Good question. IMO the ikea bookcases are cheap, flimsy, and less serviceable than boards propped up on concrete blocks or bricks.

Editing to add: I'm not biased against IKEA. We had Billy bookcases in our kids' playroom years ago and, unless they are making them out of something else, the shelves are not sturdy enough to hold a row of hardbound books.

This post was edited by kswl on Sat, Jul 13, 13 at 9:47

I'm probably going to be getting these soon. Custom wood shelving is not really going to happen.

Ability to customize for a given space configuration is probably number one for us. I've seen really fabulous layouts of these here on GW and Ikeahacks.

But if you can get a different version closer by that meets your needs, go for it.

Price and customability (is that even a word?!). Lots of different sizes and colors and door options. I have a couple in my house but I use them for my kids' cubby lockers and for shoe storage (you can fit a lot of shoes with a couple extra shelves!) in my mudroom. For books, I try to buy bookshelves with at least a 1" thick shelf. Otherwise they sag.

You can add an extension to make it extra-high and doors.

The only thing I can find locally that compares with the Billy bookcases are at Big Lots. Half the price, but only two sizes and apparently only faux wood colors, no white.

I did notice that the Billy bookcases came with components of varying sizes. Is that what makes them so popular?

But as far as quality, or lack of quality, are they the same as the ones from Big Lots?

This post was edited by marti8a on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 18:05

Our Billy bookcases have lasted through 3 moves and many years of service. They are basic, but they look nicer than the cheap bookcases you see at Staples, Sanders or elsewhere. Not the same as all wood shelves, but for the price and the options, they are pretty good.

The Billy is bigger .
I think the main reason is that you can customize like everyone else has said. Have you checked Ikeahackers.net ? Great Ideas there.
Also go look at what Centsational Girl has done..
She also did some in her home office and guest bedroom....

Here is a link that might be useful: Centsational Girl

Two main reasons for me:

You can customize by adding doors, and I know a year from now if I need another bookcase for that same room, I can head on over to IKEA and they'll be there. If you buy at BigLots, you don't know that you can find a matching one if and when you need it.

I have inexpensive white Ikea furniture purchased over 20 years ago for my youngest, including a bookcase. It's all still going strong...he even had it in his college apt. We're about to donate it because we just don't need it or have space for it anymore.

If you decide on the Ikea bookcases, can't you just order them online and have them shipped to your house? By the time you pay for gas for a four hour round trip it might be worth it.

We have had Billy bookcases with a TON of books on them and do not have quality issues, believe it or not. We've had them for years.

Pros:
-Customizable in many ways (width, height, doors)
-Slim profile/baseboard cutout helps with the "built-in" feel
-Continuously available, in case needs change
-Easy on the wallet

Cons:
-Limited color choices
-Very, very basic look when standing alone (look better in a wall-to-wall setup)
-Not great for oversized books as they are not deep (which is also a pro)

I am eventually going to replace my Billy bookcases. In our last home we had a wall full of them, and it worked. In this house, it's only possible to put one on each side of a window. I keep thinking of ways to spruce them up, but by the time I add trim, wallpaper, paint, whatever . . .they are going to be more expensive than they are worth in time and money.

I wish there were more bookcase options out there w/my limited budget. There were a few Target bookcases I liked, but they were always either too short or too wide. And darn, why are only barrister bookcases available as antiques/vintage bookcases? I know, I know-- fewer books and people had built-ins. My house is from the 20s. Where are my built-ins???

I have MANY of them (4 or 5). I reinforce the shelves by slipping a piece of aluminum C-channel over the back edge, one just barely big enough to slide over the shelf, and almost as long as the shelf. It keeps it from sagging.

They have several advantages:
1 - Can buy spare shelves
2 - Can add doors
3 - Have many sizes, including corner units
4 - Have a height extender
5 - Will be there next year if you need another one.

If all you need is one cheap bookcase, get the one from Big Lots. If you have changing storage needs, consider getting together with some friends for an IKEA run.

I don't own anything from Ikea, but back when I checked out the shipping cost of a bookcase it was hundreds of dollars. At that rate, it would make more sense for me to purchase something nicer or even go custom made.

I do wish they'd ship their curtains.

Shee, I live pretty close to Ikea. I could ship you curtains!

Lazygardens, thanks for the heads up on the C-channel.

How fun to hear others have had them for years too. In 1990 when the Burbank Ikea opened I bought a wall full of whites--for temporary until we built in. Never did in that house for various reasons, always planned to move, and we eventually brought them to Georgia with us. They are in DH's office now. Other stuff we were tired of or wasn't worth shipping was left behind, but our cheap, temporary, and now old Billys made the value cut.

BTW, in those days Billys also had double-depth lower doored units that were open on the back and just slid right up to the bookcases to create a line of cupboards across the bottom. For the life of me I don't understand why they stopped offering it. Those thinyes, and in spite of its good style definitely looks it up closgs are great.

