NOW CLOSED IKEA Storage Feedback thread - open to all MNers with any IKEA storage - you could win £75

[AnnMumsnet]

This thread is for the MN testers who received one of the items below to test and have been trying it out for the last week or so.

The items being tested were:

ANTONIUS wire basket
GODMORGON bathroom cabinet
STUVA storage bench
TJUSIG bench with shoe storage
EKTORP BROMMA footstool
RATIONELL VARIERA plate holder

IKEA welcome all feedback on all of their storage products so if you are a ANTONIUS fan already or have a BILLY bookcase (etc) please let them know what you think of it here - everyone who is not an official tester but who adds some feedback on any IKEA storage product will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get £75

IKEA would like to know what you think generally but also would like to know your responses to the following questions. In your response please state the name of the product you are testing or that you own. For some products (eg the plate holder) not all the questions will be relevant so please answer accordingly.

Item name
Function - how do you use the item?
What do you store in the item?
Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally?
How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?
What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?
What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?

Thanks and best of luck

MNHQ

Not an official tester but...

Item name
ANTONIUS wire basket
Function - how do you use the item?
Item was used in large builtin, but hanging space only, wardrobe in bedroom to store clothes that did not need to be hung up.
What do you store in the item?
Clothes
Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally?
House is a mish-mash of styles. some nice older furniture, typically inherited or donated by parents, some older furniture that we won't replace until we purchase our own house, and about 50% ikea furniture) It didn't really match with anything, but this was not an issue as it lived inside the wardrobe.
How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?
Not used by DD, but could see it would be very useful (may still purchase a second one) Helps enormously with keeping everything tidied away where it should be, which can be hard with two sporty parents and 1 toddler.
What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?
It's flexibility of purpose, prior to being a clothes storage it was used in the laundry to sort out all the different cleaning products
What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?
The ability to add extra bits and customise it to your exact needs.

And another...

Item name:
LEKSVIK Dining Buffet

Function - how do you use the item?
This is used in our Dining room and is great for storing all the nice crockery and glassware that we only use when we have guests over.

What do you store in the item?
Glasses and Plates saved for best occasions

Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally?
We have a number of the LEKSVIK items, so this does actually match with a number of other items in the room.

How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?
We have what we think is the worlds smallest Kitchen and prior to purchasing this all our nice stuff lived in a box under the stairs, us we have no room for it, but now it's safely locked away from DD's hands.

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?
The glass on this product must be bullet proof, DD has hit it with a number of items and it has never cracked or broken.

What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?
I like that while it has all the modern safety angles covered it still looks like it would happily fit in an old cottage.

Another "not an official tester"......

Item name - HEMNES 3 drawer shoe cabinet

Function - how do you use the item?

It is in the porch to organise the shoes

What do you store in the item?

Shoes, boots, etc. Top drawer used for gloves and odd bits

Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally?

House is generally quite traditional but homely with the odd eclectic touches. As the house is older we need furniture that is quite large and looks "solid" and as this is in the porch it is seen by everyone who comes to the house so the look is important. This item is very claasic in style so would go well in modern or traditional settings.

How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?

It has helped greatly, it's wonderful to see a nice piece of furniture instead of a great pile of shoes! Children are now grown up but we all use it.

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?

It does exactly what I wanted it to and it looks great. It is wonderful to have a fresh, clean look to the porch as it always looked untidy with open shoe racks in.

What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?
I love the style of it. Sometimes I find Ikea stuff too modern for me but this is good quality, stylish and functional

Not a tester.

Item name Antonious

Function - how do you use the item?
It lives in DS's wardrobe and is used to store cars and the car garage when we take it apart.

What do you store in the item?
See above

Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally?

Absolutely not. It's not important because it's inside the wardrobe but frankly it's pretty ugly - I wouldn't have it out or anything. My house is quite old fashioned cotswolds stylee all wood thatch and nonsense (and no I didn't design it as you can probably tell).

