Billy does not come with a big Bill. (Ikea Billy Bookcases)

Member Name: CokaCola

Product:	Ikea Billy Bookcases
Date:	24/01/09 (206 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonable, Durable, Easy to Build, Strong, Quality finish

Disadvantages: None spring to mind.

I have a Billy bookcase, which I bought from Ikea to fill a gap which was pretty narrow and not very high. The billy fitted it perfectly and only cost about £19.50! It seems to be very sturdy and very well built and holds my books without any worries at all!

The Billy is pretty much your standard bookcase design, with two sides, a top, a bottom and lots of holes up the internal sides which you put stoppers in and suspend shelves ontop of. It's available in a selection of colours, but I personally went for the oak effect, simply because it matched the existing Ikea furniture in the room.

When I went to the Ikea warehouse with my little paper slip and my miniature wooden pencil, I was worried about how heavy the box would be, and whether I'd be able to fit it into the car. I had no reason to worry though, the box was designed to be as small and flat as can be, yet still offering internal polystyrene protection, but was easily managed by one person, and the car seatsn didn't even need to be adjusted. I suspect it would be a little bit more difficult to transport one of the longer Units, but I'm ssure it would be perfectly possible in most standard sized cars.

I got home and got all the bits of wood out. The instructions are really quite clear, they are in english, but there isn't really any need for the words at all, you just follow the diagrams, which are detailed down to the screw holes on the wood.

The whole unit probably took me about 10 minutes to build, though I did spend a few minutes trying to dig out a hammer and the relevant screw driver to begin with! The finish of the product is very nice, with nice thick pieces of wood used in it's construction and an attractive wood effect. It gives the impression of being very sturdy, which is a major plus point for a unit that may be carrying a large amount of Kgs worth of books.

Of course, if you have a bad back or drive a three wheeler, you can always get Ikea to deliver the Unit for you, which I think can be within 48 hours and isn't that costly, especially if you are buying a few different articles of furniture at the same time. I believe they will also erect pieces of furniture, so if you are really not very confident in the DIY department, help is at hand.

Overall though, I would recommend a Billy bookcase to anyone looking for a reasonable, durable storage solution for their home library. It isn't too hard to transport, is very easy to build, is very reasonably priced and the finish is very good.

Highly Recommended by myself!

Summary: A highly recommended shelving concept.