Thursday, October 09, 2014

Ikea BEKANT Desks Impressions: Part 4, First-Hand Experience

Finally, some first-hand impressions. I got a chance recently to actually look at a few BEKANT desks, including, the electric ones, in person.
Underneath a Regular Ikea BEKANT Desk
General Appearance
They looked very similar to GALANT desks. I saw the two desks set up side by side and it took seeing A-legs to remind me that one was a GALANT. The BEKANTS looked good to me and I especially liked the ones with the white underframe and legs. What really stood out was the 5-sided desk. I don't know how practical something like that would be, but it looked good in birch-veneer with a white trim.

Electric Height Adjustment Desks
There were BEKANT desks with electric height adjustment available. The electric cords and extra height gave them away from afar. Otherwise, they didn't look that different compared to the regular, cheaper BEKANT desks to me despite having a motor and extra electronics. I did not play with the buttons to avoid breaking anything. That would be my main long-term concern -- long enough into the future for the warranty to go out or the model to be phased out.
Underneath an Ikea BEKANT Desk with Electric Height Adjustment
Packaging
With all three of my GALANT desks, the parts came in separate packages: "wood" desktop, steel frame, and legs. Depending on the type of legs used, A-leg or T-leg, the total number of packages could vary. The three rectangular desks I bought were 4 to 6 separate packages each.

My encounter with BEKANT desks in the warehouse section of an Ikea was that the frame and legs came in one package and the desktop in another. The few basic full-desk packages that I checked on the Ikea.ca website supported this observation as the package count noted was two -- the electric height adjustment desks I checked noted three packages. This was even true with L-shaped corner desks as the third leg, normally used in GALANT desks, appeared to have been replaced with one deeper footed leg.
Regular Ikea BEKANT Desk T-Leg
Good-bye A-Legs
The BEKANT rollout appears to be pretty well underway worldwide and I still haven't seen any A-legs. After building a GALANT desk with a T-leg, I can't say that I'll miss A-legs. Setting the table up was significantly easier for me due to the mechanism and number of adjustments required. For the rectangular desk I put together, it cut the work in half: only one T-leg on a side to screw into the frame and to level versus two A-legs to screw in and two separate adjustment mechanisms. And adjusting the T-leg's height was much easier using an Allen key than trying to get the A-leg's mechanism to lock.

Conclusion
Okay, this is the last BEKANT piece unless I buy one. That probably won't happen anytime soon because of space issues. The new GALANT I just got on sale won't help.



Related
Alternatives to Ikea BEKANT Desk
Alternatives to Ikea GALANT Desk
IKEA GALANT Desk A-Leg Review / Disassembled
IKEA GALANT Desk A-Legs and T-Legs Review
IKEA GALANT Desk Review
IKEA GALANT Desk T-Leg Review / Disassembled

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