I learnt Carpentry in Sweden, motherland of the IKEA!
My experience with IKEA is this...
-Clients where really happy! For about two years...
-They are generally very easy to clean and they stay looking nice
-... They aren't all that strong
-... They tend to wear out quite quickly even if they still look nice and shiny
-The cabinets tend to flex a lot if any sideways pressure is exerted
Overall for what they are, they aren't bad. As for being easy to install... They are once you get used to them but it will make you want to rip your hair out sometimes. The instructions aren't always that good (if you decide to read them) and quite often there are parts missing. Customer service is good, if something is missing they'll get it straight out to you and give you a bit of compensation. Not that you want to take a trip down to IKEA again to pick it up. They are also very helpful in finding what it is that YOU want if you go in store. As you said, variety is huge, price is actually not that bad and as long as you won't use it for anything especially heavy it should be fine.
That being said, you can always strengthen it yourself when it needs it with some bracing here and there, but you'll have to be proactive, once they go... They are gone lol
My experience with IKEA is this...
-Clients where really happy! For about two years...
-They are generally very easy to clean and they stay looking nice
-... They aren't all that strong
-... They tend to wear out quite quickly even if they still look nice and shiny
-The cabinets tend to flex a lot if any sideways pressure is exerted
Overall for what they are, they aren't bad. As for being easy to install... They are once you get used to them but it will make you want to rip your hair out sometimes. The instructions aren't always that good (if you decide to read them) and quite often there are parts missing. Customer service is good, if something is missing they'll get it straight out to you and give you a bit of compensation. Not that you want to take a trip down to IKEA again to pick it up. They are also very helpful in finding what it is that YOU want if you go in store. As you said, variety is huge, price is actually not that bad and as long as you won't use it for anything especially heavy it should be fine.
That being said, you can always strengthen it yourself when it needs it with some bracing here and there, but you'll have to be proactive, once they go... They are gone lol