i have some Ivar shelves that are 25 years old in my house - they've been with me through 3 cities and 5 moves in that time.

my Lack tables aren't in great shape anymore, but i've had them for 12 years. i'm sure there's something i can do to make them work for another 12 years!

Terje chairs! I've had mine for three years and I expect to have them for many many more. Sturdy, classic, and still under $20.

Tekla dish towels. Good quality and only 50 cents.

Good to know about Ivar shelves, I was thinking about getting some. oo and the dish towels, cool. How is their gift wrap?

We have several Tofbo bath mats around the house in various colours. It's a nice way to create an area rug (we place them side by side, or end to end) that you can lift and plunk into the washer. With three cats, this is almost a "must"!

Their gift wrap is on the thin size, Lizzykewl, but it's pretty and so cheap that it's definitely worth it.

i don't know if I've had these long enough to count them as a classic, but I do think they are irrestible - the Asker containers, which can be hung up or set on a counter http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/70105659

I have had Ivar shelves for 20 years through many relocations. Every time I move, I say I'm going to get something more "adult," but they're just so versatile and light and easy to reconfigure that they continue to be my best option from apartment to apartment. Two years ago, I sold off a whole wall of the shelves to make an out-of-state move. After I got to my new place and researched shelving systems, what did I end up buying? More Ivar.

I love my red PS cabinet!

I've had it for about 8 years and have schlepped it across three continents.

My other, more modest nomination for *classic* is the Bevara seal -- a reusable plastic clip that forever eliminates the need for twist-ties. They come in a bag of 30, for $2.99.

One thing they seem to no longer have -- at least in their New Haven store which I visited yesterday -- and which I miss mightily, is the glass bobeche (candle drip catcher).

Ikea is a great place to buy inexpensive cabinet hardware! Stainless steel options that you only pay a fraction of the cost of what you would pay nearly anywhere else. I just ordered the Strecket handles for our new kitchen cabinets and still saved a ton even though I had them delivered, which cost about $20 but was worth it to save a trip to Ikea (which I enjoy doing... about 1x a year!). I recently wrote about Ikea's hardware here: http://blog.17thandriggs.com/2009/11/weekly-dealfinder-around-the-house-hardware/

I have three Markor bookshelves that have been around for more than five years, and they still look great. I'm a big fan of their IKEA 356 pans, too - great for your first set of pans, while you save up for a fancy (and expensive) Calphalon set. The IDEALISK colander is something I use almost every day; I love it.

toftbo, amen! i have them all around my bed and of course in the bathroom, and kitchen. if they get dirty just throw them in the wash and they are literally good as new. and so many colours!!

expedit is my new favourite thing from ikea though, i bought one to use as music/photo storage plus as a tv/computer stand, and its perfect and takes up hardly any space. really great buy!

also their vila (http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/50108480) sheets and pillowcases are amazingly soft and great quality for the price. again... the colours! i have the greenish-gold colour on my bed and the beautiful deep purple (twin x2) hung on the dignet system as a full wall of curtains. so great.

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/50108480

Their 365 I think it is pepper mills. They are fantastic and use ceramic grinders and last a while, I've got 2 and they are now several years old and both work fantastic.

I bought the first one, then took it with me to LA when I went down to try and find work there in 2002, came back 6 months later and it got used at Mom's while I lived with her and a couple of years ago, we discovered it hidden in her cabinet, but not until I'd gotten a second one. Needless to say, it's been sitting on the back of the stove empty the whole time. LOL. The other one I use all the time and grinds pepper like no bodies business.

I have 2 of their LACK tables in my bedroom, their LACK shelves in the living/kitchen and all are classics in that they are sold year in and year out for a long time and not discontinued after a couple of years like so many of their products.

Love the LACK tables.

Also, FYI, their salad spinner is awesome. I paid $5 for it and it works great. Granted it's smaller than other salad spinners, but it works for my boyfriend and myself.

The Celber Storage Jar is of appalling quality. The rubber gasket on the edge of the lid causes it to slide back open if you put in flour or sugar. Yep, you try to close it, and then it slowly rises open. I had to take the gasket off but then the jar top does not sit very tight.

I have a secondhand Billy bookcase w/ doors, which is several years old and will serve me for many more.

I bought the Lillesand bed frame last year when I upgraded to a queen, and I absolutely love it and plan to keep it forever. Unlike other iron beds I've had, it can't loosen up and make annoying rattling noises every time I turn over.

I bought a white coated steel clothes dryer from IKEA decades ago - for $7 - and it will outlast me.

I also have a bunch of their translucent white desk organizers and they're just wonderful for storing paper, etc.

The Svalka wine glasses are wonderful -- they're so cheap that if someone breaks one at a party it's no big deal. I buy a new 6 pack every Christmas, sometimes they have designs etched in the glass.

You may not realize it, but most of these items cannot be purchased in large parts of the country. They're not available online and IKEA doesn't ship most of their smaller items--you must go to a brick and mortar store to purchase them.
(http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40057259

see?)

I like in NE which does not even border a state that has an IKEA. How about running an article on best buys from places that will sell to everyone?

Just because some of us live in the midwest, doesn't mean we don't care about style. It just means we like to be able to see the horizon. :)

The Billy bookcases rock. We've had them posing as "built-ins" in our living room for about 2 years. They look fantastic and far more expensive than they actually were.

My favorite Ikea purchase of all time are the Svepa glasses. 12 pack of quality, stackable, durable glasses for $5.99. Despite upgrading some of my other dining supplies over the past few years, I can't seem to move on from these fabulous glasses. Any one know if they are still sold at Ikea?

I wish I had an Ikea near me. I have been dying for the Jorun cotton blanket.

@ jd2 - Colorado is getting an IKEA (at some point, they're still planning it), so at least you'll have a bordering state then! I feel your pain though, I read all the IKEA posts with jealousy, and then fill my suitcase whenever I go somewhere that has one. Oh, for an IKEA - and a Trader Joe's. Then it would be about perfect here.

I wish I have two gottfrid chairs...

As a Swede I live with the reality of cradle to grave IKEA, and let me tell it's not so great. We've just finished hunting for a new flat, and are DESPERATE to find anything to put in it that's not named after someone's grandfather... more about that at

http://cookbystealth.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/the-path-of-more-resistance/