Ikea THYGE Desk Impressions: Like an A-Leg GALANT?

Remember when I wrote about the demise of the GALANT desk a bit more than a year ago? And again two months ago?

Well, I still found one GALANT table available on the Ikea.ca and American websites in October 2015. There were two rectangular GALANT tables available in white up until a few weeks prior, if I recall correctly, on both sites. But it looks like the GALANT may finally be done for good. At an Ikea store a few weeks prior, I noticed a GALANT table with a price reduction and tags that said something like "last chance." Regardless, the message I got was that it was a final clearance item. And then I saw an Ikea THYGE desk online that made the message a bit more clearer.

Ikea GALANT Desk being assembled

Disclaimer: I had not had any firsthand experience with any THYGE products when I wrote this piece. Details were quoted from the Ikea United States website or Canada website in the middle of October 2015. Details on this page are NOT guaranteed for accuracy.

The THYGE Desk
Found the THYGE on the American and Canadian Ikea.com websites under "Desks for stationary computers" near the bottom. A 120 cm x 60 cm table was priced at US$ 99.00 and CA$ 119.00. This single size appeared to come with grey legs and a white table top. Buttons for "Buy online" were available on both sites, and the THYGE was supposedly in stock in the Tempe, AZ and Ikea Boucherville stores. Under the product dimensions, the height was noted to range from 60 cm to 90 cm. And there was line noting "Max. load: 80 kg" on both websites. Steel and particleboard showed up under the "Product description" section.

First Impressions from the Product Page
My first thought: that looks exactly like a GALANT with A-legs.

The THYGE on the website had grey A-legs and a white table top -- just like the GALANT models I remember still being available over the past year. I even opened up a product page window for a GALANT table and looked at the product details side by side with the THYGE. Things looked very similar to me.

Under an Ikea BEKANT desk

Opening up the instructions revealed a few differences. I won't go into the fine details but the THYGE's instruction package appeared to be much simpler than the GALANT's. This was probably because the GALANT used to have many options, combinations, and add-on or modular parts. Having put together three GALANT desks previously, I know the procedure and parts for simple, rectangular tables off the top of my head. The THYGE looked slightly more complicated with the way the frame was assembled, how the table top was attached to the frame, and how the legs were supposed to be mounted. Also, having looked at the BEKANT's instructions -- never actually owned, used, or built one -- the table to frame attachment method looked more like the BEKANT's than the GALANT's.

Final Thoughts
From what I can gather, Ikea has decided to split the GALANT into two lines: the BEKANT and the THYGE. BEKANT with the T-Legs and numerous options, and the THYGE with the A-legs and fewer options. I think the THYGE and SKARSTA are the cheaper alternatives for certain BEKANT desks. Nonetheless, the time has probably come to stick a fork in the GALANT.


Related
IKEA BEKANT Desks Impressions: Electric Height Adjustment?
IKEA GALANT Desk Review
More Ikea Product Reviews