Changes in Ikea's Detolf line

[Matt Random]

My Billy is an older version with wood framed doors. I have glass shelves in it. The depth isn't much of an issue for figures and most valks (YF-21 fits). The beech color is very hard to photograph. It messes with AWB and doesn't always come out well even using custom WB. The Billy does have to be attached to the wall when sitting on carpet since the doors make it front heavy. It is the only cabinet / bookcase I've ever had that I have to anchor to a wall.

One advantage of something like a Billy is that the sides and back block light which means that you have more options when trying to avoid the sunlight from a window.

[Sebastian]

I took 6 Detolfs and made 3 larger cabinets. It was REALLY easy, only needed to change the wood bases and buy new glass shleps. It made the display space a LOT better to accommodate the models. I will shoot a few pics and post them later... If I remember.

[SuperSenpai]

I took 6 Detolfs and made 3 larger cabinets. It was REALLY easy, only needed to change the wood bases and buy new glass shleps. It made the display space a LOT better to accommodate the models. I will shoot a few pics and post them later... If I remember.

Yeah, I think KiriK did a similar mod. It's somewhere in the Macross display thread I believe.

[Vagabond Elf]

It's worth noting that Billy is also scheduled to be discontinued (in October, I think). I'm sure something similar will replace it, but I don't know what - I work in Kids/Workspaces, not Living Rooms. Stock will persist for a while, but it's going to go away. (Which makes me sad, because it's one of the few things that still exists in MEdium Brown, which I love, and my living room is all Billys. I'm tempted to buy a couple shelves and just leave them boxed in the basement.)

I don't know specific numbers for the Detolf, but I do know in general that black-brown outsells wood-look at around 2:1, which is probably why the beech is going away. White is something that gets asked for quite frequently, and it's cheaper, being a simpler finish, so I'm not surprised to hear it's coming back.

Stockholm, as a family, is aimed at the people who equate value with cost. There's a significant number of people who assume IKEA furniture is low-quality because it's inexpensive, and who claim it's not pricey enough to be worth buying. Thus, the Stockholm family, which is very high-end for quality, but is aimed more at people who want their house to look like a magazine. Thus the "artsy" styling.

[Kanedas Bike]

It's worth noting that Billy is also scheduled to be discontinued (in October, I think). I'm sure something similar will replace it, but I don't know what - I work in Kids/Workspaces, not Living Rooms. Stock will persist for a while, but it's going to go away. (Which makes me sad, because it's one of the few things that still exists in MEdium Brown, which I love, and my living room is all Billys. I'm tempted to buy a couple shelves and just leave them boxed in the basement.)

I don't know specific numbers for the Detolf, but I do know in general that black-brown outsells wood-look at around 2:1, which is probably why the beech is going away. White is something that gets asked for quite frequently, and it's cheaper, being a simpler finish, so I'm not surprised to hear it's coming back.

Stockholm, as a family, is aimed at the people who equate value with cost. There's a significant number of people who assume IKEA furniture is low-quality because it's inexpensive, and who claim it's not pricey enough to be worth buying. Thus, the Stockholm family, which is very high-end for quality, but is aimed more at people who want their house to look like a magazine. Thus the "artsy" styling.

Interesting. Very much appreciate the inside perspective.

-b.

[SuperSenpai]

It's worth noting that Billy is also scheduled to be discontinued (in October, I think). I'm sure something similar will replace it, but I don't know what - I work in Kids/Workspaces, not Living Rooms. Stock will persist for a while, but it's going to go away. (Which makes me sad, because it's one of the few things that still exists in MEdium Brown, which I love, and my living room is all Billys. I'm tempted to buy a couple shelves and just leave them boxed in the basement.)

Interesting. At the last visit where I went looking for Detolfs, I noticed that they had discontinued the Expedit line and replaced it with the virtually identical-looking Kallax line. The only difference seemed to be that the outer edges panels were a bit thinner. I would think that routinely replacing the line-up is normal as styles change. But I feel like most of Ikea's designs are so simple that they could withstand many years of changing styles.

[Saburo]

Interesting. At the last visit where I went looking for Detolfs, I noticed that they had discontinued the Expedit line and replaced it with the virtually identical-looking Kallax line. The only difference seemed to be that the outer edges panels were a bit thinner. I would think that routinely replacing the line-up is normal as styles change. But I feel like most of Ikea's designs are so simple that they could withstand many years of changing styles.

After seeing your post I want to check out the Kallax line. I was planning to buy the single column Expedit and use it as the base/riser for my detolfs. I wonder if that the single column (1 x 4) Kallax can support the weight of 3 detolfs?

I agree with you about their designs withstanding years without change. I am guessing the Kallax is cheaper to produce, due to the lesser amount of materials.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Saburo

[Kelsain]

I just put together a Kallax last night. It'll serve as a boot bench in my mud room after we redo the floors. Seems pretty sturdy under my butt for now. Unless your Detolfs are full of rocks & fossils, it'll probably be fine. One could easily reinforce it by adding a plywood backing.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Kelsain

[Saburo]

I just put together a Kallax last night. It'll serve as a boot bench in my mud room after we redo the floors. Seems pretty sturdy under my butt for now. Unless your Detolfs are full of rocks & fossils, it'll probably be fine. One could easily reinforce it by adding a plywood backing.

