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In this guide
The ALEX drawer unit is the piece IKEA puts under half of its desk configurations, and the 14 1/8 by 27 1/2 inch white version at $95 is the one most people mean. It is a plain box with two shallow drawers above three deeper ones, black-free in this colorway with the fronts painted to match, and, the detail IKEA leads with, a finished back panel so the unit can support a desktop out in a room without showing raw board. Article 004.735.46 carried a 4.5-star average across 3,675 reviews on the US site at the time of this check.
The site already reviews IKEA's TROTTEN sit-stand desk, MARKUS chair and FORSÅ lamp, so this piece fills in the storage half of that office. The number that should drive the decision is not the price but the load rating: 9 pounds in each large drawer, 4 in each small one, 26 pounds for the whole unit. Read that against what you actually want to hide in a desk, and the ALEX is either exactly right or clearly the wrong kind of storage.
Our verdict
A reasonable $95 answer for light desk storage that has to look tidy from every side; the 26-pound total load and 9-pound drawer rating are the numbers to design around, and they are low.
- A good fit for
- A home office that needs pens, chargers, notebooks and a few folders out of sight beside or under a desk, and wants a unit whose back can face the room.
- We would skip it if
- You plan to store printer paper by the ream, hanging files, or anything heavy, or you want the unit to roll.
Reasons to consider it
- Finished on the back, so it works as a desk leg in the middle of a room
- Drawer stops, five drawers in two depths, and an inside drawer depth of 20 1/2 inches
- Returns accepted for 365 days, and an in-store IKEA Family price of $75
The compromises
- Rated 26 lb in total and 9 lb per large drawer, which a stack of paper exceeds quickly
- Particleboard with paper foil and plastic edging, and IKEA lists no warranty term for it
- A 61 lb 11 oz flat pack with instructions that several reviewers found ambiguous about top and bottom
What we have not verified: The unit was not assembled here; drawer glide smoothness, how the foil edges wear, and whether the reviewer complaints about drawers sticking on slide screws are common or rare were not assessed.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
ALEX Drawer Unit, White, 14 1/8x27 1/2 in (36x70 cm)
Five drawers in two depths, drawer stops, a 20 1/2-inch inside depth, a finished back that lets it sit under a desk in the middle of a room, $95 list with a $75 in-store IKEA Family price through late December 2026, and 365 days to return it.
Before you buy: The 26-pound total and 9-pound drawer ratings exclude reams of paper and hanging files; for those IKEA's own drop-file version or the 9-drawer unit fit better.
Price checked September 11, 2026. Retailer prices can change.Two shallow drawers, three deep ones, 20 1/2 inches of inside depth
The unit measures 14 1/8 inches wide by 22 7/8 deep by 27 1/2 tall, which is why IKEA sells it as a leg for its LAGKAPTEN desktops: the top lands a little under standard desk height, and a slab across two of them makes a desk with ten drawers. On its own it fits beside most desks with the drawers facing forward. IKEA gives an inside drawer depth of 20 1/2 inches, so letter paper lies flat with room to spare, and the drawers have stops that keep them from being pulled all the way out by accident.
IKEA's own imagery and its reviewers describe five drawers, two small over three large, and the load figures follow that split: 4 pounds for a small drawer, 9 for a large one, 26 for the unit as a whole. Those are the limits to plan storage around. A ream of copier paper weighs about five pounds, so two reams in one drawer already exceed its rating, and a full unit of paper would be three times the total allowance. Pens, cables, chargers, notebooks and a handful of folders are what the ratings describe.
Foil-wrapped particleboard with a back you can show
The main body and drawer fronts are particleboard finished with acrylic paint, paper foil and plastic edging; drawer sides and backs are particleboard under plastic foil, and drawer bottoms are painted fiberboard. This is standard IKEA construction at this price, and it is worth being clear-eyed about it: paper foil over particleboard resists everyday wiping but not chips at a corner, and a couple of reviewers report boards with rough factory cuts. IKEA's care note is a gentle detergent and a wipe dry, plus re-tightening the screws about two weeks after assembly.
What separates the ALEX from a cheaper drawer box is the finished back. Most desk pedestals assume a wall behind them; this one is meant to stand in open floor as a desk support, and the designer, Johanna Asshoff, gets a credit on the page for it. IKEA also states the unit was developed and tested for domestic use to EN 16122, the European standard for storage furniture stability and durability, which is the closest thing to a durability claim the page makes. There is no warranty term listed for the ALEX, unlike some of IKEA's kitchen and office lines.
One 62-pound box and a recurring complaint about upside-down builds
The unit ships flat in a single carton 32 inches long, 23 1/2 wide and 4 1/4 thick, at 61 pounds 11 ounces. Assume two people or a cart to get it upstairs. Assembly is a screw-and-cam build with drawer slides, and IKEA's video shows the two drawer sections being built and joined. The instruction booklet is a point of friction in the reviews: at least two reviewers assembled the carcass upside down and had to flip it, and one notes the booklet covers three configurations at once, so it pays to sort out which section is which before driving screws.
The 4.5-star average from 3,675 reviews is high for a piece with this many parts, and the positive comments cluster around sturdiness, capacity under a desk, and how unremarkable it looks once loaded. The negatives are specific enough to be useful: drawers catching on the screw heads of the slides, one drawer that sticks no matter how the screws are set, and a parent who found that stuffed drawers could not be freed without turning the unit over. Felt drawer inserts are sold as a separate ALEX accessory for the people who want the drawers quieter and sorted.
$95, $75 in store for IKEA Family, and what the other ALEX sizes cost
IKEA's US price is $95, and the page also shows an in-store-only IKEA Family price of $75, a $20 saving for a free membership if a store is reachable. Returns run for 365 days, and IKEA Family members can claim a price difference up to 90 days later if the item drops. The $95 tag sits at the bottom of the ALEX family: the storage unit without drawers is $60, the rolling unit in white and black is $105 at 29 7/8 inches tall, the drop-file version is $129.99, and the 9-drawer unit is $229.99.
Those siblings answer the load question better than this unit does. If the plan is hanging files, the drop-file ALEX is built for them. If the plan is a wall of small parts or art supplies, the 9-drawer unit spreads the weight across more drawers. And if the unit will move between a desk and a closet, the casters version adds 2 3/8 inches of height and $10. The 14 1/8 by 27 1/2 version is the right buy when the job is a desk leg with a modest amount of tidy storage and a back that faces the room.
Skip it if the drawers will hold paper by the ream
The ALEX fails one specific job: heavy storage. At 9 pounds per large drawer and 26 pounds total, a printer's worth of paper, a shelf of binders or a collection of hand tools will exceed the rating and stress particleboard drawer bottoms that were never designed for it. IKEA sells a metal filing cabinet and the drop-file ALEX for those loads; this unit is for the light, loose things that make a desk look untidy.
Also look past it if you want mobility or a taller pedestal. It has no casters, and at 27 1/2 inches it is intended to sit under a desktop, not beside a standing desk at working height. If the desk is wall-mounted in a small apartment, the 60-dollar storage unit or a smaller rolling cabinet may also be a better use of floor space than a 62-pound flat pack.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- IKEA US: ALEX drawer unit, white, 14 1/8x27 1/2 in (004.735.46) (opens in a new tab)
- IKEA US: search results for ALEX drawer units (opens in a new tab)
- IKEA US: ALEX drawer unit on casters, white/black, 14 1/8x29 7/8 in (opens in a new tab)
