IKEA KALLAX 2x4 & 4x4 Shelving Units: Mounting Techniques for Small Spaces & Storage Solutions

Hello everyone, this is my first post, although I have been looking at the advice for several years Unfortunately, maybe I'm a gap, but I haven't found anything like this before, otherwise I wouldn't be bothered with this lengthy post.

I have a request for advice on an issue contained in the topic. The situation is this: my room is quite small and I can hardly put all my stuff in it. I thought to myself that I would save some space by hanging IKEA Kallax (formerly expedit) shelves on the walls at a height of 50 cm, now standing on the floor.
Under them, I would put complex exercise equipment - a bench, barbells, dumbbells, plate hangers, etc., and shoes (I have some of them, I keep them in boxes).
Theoretically, ikea in their instructions does not recommend it for kallaxes larger than 2x2 partitions, but people do it and somehow live


Data and facts:

shelves:
Kallax 4x4 and 2x4 (vertical), 146x146 and 76x146 cm.
Weight - 42 and 22 kg. With a load, after calculating the weight of what is in the partitions - max 3 times as much as each rack weighs, i.e. approx. 120 and 60 kg.
Material - lightweight, fulled plates.

wall: an old tenement house from the 1930s, a 10 cm wide brick block in a partition wall, on which a lighter bookcase is to hang, a heavier bookcase on the load-bearing wall - I do not know what it is for, I have never drilled in it.

Well, now, a question for advice on how to hang it? I had a few concepts and was wondering which would be the best (if any, maybe it can be done smarter).
Ikea adds two small steel angles 1.5 mm thick to its shelves, which are to hold the whole thing to the wall so that it does not swing. In the case of a 2x2 bookcase, they are enough to hang it.


Can it follow that 4 such plates will hold the 4x2 rack? Somehow it would be hard for me to believe it ..
I myself thought about the profiles attached horizontally along the wall and to the shelves. At the bottom, a 2 mm steel angle, e.g. such

At the top, overlapping steel profiles of 1.5 mm.


The downside would be that the rack would stand out from the wall by 8 mm, but I could also lead out the cables of the equipment that will stand on it from the back.
The second option is to use IKEA angles instead of profiles at the top, then the rack would be adjacent to the wall. The third is some systems for hanging kitchen cabinets, which have a load capacity of two / four times higher than I need, e.g. scarpi 4 (unfortunately, I do not have the right to post links).
I also don't know what screws and dowels to use. Probably at least 8 mm, length 8-10 cm.
What do you think? I would be very grateful for a comment

I suggest sticking to the manufacturer's design assumptions.

If the outer wall of this bookcase is made of plywood and empty inside (I suppose), then after loading with books, etc., the profile of the wall will probably tear and everything will collapse.
If the outer walls are solid, the concept with the rail along the vertical is probably the only correct one. The rail should be attached with special shafts or, as a last resort, with black wood screws, after drilling holes. Better not to use self-drilling screws. And these rails should be hung on the wall.
If there is a concern that the wall has voids (holes), use the longest possible diameter pins, preferably 12 mm.

Thanks for the answer. The manufacturer meant, I suppose, not to use the included angles for hanging, which I wasn't going to do (at best use them to hold them to the wall). I also assumed (before buying) that the walls are made of plywood and a cardboard honeycomb inside (as in their most popular tables), but the bottom of the larger shelf is unpainted and you can see the structure of the chaff, rather not very dense. It wouldn't have occurred to me to rely on transferring the load capacity to these plates, it probably wouldn't end well - that's why I decided that the whole thing must rest on some solid base that will take the weight, hence the idea of a steel angle. But would 2 mm steel be enough?
Thanks again.

If I understand this correctly, only supporting the wall side is unlikely to solve the risk. These sheet angles seem to be sufficient fastening if it is steel sheet. Then the bookcase will not slide down, but when tearing from the top, it can fall into the room. Perhaps you should add some legs to the hanging corners of the bookcase from the inside of the room or grab the side surfaces of the bookcase from the top. It all depends on the solidity of the structure.

Inside these shelves is cardboard (honeycomb), which is what they do in practically all their furniture. This visible particle board is only at the end in the form of a thin strip as a bonding element to the outer surfaces of these sides. Be very careful when hanging them on the wall.

The load-bearing elements are the two side walls and the bottom one, if you do not want it to deform, you need to provide support, as if it was standing on the floor.
And it's nothing difficult, mount a shelf with three supports on the wall, the rest of the mounting as provided by the manufacturer.
They can be triangular brackets fixed with wall plugs (solid), or simply embed three pieces of an angle into the wall, attach a board / shelf to them, and all.
Really, some people have problems with that.

Michał - thanks for the info, I will rather focus on grabbing the sides at the top, then. Cold - you know, I do not have too much experience in combining with hanging furniture by myself, I wanted to ask smarter ones, taking into account the type of wall, dimensions and weight of the shelves, I was curious what other pins and screws would advise bigger are not cheap).

Hello, I am new here and I am a complete layman in the field of house work. Did you find something new in hanging Kallax? I bought a 4x2 bookcase and had no idea that it couldn't be hung as standard. Especially that it hung horizontally on the wall on the IKEA display. This is how I would like to mount it. Ultimately, books were supposed to stand on it. Can you advise anything on how to make it sensible to hang safely? What i must buy?

If you are nearby, go to the store, take a photo of this shelf as it is hung on the wall in the store (it is best to immediately post the photo on the forum). Later, ask the staff to give you instructions on how to hang the rack at home in the same way. If they refuse, write an e-mail to the store's headquarters and attach a photo to them and write that you bought the bookcase, and it turned out that the manual prohibits hanging the bookcase on the wall, and in stores they display it in such a way and therefore you ask for assembly instructions, because you also want it hang yourself

And has anyone managed to hang KALLAX 4x2 on the wall? Because in Ikea Wrocław there is (as I was in August 2017, it was - I did not take a photo) and the manual says something else (that, you can not). Thanks for the help.

Hi
Old topic, but I will write something from myself.

The construction of Kallax racks is cardboard.
Internal shelves are probably somehow reinforced veneer or plywood max 3. And veneer. In the center of the honeycomb. The edges forming the frame are pressed shavings or planks - probably pine. If the boards are short pieces glued together on a multi-wedge cutter.
The outer walls are a similar structure but may have a slightly thicker frame - you can tap to see where the cardboard / honeycomb begins.

Fastening. I would not trust these shelves too much - the creators also recommend mounting the 4x1 rack with 3 fasteners, where the middle one is to be on the opposite wall - but they assume the possibility of hanging horizontally and vertically. Conclusion - if we hang on one wall, I will not be surprised if the shelf breaks.
It is worth checking what construction we have got - it changes from year to year (like the same product, but different materials and more and more savings).

Hanging ... Probably the best thing to do is to put it up and fix it to the wall to stabilize it. Self-hanging only for light load. It is worth supporting the whole thing (put one on top of the other or put reinforced angles at the ends). If we do not load the bookcase somehow, it will be fine without it, but I would not load books. And if we have a child who can hang himself on a bookcase with his hands, I would also be additionally strengthened.