Build a Media Unit With IKEA EKET Cubes in 8 Steps for 35% More Living Room Storage
An EKET cabinet measures 35 cm square, and four of them bolted into a row give a 140 cm media run for under 200 euros at most IKEA stores. The build needs a drill, a level, and the wall-fixing kit that ships with each cube. This walkthrough covers the eight assembly stages, the wall-anchor decision, and the finishing options that change how the unit reads in a room.
Why the 35 cm cube changes the math
The EKET single cabinet is 35 cm wide, 35 cm deep, and 35 cm tall. IKEA lists the price for a single open cube around 20 to 30 euros depending on colour, and the door-fitted version runs higher. Four open cubes plus one closed cube give roughly 0.21 cubic metres of usable volume across a 175 cm span. Storage gains depend on what the cubes replace. A typical low TV bench holds two shelves; swapping it for a five-cube EKET arrangement raises shelf surface area by around a third in most living-room layouts measured by furniture retailers.
The modular logic matters more than the headline number. Each cube ships flat with its own cam-lock fittings and a single wall-fixing bracket. You can run them horizontally as a bench, stack them two high as a tower, or mix open and closed units in a grid. The 35 cm depth clears most soundbars and consoles, and a 35 cm internal height takes a PlayStation 5 laid flat with clearance. That dimensional fixed point is what lets a buyer plan the layout on graph paper before the first screw goes in.
The eight assembly stages
Start with the flat-pack inventory. Each EKET box contains four panels, eight cam locks, eight dowels, and one wall bracket. Lay the panels on a soft surface so the painted faces do not scuff against the floor.
Step one: press the wooden dowels into the pre-drilled holes on the two side panels by hand. Step two: insert the cam-lock bolts into the top and bottom panels. Step three: fit the side panels onto the bolts and rotate each cam lock a half turn clockwise with the supplied Allen key until it seats. Step four: slide the back panel into its groove before the final corner closes, because it cannot be fitted afterwards.
Step five: stand the assembled cube and check it for square using a builder’s set square against the inside corner. Step six: repeat steps one through five for each remaining cube. Step seven: join adjacent cubes using the EKET connection hardware sold separately, two small bolts per join. Step eight: mark the wall bracket position. The bracket sits at the top rear of each cube and screws into both the cube and the wall.
A single cube takes most builders eight to twelve minutes once the first one is done. Five cubes assemble in under an hour of working time.
Wall anchors decide whether the unit is safe
The wall fixing is mandatory on EKET, and IKEA states this in the assembly leaflet. The reason is the tip-over risk on tall or stacked configurations. The bracket itself is supplied; the wall screw and plug are not, because they depend on the wall material.
For solid brick or concrete, a 6 mm masonry bit and a nylon or expansion plug rated for at least 25 kg pull-out load hold a loaded cube. Drill to the plug depth, blow the dust clear, tap the plug flush, and drive the screw until the bracket sits tight against the panel. For plasterboard, the masonry plug fails. A spring-toggle anchor or a metal self-drilling plasterboard fixing such as the Fischer DuoTec or a GripIt brand anchor carries the load by spreading force behind the board. Hitting a stud is better still; a 50 mm wood screw straight into a timber stud beats any cavity fixing.
Find the stud with a magnetic or electronic detector before drilling. Studs in most homes sit at 400 or 600 mm centres. If the cube edges do not line up with a stud, use cavity anchors at the bracket holes and accept that the load rating drops. A stacked two-high tower needs every available bracket fixed, not just the top row.
A quick note on cable management
EKET cubes have no factory cable cut-outs. Drill a 35 mm hole through the back panel with a spade or Forstner bit before mounting, positioned to line up with the wall socket behind. Do this on the bench, not on the wall.
Finishing the raw or painted surface
The stock EKET comes in white, light grey, dark grey, and a few seasonal colours, all with a painted melamine-style foil. That foil resists a Danish oil wood finish completely, because there is no open grain to absorb it. Oil only works on the bare birch or oak EKET variants when IKEA stocks them, or on a solid-wood top fitted over the cubes.
The common upgrade is a real timber top laid across a horizontal run. A 175 cm length of 40 mm oak worktop, sanded to 240 grit and finished with two coats of Danish oil rubbed in along the grain and left 24 hours between coats, turns the foil boxes into a unit that reads as built-in. Danish oil is a blend of oil and varnish that penetrates and leaves a low-sheen surface; it needs no topcoat and recoats easily when it wears. Three thin coats outlast one heavy one, because the wood absorbs only what the surface can hold and the excess stays tacky.
If the cubes themselves need a colour change, the foil surface takes a specialist adhesion primer such as Zinsser BIN followed by a hardwearing eggshell. Skip the primer and the topcoat peels at the first knock. Tape the cam-lock holes before spraying so the fittings still seat afterwards.
Framing the run with thin wall panelling is the other route. A 9 mm MDF panel frame around the recess, painted to match the wall, hides the gap between cube and skirting and lifts a flat-pack run into something that looks specified rather than bought.
What a five-cube build costs and holds
Four open cubes at roughly 25 euros and one door cube at roughly 45 euros total about 145 euros before connection hardware. The connectors run a few euros per pack. An oak worktop top adds 60 to 120 euros depending on length and timber. Wall anchors cost under 10 euros for a pack that covers the whole job.
The loaded capacity per open cube sits around 7 kg on the base panel before the cube needs its wall fixing to stay stable, and IKEA quotes the wall-fixed maximum higher. A five-cube run holds a full media stack, a router, two rows of books, and a record collection across the closed units. The volume figure of 0.21 cubic metres translates to real shelving once you stop counting the box and start counting what fits inside it.
The open question most builders hit only after the unit is up is whether they planned the door-versus-open ratio for the clutter they actually own, or for the clutter they wish they had.
