apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

nope they're really simple

Trust me- If I can do it, so can you!

I see Malm dressers listed on Craigslist all of the time. If you have a little patience, you can not only save money, but buy one that's preassembled!

it's not tough -- just make sure you get the pieces with drawer runners lined up correctly! otherwise you have to go back and start from the beginning again. trust me... not fun.

It's very simple, I have lots of ikea furniture, including a malm dresser, put it all together by myself.

I have the tall one--and it was fairly simple to assemble. I find that most of Ikea's furniture is pretty easy to assemble.

i have the tall one also. drawers are time consuming but it's not difficult.

Agreed -- it's easy. But put some carpenter's glue in the bolts to make it sturdier (especially the hardware that attaches the front of the drawers.

One idea...you might try two of the Malm 3 drawer units side-by-side instead of the single sixer. That's what I just did.

Together, the two smaller units have the exact same dimensions as the six drawer. It gives you more flexibility, and the two smaller units are way easier to move around.

I have the 6 drawer and love it. So easy to assemble. If you have two people to work at it, then have one person do the drawers and one do the frame. You'll be done in no time!

Ditto on buying 2 three-drawer units. Plus it comes out cheaper, for some reason.

- Can I just add (I've built the tall one) that while it's easy to build, it weighs a TON. Buying two three-drawer units might be easier to get home.

it's a little frustrating and you need some patience, but it isn't difficult.

I also suggest buying two of the 3-drawer units instead. That's what we did and it's been great.

I agree about using carpenter's glue. I put this together with help from a friend, mostly because we did it more efficiently assembly-line style. A few weeks or maybe 2 months after, the front came off of one of the drawers, which I easily fixed with glue. Other than that, very simple.

putting it together is fairly easy...just don't plan on moving it!

although i know most people deem ikea furniture as "temporary" or "one-time use", it still sucks when your dresser is only half-functional after being trucked and carried up 2 flights of stairs.

I have a six-drawer and a three-drawer. They weren't hard to put together. They've even survived a move, although the locking screws on one drawer need retightening every few months.

i have the tall one and i'm a fairly small woman. i put it together myself.

One of the cabinets I assembled back in the days before Ikea became plastic coated cardboard, ended up upside down to install the last bits. It then had to be turned right side up. Had to get the neighbours to help.

They also used to have a folder (in Sydney) with all the instructions for every assemblable item. Ask at the store.

CHECK ALL THE PIECES FOR WARPING before you start.

A chest of drawers had warped fronts which had to be returned. They had to open 2 more to find a set that was straight.

I have one and it has moved well(twice). The trick is to shrink wrap it really tight before you move it. I remember it being easy enough to put together but I do remember it taking me at least an hour to do it.

Thank you for all the feedback! Knowing that the quality of Ikea is not the best it made me a little scared to try to put it together myelf, but I'm glad to hear that most of you had good experiences. I'm going to Ikea this weekend and will definitely rethink the 6 drawer in favor of 2 of the 3 drawer dresser, I think that is a great option, and can be used elsewhere in the future if need be. Thank you so much for the great feedback! :)

I live in Florida, and the craiglist postings for furniture here are not the same as in larger cities! :(

My husband assembled this dresser a few months ago. He describes the assembly as fairly easy but time consuming. The advice about the carpenter's glue is well deserved. We have a "problem drawer" that falls apart every few weeks; we're going to reinforce the bolt with carpenter's glue this weekend.

Yep, I've done the tall one like this. Nothing to it. When putting together things like this with many small screws, bolts, etc., I start by separating all the hardware into a MUFFIN TIN. It sure makes it easier to keep track.

Honestly, sometimes the responses to these questions make me laugh.

I've purchased a the Hopen chest, Kongsvik bed, a console, a side table and a desk from Ikea and never run into a problem. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Good idea about getting two three drawer units instead.

The 6 drawer unit is easy as pie to put together. I brought one back from the Houston IKEA (before the one in Austin opened) a few years ago in a rented SUV. I put it together in a few hours. It still works. As with all IKEA bedroom furniture, the drawer bottoms are flimsy. They can't support too much weight--change, videos, etc. tend to flex it too much. I still firmly recommend this unit.

Like all ikea furniture, it's not hard to assemble, just time consuming. I have 3 malm dressers, my mom has 3 and a bed frame, and my brother has 1, and I've assembled all of them and the only problem I ran into was the bed frame because it was just too bulky to move by myself. It's a sturdy unit with a clean simple look that goes well with a lot of designs.

Three pieces of advice are all I can offer:
1- Have patience
2- Have distractions handy
3- Have a drink

I recently picked up a malm bed and the tall malm dresser (5 drawers I think) - The whole project took a couple hours to complete, but with the help of a couple beers and some miami vice reruns, it went off without a hitch.

Use a cordless screwdriver or, better yet, a cordless drill.

Ikea will refer you to folks who you can pay to put the furniture together for you. I had them come and put this same dresser together along with a saarinen knock off dining room table for $100 and it was worth it considering the last time I bought Ikea furniture and asked my husband to assemble he was so miserable there was talk of divorce!

I've found the most pleasing method of assembling IKEA furniture is to pop a movie into my laptop and assemble at a leisurely pace.

I have a similar dresser from CB2, except it has two drawers instead of six and and it's on legs. It used to be on sale, but it looks like they only have the night stand from that collection available now. It was *easy* to assemble, but just really time consuming with all the screws (and different *kinds* of screws). I got some other furniture from Target that didn't require so much screwing for relatively the same kind of furniture (and the screws were all the same...). I wonder how this dresser compares. I considered getting it, but the CB2 version looked like it was made from sturdier materials and the sale made it a good deal.