Thank you for the info. Nope no rocks and fossils, just a bunch of plastic and metal.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Saburo

[matic]

One person can assemble a detolf?

[mechaninac]

Unless you're one of those people who are all thumbs, or mentally challenged when it comes to following simple pictorial instructions, then yes, a detolf is easily a one man assembly job.

[Jasonc]

I have 3 Detolfs, and want to replace them with the brown/black ones. I just realized that I too have a Billy bookcase, and while a bit beat up and weathered, has held a ton of books for a very long time, and very successfully. It maybe time to upgrade that as well, and get the display room looking purdy.

[aaajin]

while we're at it, Billy also comes with optional height extension unit for both width sizes

narrow

wide

helps making display pieces more noticeable, especially those on the bottom row.

[Duymon]

The Billy shelf can be configured into a pretty badass display.

Just look at what this guy did

Here's a preview of what he made out of the Billies. They'll cost you about 200 USD for the basic shelf plus glass doors, then it's 10 bucks per glass shelf and 50 bucks for each lighting set O_o

This pic of his display below looks seriously badass, even though it cost him 1320-ish USD before tax

Edited June 21, 2014 by Duymon

[technoblue]

Wow. That wall display looks very nice. And the lighting looks to be an excellent solution for darker rooms.

Ikea notes that the bookcase is 79.5" tall. It's time for me to take some measurements...

[Saburo]

That is an impressive setup! One day I'll have a nice display setup.

I stopped by Ikea last night, I am planning to buy 4 Detolfs soon and needed to find a replacement as a riser/base for them since then 1x5 Expedit is no longer made. I spoke with the sales person and he said that there are no plans for a 1x5 Kallax. I did find a Besta TV shelf that will work in the Expedit place, I'll probably need to reinforce it to hold the weight of 4 Detolfs + toys since the Ikea page shows the load capacity to be 176lbs/80kg.

Besta link

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80218458/

If anyone is using a Besta using it as a base for their Detolfs, please let post you thoughts and/or suggestions on the setup. Thank you.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Saburo

[Gakken85]

One person can assemble a detolf?

I've assembled 4 by myself. Carried them up to a second story apartment too haha.

As long as you can prop the glass against a computer chair or something you'll be fine.

They weigh about 70-80 pounds in the box.

[Duymon]

I've assembled 4 by myself. Carried them up to a second story apartment too haha.

As long as you can prop the glass against a computer chair or something you'll be fine.

They weigh about 70-80 pounds in the box.

Yeah, I also built 6 of them on my own thus far. the only hard part is carrying the box up and down stairs, which is easily solved with a dolly.

[matic]

Appreciate the feedback. Just put two together in alittle more then a hour.

[Major Focker]

aaajin, those height extensions shelves are meant to be placed on top. using them as risers is not recommended and probably dangerous.

i have a similar setup shown above, a row of BILLY with glass doors, though mine are in white and have additional shelf units on top. well worth it. started using ikea for displays about 7 years ago and thought i'd share my experiences here.

initially bought a pair of DETOLFs. they were cheap and i thought they looked cool. but very quickly got turned off by its limitations: non-adjustable shelf height, narrow width, and ultimately too short to maximize use of available wall space.

so i started looking at modular/stackable systems that could be built taller and really make full use of wall space.

BILLY had some advantages over BESTA: much cheaper shelf frames and glass doors, wider shelves (80cm vs 60cm). but the biggest drawback at that time was that BILLY shelves were only 28cm deep.

BESTA on the other hand were 40cm deep, can be stacked taller (up to almost 3m), optional glass shelves, has drawer options, and the 60cm wide glass panes meant longer items (like the SDF-1) can be displayed sideways without visual interruption from door frames. while BILLY had wider shelves, the widest glass panes were only 40cm.

i ended up with a combination of mostly BESTA plus a trio of BILLY shelves.

then about 3 years ago something wonderful happened: the BILLY line was expanded with 39cm deep shelf units and glass shelf options. BILLY became my prime choice for display cabinets. if they ever came out with 80cm wide glass doors, i'll completely replace all my BESTA cabinets.

for now though, BESTA remains complementary to my BILLY units. the new BESTA accessories also keep them relevant. for example, this set of half-depth glass shelves, mirror shelves and mirror backgrounds creates additional display options eg. showing off PVC figures butt cheeks

[DyNo]

My custom billy display cabinet. Added some trim around the top and some base on the bottom.

[SuperSenpai]

The Ikea has nice bookcase solutions, but I think my preference is for a shelving unit that has glass panels all around rather than wood. I used to have my collection in a bookcase, but what I found was that I couldn't display anything in the background because the bookcase wouldn't let any light in except in front. My room where I keep my collection is a basement office without windows, so the only light comes in overhead. With a bookcase, everything was just too dark. With a Detolf, I get ambient light from all around, so I can display figures in the background and they won't be in the shadows.

