Flat Pack, But Not Flat Quality

We recently had a customer ask us to assemble some flat pack furniture in the northwest Dallas neighborhood of Sparkman Club—not the usual IKEA stuff, but pieces ordered from Wayfair.

Now, I’ve got nothing against IKEA (in fact, I’ve got plenty of it at home), and I love all the clever hacks people come up with. But this Wayfair project really surprised me—in a good way.

Wayfair sources from lots of manufacturers, so quality can vary, but this particular set had some standout details:

• Corner wedges on the cabinet backs—small plastic pieces that screw into each corner to keep the backing snug and eliminate wobbles or rattles. A simple touch, but effective.
• Reinforced drawer bottoms—a center support bar to keep the bottom from bowing or falling out when overloaded. Let’s be honest, we’ve all pushed a drawer past its limit.
• A hidden weight block—at first I thought it was a leftover ice pack or packing material. Nope! It was a heavy black weight added to the bottom rear of a cabinet to reduce the chance of tipping forward when drawers are pulled out. Smart.

Of course, you should always secure cabinets to the wall—especially with kids in the house—but still, that kind of built-in safety feature gets a thumbs-up from me.

Bottom line: flat pack doesn’t have to mean flimsy. This build was solid, thoughtful, and honestly kind of fun to put together.