How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?

We have about 50 storage baskets which help more (again from IKEA). Being able to throw things into baskets so we can't see the oodles of crap is vital IMHO. And yes the kids do put things in the baskets (after two sodding years of training they have finally started to do it unprompted at bedtime).

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?

It was the right size to go in the wardrobe. I like the plastic liner we have to store little bits as well on one of the shelves.

What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?

I put it together in under three minutes.

Item name Billy
Function - how do you use the item? It has shelves, i out things in the shelves
What do you store in the item? a printer, printer paper, DVDs, toys, games
Does it match with their other furniture? Yes, my other furniture in there is a black ikea table and several other white Billy's and a couple of white Bennos How important is this? very
What kind of style is your house generally? The Ikea Catalogue
How does it help with organisation in your home? most of it is fab
Has it made things easier for you? Having somewhere where thigs live is a huge help
Do the children use it? yes
What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?It works
What (if anything) do you think makes this product special? IT WORKS!

STUVA storage bench - Official tester

Function - Large storage drawer

What do you store in the item? At the moment I'm storing DTD's bedding, blankets, sleeping bags etc but once they are bigger I think it will be perfect for storing toys as it is on wheels and they will be able to pull it out.

Does it match with their other furniture? We have Boori dark wood furniture but have white walls and it fits well, having two girls there are plenty of other pink things in the room so it does all look good together. However I've noticed my niece (2.5) sitting on the top, it would be good if it came with a cushion as then it could be dual purpose. I'm going to have a go at making one, with a cool pattern to match it into the room a bit more.

How important is this? It is important that everything looks "us" but I don't think that everything needs to match, I like a mixture of vintage and modern items in the house.

What kind of style is your house generally? No wallpaper, our whole house is painted white but we have lots of colour in artwork, plants and furnishings. We live in a Victorian terrace.

How does it help with organisation in your home?
I didn't realise how much stuff you need with children, so the more storage the better, and it fits more than it looks.

Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?
Yes as the girls share the room having 2 cots, and everything else in there makes space quite tight, twins are too small but my niece enjoys trying to pull the drawer out, but can get it stuck as you need to pull it in a straight line.

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?
The way it opens on wheels is good and you can fit lots in it.

What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?
Nothing really special but I do like it, I probably would of bought one if I'd seen it in Ikea.

I have lots of IKEA "stuff" all of it useful and looks nice. And is - so far - child proof.

Item name: Leksvik dresser
Function - how do you use the item? To store all our good china and glassware
What do you store in the item? China and glassware
Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally? We have a number of other items in the range - TV cabinet and tall bookcase and I like the fact that they match. House generally hasn't got a style - we're still working on that! We went for practicality!
How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it? The lock on the door keeps that children out and all the china is in one place but not cluttering up the kitchen.
What do you most like about your IKEA storage product? The lock on the door
What (if anything) do you think makes this product special? Solid wood at a good price

Can I just add that I love ikea chocolate bars they are brilliant for cooking and super cheap

Also everytime I go to Ikea I look for a white kitchen unit but you never have one. This is because I need a corner unit and you don't do them . If any mumsnetters have seen one anywhere please let me know.

I looked at the GODMORGON bathroom cabinet when we did our new bathroom but ended up buying one from dwell another shop as it had a rotating cabinet with a full length mirror on one side and behind it, loads of storage,. Everyone comments what a great product it is. Maybe you could make an Ikea one

Item name
GODMORGAN
Function - how do you use the item?
IN MUM'S HOUSE IN BATHROOM, AS IT LOOKED TOO MASSIVE FOR OURS ONCE WE MADE IT UP, AND SHE REALLY NEEDED A NEW ONE!

