Kallax needs securing to the wall

[Curiosity101]

We've got a 4*4 Kallax unit. DH thinks we should just keep the children out of the office. I think it needs attaching to the wall. AIBU?

Would depend how secure it seems. I’ve never fastened any shelving to the wall, but my current house is old, floors and walls aren’t straight, and I’m considering fastening my new Kallax to the wall here.

Just to add, there are other hazards in that room that would mean you wouldn't leave little kids unattended in there (wires, plugs, stuff on the desk etc). But for me that's not an excuse not to attach it to the wall?

FWIW I'm attaching it anyway. But it's just frustrated me that I'm being made out to be over protective. But then maybe I am...

I’m not attaching mine but my kids don’t climb things so depends on the kids

Did it not come with wall brackets included?

I think IKEA do recommend fixing furniture to the wall to prevent accidents.

We haven’t secured any of ours but our kids were never climbers and are now old enough to not do anything that could bring it down upon themselves. I think it depends what’s on it, age of children and whether they’re likely to pull on it/try to climb it

Kids don’t need to climb on things to accidentally pull them down. Could be reaching for something. For the sake of 10 mins with a drill you’re right to attach it to the wall.

We have them and yes they are secured to the wall. It doesn't take much to pull a shelving unit like that over and better safe than sorry.

I mean better safe than sorry.

I know someone who often left the bathtub unattended because her kids would never climb in… until one day they did. Luckily they were ok, but kids can be so unpredictable.

We have ours tipped back slightly

Two children - An almost 3yo and an 11 month old.

Ours are secured to the wall, not really sure why you wouldn’t when your kids are that small. I nearly pulled a 2 x 4 one down on myself pulling one of the boxes out.

We attach everything to the wall after reading about several toddler deaths from children climbing up Malm drawers. And a colleague once had a Pax wardrobe tip and crush her. Luckily she wasn't seriously injured but she said it was terrifying as took her husband ages to get to her as he was in the garden so didn't hear her shouting. So I don't think you're being over protective.
www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/11/21/health/ikea-dresser-recall-eighth-child-death/index.html

I think you'd regret not attaching it to the wall more than you'd regret spending the 15 minutes attaching it.

4X4 will be tall. We have a 2X height ones that aren’t fixed but I would definitely fix for 3 or higher.

We attach everything. Kids don't need to be climbers to accidentally pull something down on top of them. Our Malm chests of drawers tip really easily if not secured - I've done it just from opening too many drawers at once pre-attaching.

It takes very little time to do anyway.

I don't know how heavy those units are, but our units are super heavy. We don't have children but even we secured our units. You never know who's going to do what.

I think it would be less annoying to spend the one off amount of time to attach it to the wall now, than to put a stairgate on the door and have to be opening and closing that every single time you go in and out - although I suppose if you are really worried about them being in the room anyway, you might need to do that anyway.

I think it just as likely, if not more so, that an older child would pull an unsecured shelf on top of themselves by being independent and trying to reach something down for themselves. My DD has never been a climber, but at 7 years old inadvertently pulls forward/hangs on wardrobe doors while looking inside and leans round from her bed to try to reach higher shelves beside it. I pulled a shelf off the wall from above my bed as a young teen as I leant on it to stand up.

Our shelved are also fixed to the wall as we have an athletic and foolish cat.

We have some 2x2 kallax that we didn't attach to the wall. They are very stable but with anything taller I would attach.
When my dd was 3 a wardrobe fell on her. We were there when it happened and she honestly just pulled open the door, nothing untoward at all.
Luckily she wasn't badly hurt.

I've never secured them (or the drawers) to the wall as wewere in rental properties where. However, we always propped them back slightly with cardboard wedges under the front edge, put heavy things on the bottom shelf and light on the top, and were militant about no climbing nor leaving unsupervised whilst todslers. The drawers were more of a hazard than the shelves in my experience as they could become dangerous without silly behavior (opening more than one drawer at once could make them unstable).

I don't think either of you is unreasonable with your reasoning, but you can't put a pricw on peace of mind so I'd probably fix them to rhe wall if you own the place.

I missed that it was a 4 x 4. That’s pretty huge! They definitely need securing!

We have some of these and have attached them to the wall even though our kids were older than yours when we got them. It’s just not worth the risk, children have been injured and died due to furniture fall on them. It doesn’t take long to do, imagine how you would feel if you didn’t and they got hurt.

It absolutely needs fixing. They are very easy for small children to climb up and tip when that tall, but also quick and easy to fix to the wall thankfully. It will take longer to get the tools out than drill and screw in the fixings.

Our 5x5 kallax is not fixed to the wall, and seems pretty sturdy, but we don't have kids.

I guess it is a decision about the nuisance of having to do it vs how you would feel if there was an accident and you could have prevented it.

Absolutely secure tall/ heavy furniture to the wall. It takes 2 minutes and might prevent an otherwise pretty horrible accident.

If you DH disagrees (the idiot) just do it yourself. It's not hard.