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New Ikea storage unit great for LP's!

Desiring new racks for my LP’s, and hearing that the Ikea Kallax was popular with collectors, I went to the Ikea in my new city to check it out. I found the Kallax to have one enticing quality: very large capacity for very little money. Other than that, it didn’t fulfill my desires. At 15-3/4" deep, LP’s are too far from the front edge of the rack. Even worse, the rack is open on the backside, having no rear panel! It is meant to be a room divider, not an LP rack or bookcase. I’m guessing owners don’t mind, as the rack will usually be placed up against a wall, that wall then acting as a rear panel. But I want my LP’s to be inside an enclosed structure, not an open one, if for no other reason than to keep dust away from the LP cover opening. The lack of a rear panel is also at least partially responsible for another problem with the rack: it is not very structurally stiff and strong, being a little wobbly, able to move side-to-side. Ikea has other similar racks---the Bitrade, Valje, and Nornas, but they too fell short of my requirements.

So I kept looking. There are some fine LP racks out there, but I consider the prices ridiculous. Last night I went onto the Ikea website, again looking at their storage units. There was a brand new one named EKET pictured, and it looked like it might fit the bill, so today I went to Ikea to have a look. I do believe I have found my new LP racks! The EKET comes in several different sizes, from a single 13-3/4" cube to a 4-cubicle box. The 4-cubicle version measures 27-1/2" x 27-1/2" x 13-3/4" deep exterior, each cubicle having interior dimensions of 12-7/8" tall, 12-7/8" wide, and 13" deep, perfect for LP’s. Priced at only $50, the EKET 4-cube model provides over four linear feet of LP storage. And it has a back panel! It is also considerable more stiff than the Kallax, which gives me piece of mind. There are a couple of accessory options, including a set of four adjustable feet ($5!) and a 4" base platform, also height-adjustable ($15). Another is a set of screw-on clips which hold multiple units together if they are stacked one atop another. Three of the racks and a base platform end up being 86-1/2" (7’ 2-1/2") tall, perfect for me.

The Ikea EKET is best LP storage deal I have found, so if you have enough LP’s to make their storage an economic concern, check it out. It will leave you more dough for the LP’s themselves!

128x128bdp24
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,803 posts
 

There are a few differences between the two:

1- The Valje is 11-3/4" deep, the Eket 13-3/4".

2- The Valje is 59" tall by 39-3/8" wide, and priced at $149. The Eket is 27-1/2" square at $50. So for the price of one Valje, one can get three Eket’s. For $149, a single Valje provides 157 linear feet of shelf space; for $150, three Eket’s 165 feet.

3- Each shelf of the Eket is divided into two identical 12-3/4" wide cubicles. Each shelf in the Valje is divided into two different width cubicles, one twice the width of the other. At roughly 39" wide, that’s about 13" for the smaller cubicle, 26" for the wider. I don’t like LP’s in a space with supporting walls that far apart. The wider the space, the more weight and pressure is exerted on warpable LP’s.

4- The Eket can be stacked three units high (as are mine), for a total height of 7’ 2" (including the optional 4" tall "underframe"). The hardware for attaching one Eket to another is provided with each, holes drilled into the rear of each Eket to accept the brackets that do so. The Valje, at 59" tall, can not be stacked in a room with the common 8’ high ceiling, requiring at least 10’. Plus, means of securing one Valje to another is not designed into the unit. The top shelf of the 7’ 2" tall stack of three Eket’s can be easily reached; the top shelf of an almost 10’ tall stack of two Valje’s not so much.

has2be's avatar
has2be
555 posts
 
+bdp24 "The Expidit was the model the Kallax is a replacement for. There was such an outcry when the Expidit was discontinued that Ikea reintroduced it as the Kallax, the name being the only difference between the two."

"Not true. The Expedit had thicker shelves"
 
The outcry was pointless as the Kallax was introduced with thinner and less weight for maximizing shipping costs and minimizing material usage to keep with Ikea's "green" campaign of sustainable products........... That is why the Expedit was dropped for the lighter yet just as stable Kallax series.........
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,803 posts
 

When I said their names was the only difference between the Expidit and Kallax, I was speaking in terms of the over-all dimensions, style (room divider with no back panel), and LP capacity. At a glance, they look very, very similar, if not identical.

To me it’s now moot, as I much prefer the design of the Eket. I bought six of the 4-cubicle version (27-1/2" height and width, 13-3/4" depth, with a back panel---perfect for LP’s!), making two stacks of 3-Eket high units, each stack on the optional 4" high base unit. My search for LP storage is over!

daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,871 posts
 
I just bought a Kallax shelving unit, it has the ability ( which I added) of having caster feet if utilized horizontally, and therefore can roll. It looked to me as if the Eket shelving was far less beefy than the Kallax. For a little money, this Kallax is going to do the trick for multi LP storage. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,803 posts
 

When you go to roll the Kallax on it’s casters, push near the bottom of it’s side, rather than the middle, or even worse, near it’s top. Perhaps because it has no back panel, the Kallax exhibits some "give" in the lateral direction. I pushed on the top corner at one end of both the 16-cubicle and 25-cubicle Kallax, and they weren’t completely stiff---the whole assembly became out of square. I did the same with the 4-cubicle Eket, and the box remained square, showing no sign of movement. Now that I have assembled my Ekets, I can attest to their structural strength and stiffness.

There have been reports of the larger (16 and 25 cube) Kallaxs collapsing when fully loaded with LP’s. When I was going to go with them, I was intending to get multiples of the 8-cubicle version, as many as necessary to hold all my LPs. I would lay the Kallax on it’s side---horizontally as Davey intends, rather than place it vertically, standing up. Adding a cross-member to the back of the Kallax, as some have done, is also an idea worth considering. The Kallax is definitely the best value around, the cost per LP very low. Just be gentle with them once they’re loaded!

By the way, the "beefiness" of the Kallax, if it is perceived that way because of the thickness of it’s outer panels, is illusionary. Those panels are made of lightweight pressed-fibreboard, that "hollow-core" stuff, as are those of the Eket. The Kallax’s thicker outer panels, in comparison the those of the Eket, provide no additional strength.

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