What do you store in the item?
MEDICINES TOOTHPASTE SOAP OTHER BATHROOM PRODUCTS

Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally?
NOTHING MATCHES IN MUMS HOUSE & IT DOESNT MATTER; 80S KITCH WOULD SUM IT UP. MY HOUSE IS VERY WOODEN, BUT THE BATHROOM (WHERE CABINET WAS INTENDED FOR) VERY PLAIN WHITE SO THE COLOUR AND STYLE WOULD BE A GREAT MATCH. IN FACT, ITS SO UNFUSSY THAT IT WOULD MATCH 99% OF BATHROOMS ESP IF YOU OPTED FOR OTHER COLOURS IF NECESSARY.

How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?

VERY GOOD FOR MUM AS SHE TAKES A HUGE AMOUNT OF MEDICATION, AND THE OLD CABINET IS BOTH FULL AND VERY HARD TO OPEN WITH ARTHRITIC HANDS, CAN ARRANGE ON DIFFERENT SHELVES TOO FOR EASE OF USE. CHILDREN DONT USE, BUT THEY'VE HAD A FIDDLE AND THINK IT SHOULD BE A TOY STORAGE FACILITY

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?
VERY GOOD CAPACITY, AND IT LOOKS VERY SLEEK AND CLEAN (SORRY, COULDNT DECIDE ON JUST ONE BEST THING!). THE BLURB ON THE WEBSITE SAYS IT IS EXTRA HEAT&LOAD RESISTANT WHICH SOUNDS GOOD, BUT WE HAVENT REALLY TESTED THIS ANGLE YET!

What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?
HMM, TRICKY ONE BECAUSE IT HAS LOTS OF VERY POSITIVE THINGS, BUT I'M NOT SURE IT HAS A PARTICULAR USP? I GUESS THE DIMENSIONS ARE UNUSUAL FOR A BATHROOM CABINET; ITS TALL AND THIN, YET STILL LOOKS AT HOME. I DONT THINK IT HAS BROKEN THE MOULD IN TERMS OF DESIGN THOUGH.

Not a tester but house rather Ikea heavy.

Item name EXPEDIT bookcase with LEKMAN storage boxes

Function - how do you use the item? As a downstairs toy storage system

What do you store in the item? Ermmm....that would be toys. Stuff like playmobil, lego, little people, 'musical' instruments and so on - great for bulky stuff.

Does it match with their other furniture? Yes

How important is this? I like matching stuff

What kind of style is your house generally? Ikea style, mainly - talking Besta TV stuff, Karlstad sofas and about a million billy bookcases. With our own art.

How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it? Helps with keeping toys out of sight/can just chuck em in the boxes. Yes it makes things easy. Yes the children use it.

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product? It looks nice and has lots of room for plastic tat fun toys.

What (if anything) do you think makes this product special? I like the design of it in 'box' style. It is funky. Also, you can use it 2 ways up - horizontal/vertical - so will fit various spaces. Acey pacey.

Lavita - Ikea do do a long thin cabinet that is a mirror, and you twist it round to reveal storage. I'm certain I saw one in there!

Jimswife You are right, but it doesn't rotate LILLANGEN it's quite good, but I prefer mine here although it's not as good value for money like ikea.

Nope, it wasnt that one I was thinking of. They def had a rotating one, altho it might not have gone 360 - but it wasnt as big as the ones you're linking to. Which was prob why we didnt get it!

Not an official tester (sadly!) but we own lots of IKEA furniture in our house.

We own 3 BILLY bookcases and think very highly of them, we liked the fact the shelves could be moved and weren't fixed and we could get differnt sized ones that line up all the same and also and that we could get a CD rack etc to match. Ours have fallen apart a bit at the back but i'm not sure if that's our heavy use of them or not as the backs aren't as thick and sturdy as the sides/tops/bottoms etc.

We also own 3 MALM chest of drawers which are good too, they look very smart and hold lots of stuff. My only criticism of them is if you have slightly wet fingers and try to open them your hands slip off and i've broken many a finger nail not learning from my mistakes!

I would very much like to be able to review the FLAREN shelf unit for the bathroom but they do not stock it at Bristol and it is not available to buy online.

