12 Discontinued IKEA Products That May Be Worth A Big Chunk Of Change Today

Ask furniture nerds where the happiest place on Earth is and the cool ones will tell you that it's IKEA. Over the past eight decades, the company has earned its iconic status by working with some of the world's best designers to create affordable and attractive furniture. IKEA pieces have filled everything from dorm rooms to mansions, with models like BILLY and LAMPAN becoming household names. Some IKEA furniture pieces aren't worth buying, but those are usually overshadowed by pieces that are. 

IKEA introduces new designs constantly, which unfortunately means that the company says Hej då (Swedish for goodbye) to pieces regularly to make space and to keep the catalog fresh. Some of those old collections inspire new pieces, and some are reimagined years later like the IKEA Nytillverkad line, but many just go away. TikTok design experts have started to share underrated IKEA items so that they get the attention they deserve now and don't suffer the same fate. Over time, discontinued chairs, lamps, and even limited edition rugs have gained holy grail status, with collectors forking over lots of cash for rare items online and at auction. Here are a dozen discontinued IKEA products that may be worth a lot of money if you can get your hands on them today.

Designed by Bengt Ruda, the CAVELLI armchair launched in 1959 with a price tag of €27. According to IKEA, Ruda was the first "qualified designer" working for the company, which tracks because several of his early designs qualify for this list. There were allegedly only five CAVELLI chairs ever made. The chair made headlines recently when one resurfaced in an auction in Stockholm and sold for €18,000 (approximately $18,527). The odds of you finding one of the other four are very slim, but not zero.

One of the more recent holy grails from IKEA's history is this rug made in collaboration with the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh as a part of the larger MARKERED collection from 2018. The rug, which reads "KEEP OFF" in Abloh's signature style, retailed for around $500 in limited quantities but resells online for upwards of $2,000. Another rug from Abloh's collection, which is fuzzy and green with the words "WET GRASS," also goes for hundreds more than its original asking price on apps like StockX.

Another highly sought after Ruda design is the GRILL chair that appeared in the catalog from 1958 to 1960. Made of teak and steel, GRILL had three legs and was designed to be stackable. Some versions were also made with wooden legs to match the seat and back. The chairs were only €2.30 ($2.37) brand new, but pairs have been posted for sale on 1stDibs and online auction sites for over $8,000.

People don't lounge like they used to in the 1970s — and that's a shame. Probably a reference to the animal and not the car by Chevrolet (there were also JAGUAR and PANTER chairs in the 1972 IKEA catalog), the IMPALA lounge chair designed by Gillis Lundgren was a part of a living room set that included a sofa, table, lamp, and ceiling light fixture. There was a range of fabric choices, but the yellow chair featured in the catalog and its all red sibling are the ones that collectors are willing to pay close to $13,000 for today.

With its bright colors and odd angles, the VILBERT chair designed by Verner Panton was short-lived in IKEA stores in the early 1990s. There were two color combinations offered, one with a purple back and blue seat and another with a blue black and red seat. Both colorways of this unique, geometric seat have since gained popularity and can be found for sale online for around $1,600 each.

Brought to life in the 1970s by one of IKEA's most prolific designers Noboru Nakamura, the BORE chair is most often spotted with a metal frame and upholstered seat. Those chairs are beloved by collectors, but it's the leather version with the matching footstool that now comes with a larger price tag. If you can find one in good condition in your country, you could make up to $3,500 on the resale market.

Need a fainting couch from the 1960s? IKEA's SINGOALLA chaise lounge in all of its velvety goodness may not be the most practical for sitting, but who cares? This lounger's design with a one-sided back and elongated seat was already a throwback to the past when the SINGOALLA was introduced. Now, over half a century later, it still pops up on auction sites and is worth thousands to the right buyer.

In 2016, fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck collaborated with IKEA on a fun and colorful collection that included tableware, stationery, boxes, and a $99 tiger rug. The KWADE TIJGER rug is approximately six and a half feet long, nearly four feet wide, and works either on the floor or hung on a wall. The undeniable star of the collection, the rare piece now resells online for over $2,000.

If you were walking through IKEA in the late 1990s or early 2000s, you may have glanced down at a cute rattan bench shaped like a peanut. Hopefully you picked one up and kept it in good condition over the past two and a half decades, or you got lucky at a yard sale, because interest in rattan has grown over the past few years. People are shelling out over $1,000 for the bench online, but it is obscure enough that you can still get lucky on Facebook Marketplace.

Keeping it in the rattan family but scaling up a bit, the STORVIK is a large lounge chair that has no choice but to be the focal point of whichever room it's placed in. Featured in the 2002 catalog, the chair is roughly 40 inches wide, 48 inches deep, and 30 inches tall, which makes it more of a throne than a chair. The price tag also places if firmly in throne territory, with some European sellers asking between $1,600 and $2,000, shipping not included.

Why have one seat when you can have three? Designed by Gillis Lundgren, the TAJT chair looks like a rolled up sleeping bag but is actually a multipurpose set of cushions that can be rearranged into a one-person chair, two-person lounge seat, or a flat bed. The product was sold for nine years according to IKEA Museum, but each copy must have seen a lot of use because they are not easy to find on resale websites.

IKEA's first female designer, Karin Mobring, was responsible for many great products between 1966 and her retirement in 1993. One that stands out and is still sought after five decades after it was first introduced is the DIANA chair, which IKEA considers one of her greatest hits. The model sold in stores for over ten years and came in various fabrics and materials. Now, many years after it was discontinued, Mobring's design in leather can cost you $3,100, or you can grab a fabric variant for half the price.