BTW, this IS cheap furniture, even if it does have unusually good style, and does look it up close, but what cheap furniture! All our shelves have been loaded to the hilt with books, old heavy TV, electronics, etc., every day of their life at our home, the cupboards on the bottom have been opened and closed daily for decades, and there have been NO problems of any kind.

I live in MD and its $40 to ship the $60 Billy bookcase. You can calculate shipping of the items in your cart before proceeding to check out. If the only thing I was interested in at ikea was getting the bookcase and getting out, the $40 would be $ well spent as opposed to 4hours of driving and gas.

I have some old ones in the garage from my youth. There was a TV/media unit once but that sagged. At the time I was comparing to things like Sauder and Bush (?) office furniture and it was less offensive.

Billy ain't bad, especially packed full of books. Not sure I'd drive far for it though. For the labor involved, I've been happier with some unfinished bookcases. They weigh less, too!

Anele - Cool! I don't need any curtains right now but I'll keep that in mind. Thank you!

Bought our Billy bookcases back in 87 -- and they are still going strong! :) We have tightened the bolts on rare occasions (like when we move into a new house -- we leave the main cases intact and just remove the shelves)

Love the newest additions of door/glass/additional bookcases for the top/lights etc.

Our Billy bookcases are just the plain ones (tall ones and short) that have worked SO well in every house ....

Amazing to look around the web and see what folks have done with them (adding moldings etc)
I remember when Christopher Lowell used them as whole room dividers in one of his "studio" apartment set-ups on his TV show ... really cool! :)

Take a look at some of the amazing things folks have done with their Billy bookcases! :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Pin Board for Billy

I've been looking at shelving units for close to a year now, and think I'm almost ready to commit myself to Billy. It's the narrow depth(only 11")which attracts me, since it will be used on a wall that's sort of a walk thru.

If you've used Billy shelving, which color did you choose? The dark is so dark, and I'm also thinking of painting the room a charcoal color. The medium wood tone looks close to the armoire that holds the tv, and other stained pieces in the room. Guess I need to go see it IRL. ;o)

Lazygardens, the c channel is a wonderful idea! It has me now thinking of my library. Hmmmm. That just might work until I get my built-ins.

My Mom is a book lover, and she has two walls of billy bookcases that do not sag. I put the bookcases together and unpacked box after box of books, I don't see any sagging!

They're not fine wood quality, but affordable and I think they look perfect in her office!

If you have to have things shipped ... try to get several people to make a collective order and share the shipping, then divvy up the products at the destination, or even share the truck rental and driving.

My SO's daughter and some friends made an expedition to the Atlanta IKEA from FSU, armed with shopping lists from even more friends (who had paid up front for what they wanted plus shipping) ... bummed a ride to ATL with a friend who was going there anyway, rented a truck in Atlanta, spent a few hours shopping, loaded the truck and drove home.

My Ikea cost $99 a shipment.
That's weather I get 1 bookcase or 41.
At 86 lbs a bookcase ,even though I'm only 10 miles away,I might be tempted..

lazygardens, I was really happy to read your post about the C-channel (saggy shelves is the one thing that really bugs me!) but I have a question about some of the other info:

1 - You mentioned being able to buy spare shelves but when I looked at the Billy bookcases online they only show glass shelves (yipes!) as an accessory to the Billy. Are the MDF ones available in the stores?
2 - I couldn't find a corner unit bookshelf online; is that also a store-only item?
3 - didn't see a height extender and would like to be able to have the unit go higher than the 79 1/2" given as the height. Is that elsewhere on the Ikea site?

I was going to put Elfa shelving in my library/computer room until I realized that the solid melamine shelving is $59 (plus tax!) for each 24" wide x 12" deep shelf! So then I started looking at the Sauder stuff but it sounds as if the Ikea is sturdier?

Helena2013, there is a separate bracket that is used to install the standard Billy bookcases to the wall for corner use. I did see the height extender piece in the store.

Now we have to decide if we want the white or the birch. Our office is BM Nantucket Fog, and I am finishing painting this weekend so we can get these bought and installed.

Caroleh, wow-- looks great!

Teacats, thanks for the pin board. This looks like an amazing Billy transformation, but I wonder how much $ was spent? At a certain point, it's not worth it to redo . . .

Helena~
None of the Billy shelves come with glass..
The extender shelf is located to the right side under Complementary Products...
Extra shelves are 10.00.
The combo corner units can be found here..
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/living_room/11683/
I attached a link to the basic also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Basic Billy

Surprised no one has mentioned EASY assembly. If you have put together anything from Sauder you will swear that you willl buy only Ikea in the future.