We have about 10 Billy bookcases of various sizes
Function - how do you use the item? For books, as a sideboard (with doors) and kids toys
What do you store in the item? See above
Does it match with their other furniture? Yes - mostly ikea! How important is this? Quite important as like a streamlined look.
What kind of style is your house generally? Modern, some Victorian features eg curtains and lighting
How does it help with organisation in your home? Keep things tidy, storage areas for son.
Has it made things easier for you? Yes because we don't have a lot of built in storage. Can also move it around easily.
Do the children use it? Yes, son has one in his room with doors. He likes to go in his "cupboard" and get stuff out!
What do you most like about your IKEA storage product? Sturdy, has lasted - one bookshelf is over ten years old and versatile through the addition of doors and extra shelves.
What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?simple yet cheap and looks good!

ANTONIUS wire basket
Function - how do you use the item?
Inside our big built in cupboards in the open plan living room.

What do you store in the item?
We have two big racks of Antonius but use the wire baskets particularly for storing table linen, napkins etc and one for gloves, hats and scarves.

Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally?
As most of our furniture is from ikea (my husband is swedish) i guess you could say it matches, but actually as its all stored inside this big walk in cupboard it doesn't matter too much. In general our house is quite modern, all open plan, wooden flooring and neutral walls but bright primary colour furniture.

How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?
It has made a really big difference actually. Before we bought the Antonius drawers we were storing everything in boxes which were dark and totally disorganised. We don't have kids but i think it would be perfect for toy storage.

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?
What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?
Antontius is really good as its so versatile. I partiuclalry like the double-depth drawers. It was cheap and it's sturdy and does the job.

Not an official tester.

Have the Billy Bookcases, and the narrower ones. Store books, CD's and DVD's on them. Makes my sitting room much less cluttered. Also have one in my son's room as a bookcase. Matches the other (non Ikea) furniture. Sturdy enough not to be chained to the wall.

Also have some of the Trofast storage system in one of the children's rooms.It has made his room much less cluttered and he loves it. matches the rest of his (non Ikea again) room.

Wish Trofast was available to buy on line, I would buy more if it was.

Item - Ektorp Bromma footstool
Function - how do you use the item? - as a footstool (using it right now, v comfy!) and storage. Also as extra seating.
What do you store in the item? Knitting needles, patterns, odds and sods of yarn etc.
Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally? Yes, we have Ektorp sofas and arm chair. I like that it matches, especially as it's the same height as the sofa so if you put them together it makes a kind of chaise longue. Our house is modern (1960s) and has lots of Ikea - Billy bookcases, Trofast etc.
How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it? It's somewhere to stick all the junk in. Keeps it easily accessible but tidied out of the way. DS does not use it. It's actually not ideal for small children as you have to take the whole top section off which is difficult to do. He does like to play board games on it, and rests his feed on it too!
What do you most like about your IKEA storage product? Value for money. It was relatively cheap for a useful, versatile piece of furniture.
What (if anything) do you think makes this product special? I really like the removable, washable covers. We have never taken them off to wash but I've scrubbed pen and other marks off and it still looks good.

Not an official tester...

Item name - TROFAST storage unit
Function - how do you use the item? - in children's bedrooms for storage and as a bedside table
What do you store in the item? - toys
Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally? - the communal areas are furnished in a slightly more classical style. The children's rooms have mostly white wooden furniture in a more contemporary style, so the storage fits well. This was really important for me.
How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it? - the children do use it, when I can persuade them to tidy up. It makes it much easier to sort toys by brand/type e.g. lego in one drawer, playmobil in another.
What do you most like about your IKEA storage product? - the brightly coloured drawers liven it up, and the drawers slide in and out really easily
What (if anything) do you think makes this product special? - cost versus quality. Definitely better than any of the altnernatives out there!

Item name - HEMNES Shoe cabinet
Function - how do you use the item? - in the hall as a shoe cabinet. There is a bowl on the top for keys.
What do you store in the item? - shoes
Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally? - it actually goes very well in the hall, as it is fairly classic in style
How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it? - the children do use it for their shoes (a drawer each) without being prompted. It would not be overstating it to say it has transformed our hall from a scummy mess to something fairly serene.
What do you most like about your IKEA storage product? - the fact it looks more expensive than it is, and that I can (and have) customised it by changing the (rather dull) handles
What (if anything) do you think makes this product special? - cost versus quality. I said it above and I'll say it again - when IKEA get it right, they really do get it right

Item name
Trofast

Function - how do you use the item?
Baby clothes

What do you store in the item?
For baby clothes

Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally?
Not much other furniture in the room. Looks fine where it is. I wouldn't buy something that didn't go reasonably well. Generally modern furniture style in the house, lots of wood. I do find the drawer colours disappointing - we didn't know if we were having a girl or a boy, so ended up with red, clear and green drawers, but the green is a bit yuck (and I think the blue is too).

How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?
Varied size drawers are useful. I don't know if it made things easier as we use it for a baby, so didn't have a baby before. The baby is too young to use it herself.

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?
Different drawer sizes

What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?
Modularity.

Item name
Billy bookcases and CD towers

Function - how do you use the item?
Books and DVDs in lounge and study

What do you store in the item?
Books and DVDs

Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally?
Yes - it is great to be able to by additional ones as we need them and know that they are still made.

How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it?
Keeps books and DVDs from lying around on the floor. DD is too yound to use them. It would be better if the predrilled holes in the CD racks were put in so that DVDs or CDs fitted neatly (i.e. more holes for DVD spacing of shelves).

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product?
The opportunity to buy more of the same and know they will match.

What (if anything) do you think makes this product special?
Ubiquitousness.

I am the official tester of the TJUSIG bench with shoe storage.

Function - how do you use the item? I use it in the hall as a shoe rack and put bags and hats on the top shelf.

What do you store in the item? Shoes, slippers, bags and hats. Occasionally childrens' coats get thrown on it (by them).

Does it match with their other furniture? How important is this? What kind of style is your house generally? It doesn't particularly match however all the furniture is a bit of a hotch potch. It doesn't NOT match, particularly as being in the hall means it isn't adjacent to any other furniture. Generally our home is "lived in", it's an old house we're slowing improving so it has better and worse rooms but it's in no way a show home.

How does it help with organisation in your home? Has it made things easier for you? Do the children use it? It has helped enormously to keep the hall tidier. I already had a shoerack (an ikea one) but with no shelf on top. However there are more shoes in regular use than fit on one shoe rack so another one was a real boon. I wanted to try it because I could really see the benefit of the shelf on top. Our other shoe rack always had the childrens' coats and school bags dumped on top of it, meaning you couldn't access the shoes easily and of course it loked a mess. Now we don't have excess shoes strewn all over the hall as they're on the extra rack space and we don't have schoolbags/handbags/sunhats/dumped anywhere, they're placed neatly on the shelf. It gives the whole entrance to the house a calmer air.

What do you most like about your IKEA storage product? I like the shelf (see above reasons) and I like the whiteness and the design.

What (if anything) do you think makes this product special? I think this is where I need to say that I put it up by myself in about 30 mins. I am a bit deskilled in that kind of thing as DH does it all these days but he was at work when it arrived so I cracked on. It was easy to do, and quick and actually I felt quite pleased with myself.

We have a BILLY bookcase - the best thing about it is that the shelving is adjustable, and the choice of colours are just right. The varying sizes on offer is handy too as they are suitable for any space - small or large. Worth the money!

Expedit Walnut Bookcase

I use this to store books, school resources and lots of files. It is huge and sturdy and looks great in the study. I am disappointed the colour has been discontinued as I wanted more and now have to scour ebay looking for the same colour.