 4 cabinets. Guess what - numerous scratches and scuffs, difficult to align perfectly. Had to request replacement for 2 doors. Laminate over particle board...
In this thread we both like the fact that an IKEA piece of furniture supports a heavy aquarium AND say it is badly made furniture.
Only thing about IKEA is that in the US many people see it as cheap. They'd rather spend a few thousand dollars at stores like "Rooms To Go" and get heavy looking furniture made not better than IKEA's. Like many other things - it's a mentality issue, not quality. An $10 IKEA night stand I(don't remember the model) supports a 10 gallon tank very well without any sagging. It has 3 big drawers. It's made of pine. Here it is. Note that the top shelf is NOT over the sides. And it still does not sag with a full 10 gallon tank on top. For $10, really?
As far as ADA is concerned - if someone tells me their aquarium stands are made from solid hard wood I'd like to hear it. The single one that I've seen was split open because of water damage. It was the cheapest particle board I've seen and you know what happens to particle board when water gets to it. It swells. That stand was of the same material like the furniture we had in communist Bulgaria in the early 70's. Except ADA's stand had very nice wood veneer over the particle board that looked like wood. You can get fansy with the veneer but I personally would not like to have particle board underneath:
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isc...w=1280&bih=651
And who here believes that particle board furniture is great? ADA's design of the stands is about 10 years old. So 10 year old design, laminate over particle board . Let me just call this "timeless" and not get too negative.
As usual I lead you from negative to something positive. My point is - there is room for coming up with new aquarium stand designs. Better looks, more practical and quaility materials.
--Nikolay