If you are reading this IKEA Antilop highchair review, you are probably standing in the IKEA aisle (or scrolling late at night) wondering whether a highchair that costs less than a pizza delivery can actually be any good. We get it. We have been there too.
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is: yes, but it has some genuine weak spots that are worth knowing about before you buy. We have used the Antilop with our own kids, tested it through thousands of messy mealtimes, and figured out exactly where it shines and where it falls short.
Here is our honest take, plus how to fix every drawback if you decide to go for it.
IKEA Antilop Highchair: What We Love
Let us start with what the Antilop gets right, because it gets a lot right for such a simple chair.
Unbeatable value
There is no polite way around it: the Antilop is absurdly cheap. You get a functional, safe, well-designed highchair for roughly the price of a few flat whites. For families on a budget, or anyone who just does not see the point in spending hundreds on something that will be covered in sweet potato within the hour, it is a genuine win.
Ridiculously easy to clean
This is where the Antilop truly earns its cult following. There is no fabric, no padding, no hidden crevices for food to lurk in. After a particularly enthusiastic baby-led weaning session, you can wipe the whole thing down in under a minute. The tray is dishwasher safe too. If you have ever spent twenty minutes scrubbing bolognese out of a padded highchair, you will understand why parents love this.
Lightweight and portable
At just 3.6 kg, the Antilop is featherlight. You can carry it one-handed, shift it between rooms, or throw the legs off and pack it for a weekend away. We have taken ours to grandparents' houses, holiday rentals, and even a caravan park. It goes where you go.
Simple, functional design
No confusing mechanisms, no instruction manual headaches. The legs click on, the tray slides into place, and you are done. Assembly takes about two minutes. The minimalist white design also fits into most kitchens without looking like a piece of playground equipment landed in your dining room.
- Weight capacity: Up to 15 kg
- Age range: Approximately 6 months to 3 years
- Weight: 3.6 kg
- Harness: Three-point safety harness
- Tray: Removable and dishwasher safe
IKEA Antilop Highchair: What Could Be Better
Now for the honest bit. The Antilop is a great chair, but it is not a perfect one. Here are the drawbacks we have noticed after living with it, and what you can do about each one.
"We loved the Antilop from day one, but once we added a footrest and placemat it felt like a completely different chair. Our daughter went from fidgety to focused at mealtimes."
No footrest
This is the biggest criticism of the Antilop, and it is a fair one. Your baby's feet dangle in mid-air with no support at all. That might not sound like a big deal, but it genuinely affects how well they sit and eat.
When feet have nothing to push against, your child has to work harder to stay stable. You might notice more fidgeting, more leaning on the tray, and shorter attention spans at mealtimes. Feeding therapists often recommend the 90-90-90 position (hips, knees and ankles at roughly 90 degrees) for safe, comfortable eating, and dangling feet make that impossible.
The fix: A bamboo footrest clips onto the Antilop legs and gives your child a solid surface to brace against. It is the single most impactful upgrade you can make. Read more about why a footrest matters.
The tray gets messy fast
The Antilop tray is functional but basic. It is a flat white plastic surface with a small lip, and food slides around easily. During baby-led weaning when your little one is learning to self-feed, you will spend a fair amount of time fishing peas off the floor.
The tray is also a bit of a pain to remove. It requires a firm pull and some wiggling, which is less than ideal when you have a squirmy toddler in the seat.
The fix: A silicone placemat sits over the tray, creating a non-slip surface with raised edges that contain the mess. Cleanup becomes a thirty-second rinse instead of a full wipe-down, and you can leave the tray in place between meals.
Hard plastic seat with no padding
The seat is smooth, hard plastic. For short meals that is perfectly fine, but for longer sittings or babies who are already on the slimmer side, there is no cushioning or grip. Some babies slide forward in the seat, especially before they have the core strength to sit rock-solid on their own.
The fix: A highchair cushion cover adds padding and helps your child sit more snugly. It also happens to add a splash of personality to the chair. They are wipeable for everyday mess and machine washable for the bigger disasters.
Plain silver legs scratch floors
The Antilop's metal legs do the job structurally, but they are not pretty. The bare silver finish looks industrial, and worse, the metal tips can scratch timber and tile floors. If you are renting or have nice hardwood, that is a real concern.
The fix: Leg wraps cover the metal legs with realistic wood-grain vinyl, protecting your floors and giving the whole chair a warmer, more styled look. They take about five minutes to apply and make a surprisingly big visual difference.
No height or recline adjustment
Unlike more expensive highchairs, the Antilop has no adjustability at all. The seat height is fixed, there is no recline, and the tray position cannot be changed. For most families this is a non-issue from about 6 months onwards, but it does mean the chair is less versatile than options like the Stokke Tripp Trapp.
Does not fold
If you are tight on space and need to pack the highchair away after every meal, the Antilop does not fold flat. The legs do detach easily without tools, which helps for storage and travel, but it is not as convenient as a true folding design. That said, many families simply leave the Antilop assembled and tuck it into a corner when not in use. Because it is so lightweight, moving it out of the way takes seconds.
