The Best Ikea Products for Ikea Hacks

There are some genius Ikea hacks out there, and we’ve got most of them here on James and Catrin. But what are the best Ikea products for these Ikea hacks?

Some products need a bit of manipulation to be useful for a hack, some are a little too expensive to justify buying for a hack. But there are some perfect products that are easy to transform into something unique with an Ikea hack.

With some of these products, it’s almost as if Ikea designed them with Ikea hacks in mind!


The Ikea RAST Chest of Drawers (£25/$40)

The Rast chest of drawers is unbelievably good value, especially when you look at it through the eyes of an Ikea hacker!

Having a bare wood, basic structure is the holy grail of Ikea hacks and the Rast gives us this.

All you need to do to transform this into something amazing is to paint it, add some handles and perhaps some legs.

Of course, you could take things further, but with the example above from The MidKiff House, all they have done is stain the wood and add some stylish bar handles for a stunning bedside table.

This product can save you so much money!

The Ikea KALLAX Shelving Unit (£45/$67)

One of the most iconic of Ikea products, the Ikea Kallax is just so simple and inexpensive that it definitely falls into the category of ‘perfect for hacking’.

There is so much you can do with the Kallax shelving unit, whichever size you choose. Check out our huge post dedicated to highlighting some of the most amazing Ikea Kallax hacks.

The hack shown above is from Lux Hax and makes use of their fantastic products to create a designer-looking piece of furniture that would look great in any setting.

The Ikea BILLY Shelving Unit (£35/$59)

If the Kallax is one of the most iconic products from Ikea, then the Billy must be the most iconic.

Even more simple, and even more inexpensive than the Kallax, the Billy ccan be found in almost everybody’s home.

This Ikea product gives you a large basic frame from which you can go crazy and design a whole range of furniture ideas, such as the brilliant one above from Lone Fox.

One idea we also love is to simple paste or stick wallpaper or decals onto the back surface of the shelving unit to create a custom backdrop for your bookshelf items.

The Ikea SINNERLIG Pendant Lamp (£40/$70)

The Ikea Sinnerlig pendant lamp, made with cane webbing, is quite a bohemian look. Ikea have a lot of cane/rattan/wicker products in their range which work well together.

But the Sinnerlig is a great choice for a dramatically large light fitting at very low cost.

The example above, with three Sinnerlig lamps in a cluster is a great way to use them in a large space. All you need is a 3-way light fitting, or spider fitting.

Alternatively you can adorn the lamp with tassles, paint it a different colour or wrap it in a fabric.

The Ikea IVAR Cabinet (£45/$70)

The Ikea Ivar cabinet is one of my favourite products because it is such a basic piece of furniture. It lends itself perfectly to so many different options.

You can combine two or more together to create a longer piece, such as the one above with cane webbing inserts.

The most basic thing you can do with the Ikea Ivar is to just paint the doors. You can creative though with any design you desire. Check out our Ikea Ivar hacks post for more great ideas.

The Ikea Vittsjo Shelving Unit (£65/$80)

For a metal framed shelving unit with glass shelves, the Ikea Vittsjo range is incredibly good value.

This particular size of Vittsjo unit is a great piece to create a stunning display in your living room.

The example above from The Everygirl is a great way to customise it. They have spray painted the metal frame in gold to fit in with their lighter room decor.


These are just a few examples of the best Ikea products you can use for Ikea hacks.

Ikea seem to make it easy for us to come up with great Ikea hack ideas by creating some really cheap, basic products that you can easily customise.