I Tested (and Rated!) All the Kids’ Dressers at IKEA

How quickly our children’s clothing goes from a stack of adorable, perfectly folded onesies to a giant avalanche of sweatpants and mismatched socks! While a dresser or wardrobe can’t solve all of your family’s laundry problems, it certainly helps contain the chaos that is a growing child’s many, many outfits. IKEA’s kids’ dressers and convertible changing tables are attractive and kid-friendly additions to a child’s room.

For this installment of Personal Shopper, I recently visited the IKEA showroom in Brooklyn, New York, a city where very few of us have closets that fit our kids’ clothes, making a reliable chest of drawers all the more valuable. I took a close look at the brand’s many storage solutions for kids’ clothing to see which ones might suit your family’s needs.

The brand doesn’t offer a ton of variety in terms of kids’ dressers, but there are enough different sizes and configurations that you’re likely to find what you need, whether that’s a system that holds all of a teen’s trendy fits or a small chest of drawers just for a toddler’s socks, underwear, and pajamas. These pieces are simple and inexpensive, and they’re made with parents and kids in mind.

Note: IKEA has many other dressers marketed for adults that may also work in your child’s room, as long as you use anti-tip hardware to secure them to the wall. For this piece, I concentrated solely on the pieces in the kids’ department.

I wish I’d been able to haul my son’s entire unruly wardrobe over to IKEA to see how much overstuffing and shoving each of these drawers could take. But since I don’t want to be barred from the store for life, I instead took my time examining the following factors in each of the floor models:

• Appearance: Does the dresser’s look fit with a number of decor styles? Is it appealing to kids and adults? Is it something a kid will outgrow too quickly?
• Stability and durability: Dressers for kids should be used with anti-tip hardware attached to the walls, but that shouldn’t be all that’s holding it up if a child starts to climb or hang off the drawers. I also looked at how sturdy these dressers are when leaned on or wiggled. Finally, I looked for damage on the floor models and read reviews to see whether people complained of parts breaking at home.
• Ease of use: I opened and closed the drawers enough times to really annoy employees and fellow customers. The point was to see whether a parent can use the dresser one-handed while holding a baby, and whether a small child might be able to use the dresser themselves. I tested the rails of the drawers for smoothness and noise, and whether they stopped the drawers from coming all the way out.
• Capacity: There’s little point of a dresser if it doesn’t hold all you need it to. I looked at the size and number of drawers, as well as the various size options available.
• Ease of assembly: I studied the assembly instructions, spoke to store employees, and read customer reviews from all over the world for this one. Of course, everyone complains about assembling IKEA furniture, but some products are even bigger headaches than others.

In addition to testing and reviewing products for kids for the past five years, I’m a Brooklyn mom of a teenager who always seems to have too much clothing and also never enough. I’ve also reported on many product recalls involving tipping furniture or pinched fingers. I use personal experience, conversations with other parents, and research into child safety and development when evaluating products for kids. For this article, I spent so much time at my local IKEA that one store clerk gave me his chocolate bar, looking at me like I’d been lost in the wilderness for weeks.

What impressed us:  When you have a growing kid (and a growing family, for that matter), their clothing storage needs are going to grow, too. The SMÅSTAD modular system means that you can start out small, like with the three-drawer dresser in a short UPPFÖRA frame (and a bonus shallow drawer in the base). Later, you can add taller frames with drawers, a combination of drawers and open shelves, or cabinet doors along with all of the above. You might even start this collection as a changing table when they’re in diapers and later convert that piece into a desk with a different top.

Design-minded kids will really like that you don’t have to commit to the all-white Scandinavian look, since there are colorful drawer front and door options, and delightful half-circle drawer pulls and door handles you can mix and match. Metal tracks allow the drawers to open and close smoothly without coming out all the way, though the floor models did make a bit of a rattle when I tested them, so maybe don’t put away the baby’s clothing during naptime.

Specifications: 

• Materials: Particleboard, fiberboard with honeycomb paper filling, paper foil, plastic edging
• Dimensions: 3-drawer dresser frame (at top): 23 5/8″ (W) x 21 5/8″ (D) x 29 7/8″ (H); medium frame (at top): 23 5/8″ (W) x 21 5/8″ (D) x 53 1/2″ (H); tall frame: 23 5/8″ (W) x 21 5/8″ (D) x 77 1/8″ (H); plinth/base for all: 23 5/8″ (W) x 25 5/8″ (D) x 6 1/4″ (H) 
• Styles: small, medium, large UPPFÖRA frames with several combinations of drawer sizes, shelves, and doors; changing table/desk; loft bed with desk and wardrobe

What impressed us:  You’ll probably use a changing table for a couple of years (or less, depending on when your kid insists on standing up), so why bother buying one that’s high quality? Well, if it’s convertible into a timeless, solid dresser, your investment will last for many more years. The combination of solid pine and particleboard makes this piece more affordable and lightweight than if it had been all wood, and you really can’t tell the difference.

