Comments on: Good Bookshelves

By: Arjun Muralidharan

Arjun Muralidharan — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:16:19 +0000

I like my IKEA Billy shelves. They’re classic, and basically timeless. They’re not very fashionable, but I think they get out of the way and it’s up to you to make your books look good on them and free of clutter…

By: Dwight

Dwight — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:41:35 +0000

I put up some particle board shelves years ago using the metal rails that you screw into the wall studs and the adjustable brackets. I bought 3/4″ x 6′ plain particle boards and they have never bowed. I use them in my den/home office. There is a good bit of weight on them and they are doing fine. I agree that I would not use the thin vinyl covered particle board shelves to try to support anything heavy though.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:31:36 +0000

Hi, Mark. Sorry to take a while to get back and see your reply. The particleboard is about 3/4″ thick and not reinforced.

You are right that any thinner than that might make me nervous.

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:16:03 +0000

@Andrew – I’m guessing that those are made a bit differently than the $49 shelves from Office Depot. Are they simply thin particle board or do they have a reinforcing rod of some type?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:38:34 +0000

This isn’t universal, though. We’ve had IKEA’s “Billy” bookshelves in heavy use in our library for 12 years, with no problems. See here, for example:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asr-cascadian/528288557/

(You can see there’s a space between the bookcases, but that’s because the floor isn’t level, not because the particleboard is warping.)