Too strong, and probably too heavy. The economics of that end of the business depend upon furniture "wearing out" fairly quickly.
I'm not singling out Ikea here, but I doubt the materials and hardware used in theirs and similar products are a huge part of the retail price -- meaning if you used, say, good quality ply it wouldn't/shouldn't alter the total cost much. Marketing, sales and transportation costs are way more significant, I'd guess.
The thing is though, that, much of that genre of stuff is hard to repair, and damages quite easily. So things have to be replaced because of the rough-and-tumble of a typical family home.
I'd guess that, like modern white goods, the volume-market stuff is tested to within an inch of its life, literally - to last thus long (and not a moment longer). There must be a point where the perception is that "such-and-such lasted us a good long time, so we'll go get another one". The public don't realise that good furniture could last many decades, and in any case they're 'educated' to want something that looks fashionable rather than traditional. And fashions change -- marketers see to that!
Having wasted quite a bit of time strengthening stuff before fitting it, modifying it so that it stands on uneven floors, stays square or does what we needed (but couldn't buy off-the-shelf), and, of course, struggling to repair stuff designed to be cheap and disposable, I'm all for traditional and properly bespoke furniture as being both practical and cost-effective.
But I'm used to being in the minority on most issues... ;-)
E.
