We Asked 1,000 Parents to Share the Most Helpful Storage Items They Used in Their Nursery (and They’ll Work in Any Space)

Versatile, useful storage that grows with your kid is an important part of setting up a nursery. You’re almost certainly going to want some kind of shelving unit, ideally paired with some cute bins. Floor baskets are also great for corralling everything from toys to dirty laundry, while a utility cart can easily transition from diaper station to art cart. Regardless of the theme you’re going for (forest, space, equestrian, or otherwise!), the following nursery storage products have proved their worth time and time again.

This is a best list that comes with real chops. Cubby is helmed by a small yet vibrant team of design-savvy parents who are unusually invested in finding the best products for life at home with kids, beginning with the nursery.

• Faith Durand (SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media, two kids, pro pinner of all the things),
• Cambria Bold (Executive Editor of Cubby, two kids, hobby designer, avid product researcher), and
• Laura Schocker (Chief Content Officer at Apartment Therapy Media, two kids, small-space/city-living expert)

Together they have 40 years of digital editorial experience between them. They’ve already read about, researched, and purchased many of the baby products that you, as a soon-to-be parent, are wondering about right now. They’ll tell you exactly what you need to know about what to get. 

If they don’t know the answer, they know plenty of people to ask — fellow editors, parenting experts, designers, and Cubby readers — so you can be sure that these recommendations come from real-life experiences.

Most importantly, we don’t just “office test” these products (read: order a bunch and shake ‘em around in our office “lab” with a fake baby doll) because that is helpful to approximately no one. The products we recommend here are ones we or fellow parents have actually purchased ourselves for our nursery and used for at least a few months (and sometimes way longer). The rave reviews are real.

We asked readers (and parents!) of Apartment Therapy Media, which includes Cubby, Apartment Therapy, and The Kitchn, to tell us what storage products they used for their nursery. We received over 1,000 responses. We took the most recommended bookcases, baskets, and bins from the survey and then assessed our own firsthand experiences with the product. If the product came strongly recommended by our survey parents and/or was personally used for a significant period of time (with positive results!) by one of our editors, it made it to this list!

To no one’s surprise, IKEA made a strong showing in the nursery storage category, with hundreds of parents praising its many affordable storage basics — and none more than the KALLAX shelf unit. This cubby- or cube-style bookcase (the best bookcase style for toys, as we’ve written about before) has so many advantages. You can place it standing up or on its side; the cubes can accommodate everything from storage bins and books to toys, clothes, or diapers; and the price just can’t be beat. 

We bought an IKEA KALLAX, which we initially used to store books and PJs (with bins). My kids are now 2 and 6 and we still use that bookcase in their shared room, now on its side. It stores books and toys and they love to build elaborate LEGO scenes at the just-right-sized top.

We use the IKEA KALLAX cubbies in the playroom/nursery with bins because it keeps the mess and chaos less visible.

I like things to look tidy and to be organized, so we used a lot of baskets to sort items and store things … I got a cube bookcase from IKEA (KALLAX, 2 cubes by 4 cubes) and laid it sideways on the floor in the closet. We could stack things on top and hang clothes above it. Makes great use of out-of-sight storage.

IKEA Kallax is great — we used drawer inserts to store onesies, socks, and other small items. We used storage baskets for toys. Once kids got older, we removed drawer inserts and used them for books and toys.

IKEA KALLAX shelves have been perfect for our Montessori-inspired setup and I would recommend that to anyone.

We did not do any traditional nursery furniture besides cribs. Our IKEA Kallax shelving unit with the matching straw IKEA baskets helped keep everything visually calm, organized, and easy to put away.

IKEA KALLAX cube storage — this thing is a WORKHORSE. You can add drawers or cabinet doors if need be. We still have the original one and it has held up beautifully despite making multiple moves to new houses. Another nursery item that easily grows with your kiddo and you can use it for other things for years to come.

IKEA KALLAX bookshelves when laid on their side are perfect for displaying children’s toys and are easy for them to reach once they are mobile. I now use a 4-cube KALLAX as a mini wardrobe for my baby so she can put away/take out her own clothes when she is older.

The IKEA Kallax was super handy both as a display shelf and also to store clothes and toys in.

