Are men or women better at assembling IKEA furniture?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/17/researchers-have-finally-settled-whether-men-or-women-are-better-at-assembling-ikea-furniture/
Which sex in your household is better at assembling IKEA furniture?
Related discussion topic:
When driving, do you ask for directions?
Who cares?
No need to be a jerk,@AboutTheSame.
My D is the best assembler of them all. Her spatial acumen is beyond compare.
I will roll down my car window and summon pedestrians in a heartbeat…
Women, at knowing how it puts together. Men at the hard labor of turning those screws.
Son with Asperger’s is an absolute whiz.
The article notes that IKEA stuff uses only illustrations, no words, in its assembly instructions. I can see why this approach is appealing to a company that sells its products globally–no translation costs. But women in general are stronger in verbal skills than men. If the experiment had been done with a manual of entirely verbal instructions (which is how most manuals were done in the old days), I think the results would have been different. (On the other hand, I vividly recall trying to put together a gas grill in the early days of our marriage. The instructions were so complicated and poorly written that we ended up screaming at each other, and when I insisted that a particularly critical hex nut was nowhere to be found in any of the little plastic bags that were taped to the box, H accused me of eating it with my lunch…)
DIL hands down. 22 in first year of med school.
H would just try to put it together and then read the instructions. Like he did a few weeks ago changing the oven light.
Blew the transformer. I then figured out how to fix it and ordered the part and he then fixed it.
I would read the instructions and then wait for someone else to put it together while I directed them.
(this works for me but not so much for H or D) :)>-
S only if he want the thing being put together.
Oh–generalized away from Ikea.
OK, then DIL!
The IKEA instructions are helpful to anyone?
I’m better. I’ve put together all of our IKEA furniture. (And we have quite a bit since I live about 5 miles from one).
I usually have to use youtube videos to figure it out though…
Re: directions. I always drive if we’re together because Mr R hates driving. I don’t remember the last time I had to ask for directions because I have a phone…
In my family, early on when we had IKEA furniture, I directed and hubby executed. In real life, that meant I was boss and he was minion in that particular circumstance, but in family dynamic terms it was an equal match, and the laborer may have even had the hierarchal edge because he probably would have been able to muddle thru while I probably wouldn’t have been able to get the boxes upstairs, let alone have gotten the darn thing assembled at all. There’s a lesson for us executive types in there somewhere.
I would have to say me (the husband in this case). We did an IKEA kitchen. 22 cabinets in all. The first took me an hour at a fair number of colorful euphemisms, by the time I finished I could put one together in about 15 minutes.
H is a mechanical engineer. He can put anything together. I can’t read a map. Any ikea assembly, I will be the idiot handing him the tools and throwing away the packaging. I’m good at throwing things away. 
Oh, no doubt, it’s my husband. He’s got a great eye for spatial relationships. It’s why he loads the car before we leave for a vacation; he can get everything in the right spot.
But as to Ikea, I will say that that store gives me the willies. It’s an absolute maze, with no straight lines from one point to the next.
I understand the concept-- they make lots of small room settings.
But the teacher in me simply cannot turn off the idea that “if there’s ever a fire, we’re all in some serious trouble. It will be impossible to get to the exits.”
It doesn’t stop me from shopping there-- there’s one very close to our home. But it does mean I breathe easier once we leave that store!
Me. Except for the heavy lifting part.
In my experience (at work and at home) men just don’t think they need to read directions until they’ve already screwed it up. Unfortunately the directions are written so poorly these days it’s anybody’s guess how something goes together. IKEA pix are actually pretty good.
H is an engineer who grew up watching and helping his dad (also an engineer) build/repair everything. My dad is an engineer who paid people to do that kind of thing while he golfed 
So I think you know the answer here.
D2 and I put together her IKEA dresser, when she was in about 9th grade. DH lugged the boxes in and toted them upstairs. We recently got some bookcases from someone who moved. I handed D2’s (female) friend the right screwdrivers and she had them together in a jiffy. I contrast that to D1’s boyfriend starting a war over putting a bed frame together.
I cannot imagine putting together a whole kitchen’s worth of cabinets. Even the contractor guys I know hate that.
Me My husband NEVER reads the instructions.
I have never tried to assemble Ikea…my husband grew up in Sweden, so he is pretty masterful at building. I loathe reading instructions
Other than our in-law type apartment, our house is Ikea furniture free now
Aren’t Youtube videos great? Once I was in a rental and needed to gas up on the way to the airport to return the car. I could NOT find the gas cap opener. I looked and looked. I started to get nervous because I hadn’t built in a lot of extra time. I had the idea to google it on youtube, and sure enough, there was a video on that exact car and how to open the gas cap door! It was in a very weird place.
As to the OP, I’m the worst. My spacial relationship intelligence is in the cellar.
My husband and I are really good at Ikea and Ikea like construction. We put together a few bedroom sets and an entire kitchen. When we disagree on the next step he defers to me, as I have the engineering degree.