[Vagabond Elf]

Interesting. At the last visit where I went looking for Detolfs, I noticed that they had discontinued the Expedit line and replaced it with the virtually identical-looking Kallax line. The only difference seemed to be that the outer edges panels were a bit thinner. I would think that routinely replacing the line-up is normal as styles change. But I feel like most of Ikea's designs are so simple that they could withstand many years of changing styles.

The outer panels are each a centimetre thinner... which reduces the amount of wood IKEA consumes in a year by many thousands of tonnes. Yes, IKEA sold a lot of Expedits.

(Also, if you thing the fan rage is bad here, you should be glad you didn't have to deal with the folks freaking out about how the new shelf is 2cm shorter than the old one.)

But Kallax vs. Expedit is a good example of what I suspect will happen with Billy - the new shelf will be similar, but not identical.

After seeing your post I want to check out the Kallax line. I was planning to buy the single column Expedit and use it as the base/riser for my detolfs. I wonder if that the single column (1 x 4) Kallax can support the weight of 3 detolfs?

I agree with you about their designs withstanding years without change. I am guessing the Kallax is cheaper to produce, due to the lesser amount of materials.

Cheaper is part of the goal, but the honest reason was environmental sustainability. IKEA takes very seriously it's goal of replacing everything it uses, and that small change makes a huge step in that direction. (I don't remember the exact number, but another goal is that in the next decade or so IKEA will produce more electricity than it consumes, by building wind farms, putting solar panels on the roofs of the buildings, and other such measures.)

I'd be worried about putting 3 Detolfs on top of a Kallax (or Expedit). I'd be worried about putting one Detolf on top of an Expedit. The outer panels are hollow, like a door, and the reinforcement is designed to support the interior shelving, not the 2mm of laminate on the outside. So I guess it's a good thing the 1x5 isn't coming back anyway.

[The Old Man]

My custom billy display cabinet. Added some trim around the top and some base on the bottom.

Wow. That looks amazing sir. Great work.

[Gakken85]

I still like the Detolfs the best. They look really modern and have nothing covering the front.

[Saburo]

Cheaper is part of the goal, but the honest reason was environmental sustainability. IKEA takes very seriously it's goal of replacing everything it uses, and that small change makes a huge step in that direction. (I don't remember the exact number, but another goal is that in the next decade or so IKEA will produce more electricity than it consumes, by building wind farms, putting solar panels on the roofs of the buildings, and other such measures.)

I'd be worried about putting 3 Detolfs on top of a Kallax (or Expedit). I'd be worried about putting one Detolf on top of an Expedit. The outer panels are hollow, like a door, and the reinforcement is designed to support the interior shelving, not the 2mm of laminate on the outside. So I guess it's a good thing the 1x5 isn't coming back anyway.

After I had posted I read an article about the discontinuation of the Expedit line and change to the Kallax line. I understand and agree with IKEA's reason for the change.

[Mechapilot77]

I've assembled 4 by myself. Carried them up to a second story apartment too haha.

As long as you can prop the glass against a computer chair or something you'll be fine.

They weigh about 70-80 pounds in the box.

actually its closer to 90lbs. good thing the new ones come in 2 separate boxes now. sooooo much easier. i still remember carrying the original ones without a dolly..what a PITA.

[matic]

Are these the led strip?

edit:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20119418/

Edited June 25, 2014 by matic

[Vagabond Elf]

For those into Billy - the replacements are in our system now. Canadian stores should have them by 1 August, not sure about elsewhere. And - I rather doubt anyone will be able to tell the difference. Even the Medium Brown colour is returning, yay! Although there might be details that aren't obvious until they're in hand.

[Sebastian]

Here is mine

[hirohawa]

Sebastian

That looks great what brand of display is that?

[SuperSenpai]

Sebastian

That looks great what brand of display is that?

I think it's a Detolf hack.

[Sebastian]

Yep They are Detolfs.

I simply made new bases and tops and made one bigger shelf out of two Detolfs. So those 3 cabinets are 6 Detolfs put together.

The display space is much better and you can accommodate a lot more things this way.

It is an easy hack.

[SuperSenpai]

Great news -- I finally managed to track down a secondhand beech Detolf. Thank God for Craigslist!

While on the hunt for beech Detolfs, I discovered that Ikea Canada still carries them, but they won't ship them to U.S. addresses.

[Vagabond Elf]

Great news -- I finally managed to track down a secondhand beech Detolf. Thank God for Craigslist!

While on the hunt for beech Detolfs, I discovered that Ikea Canada still carries them, but they won't ship them to U.S. addresses.

They're discontinued up here, too; if any store is showing inventory, it's just something that hasn't sold yet.

Shipping something that large across an international border would be stupidly expensive, in any case. Since just putting it in a truck for delivery in the city starts at $60, I shudder to think what mailing it from Montreal (where the website's warehouse is) to wherever you might be would cost.