The simple IKEA Kallax units are very versatile for holding books and toys (great for Montessori rotation) and are compatible with many kinds of baskets.

If you don’t live near an IKEA, two other highly recommended, cube-style bookcases for the nursery are the ECR4Kids 8-Compartment Storage Cabinet and the West Elm Parker Cubby Bookcase, with one parent calling the Parker Bookcase “a bit more elevated” than the IKEA KALLAX. Cubby’s Executive Editor, Cambria Bold, bought the ECR4Kids 8-compartment storage cabinet for her kids’ play area many years ago, and can attest to its quality: “It was incredibly sturdy and well-made, and I liked the natural wood finish more than the white of the KALLAX at the time.”

Available in multiple sizes and shapes and both pom pom and stripe variations, Pehr’s canvas storage containers are designed to fit inside standard cube bookcases (like the KALLAX). Their simplicity is ingenious: You can use Pehr bins for every age and stage! While you might store diaper cloths in the early months, later on you could use them to corral LEGOs or dirty socks.

“We love love love the Pehr storage bins,” said one survey parent. “They are so cute and functional. We’ve used them for many different purposes.”

Cubby Contributing Editor, Laura Fenton, also loves the Pehr bins, as she wrote about in her review of why Pehr bins are the best toy storage bins:

One of the key reasons I love Pehr bins is that they are just the right size. I find that bigger bins are problematic because kids can’t find the toy they are looking for and when a big bin gets dumped, it’s a huge cleanup project. If one of our Pehr bins gets tipped over in playtime, it’s not a huge mess (all six bins is another story). There are certain toys, including craft supplies, that need a smaller, hard container, but for vehicles, Magna-Tiles, blocks, stuffed animals, and dress-up clothes, I find the Pehr bin to be the perfect size.

Read the full review here: I’ve Tried Lots of Toy Storage Bins, But These Are the Ones I Keep Coming Back To

If you’re looking for floor storage baskets, you can’t beat the FLÅDIS seagrass baskets from IKEA. These soft, flexible baskets are roomier than the Pehr bins, but just as versatile. In fact, we named the FLÅDIS baskets the best IKEA storage basket for toys, and we stand by it.

Here’s what we particularly loved:

The FLÅDIS is made of seagrass so it actually looks nice on the sideboard in the family room and it can feel like a calm adult space once my daughter is in bed. 

The FLÅDIS basket is light and soft enough that it doesn’t pose any danger to my daughter as she starts to move around, pull herself up on the furniture, and try to get to her own toys

That basket has strong handles so I can just grab it and move it from room to room. I’ve even put it straight into the car to visit my in-laws or go away for the weekend, like a mobile toy box.

FLÅDIS baskets are big enough to hold plenty of toys so that my daughter easily doesn’t get bored. We regularly rotate toys between the main FLÅDIS toy basket, the bigger “overflow” toy basket, and the pompom-ed upstairs toy basket, but the FLÅDIS isn’t so huge that smaller toys get “lost” at the bottom.

It has a wide opening, so it’s really easy for my daughter to get her toys out and scoop them all back in again when it’s time to tidy up, but the bulb shape means that every single toy doesn’t escape when the basket falls on its side. That bulb shape also keeps the toys relatively hidden and contained when they’re all packed away.

Read the full review here: I Tried 4 Different IKEA Baskets for Toy Storage, and Found a Clear Winner

Many of our survey parents recommended a utility cart for all kinds of baby and nursery storage needs, specifically the RASKOG cart from IKEA. (And if you can’t get your hands on IKEA’s RASKOG cart, this 3-Tier Rolling Cart from The Container Store is a terrific alternative.)

It helped hold all of my snacks, pumping supplies, pacifiers, etc. I could roll it from the bed to the couch to the cradle and it was perfect.

We had one for both of our kids and used it for diaper/cleaning stuff and toys and books. They are still in use in new ways (one is currently an art cart and the other is holding a collection of stuffies) and will continue to be for years. I love this cart so very much.

Diapers, wipes, hand sanitizer on top shelf; thermometer, nasal aspirator, nail file etc. on middle shelf; and extra milk storage bags/breast pump parts/random stuff on bottom shelf.