Thread: Ready-made or custom built furniture

These days there is a plethora of choices when it comes to furniture. The ready-made furniture market has really picked up and is going to grow even bigger. From the low cost Furniture Bazaar to the high-end ones like Tangent, there is a huge choice out there. The days of the home made custom built furniture seems to be on the wane. Or is it?

Ready made furniture does offer some excellent advantages:

• As the name suggests, it is ready to use. Buy it, get delivery in 1 to 10 days and have it installed at your home. Good to go.
• Does not require polishing after 4-5 years.
• Light weight - you can move the cots or wardrobes yourself.
• Much lower cost.
• Machine finish and polish - can never be achieved by hand.

But there are significant issues also:

• The wood used is either particle board or MDF - especially the low cost ones.
• Unlikely to last beyond 8 years - maybe much less.
• Flimsy to handle.
• Have to make do with the standard models available.

There could be more pro's and con's but I have listed the main.

On the other hand, custom made furniture works out very costly. And besides you will need a good designer who can build the right fit. In my personal experience, a single wardrobe will cost Rs. 20,000 to build (wood prices in Pune; varies greatly across India) whereas you can get the same ready-made for less than half the price.

So how does one decide? My personal opinion is as follows:

• Sofa sets and Dining Tables: Definitely ready made.
• Kitchen cabinets: I will prefer the custom built kitchen. Appliances can be made to fit perfectly with this model.
• Waredrobes: Preferably have wardrobes custom built. This is because you can have wardrobes that are floor to ceiling. The upper one third will be mass stowage area.
• Cots and dressing table: 50-50. Custom made items will be exact to your requirements. Plus they can be made to match the rest of the bedroom.
• Computer tables and other such items: You will find the ready-made will be much better.

I am attaching some pictures here ...
Ready-made Seating.jpg Custom Kitchen.jpg
Ready made seating Custom Kitchen

Custom Wardrobes.jpg Ready made cots.jpg
Custom Wardrobes Ready made cots

One more picture of custom made wardrobes that I had designed specifically. Such choice may not be available with ready-made's.

Custom Wardrobe.jpg

I would vote for ready made simply because it is cheaper and can be disposed off in 5-6 years without feeling too bad about it.. The main reason I say this is that most of the furniture at my place is ancient My dad spent a fortune about 30 years ago on teak furniture and he wont let me buy new stuff because its impossible for him to think about getting rid of the teak treasure which I absolutely hate myself... its no where near trendy and not even close to what we call adding character to the house.. It was in fashion back then but to be honest people look down on it and my dad is such a proud owner ... its hard to explain.. Its from the times when people didint have sofa sets and four poster beds at homes... The socialist bent era when salaries were too low and stuff and a good peice of furniture was considered a luxury.

I even tried talking him into sending this furniture to my sisters empty house which they dont use but all invain... Hopefully when the new house is built he might have a change of heart at last

Very true. Why teak-wood furniture? My dad was not willing to sell off the steel almirah. Said he had memories attached to it. And he threatened, "if you are going to get rid of old stuff, might as apply the same principle to people".

But I will still recommend custom built wardrobes that are fitted to the walls. The thing is not to get emotionally attached.