A Farewell to Malms

For any young American moving to a new city, it’s practically a rite of passage: The first weekend after finding an apartment, you trek to the nearest Ikea and get as many decent-looking, modernish furniture essentials as your meager budget will allow. Chances are good that those items will include something from the Malm line. At the very least, you’ll see that chest of drawers at a friend’s place, recognize it in bit parts on your favorite shows, and, when its glory days are through, you’ll bump into it on the sidewalk, slumped under a white banner declaring to passersby: “FREE.”

In their several forms, Malm dressers found success by being cheap, accessible, and ubiquitous—but as of Tuesday, they might also be a thing of the past. The dressers have been blamed in the deaths of three children since 2014. Now, facing pressure from consumer safety advocates, Ikea has issued a massive recall on 29 million dressers and discontinued the sale of all but its smallest nightstand version of the Malm line.