If you’re from the United Kingdom, then you’ll have seen IKEA go from strength to strength over the last decade. One of their best known desks is the Bekant, which looks pretty great when you look at it on their website.
So the last time I was in IKEA, I ended up in the office section (as always) looking for new gadgets for my home office. Whilst I was there, I ended up coming across the Bekant adjustable desk – I’d seen these kinds of standing desks online, but I wasn’t 100% sure whether they were worth the investment.
At IKEA, you generally have the choice between two different types of adjustable desk – one that you adjust manually with a lever, or one that you can adjust electrically. Being the lazy person that I am, I of course opted for the electrically adjustable Bekant model.
This was half due to laziness, and partially because I looked at the IKEA example desk they had out with an adjustable lever, which was pretty much broken. I’m sure that was down to kids playing with it, but either way, I was set on the electric powered Bekant as opposed to the pneumatic desks that they had on show.
So, I purchased the Bekant back in early 2020, and it’s been over a full year of owning it now. How have I got on with the Bekant a few months after initially purchasing it? Well, let me run through a quick review with you before you consider buyinh it yourself.
IKEA Bekant Desk Review – Electric Adjustable Desk
Almost a year on, and the Ikea Bekant standing desk has been doing its job pretty well. The electrics still work as well as the first day I bought the desk, and I’ve used them pretty much every day since. It’s a great way to relieve your back in the afternoon, as no-one wants to spend 8am-6pm sat at a desk for the entire day.
I decided to match the Bekant up with the Järvfjället, which is one of the higher quality office chairs that Ikea also sell. They’re both in a white colour, which you can’t find too often if you’re based in the UK. The colour options were actually a major factor in my decision.
And with electric standing desks being few and far between, this still stands out as one of the cheaper options out there. Let’s get this straight – it’s not cheap by any standards. It’s still retailing at over £400 on the Ikea website, so you’ll need to be looking for a desk within this price point.
But I do think that these desks tend to be pretty expensive all round, and when you compare it to others similar, it’s probably one of the lower costing desks for its style. It is fairly noisy though when adjusting the height, so bear this in mind.
When looking online, the main problem that I can see people have had with their desk is an issue with one of the columns. This then leads to the desk tilting to one side, and a couple of people seem to have had this problem if you look at other purchasers.
I can only speak for my own experience, with the table top itself being fine and holding up pretty well. It is hard to comment on the weight capacity, as I’ve never had more than 20kg of equipment on the top.
It’s been fine with this, but I’m not sure if it’d be okay with heavier items than this being placed on the desk itself. Let’s look at some of the aspects of this standing desk in more detail.
Building the Table
Now, I’m definitely not the most DIY friendly person. In fact, I’m pretty useless at putting stuff together, and it took me a good few hours to put up my similar wardrobe from IKEA.
The Bekant isn’t super easy to put up, but by the same standards, I wouldn’t say it was that tough either, especially with the electrical aspect of the desk too. You don’t need to worry about being an expert.
I managed to put the desk up in around an hour of my time, but that was with the help of a friend who was a little more.. mechanically gifted, shall I say. If I had to do it alone, it would have taken me a lot longer, but it can be done by anyone with a little DIY nouse.
Functionality
The electric function of the desk works great and is really responsive – to be honest, I don’t have it switched on all the time, as I don’t like to leave plugs on.
But throughout the day, when my back starts aching in the afternoon, I’ll raise the desk up to standing position and start doing some easier work. This is a great way to take a break and give myself the chance to stretch my legs.
It’s around 125 cm (49 inches) from the ground at its highest point, and 65cm (25 inches) from the ground at its lowest. The height adjustment function is very simple to use, and you can have it at any height in-between those two measurements.
I use a laptop on a stand as in the image below, as it’s just at the right height for me to be in line with my monitor. For taller folks (I’m 180cm), it may not quite be high enough off the ground for you to use a monitor alone. So, it may pay to look at getting one of the small stands that Ikea offer too.
The desk also comes with a key that you can put into the electric panel – if you don’t have this key inserted, then it won’t work and you can’t put the desk up and down.
Appearance & Design
To be honest, the appearance wasn’t one of the things that drew me to the Bekant. It doesn’t look ugly or anything, but it’s also not the nicest looking desk out there. It’s mainly there for its practicality as opposed to its appearance.
However, in general I do like the design of this IKEA desk. Aside from being adjustable, the feet of the desk are made to be extremely sturdy (a necessity with any adjustable table).
You can get the Bekant in both a white colour and a black colour, which isn’t nearly as nice in my opinion. The table top itself is made from particleboard, which means that it’s not going to warp in the future.
In terms of dimensions, the desk is around 1.3m long and 0.85m with curved edges. I’ve found this to be the perfect size for my study room, but it might be a little large if you want the table in your bedroom.
Altogether the packages weigh 25kg, though they do come in two separate boxes which makes things a little easier to carry. One thing I do like a lot about the desk is the easy cable management due to the small pocket beneath it.
This makes it really easy to tuck the power adapter in there without it dragging or taking up space on the floor.
Conclusion
Overall, although this desk is more expensive than I’d typically like to pay for a desk, it’s proved to be a great investment and I’m very happy with it.
Whether this is just because this is my first electronically adjustable desk or not I’m not sure, but having the ability to change my desk to a standing desk whenever I want has proved invaluable.
In terms of the longevity, I’ve only had the desk for a few months so I can’t comment on that too much. However, in the short time I’ve owned it I’ve definitely found it to be very resilient
