The IKEA alex drawers are famous on KZfaq. You click on just about any video that has to do with minimal clean office or home setups and you will probably see some form of these drawers from IKEA being featured, shown or just passed by with a camera. That is how my wife became aware of there existence. Some random video she was watching about organization was all it took for her to bug me to the point of taking a trip to our local IKEA store.
Being a DIYer with ample woodworking tools in my workshop it was a hard pill for me to swallow but being the loving husband that I am I decided to put my pride behind me and get her what she wanted.
So first thing is first I'm going to show me unboxing the pieces so you can see exactly what you are getting and how you are getting it. Then I'm going to assemble the unit and go over any of the problems I may have encountered and or tell you about the good as well. Finally, I will be doing a short review of some of my initial thoughts and reactions of this drawer unit.
One thing to note is that there are varying version of this drawer system for sale. This review is only for the system you see featured in this video. The reason is that the size of this unit is small enough to save it from some basic structural flaws that may become prevalent if you make it wider, taller or in some cases, add wheels to it.
The reason I mention wheels or casters as they are actually called is that if you start putting stresses on this unit that are not simply vertical in nature, but also horizontal, as will be the case if you start pushing it from the side to move it around the room. You will probably start getting some play or movement in the unit as the connecting hardware stresses the particle board they are set into.
That is the huge drawback to using particle board is that it compresses and tears its layers of wood chips easily. I'm sure we have all seen the assembly required furniture pieces that sway from side to side.
Cam screws with cam locks only hold things together. They do not protect against torsion forces which all furniture pieces are subjected to.
However, you may be able to spare this unit from that same fate especially if you use it as a platform for a desktop such as the Lennmon desktop from IKEA or a DIY desktop like the one I built for myself. You can check that video out here:
DIY Desktop build for under $20:
• IKEA Hack - Desk Top B...
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