IKEA announces a change that could save relationships everywhere.

Goodbye flat pack, hello snap pack!

IKEA has heard the anguished cries of tormented customers worldwide, and found a clever new solution to the tradition of Allen key madness.

They call it a ‘wooden dowel’, and it’s a new type of fitting that secures pieces together without the need for nails, screwdrivers, hammers, or advanced engineering degrees. All you’ll need to do is unpack, and snap.

Like a giant adult jigsaw puzzle, the wooden dowel connected items are set to save hours in setup time, and hopefully attract previously frustrated customers back to the IKEA stores.

Range and supply manager of IKEA international, Jesper Brodin, told The Sun the move will simplify the process significantly.

“IKEA furniture typically contains quite a lot of fittings. We see some challenges in the time and interest in doing that. So we wondered what would happen if we took them out totally," Brodin explained.

“We are now into the implementation phase of making it possible for you to click your furniture together.”

*Heavy breathing*

Has your relationship been injured by an Ikea flatpack session? Let Osher help you heal. (Post continues after embed.)

The new wooden dowel items are already on sale, with the ‘Lisabo’ table range right here in Australia. Run, don’t walk.

And with their usual lack of humour and extreme efficiency, those clever little Swedes are anticipating a great response from, uh, divorcees:

“People move a lot more now. There are more divorces so now if you get kicked out of your house in the morning you can reassemble your table in the afternoon,” said Brodin.

Wait — shouldn’t less people be getting divorced now that flat pack furniture is a thing of the past? What do they know that we don’t?

As someone who has sat on broken furniture more times that most (I am always, always the straw that breaks the cheap outdoor setting's back) I want to know just how reliable these glue-free, nail-free fittings actually were.

Very reliable, as it turns out. You can dismantle the pieces over and again without it affecting the integrity of the joining. And because it’s so easy, you can bid farewell to chipped furniture by packing it down fully when you move.

OK, cool. Shut up and take my money.

What will/won't you miss about the Allen key? Tell us in the comments below.