New global IKEA study: Nearly 4 in 10 are staging a “silent protest” over household mess

In 38% of homes, someone is quietly leaving things out and hoping someone else will deal with it. (They won’t.) Welcome to the silent protest. It’s one of many findings from the IKEA Store & Organize Report 2026: Finding Meaning in the Mess.

The IKEA Store & Organize Report 2026 surveyed 31,488 people across 31 markets — and found that clutter creates real tension at home. Nowhere more so than the kitchen countertop. It’s the hardest space to keep clutter-free (24%) and the most likely to cause an argument (37%).

One in ten of us even use the oven for storage. In South Korea, that rises to 21%. Somewhere, right now, someone is about to get a very unpleasant surprise.

Living spaces are getting smaller, so you’d expect more interest in minimalism. But there’s a clear shift away from strict minimalism, instead towards “meaningful mess”: owning with intention, keeping what holds value. And with 59% of us preferring a lived-in home over a minimalist one, perhaps the goal was never a perfect home.

“People aren’t chasing a perfect home anymore. They want a home that feels like them — one that holds their stories, their memories, the things that matter. What we keep says a lot about who we are. It was never just stuff. At IKEA, we believe everyone deserves a home that works for them. That’s what smart, affordable solutions are for,” says Licca Li, Home Furnishing & Retail Design Manager, Ingka Group (IKEA).

82% of us keep things purely for sentimental reasons, even if we rarely use them or they’re out of sight. Then there’s the 26% hiding mementos from past relationships. Men are 6 percentage points more likely to do it than women.

Sometimes it’s the just-in-case collection. You never know. 68% of households have a drawer of doom — and 53% of us claim it as our own. And inside? Cables, mostly. 54% of Boomer men still keep them for gadgets they no longer own.

And when guests are coming? The panic is real. One in 10 admit to cancelling plans with friends because the house is too messy, and 34% shuffle clutter from room to room before guests arrive.

The cost of clutter isn’t only emotional. People in India spend 80 minutes a day looking for misplaced items — over two full weeks more per year than people in the UK, who average just 15 minutes.

However, 15% of people globally see mess as a form of creativity — rising to 31% in China but falling to just 4% in Japan. Even 12% of self-confessed neat freaks agree. Maybe the goal was never a perfect home; just a happy one.

The full IKEA Store & Organize Report 2026: Finding Meaning in the Mess is available at https://www.ingka.com/reports/. Because understanding how we really live at home is the first step to living better in it.

Top 10 findings from the report:

• The drawer of doom: 68% of households have a drawer or box that houses everything without a home. 53% claim it as their own; just 26% say it doesn’t apply at home at all.
  
  
• Cooking up a solution: 1 in 10 of us use the oven as storage, rising to 21% in South Korea.
  
  
• The ex in the bottom drawer: 26% hide memorabilia from past relationships. Men are 6 percentage points more likely to do it than women.
  
  
• The charger hunt: 11% of Gen Z spend over 30 minutes a day searching for a charger, that’s a full week a year, gone.
  
  
• Over two weeks lost: people in India spend 80 minutes a day looking for things versus 15 minutes in the UK, a gap of over two weeks a year.
  
  
• The silent protest: 38% leave things out in a muted move for someone else to deal with.
  
  
• The pre-party panic: 1 in 10 have cancelled guests over clutter, rising to 28% in China. 34% shuffle clutter from room to room before guests arrive, peaking at 49% in the UK.
  
  
• The countertop battleground: the kitchen countertop is the number one spot for clutter (24%) and arguments (37%).
  
  
• Sentimental collectors: 82% keep things purely for sentimental reasons, even when never used or kept out of sight.
  
  
• Mess is a masterpiece: 15% globally see clutter as a form of creativity, reaching 31% in China but just 4% in Japan. Even 12% of self-confessed neat freaks agree.
  
  

About the IKEA Store & Organize Report 2026

“Finding Meaning in the Mess” is based on a survey conducted by YouGov in April 2026, covering 31,488 participants across 31 markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA.

All samples are nationally representative, weighted by gender, age, and geography. The report explores how storage and organisation shape relationships, time, identity, and well-being at home, across three chapters: Don’t Need It. Don’t Use It. Can’t Live Without It., Behind Closed Drawers, and At Home With the Chaos.

About IKEA

At IKEA, the vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people by offering well-designed, functional and affordable, high-quality home furnishing, produced with care for people and the environment. Ingka Group (Ingka Holding B.V. and its controlled entities) is one of 12 different groups of companies that own and operate IKEA retail under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V. Ingka Group has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres. Ingka Group is a strategic partner in the IKEA franchise system, operating 415 IKEA stores in 32 countries – including 61 retail locations in the U.S.

For more information on IKEA U.S., see IKEA.us, @IKEAUSANews, @IKEAUSA or IKEAUSA on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest.