After a recent move I am sitting in my new home with about 30 book & record boxes sitting in my garage, wanting to come inside. I figure to pare them out once I can get them out and keep perhaps 1/3 of what's out there. That might be about 1,000 albums or so. I've got a 6' long wall unused in a bedroom to place storage. I would want something up to about 6' in height. That's a lot of weight. In my old home I had steel-and-wire shelving that's inexpensive but inefficient insofar as there's little side support. I also had some of the old popular IKEA units that were efficient and heavy, but their new Kallix units look insubstantial to me. So I've come to the source where many of you surely have faced the same deal. All the interior bookcases I've found look too shaky for this. Otherwise, garage units (this doesn't have to be pretty!) are supportive enough, although usually too deep (24"). Most I've found also either have non-flat shelf surfaces and/or lack any kind of side support, on the ends or in the middle. The vertical supports between albums are the hardest thing to find. It would be nice if there were some sort of modular shelving, especially if it were narrow, like 3 feet or so, that you could put side by side. I'm open to ideas here, obviously. Having someone come in and build me a bookcase heavy enough for this seems very expensive. Garage type units would be much cheaper and just as good (and easier).
I agree with you about the IKEA KALLAX shelving units. If you push on them from one side, the whole unit bends! If I was forced to use the KALLAX, I would install support bars across the rear. The KALLAX is also a little too deep for my liking, though some people view that depth as a plus. I also don’t like that it has an open back, which allows dust to enter the interior of the cubes.
IKEA offers another storage unit that I CAN recommend: the EKET. This model is available as a single 13-3/4" cube (interior 12-3/4" in width, depth, and height, just barely big enough for LP covers), a 2-cube model, and in what I consider the best choice for LP’s, a 4-cube model measuring 27-1/2" in width and height, 13-3/4" deep. The interior of each cube is 12-3/4" in weight, width, and depth, just big enough for "normal" LP covers---that is, all but MoFi One-Steps, Analogue Productions UHQR’s, etc. The EKET has a rear panel, which not only prevents the entry of dust into the cubes, but also provides structural integrity to the assembled unit (it comes as a flat pack, very easy to assemble). The rear of the EKET also sports holes drilled for support braces which may be installed when stacking multiple units, making multiples feel like a single unit.
I have fifteen EKET’s, three high and five wide. The rear of the EKET also has holes drilled for adjustable plastic support braces, for securing the unit to the wall it is placed in front of. You put the EKET (or EKET stacks) where you want it/them, and unscrew the braces (real left and right) until they rest against the wall. My stack of 15 EKET’s are completely full, and are absolutely unmovable. The assembled stack feels like it’s a built-in!
IKEA sells the 4-cube EKET for $60, and offers it in brown walnut (which looks cheap and pretty ugly), white (again, cheap), and dark gray (by far the best looking). I bought my 4-cube EKET’s when they were priced at $50, so a 3 x 5 stack of 15 cost me $750. More than the KALLAX, but in my opinion far superior and worth the difference in price. IKEA also offers a pack of four short adjustable wooden legs for the EKET, which raises the unit off the floor by a few inches. Great for preventing dust from migrating from your rug/carpet/floor into the cubes.
Build your own with solid hardwood. Has MUCH greater load support than softwood or MDF used by Ikea etc. If it does not need to be pretty, get boards cut to size by hardware store, then screw and glue together. If you want to get a bit more fancy, you can rabbet/dowel and possibly glue-joint long boards to get required depth, maybe round the edges with a router. That's what I did.
Added benefit, It will be exactly how you want/need it. No compromises.
@ghdprentice That has worked for you? Those are paperboard (not to be critical) and aren't quite 12" deep? I'd like to see a pic of your setup, as other solutions are not looking too good. I saw some steel cabinets on ULine that would work but maybe this is getting out of hand. My son freaked out when I told him I was talking about doing that with my spare bedroom. It's a shame IKEA doesn't have their BILLY stuff anymore. Seems like someone would recognize this and capitalize on the audio market, but no one seems to go for a modular solution that grows as you do....most have pricey solutions for small collections. The market has not caught up with the many who are far beyond that. I would have built the shelves in the past as i built my speaker cabinets, but not now. I want something simple to solve the problem. Were I an entrepreneur I would be all over this.....
@ghdprentice The link you gave said in the product details that it did NOT fit vinyl records (likely the reason for frequent returns), but did offer an Amazon search code to find one that did.
@howardleeSee above. I hope you find something I can use too 🙂
I bought IKEA VITTSJÖ shelves but I had to make some extra work i.e. I put additional aluminium profile supports in the gaps and they serve perfectly for LP storage, see pics IKEA for vinyl
2nd Simple Wood Goods. They’re a bit pricey, but very well built in the US. They hold most box sets too. I have them, you can stack them 4-5 cubes high. I found careful planning on placement is important because you order them with divots on the top or not depending on if it’s the top cube or not.
I used this system for 40 years. Way back in the beginning when Per Madsen was producing them. I live the modular design. Have fit the in multiple houses and rooms over the 40 years.
I'll throw this out there, just because I recently bought one. High quality build, all steel, can be used with the included casters, or adjustable feet. Probably holds a bit over 300 albums. I wanted the flexibility of being able to easily move it.
@ozzy62: I picked a cube in which all the LP’s were single discs in non-gatefold covers, and counted them. How many LP’s will fit in each EKET cube (and any other storage rack) will of course be determined by how thick your LP packages are, how tightly you pack each cube, and whether or not you have your LP’s in plastic sleeves.
A lot of my LP’s are installed in the double-pocket 4 mil thick sleeves made by the Canadian company Vinyl Storage Solutions (love ’em!). Others are in the 2 mil double pocket sleeves, with the rest in 3 mil and 4 mil thick single pocket sleeves. I don’t leave space in each cube for expansion, and fill each cube just snugly enough to keep the LP’s perfectly vertical, loose enough to make sliding them in and out easy.
The one cube I counted was filled with 65 LP’s, so the 4-cube model will hold 260 LP’s, assuming all of them are single LP’s in non-gatefold covers, installed in plastic sleeves, and packed firm but not tight. Of course LP’s and their covers not housed in plastic sleeves and packed tighter than I do will increase the number that will fit in each cube. And gatefold covers, double LP’s, and other variations may decrease the number that will fit in each cube.
I’ve never counted all my records, and have no plans to do so. My fifteen 4-cube EKET’s recently became completely full, so I will soon need to get a few more, and find a place to put them. (The left wall of my music room is just long enough for the five stacks of EKET’s and a stack of ASC TubeTraps---16" on the bottom, 11" on top. The right wall is filled with six CD racks---two high, three wide, with a storage capacity of 600 CD’s each. They too are completely full---and the same TubeTraps, plus a door.). Either that or stop buying records! I also have a couple cheap 2-cube racks I got off Amazon, in which I store my Laserdiscs. Anybody else still have their’s?!
I have two of the Ikea 4 x 4 units. I went to Home Depot and bought some inexpensive 1/8" wood sheet and put a back on them. They're pretty stable now. In one of them, I bought the optional drawers (two drawers in one cube).
I also use the IKEA KALLAX shelving units (see my system photos).
My solution was quit simple: I added a piece of 1/4" ply to the back of the shelf - cut to fit, glued and screwed. The resulting units were DRAMATICALLY STIFFER than the basic unit.
I now have simple, solid and very affordable storage for ~ 2400 LPs.
One more 'tweak': I added 2-lengths of inexpensive, black pipe-insulation to the back of each compartment. This insulation keeps the LPs forward in the box, at just the right place ;-). It is sold in various diameters, so test to see what you prefer...
I guess I cheaped out on record storage, with the Wal Mart Better Homes and Garden 4 cube set up…or you can go the two cube route, but has worked well for about 4 years:
Mine are 15” cubes. Way Basic makes them. It used to be 15” were standard, I should have checked the dimensions. Way basic cubes are available through Amazon. I deleted my original post with Amazon link.
@howardleeI have several hundred vinyl albums in my collection and searched high & low for a cost-effective storage solution. My advice on this would be to speak with a local carpenter about building either 6' or 7' bookcases that could easily be anchored to the wall and house however many vinyl albums you'd desire. Building these out of high-grade pine or poplar or whatever kind of wood your heart and budget might desire would be cost-effective, providing you find an honest carpenter. Pine and poplar can easily be stained & shellacked or polyurethaned in any beautiful finish you might desire.
As for the CD storage issue, I have several hundred of those, as well, and use something like this:
Would it be blasphemous of me to recommend good old fashioned milk crates. They are sturdy, stackable and come in different colors if that makes any difference.
Just looked at the IKEA KALLAX shelving units online, and they list for ~$80.
Add ~$30 for wood, glue and screws - a 8-cube storage unit (~600 LPs) costs ~$110, plus a trip to Ikea and an hour, or so, for assembly and adding a ply-backing.
It seems that you may need two of these units... Your total cost is less than $250. (Some LPs that cost more than that!)
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