How to Attach Furniture Legs to Ikea Kallax and Alex Shelves

Learn how you can attach furniture legs to your Ikea furniture, like the Kallax, Alex, and Billy Shelves. 

I'm so excited to this tutorial on attaching legs to your Ikea furniture because it allows you to customize and personalize your furniture. This is a super easy hack to upgrade Ikea furniture from something basic to a gorgeous mid-modern century piece. 

As we were upgrading my craft room, I had the problem of having a few of the Alex cabinets that dragged on my carpet when I opened it. I really needed a solution because switching to hardwood floors was not an option in my space.

Why Add Legs to Ikea Furniture Like Kallax, Alex, and Billy Shelves

There were a handful of reasons we wanted to add furniture legs to our Kallax and Alex shelves. These include:

• The legs provide a boost of style and provide an accent of color.
• It allows the air to flow and vent below the shelf. Putting legs on the furniture also allows for picking up one entire side of the furniture from the floor.
• The legs allow the furniture piece to be raised a little higher to help how much I had to bend over to go into the drawers.

Most Popular Ikea Shelving to Attach Furniture Legs

There are a ton of storage options with Ikea. The most popular of these are the Alex, Kallax, and Billy units. With all of these units, you have the option of adding the Ikea Linnmon table tops to make them into desks.

Ikea Alex Cabinets for Craft Space or Office to Attach Legs

The Ikea Alex line has a few different sizes. They are an amazing addition for any office or craft space. The Alex line is popular due to it's ability to hide stuff in drawers.

• Alex Drawer Unit with Five Drawers - This setup has five drawers, three of those at the bottom are bigger than the others.
• Alex Drawer Unit with Four Drawers - This setup has four drawers, with the bottom being the biggest where you can hang files.
• Alex Drawer Unit with Nine Drawers - This one has nine drawers and is a lot taller than the others.
• Alex Drawer on Casters - This one is wider than the others. I love using this to store all of my crafting supplies.

Ikea Kallax Shelving Units for Craft Space or Office to Attach

The Kallax Unit is so versatile. It comes in so many shapes and sizes. The Kallax lineup was made popular due to it's uniform square boxes (with a few that also have different sizes like this one). We have several of these in our house. When I say several, I mean three.

• 1 x 4 - This one is great, especially if you decide you want to hack a bench with it!
• 2 x 2 - This one is smaller and would look great with legs. It also can be mounted to a wall!
• 3 x 3 - This one is great for small spaces and great to add legs to!
• 3 x 4 - This is also a super cute one that would do well with legs.
• 4 x 4 - This one is a little bigger, and it's the exact one I have in my space. I decided not to add legs on this one for the sheer size of it.
• 5 x 5 - This one is the biggest of all of them and is great if you have a ton of stuff to display or store. I wouldn't necessarily recommend adding legs to this one for the sheer concern of it toppling over. If you do add them, make sure you add more than 4 legs.

Ikea Billy Shelving Units to Attach Furniture Legs for Craft Space or Office

The Ikea Billy Units are used in my kids playroom. I absolutely LOVE these shelves because they are so basic and customizable. 

Favorite Sources for Ikea Legs and Shelves

There are so many options online to buy furniture legs that the hardest part of all of this is waiting for your furniture legs to come in. Sure, you could create a block from a 2" x 4", but why not level up by buying some stylish legs that are tapered, rectangular or even hairpin shaped?

Here are some of the ones that you'll likely encounter as well as my favorite picks overall.

• Tapered Legs - They look great if you want a mid-century style
• Hairpin Legs - Gaining more popularity, they look like bent steel and come in various colors and sizes
• Bun Legs - These are shaped like a hamburger bun that you'll in most traditional home furniture
• Tubular Legs - They are made plastic or metal that look like poles
• Queen Anne Legs - These are normally the legs you find in wingback chairs
• Wrought Iron Legs - These have a fancy look to them, kind of like fancy wrought iron front doors
• Castors - These are movable legs that allow you to roll furniture around (some of the Alex cabinets come with castors)
• Tip Toe Legs - These are really tapered legs that normally have a different colored section near the bottom

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You can also choose to make your own legs by using good select wood or plywood!

Shops Selling Ikea Furniture Legs

• Pretty Pegs - They are in the UK but ship world wide!

There are se

Ikea

AmazoCopppe

Collection of the Best Legs to Attach to Ikea Legs and Shelves

Buying Non-Ikea Furniture Legs

How to Add Legs and Feet to Ikea Furniture - Kallax, Alex, and Billy

Supplies You Need to Attach Legs to Ikea Furniture

• Ikea Furniture Unit - Kallax, Alex, or Billy
• Furniture Legs
• Measuring Square
• Drill
• Pencil
• Mounting Plates (optional)

Instructions on How to Attach Legs to Kallax, Alex, or Billy Furniture

• Put together and assemble the furniture.
• Measure where you want the legs to be.
• Drill the pilot holes for the legs.
• Attach mounting plates to the furniture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you use other furniture legs to attach to Ikea furniture?

Can I add legs to IKEA Kallax?

Can  you put legs on a Billy bookcase?

How do you install IKEA capita legs?

Does IKEA sell furniture legs?

My family has a ton of furniture, especially shelves,  from Ikea. This is a great way to level up the Kallax, Bily, and Alex cabinets. In addition you'll be able to run your vacuum robot underneath them if you use tall enough legs.

It's little Ikea hacks like this that make your purchases from this blue and yellow big box store more unique and customized to your space.

I absolutely love how I can pull out the drawer on carpet now instead of it dragging on the carpet.

I hope this guide and hack helps you feel more confident in attaching legs to your IKEA furniture.

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