I wish I had read the negative reviews in more detail before booking this place. The only positive comment I have is regarding the location – right off the Langedeur in the heart of Reykjavik’s pedestrian tourist zone. But the actual location is a weird, stony, unattractive courtyard which on Saturday night was occupied by noisy young people drinking until all hours.
We booked here mainly because of the laundry and kitchen facilities. But the combo washer/dryer was frustrating to use with non-intuitive, indecipherable controls for the dryer. The kitchen lighting is so bad it is impossible to see what you’re doing at the stove. Lighting is poor in general - a reading lamp in the main room is desperately needed.
Climate controls are also poor. It was difficult to control heat levels without opening windows, which compromised safety and was noisy due to the revelers. Storage space is adequate, though bare bones (e.g., a portable metal rack for hanging items). The carpeting resembles outdoor turf, and did not seem all that clean. And a minor point, but there has been zero effort to decorate the place. A cheap graphic or two on the walls would make it more inviting.
In summary, the place was uncomfortable, inefficiently designed, and poorly outfitted. It looks thrown together with just the basics needed to generate listings that appear to make it a comfortable, feature-rich apartment. It seems Reykjavik is becoming dominated by this sort of property, and that is very sad.