Newsletters

5 IKEA BILLY Bookcase Alternatives That Are Even Better than the Original

Laura Fenton
Laura Fenton
Laura Fenton is the author of The Little Book of Living Small. She writes about home design and sustainability, and is a regular contributor to Apartment Therapy. Her work has been published in Better Homes & Gardens, Eater, New York Magazine, and Real Simple.
Follow
Sarah Everett
Sarah EverettAssistant Editor of Home Projects at Apartment Therapy
I’m from Columbia, Missouri, a journalism town (okay, technically a college town with a big journalism school). It’s also home to one of my favorite things: True/False Film Fest, an international documentary festival. So I’ve been inspired by journalism/journalists/nonfiction storytelling for, I think, forever? I have an MA and BA in journalism from the University of Missouri and Belmont University, respectively. While in school, I worked for city magazines (and also started working part-time for AT!). I learned to love clever, voicey content that’s helpful, whether it’s recommending something to watch or read, helping you get involved in your community, or helping you decorate your home. As Assistant Editor of Home Projects, I cover DIY and design, and I organize the Before & After series. (If you’ve done a cool project, please send it to me!) Outside of work, I love doing the crossword, chatting with friends, drinking iced lattes, and going on little walks and sometimes longer runs. If there were a job that combined those things, I would do that. But for now, I'll do the next-best thing, where I pretty much do chat with friends, read, drink lattes, and go on little walks — with lots of writing, editing, and looking at cool homes mixed in.
Follow
updated 3 days ago
comments
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image
See More Images
Credit: Joe Lingeman

The BILLY bookcase is a legend. One of IKEA’s signature products, BILLY models remain in the company’s catalog year after year — and it even has its own entry on Wikipedia. Many people love it; in fact, someone buys a BILLY bookcase about every five seconds, IKEA estimates. However, this popular shelf and I have never gotten along. (Sorry, BILLY!)

We got off to a bad start when I had to assemble one in the office of the start-up magazine I worked at post-college. In the intervening years, I’ve built dozens for photoshoots, and early on in adult life I owned one that promptly sagged its way into the trash. In my mid-20s, I moved on to KALLAX (then known as EXPEDIT) and later flirted with wall-mounted shelving. But it wasn’t until about seven years ago that I met the IKEA bookcase of my dreams: The HEMNES. I was on a photo shoot for work, and there HEMNES was — a sturdy, handsome shelf that seemed to say “sophisticated adult library” more than “dorm room placeholder,” and I loved that the piece was solid wood.

Whether you prefer solid wood to laminate, you don’t have an IKEA in your town, or you just want to break from the mold, there are great alternatives to IKEA’s BILLY bookcase. Read more about each below to decide if they’re right for your home or your project.

See More Images
Credit: Laura Fenton

Try these IKEA BILLY bookcase alternatives.

Hemnes Bookcase
$249
IKEA
Buy Now

IKEA HEMNES

My personal fave for HEMNES is similar to BILLY in dimensions (both are just shy of three feet wide and about six-and-a-half feet tall), but the extra three inches of depth on the shelves makes a world of difference for storing art and children’s books. But what really sets HEMNES apart is the quality of materials. Where BILLY is particleboard, HEMNES is solid pine, which IKEA says is sustainably sourced.

Designer Bookcase, Maple
$255
ULINE
Buy Now

ULINE Designer Bookcase, 5-Shelf

Although they’re typically associated with facility furniture, don’t sleep on ULINE. (After all, offices have bookcases, too!) Although it has five shelves compared to BILLY’s six, it does come in a two-toned “Maple” colorway, an option that IKEA doesn’t offer unless you want to mix and match pieces from two different BILLY boxes. The white laminate version would work for someone who might be looking to do a BILLY hack when the BILLY is sold out.

Tangkula 3-Tier Bookcase
$54.99
Amazon
Buy Now

Amazon Tangkula 3-Tier Bookcase

If you’re going for a döppleganger of IKEAs three-tier BILLY, check out this Tangkula option from Amazon. It comes in three colorways: black, white, and a wood grainy brown.

Mainstays 5-Shelf Bookcase
$34.96
Walmart
Buy Now

Walmart’s Mainstays 5-Shelf Bookcase with Adjustable Shelves

TikToker and DIYer Peyton Heath (@peytonmheath) turned to this Walmart Mainstays option when it was time to upgrade her closet, and now she says she has her “dream walk-in closet.” This particle board shelf is a steal at only $35.

Stacking 3-Shelf Etagere Bookcase
$70
Home Depot
Buy Now

The Home Depot’s Stacking 3-Shelf Etagere Bookcase

Redditor @lovetron99 says they prefer these stacking etageres from The Home Depot for their go-to shelving, and they have about a dozen of them. No kidding! “They’re modular and stack, they come pre-assembled, they fold up flat for easy moving, and they’re incredibly sturdy. No chance of this wood concaving,” they wrote on Reddit.

Filed in:
DIY
Furniture
IKEA