Category: ‘F’ for Furniture

Somebody sent me a message recently because he was thinking about picking up the same IKEA Stockholm sideboard that I bought for our entryway. Questions about it come my way pretty often, actually. Do the doors stay even? Has it held up well? Would I recommend it? Yes, yes, and yes. It’s my favorite IKEA purchase to date (which is saying something because I’ve owned many a piece from IKEA over the years), so I thought I’d offer a review.

I bought mine two years ago, shortly after moving in to our house, because I was looking for shoe storage in the entryway. I didn’t want “anything too precious since it’s going to be used on a daily basis by the whole family” and I deemed the style, scale, and price right. The sideboard comes in a painted beige finish for $389 or a walnut veneer for $449. I like the painted version for my house because it already has so much woodwork, but the walnut finish looks good too — much better than some IKEA wood tones of the past (I’m looking at you, orange beech).

We keep shoes inside, so I added cushioned shelf liners that can easily be removed for cleaning or replacement. The kids have the left half, and the adults have the right. Besides shoes and bags on the shelves, their drawer holds things like sunglasses and floppy hats during warmer months, and winter hats, mittens, and gloves when it’s cold. ‘Our side’ has things like a lint roller, comb and small brush, and reusable shopping bags in the drawer, the bottom shelf has a few pairs of shoes, and the other shelf is home to our baby wrap and diaper bag.

I spent some time adjusting the doors so that they would hang evenly when I first assembled the sideboard, and I haven’t had to do anything to them since. There are push-open mechanisms inside, and in my house, they’ve held up to a fair amount of abuse from the kids! The doors can be left plain but I drilled holes in mine for knobs. If you want to do the same, remember to leave enough clearance for the drawers inside. I’d hate to see someone make the mistake of drilling right at the top and then having the back of the knobs keep the doors from closing. And another note on choosing knobs — if you have kids and they’re anything like mine, you might want to go with something that doesn’t need to be aligned in a certain direction. All three of my kids spin them around, either on purpose or by accident, so something round would have been a better choice.

The Stockholm sideboard is sturdy and surprisingly heavy, making it feel like a good solid piece of furniture that should hold up long-term. My only complaint is that two years in, the top has a few small scratches and dings in the painted finish. They aren’t noticeable enough to bother me, but they are there. I’ve always thought that it would be nice to find a remnant of marble or travertine to top the sideboard, so that’s an option if the scratches worsen over time or I just feel like updating the look.

I’ve had people over who have commented on how nice the sideboard was, and they’re always surprised when I say that it was from IKEA. I highly recommend it.