Review: Ikea ORDNING Measuring Scale

Once upon a time, I thought it'd be really useful to have a mass scale for the few times a year that I had to weigh envelopes. That resulted in the purchase of an Ozeri Pronto digital scale for under CA$ 30. The thing worked and I was satisfied with it until I started noticing the thick layers of dust on the surface from lack of use. The plastic or painted measuring surface and size also bugged me, so when I managed to Craigslist it, I was elated.

Then I needed to measure an envelope again... And I also got into baking and got to the point where volume measurements alone weren't cutting it. How many grams are in a cup of flour? I don't know because the values I found online were ranges, probably due to flour's compressibility. Not that it would help because even if a recipe asked for 500 grams of flour, I wouldn't have had a way of measuring it out.

Ikea ORDNING Scale Package

With a bit of experience in scales, I set out to find a new one. My requirements included a stainless steel surface and use of AA or AAA batteries. Not many options showed up, surprisingly. Most of the ones I found had glass surfaces or used non-standard batteries. Glass is fine unless/until it breaks. I even looked at mechanical scales but those looked more difficult to tare and significantly bigger.

Configuration
x1 - Ikea ORDNING Scale, stainless steel: US$ 24.99 (CA$ 22.99)

Video
Close-up of Ikea ORDNING Measuring Scale

Assembly
Does putting in batteries count? I took two rechargeable AAA batteries out of a flashlight and put the pair into the Ikea ORDNING kitchen scale. The cardboard box was fairly easy to open and inside were a few pieces of literature including operating instructions. It took about a minute or two to figure out the few basic and necessary functions like taring, changing units, and turning the ORDNING scale off -- not too hard with only one button.

Stability
Pretty wide and pretty flat, I haven't had any problems with it tipping over yet. It didn't look too cheaply made either.

Expandability / Customizability
Goes well with other ORDNING items made of stainless steel?

Ikea ORDNING Scale Underside

How was it?
I tested the Ikea ORDNING scale's accuracy using a measuring cup and water. What I knew was that water had a density of about 1 kg per liter, or 1 gram per milliliter. The unit markings on the measuring cup allowed me to read the volume and then calculate the approximate mass in metric. Everything looked reasonably accurate for a CA$ 23 scale from a furniture store -- I tried out 500 grams, 1.0 kg, and 1.5 kg.

The stainless steel surface was much appreciated after using a plastic or painted one. I didn't have to worry about damaging anything easily by putting something rough or hard on it. It's also been fairly easy to clean. Having a retractable screen didn't look like a big attraction initially, but being able to save two or three inches on demand turned out to be pretty welcome.

One thing I'm slightly worried about is damaging the scale by spilling something onto the surface and having it leak down to the controls/screen. It hasn't happened yet, but I hope it can take a bit of spillage considering that it's a kitchen scale -- found it under bakeware on the Ikea.com website.

Ikea ORDNING Scale in Action

A while back, a limit of only 3 kilograms (according to the Ikea website) would have really bugged me. The first scale I bought had something like a 5 kilogram limit. However, I realized over the past while that 3 kilos was all I really needed for kitchen use and the types of envelopes I occasionally sent out.

Conclusion
So far so good. For CA$ 20, I felt that I got a reasonably good kitchen scale. The retractable screen and stainless steel measuring surface were both nice features. Its use of standard, AAA batteries was another plus.