Showing posts with label office furniture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label office furniture. Show all posts

3/01/2025

TROTTEN Storage Unit on Castors (White, 35x47 cm)

I have two of these and I was going to buy another two when the product was discontinued in Australia (still available in other countries' Ikea). 

The versatility of the product, how easy is to tuck it away and the many rooms I can use it in, make it a perfect storage solution for my home. I can use it as office storage, which is what was designed for. I can also use this unit as a sofa coffee table in my living room to keep a water bottle, mugs, glasses, napkins and other coffee/tea tools easily tucket away. I can use it as bedside table to store my pyjamas, sleepers/ugg boots, and a light throw). I currently use it as an office storage box with materials that I don't use often, and I've put an Eket cube with door on it, and they look fabulous together.  
 
The Skandi style is minimalist but eye-catching. The bamboo lid is excellent quality, very thick, sturdy and good looking. The shell is metallic, coated in an elegant matte antique-white epoxy. It's easy to carry around by hand if I don't put much stuff inside; otherwise, the castors do the job. Despite it's apparently wobbliness, this unit can securely hold tons of stuff inside and on top of it. The castors are also excellent, and roll smoothly.
 
The main downside of this unit was the tricky assembly. The instructions leaflet is good. You have to click in the different panels together, align them properly, and then insert the castors' screws perfectly as these are the only thing that hold the structure together. Getting all perfectly aligned without the structure falling apart was difficult. The unit looks less sturdy than it is. 
 
DESIGNER Francis Cayouette

2/28/2025

EKET Cabinet with Door (White, 35x35x35 cm)

I like the simplicity and elegance of the Eket line. Having a cube with a door allows me  to store and hide ugly-looking stuff from work, study or art making. The cube is made of a wood-like conglomerate, which you can clearly see on the individual panels inner sides when assembling them. It's sturdy material but light. I can move the cube around easily with my bare hands. The white matte paint and the overall design result in a neat elegant storage solution. The door has a push-opener integrated, and opens by making a bit of pressure.
 
This Eket cube can be hung from the wall (you'd need to buy the wall fittings separately), can be attached to another Eket cube (you'd need to buy the joining fittings), used with legs (ditto) or on its own. I own two pieces, which I use separately, resting on top of two Trotten storage units with castors (now discontinued) of the same size and the ensemble looks like water for chocolate.

I found the cube easy to put together. However, the instructions leaflet wasn't the best as includes instructions for other Eket combos and models. Linking and clicking-in-and-down the side 'knobs' was easy in theory. However, despite pushing down the panels like a champion, I couldn't make them click down fully. That being the case, I had to use a small hammer (protected with a thick fabric kitchen towel) to do that. 
 
DESIGNER  Jon Karlsson.
ASSEMBLY LEAFLET that came in the box is not available on the website any more.

KRILLE Leg with castor, white (70 cm)

These legs are sold individually to use with the individual table top of your choice. They are made of good quality strong metal and have an excellent epoxy coating. The castors are fabulous and lockable.
 
The Krille is easy to assemble and, screwing it to the table-top, is straight forward. However, the location of some of the screws holes is wrong, making something as simple as screwing a total pain. I don't have an electric screw-driver so I used a manual one and, despite having small hands, I still had difficulty positioning my hands in a way that I would be able to fully screw some of them. The spacing should have been different. I understand that the holes have to match those that the table-tops have, but the holes on the the leg base were to close to the metal bar. I had difficulty screwing them manually, so I don't know how a person with big hands or a big screwing tool can do that. For the rest, a great purchase. 
 
DESIGNER Francis Cayouette.