The changing table top opens and closes on a hinge that you can lock if you’re concerned about little hands getting pinched. And when you’re done with those diaper days, it’s a cute extra top shelf for decorative items. The two sizable drawers open and close quite smoothly, and there’s extra space under the whole thing for hidden storage, or just for easy cleaning.

Specifications: 

• Materials: Solid pine, stain, clear acrylic lacquer, fiberboard, paper foil, plastic edging
• Dimensions: With changing table closed: 30 3/4″ (W) x 21 1/4″ (D) x 42 1/2″ (H); with changing table open: 30 3/4″ (W) x 31 1/8″ (D) x 39” (H); drawer depth (inside): 18 1/8″; height under furniture: 7 1/8″ 
• Styles: White or gray stained pine

What impressed us:  This has all the convertible changing table advantages of the SUNDVIK above, but in a modern package. The rounded base, round wooden drawer pulls, and tapered wooden legs are cool details that don’t scream “changing table.” When you’re using it for that purpose, the top shelf glides out like a drawer, giving you easy access to anything you need to get a child changed and dressed. A clever innovation here: The extension that makes it a changing table can be removed and live a second life as a shallow floating shelf on the wall.

Specifications: 

• Materials: Fiberboard, honeycomb paper filling, particleboard, acrylic paint, plastic foil melamine foil, solid beech (pulls and legs)
• Dimensions: 33 1/2″ (W) x 38 1/4″ (H); depth with changing table extension: 31 1/8″; depth without changing table: 22 7/8″ (D)  
• Styles: Just one

What impressed us: This is a great little starter dresser that young children can reach, allowing them to get themselves dressed and even put away their own clothing. The circular plastic drawer pulls look and feel kid-friendly. Later on, older kids can keep using it for their clothes or as a bedside table. Then again, the price of this piece is so low, you also won’t mind handing it down to someone else and upgrading when your kid outgrows it. 

Specifications: 

• Materials: Particleboard, plastic edging, melamine foil, plastic foil
• Dimensions: 23 5/8″ (W) x 16 7/8″ (D) x 23 5/8″ (H); drawer (inside): 20 7/8″ (W) x 13 3/8″ (D) x 4 1/2″ (H)
• Styles: Just one (wardrobe available in same style)

What impressed us:  While TROFAST’s open frames and storage bins are most commonly associated with toy storage, the possibilities of this system go far beyond that. The boxes are lightweight enough for young kids to slide them out on their own, making them a good option for clothing storage if you encourage your kids to pick out and put away clothing on their own. You can even take the boxes to other rooms for an efficient laundry system.

The boxes don’t hold as much as a typical dresser drawer, but that should be OK for small children. The frames come in dark gray or white particleboard, or solid pine, and in four different sizes (plus one you mount on the wall). The bins can be plastic or steel mesh in a number of different colors and sizes. That means you can start with something colorful and playful for a young child and swap it for a more understated look later on. 

Specifications: 

• Materials: Frames: solid pine with tinted clear acrylic lacquer and tinted clear acrylic lacquer or particleboard with paper foil and plastic edging, polypropylene rail; storage boxes: polypropylene or steel with epoxy/polyester powder coating
• Dimensions: Frames:  12 5/8″ (W) x 17 3/8″ (D) x 20 1/2″ (H); 39″ (W) x 17 3/8″ (D) x 22″ (H); 39″ (W) x 17 3/8″ (D) x 37″ (H);  18 1/8″ (W) x 11 3/4″ (D) x 37″ (H) (with variations based on materials); plastic storage boxes: 16 1/2″ (W) x 11 3/4″ (D) x 9″ (H); 7 3/4″ (W) x 11 3/4″ (D) x 4″ (H); 16 1/2″ (W) x 11 3/4″ (D) x 14 1/4″ (H); steel storage boxes: 11 3/4″  (W) x 16 1/2″ (D) x 9″ (H); 11 3/4″ (W) x 16 1/2″ (D) x 3 7/8″ (H)
• Styles: solid pine; white or gray particleboard; various sizes; plastic or steel boxes