IKEA Antilop vs Stokke Tripp Trapp
This is the comparison everyone wants to see. The Antilop and the Tripp Trapp sit at opposite ends of the highchair spectrum, so which one actually makes sense for your family?
| Feature | IKEA Antilop | Stokke Tripp Trapp | Kmart Prandium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age range | 6 months - 3 years | 6 months - adult | 6 months - 3 years |
| Weight | 3.6 kg | 6.4 kg | ~3.5 kg |
| Footrest included | No | Yes (adjustable) | No |
| Adjustable | No | Yes (seat + footrest) | No |
| Ease of cleaning | Excellent | Good (wood needs care) | Excellent |
| Portability | Excellent | Low (heavy, no detach) | Excellent |
| Material | Plastic + steel | Solid beech wood | Plastic + steel |
| Longevity | ~2.5 years | Decades | ~2.5 years |
The Stokke wins on longevity and adjustability. It grows with your child from six months through to adulthood, includes a built-in adjustable footrest, and is made from solid beech wood that lasts decades. Some families even pass them down through generations. The Tripp Trapp also pulls right up to the dining table, which means your child eats with the family rather than off to the side.
The Antilop wins on price, portability and practicality. It is dramatically cheaper, easier to clean, lighter to move, and simpler to set up. For the baby-led weaning years specifically, many parents find the Antilop is the better daily workhorse.
Our take: if you want a "buy it for life" chair and the budget is there, the Tripp Trapp is excellent. But if you want a great chair now without the investment, the Antilop with a few smart accessories gets you surprisingly close to the Tripp Trapp experience for a fraction of the cost.
IKEA Antilop vs Kmart Prandium
If you are in Australia or New Zealand, there is another budget contender worth knowing about: the Kmart Prandium highchair. It is a similar price point to the Antilop and follows a near-identical design with detachable legs, a simple tray and a plastic seat.
The good news? Because the Prandium shares the same leg dimensions as the Antilop, most IKEA Antilop accessories fit both chairs. That means our footrests, leg wraps and placemats work on the Prandium too.
The key differences between the two are subtle:
- Availability: The Antilop requires an IKEA store or online order. The Prandium is available at Kmart stores across Australia and NZ, which can be more convenient depending on where you live.
- Tray design: The trays are slightly different in shape but both serve the same purpose.
- Colour options: Both are available in white, with limited colour variations appearing occasionally.
- Aftermarket support: The Antilop has a much larger ecosystem of third-party accessories, which is a meaningful advantage if you plan to upgrade.
Either way, you are getting a solid budget highchair, and you can upgrade both with the same accessories. Check our best IKEA highchair accessories guide for the full rundown.
How to Upgrade Your IKEA Antilop Highchair
This is where the Antilop really comes into its own. Because the chair itself is so cheap, you have budget left over to add the things it is missing. Here is the upgrade path we recommend, in order of impact.
Step 1: Add a footrest
If you only buy one accessory, make it a footrest. It clips onto the existing legs and gives your child a stable surface to push their feet against. The difference in mealtime behaviour is often noticeable within the first few meals. Less fidgeting, less leaning, more focus on eating.
Step 2: Add a silicone placemat
A silicone placemat transforms the basic Antilop tray into a proper feeding surface. The raised edges catch spills, the non-slip surface keeps bowls and plates in place, and cleanup is as easy as rinsing under the tap. It is one of those upgrades that pays for itself in saved cleaning time within the first week.
Step 3: Cushion and leg wraps
Once you have the functional upgrades sorted, a cushion cover adds comfort and style, while leg wraps protect your floors and give the chair a finished, polished look. Together, they transform the Antilop from a basic budget chair into something that looks intentional and put-together.
You can also grab accessories as bundles to save a bit and get everything in one go. Whether you start with just a footrest or go for the full transformation, each upgrade genuinely improves the everyday experience of using the Antilop.
Is the IKEA Antilop Highchair Worth It?
After years of daily use and thousands of meals, our verdict is clear: yes, the IKEA Antilop is worth it.
It is not a perfect highchair out of the box. The missing footrest is a real drawback, the hard seat is not ideal for longer sittings, and the plain metal legs will not win any design awards. But here is the thing: every one of those weaknesses has a straightforward, affordable fix.
The Antilop's real superpower is its simplicity. It is easy to buy, easy to build, easy to clean, easy to move, and easy to upgrade. You are not locked into a single product decision. You can start basic and add what you need over time.
For families starting their baby-led weaning journey, we think the smartest approach is:
- Buy the Antilop (it will take two minutes to set up)
- Add a footrest straight away for safe, stable eating
- Add a placemat once the mess ramps up
- Add the finishing touches (cushion, leg wraps) when you are ready
You will end up with a highchair setup that rivals chairs many times the price, with the added bonus that every piece is easy to clean, replace or pass on when you are done.
The Antilop is not trying to be something it is not. It is a simple, affordable, easy-to-clean highchair that does the basics well. Its weaknesses are real, but they are all fixable. And that combination of honest value plus upgrade potential is what makes it the most popular highchair in the world for good reason.
Browse the full range of IKEA highchair accessories to see what works for your family.