Scrappy, I will be finding that out about the easy assembly soon. Just realized the pieces we want will not fit in my small SUV, so we will have to do the shipping, which is not bad. If we rented a cargo van or pickup through UHaul, it would be over $50 when gas, taxes and mileage are included. I seem to have a good configuration of the Billy and Benno that will work for our space for a total of about $500.

Updated: the $99 shipping is if you order online, and this is a good option if there is no store near you. The items ship from a warehouse. If I did this, they would arrive August 15 which is not going to work since I have to be back at work August 12. However, since we have a local store, they will deliver for $59 and even do same day (if ordered before 3 p.m.) or next day for this price. But we have to go the store to order. It poured all afternoon yesterday and some areas had very bad flash flooding, so we did not head out, but we will go today.

Our contractor friend/neighbor will help us install and anchor to walls. We will assemble. Will post photos of complete project.

This post was edited by gsciencechick on Sun, Jul 28, 13 at 9:52

Yes, they were easy to assemble. Basically, once you do one bookcase or Benno CD tower, you have it down, although you have to be sure to put the finished portions of the shelves forward or you will have to undo them. Don't ask me how I know this.

Only problem is they don't really seem to work in the configuration I planned vs. IRL. So, I will have to wait until I figure out how they will work. So, the office is still a mess!

I live 132 miles away from the closest IKEA. If I make a visit to the store and purchase one bookcase or the complete IKEA store, IKEA will charge me $139 to do the delivery.

I designed a pharmacy and used IKEA kitchen cabinets for the production area and Besta Shelving for the store display area, and that's all my clients paid to have the store equipment delivered.

bump

I know what you mean gcsciencechick. When dd#1 went to college, we bought a secretary type desk (no longer on ikea website) and put one part in backward. Had the whole thing together before we noticed and then it was too late to take it apart.

People have mentioned how great the slides are on their ikea drawers but the drawers on that secretary got stuck a lot.

Closest IKEA is 6 hours away from me. I was unable to find basic bookcase in the size I wanted anywhere else. But I wasn't interested in driving 12 hours for a bookcase. I went to Ana White's site and made my own. I've actually made 2 of them now. I think by the time I was done it was $80 but I used 3/4' plywood and painted it.

link attachment box won't work for me

http://ana-white.com/2010/03/plans-simple-bookcases-in-4-sizes-the-willy-bookcase-that-you-can-build.html

I am really glad that this thread was bumped up because I totally missed it the first time around. Part of my walk-in closet plan includes 2 of the 15.5" Billy bookcases along the back wall center. I plan to add their doors, replacing the glass with mirrors to give us a full length mirror in the closet and also to expand the space visually. I'd actually take them into our local mirror and glass store and have them do it for me. Love this thread and all the ideas!
Lynn

We got an estimate for built-in bookcases in our living room recently - $8K. I found Billy bookcases available in the color (white, which is really off-white), height, and combined width that they fill the same space almost perfectly. $220! We just got them this past weekend. No, they do not look as good as built-ins would in our old house, but they provide us with the shelf space we need while we save some pennies for the real thing someday. Or not, if we wind up moving first.

Also, I had a slight hesitation about built-ins for resale purposes because the room is somewhat narrow and a future owner might want to arrange furniture differently than us, and built-ins *could* become a liability.

We drove 2 hours each way to pick them up. That's the first time I've been to Ikea in probably 15 years. I don't remember now what the shipping costs were but they were a significant percentage of the cost of the bookcases themselves.

Slate had an article about Ikea delivery recently.

Here is a link that might be useful: Slate article

Agreed that w/ some imagination and time you can do a lot to totally customize them w/ paint and moulding, etc. Last week I finally hauled my IKEA Billy (or maybe the ones before Billy) bookcases out to the trash, That was after my Mom and I purchased them in '85 or so. One shelf bowed a bit under the weight of a heavy 13" TV but that was it. I laughed when I saw the long shelves out on the frame of our front porch. The contractors salvaged them to walk across until the floor of our porch is laid.

I have Billy bookshelves that I added solid doors on a couple bottom Units, left others open and added glass doors to the uppers. We added the height extenders with glass doors because we have high ceilings. They fill one wall and go around the corner. We screwed them to the wall in a bedroom upstairs.

I'm thrilled with the quality for such a small investment. They look impressive. I don't keep paperbacks and they are very solid. If I ever sell this house, they are staying here. IKEA things should be put together once for best results.

Just wanted to update how our Billy/Benno combo turned out. We did not have enough space to do the corner mount of the Billy. Yes, I know, measure twice but I measured multiple times incorrectly, LOL. I bought doors, but I will probably have to return them because they look off-balance with only being able to do the two end pieces and not the one that is in the corner.

Still, overall, they look good, and I am satisfied. Our contractor neighbor removed our baseboards to attach them to the wall. We are still in the process of putting everything back together and where we will put desk, printer, etc., but overall we have a lot more storage space than we used to have. If we moved, we would leave them here, but we have the baseboards in our storage room.