Almost every record collector has owned a Kallax, and many still do. It is cheap, it is everywhere, and an LP fits in its square compartments. So the fair question is not which one is better, but which one suits you. Here is our honest answer, as the people who make the other one.
When a Kallax is the right choice
- Your budget is tight. A Kallax costs a fraction of a Coverfront. If the money is better spent on records, spend it on records.
- You store, you do not show. Spine-out in a Kallax is an efficient way to keep a large collection in order. Collectors count roughly 50 to 100 LPs per compartment, depending on the sleeves.
- The shelf does more than records. Books, boxes and baskets sit in the same grid.
One thing to keep an eye on: IKEA gives a maximum load of 13 kg per shelf. A compartment packed full of heavy pressings can come close to that.
When a Coverfront makes more sense
- You want to see your records. In a Kallax you read spines. In a Coverfront every compartment shows one sleeve to the room, and you change it whenever you like.
- You want to flip, not pull. Behind the front sleeve, around 60 records stand upright and lean back, so you browse them from the front the way you would in a record shop. That is what makes people play more than the same twenty.
- It is the furniture in the room. Birch plywood with the edge left visible, or spray-painted in any RAL colour. It is meant to stand in your living room, not in the spare room.
- The collection will grow. Every size is the same element. Add a column next year and it lines up.
Side by side
| Kallax | Coverfront | |
|---|---|---|
| How records stand | Spine-out | One sleeve facing out, the rest upright behind it |
| Finding a record | Read the spines, pull one out | Flip through from the front |
| Per compartment | Roughly 50 to 100, by collectors' counts | Around 60, plus around 80 in the base of every column |
| Depth | 39 cm | 37.5 cm |
| Material | Particleboard and fibreboard | Birch plywood or spray-painted fibreboard |
| Growing | Buy another unit | Add a column, same element |
| Price | Low | Considerably higher |
Weighing up more than these two? How to choose a record cabinet compares spine-out shelves, crates, drawers and cover-forward cabinets. For a wider look at what is out there, from Kallax to purpose-built cabinets, Recordstack's overview of record cabinets (Dutch) is a good place to start.
Or both
Plenty of collections are too big to show every record, and that is fine. A Kallax can hold the archive while a Coverfront holds what you are playing now, with this week's favourite at the front.
Find your size · See other people's rooms · How many records fit?
Kallax dimensions and load from IKEA's product page. Kallax is a trademark of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.; Ophon is not affiliated with IKEA.