Brilliant bookcases for almost no money (Ikea Billy Bookcases)

Member Name: TabithaT

Product:	Ikea Billy Bookcases
Date:	28/10/09 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ridiculously cheap, solid as a rock, easy to assemble.

Disadvantages: What's not to like?!

I love my new bookcases!

I can't think of anything more ordinary to review quite frankly. A bookcase from Ikea? But I have so enjoyed the whole Ikea 'thang' that I thought I would let people know why.

I needed bookshelves for my spare bedroom badly. As a book addict things were getting out of control. Cue dash to IKEA for bookshelves, as we are broke at the moment, like most people. I was not expecting much to be honest. I was expecting the type of furniture you used to get in student rented accomodation. Kind of tatty and not up to much.

Not a bit of it! The units we bought were the ones with five shelves. The item off the shelf is big and bulky (very heavy) so make sure your car will take it and that you have a strong person with you. But it was in stock (Yay!) and cheap at £29 per bookcase. We got the white ones. We wanted three extra shelves, but they were out of stock. Our fault for arriving late I suspect.

Got them home, and they were a joy to assemble. Ikea instructions are brilliant. You just have to read them. As soon as we didn't and guessed we came unstuck. STICK TO THE INSTRUCTIONS!

The units went together in about ten to fifteen minutes each with two people. No problems, nothing missing, total flatpack dream. And they are solid and stable too. We put the three together along one wall and to be honest they look like they have been built in. No way do they look cheap and cheerful at all. I just looked on Argos online at bookcases. Someone complains that the shelves there (equivalent unit to IKEA one and also sold by Homebase online) is flimsy and that the shelves bow with weight. I can confirm that there is no such problem with this Ikea number. Solid as a rock. And cheaper than Argos and Homebase too!

It is chipboard covered with white melamine type white covering, which sounds horrible, but really isn't. The only tricky bit was nailing the back board to the shelves accurately. There should be guides provided but there weren't. I fluffed twice, but they will be full of books so no-one will notice.

There are limitations to Ikea. Everything in life has limitations. But to be honest I could not be more delighted with these book shelves. It's not often in life that things exceed our expectations, so I thought it only right to pass this one on.

Summary: Bookcases? Just go for these. You'll be delighted