The Best Boardgames Shelves Aren't From IKEA

Like any Mid-30s white male tech worker I’m into board games, and like any board gamer my collection seems to be perpetually growing. As of my last count I’ve got about ~100 board games, which is a lot by normal people standards, but small-medium by standards of people whose job it is to make boardgame content.

My collection is big enough now that the question of how to store my games is now A Thing. Haphazard storage around the house is no longer an option — games that could once be tucked away in disparate corners across various shelves now command a much larger percentage of the Stuff I Own, and require their own maintenance beyond just a “family board game shelf”.

I think the start of this Shut Up and Sit Down video captures it well:

This video also demonstrates the Standard Recommendation for What To Do With All These Games! - the IKEA KALLAX. For many people with a large (and growing) collection, the KALLAX is the first and last word about a shelf solution for your games:

This is so engrained in board game culture that not fitting in a KALLAX is generally frowned upon, as boardgame people really like shelf-uniformity. Having to stack games on top of the shelf or the side is messy and as such undesirable.

That said, some games simply cannot be contained in a KALLAX. But also KALLAX is a shelf and has a certain style that may not be what you want.

Personally, I find the KALLAX to be kind of ugly! The thick framing leaves a lot of space between shelves, and their uniformity makes me think of more like frosted glass blocks than some nice interior storage solution. Additionally, the shelves are overly deep (imo) for their actual length/height, so it’s easy to have games that are either too far to the back and showing lots of shelf, or closer to the front and it feel like you aren’t really utilizing the shelf well.

I think the intention of the KALLAX is more that it should be a room divider of sorts with shared shelf space on either side, not something just pushed up against a wall.

Regardless, I’m not the only one with this opinion, so I have to throw it over to this blog post as well that looks at a lot of other shelving options from IKEA:

https://thetabletopfamily.com/best-ikea-bookshelves-for-board-games-tested-compared/

Shout out to them literally saying “we do not recommend using a Kallax shelf for board games.” This is effectively board game heresy, but I’m happy they (and I!) stand up to say that Hey Gamers, We Can Do Better Than KALLAX.

This article touches on the shelves I landed on when I first did this, which were the HEMNES line. The shelves were good, but the units themselves felt a little too tippy because they were on little feet. The shelves themselves also felt a little weaker than I would have wanted for games, but for a long time they served their purpose and admittedly no shelf collapsed.

So why not just use HEMNES (or TONSTAD)? I think part of me was just seeking a bit more of a different look. HEMNES feels a little too much like a literal display case, and TONSTAD is a nice option but also feels more like a shelf for books. Additionally, the quality of both is that sort of “IKEA cheap” feel, and I wanted something that just felt solid.

So I began a search, and am happy to say I found something that I think met my own stated criteria:

• Reasonably priced
• Sturdy
• Looks good
• Deep (but not too deep) shelves
• Adjustable

And lo and behold, I found something that I THINK nobody in the boardgame community is talking about because it’s a bit left field, but I’m hoping I start a small revolution with: the ULINE designer collection bookcase (cue The Price Is Right music here):

Pictures

Head on view, with two shelves

3-tier next to a 5-tier

Reasonable (but not too much!) space between “normal” sized games and shelf edge.

Fits big games with space to spare on the shelf!

Dimensions

After the pictures, some STATS:

Style	Width	Depth	Height
ULINE	32"	14"	71" (47")
KALLAX	30 1/8"	15 3/8"	57 5/8"
HEMNES	33 3/8"	11 1/2"	77 7/8"
TONSTAD	32 1/8"	13 3/4"	78 7/8"

You can see above that the ULINE shelving fits very nicely around the similar IKEA options, and also offer a shelf depth only slightly deeper than the TONSTAD but still nearly an inch and half less than the KALLAX. I would argue that they are effectively perfectly sized.

Additionally, these are VERY adjustable! Any of the shelves can be positioned anywhere in the case!

Feel

It’s hard to convey this is photos but these things are STURDY. I think that I, a 220 pound man, would feel comfortable standing on any of the shelves and jumping. I would not feel comfortable doing this on any IKEA shelving, and am pretty confident I would crack a HEMNES shelf in half.

For a sense as well of how sturdy these are, take a look at these stats:

Style	Max Load	Unit Weight
ULINE	150 lb	137 lb (99 lb)
KALLAX	29 lb	44 lb 5oz
HEMNES	66 lb	73 lb 6oz
TONSTAD	60 lb	97 lb 10oz

The ULINE shelves weigh nearly double the HEMNES, but proportionally have a load capacity that is more than double. That said at the same time, the shelves don’t look heavy. The style itself is sleek and echoes the “airspace” aesthetic, punching above their style class and could easily win in a cage match between some Target Brightroom slop that tries to solve the same purpose.

The construction and build quality also feels top notch, with the backs of the shelves as well being actual solid pieces of wood instead of the flimsy backing board IKEA gives you for something like HEMNES.

If there is one catch with these shelves, it’s that these things are heavy. When I got shelves for my own office, I got four 5-tier shelves and four smaller units, and the shelves arrived on a pallete. A truck came and had to lower these down off a delivery truck. Getting these things up two flights of stairs by myself was a serious effort. These are not light IKEA shelves. If you’ve got an easy access one-two floor house, or live in a building with an elevator, you’ll probably be fine, but if you have to go up stairs it is A Lot.

Price

What about the price? Well I have good news, and even then some better news:

Style	Price	Price for 3+
ULINE	$255 ($185)	$245 ($175)
KALLAX	$79	$79
HEMNES	$279	$279
TONSTAD	$260	$260

The shelves are cheaper than all the IKEA options besides KALLAX (whose cost is also a primary driver of “shelves that do the job”). However, given that ULINE typically supplies industrial facilities and large offices, they also do bulk discounts! This means that if you buy 3 or more of a given model, you get a discount! Great!

Conclusion

If they are so good, why has nobody pointed these out before? I think there are two main reasons:

1. ULINE is largely an industrial supplier. You go to ULINE to buy 500 construction helmets or 50 hand trucks for your warehouse operation. It’s not a place people think of to buy shelves for your house. It’s also possible that, given stated lineage, it’s possible people assume individuals can’t buy from ULINE, or have to order in large quantities, neither of which are the case! There isn’t a minimum order size!
2. KALLAX Supremacy. I think people really assume the board game shelf conversation starts and stops with KALLAX. People don’t really go out looking for other options unless you’re kind of nutty (like me). I assumed there had to be something better, and am glad to have indeed found a good option.

If there was one thing I’d want here, it’s to have something like a two tier option that is more coffee-table height. The 3-tier is nice but is maybe just a little taller than I would like. I think something that is basically a shelf shorter than the 3 would be a nice complement, and also provide adequate low-profile storage so the shelves aren’t so totally wall-absorbing.

Regardless, I’m loving these shelves, and hope whoever reads this similarly falls in love! Thanks for reading!