Moving from a 3,200 sq ft house into 1,400 sq ft made storage one of our top priorities. A few weeks ago we installed two major storage upgrades that have already made daily life easier. We chose simple Ikea Bestå cabinets and, after a short wait for delivery, had them assembled and in place. Between the two installs we added the equivalent of eight large cabinets worth of storage — a huge gain for a small home. The ordering and delivery process took about four weeks, but otherwise went smoothly.

The impact is immediate: it feels like we added a closet in multiple rooms. In our upstairs family room, a small console with baskets used to hold all our board games and keepsakes, but reaching items at the bottom was always a hassle. The new nearly eight-foot glossy white console made from two 47″ Bestå cabinets gives us visible shelves for games and organized, accessible storage for photo albums, yearbooks, and other sentimental items.

Although we’ve used Ikea for years, this was our first time with the Bestå line, which is designed for media storage. Their standard sizes fit our spaces almost perfectly — upstairs under the TV and downstairs in the bedroom — so we were able to create cohesive solutions without custom carpentry.

We ordered four 47″ cabinet boxes — two for each room. Each cabinet has two compartments you can customize with shelves, doors, legs, and tops. For the long console upstairs, we joined two cabinets to create a single unit. Ikea supplies the hardware and instructions to connect boxes and, if you use their legs, a bracket lets you install a single central leg between joined cabinets to avoid two legs crowding the middle.

We added discreet metal support legs to prevent sagging in the center of long spans and also secured each box to the wall to prevent tipping. You can skip legs entirely and mount the boxes on suspension rails for a floating look, but we preferred freestanding legs to keep the piece feeling like furniture rather than a built-in.

We may add a countertop later to conceal the small seam between two joined cabinets, but honestly it doesn’t bother us much. We also like the stock glossy white doors more than expected, though we’re considering custom doors from a third party in the future if we want color or wood grain.

Upstairs, the only small task left is to nudge the TV a bit to the right so it centers better over the Bestå console. The mini-split HVAC unit constrained the original placement, but once the TV is adjusted the composition will feel balanced from the front view.

Downstairs in the bedroom we placed one 47″ Bestå cabinet on each side of the fireplace. Previously a small printer/filing cabinet and various items were spread around; now everything is neat and symmetrical. One cabinet stores camera gear, microphone and tripod equipment, and spare picture frames. The other holds decorative pieces that rotate through the house — vases, sconces, pots, candles, and similar items.

Those bedroom cabinets will probably be “hacked” into a built-in look eventually: filler pieces, a continuous counter, upgraded knobs, and baseboard that matches the room. For now, the clean freestanding cabinets are a huge improvement — neater, more polished, and far more functional than before.

We’re holding off on full built-in work until we make progress on constructing a closet wall in the bedroom. Once that side wall exists it will provide a clean termination point for the cabinets and allow us to center the fireplace on the wall properly. At that point we’ll likely hire a local carpenter to help with custom door fronts and more permanent built-in details.

For now, we’re happy with the major storage boost. It’s surprising how much joy we get from simply finding better, more efficient places for our things. These Bestå cabinets have already made daily life smoother and given us a lot more breathing room in our smaller home.

And yes, we resisted the urge to make endless Bestå puns — though the temptation was real. We’ll share updates when we complete the closet and any future cabinet customizations.

*This post contains affiliate links; we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you when purchases are made through links on the site.