I am about to sign a contract for a 2.5 room apartment in Bern, and need to being planning to furnish it. I would really appreciate it if people could suggest websites (or local shops), where I can find a good range of reasonably priced things:

- General furniture (I've been looking mainly at home24 so far)
- Plates, glasses, cutlery etc. (Ikea seems reasonable)
- Good quality pots, pans and knives (I'd prefer trusted brands rather than Ikea for this)

Any other tips people can give would be greatly appreciated. I have a two week crossover period when I can furnish the new apartment whilst still living in my current temporary place, which should be perfect.

I have a postdoc researcher salary, so my budget is a step up from basic.

Thanks in advance

https://www.englishforum.ch/other-ge...tore-tips.html

Go to Lyssach, there are Ikea, Conforama & Möbel Pfister all near to each other. In Pappelweg, Bern, is a large second hand shop.

Check Aldi and Lidl whether they have deals on cutlery, household items etc.

Also, occasionally, Migros has sales on cutlery, glasses and pots and pans.

if you want to do it easily a single trip to ikea will sort it out.

if you want to do it cheaply, you can get everything you want for cheap/free from various people moving or leaving.

Ikea pots and pans are fine, seriously.

If you want to do it creatively and with your own eclectic style, you can get a lot from carefully selecting from the Brockenhäuser (= second-hand shops) or through fleedoo, tutti and anibis.

Hi there

I can vouch for the 'brocki' also. They are located in each village/town and I'd recommend visiting several to find a lucky style if furniture. I visited several in the Zurich canton region to find some retro style chairs as well as some cool shoe and umbrella holders and retro glasses, vases and cutlery. A little imagination and a bit of upcycling and you can find some good furniture pieces...
My wife now 'needs' to visit them monthly to look for new bargains!

Vin

Was a thread on the forum a few years ago where someone had completely furnished a 2 bed place using IKEA only for under CHF4,000.

All depends on what you want/like. Brockis can be good if you don't mind used stuff and can have a wide selection of items. HIOB is another one to look at. We got a couple of ex-hotel 2-seater sofas from them a few years ago - cost CHF100 each.

Hello everyone, thanks for the great suggestions. I don't mind Ikea, but since everyone seems to go there, I like the idea of buying from somewhere else for added 'personality'.

Does anyone have experience of home24? They are similarly priced to Ikea and the stuff looks great... maybe less construction is involved as well?

Another vote for Brockis and it's not all used stuff. I got a quality unused canteen of cutlery at a brocki that had a damaged display box. Lidl are great for pans, Aldi for kitchen knives, and Conforama for bedding.

There are several excellent websites where one can buy second-hand goods:
Best are :
Ricardo.ch [free to become a member and then start bidding - you might need a car
Anibis.ch = ditto
Petitesannonces.ch = ditto
WRS Geneva = classifieds
Glocals = classifieds
we have obtained many varied and intesting items from these.
If you can go as far south as Wallis, then Radio Rottu Oberwallis, section O-Bei also has an excellent selection of goods on offer, but you would have to speak German fluently.
Good luck

I would also say that on the forum itself in the free stuff thread, there are quite interesting offers. You just have to be quick enough!

I second Migros, they have 50% each couple of months on the entire sortiment on glasses, knives(victorinox), plates, pots, pans, etc. Usually of good enough quality.

Coop also has sometimes 20-30% off tableware but rarer...

Toptip and Lipo have sometimes some cuttlery and/or tablewares sets on nice discounts. Sola is nice for cutlery but I was highly unsatisfied with "Domestic" for plates.

If getting second-hand furniture, make sure it does not have moldish smell...

If you can wait two more months until sales, there will be quite of stuff available in the department stores. Some things you may already find in their outlets, e.g. Globus has an outlet close to Zurich but not sure what's available in Bern.

There's also ottos.ch.

If you're patient, you can probably get great deals from ricardo.ch - though most asking-prices there are totally over the top.

I've used home24 and it was fine. The items I bought were semi-assembled so I had to do some assembly but a lot less painful than IKEA.

If buying from IKEA I would absolutely pay for their delivery and assembly service unless you have a bunch of friends who'll come over for an assembly party. The delivery & assembly crew was extremely efficient and professional when I did this. I had to wait a little while for the delivery but there was no way that I was ever going to assemble another chest of drawers that comes in 200+ pieces, bolts and screws.

The IKEA pots and pans are not bad and I really like their bedding. But for kitchen stuff I have also had very good luck with the Migros sale. Good quality, heavy base stuff.

Migros had 50% off kitchen utensils right last week (knives scissors also tupperware and glass dishes) Might continue next week. We are really happy with our ikea pans though. They are great value and very practical.

There are plenty of FB second hand groups in Zurich area at least, where nice sometimes unique furniture are almost given for free. Used it for the guest room furniture hunting.
For the pots/pans migros is great I bought mine there and that's the best value for money.

For more of oriental kind of furniture I like lotos.ch or MAISONS DU MONDE for les obvious choice.