Ikea Benno DVD Tower > Reviews (2)

Ikea divide their products into 'ranges'. The Benno range includes DVD towers and TV units, but is designed to work alongside another of their ranges the 'Billy' range - which is bookcases etc.

This Benno DVD tower is the same height as the Billy Bookcases they do which means that they don't look daft stood together (useful if you want both!). Actually in our case this wasn't really an issue as we wanted to stand it in an unused corner where it wouldn't be next to anything else, but it's good to know if we want to move it, we'll be able to match it to other items if we so desire.

The reason we bought this, is because we wanted more space for DVDs, and it was getting hard to find somewhere to put any more units. This way we could utilise a little dead corner of the room behind the door because the Benno DVD tower is two metres high as I say, but only 20cm wide and 17cm deep.

It can be bought in a range of colours (white, black, black brown, birch veneer and oak veneer. As we have mostly oak wood in that room, we went with the oak veneer to try and complement things. It's not the best wood look in the world, but it's a lot better than some, and not too plastic looking if you know what I mean.

One thing I would say about this is that although it's made from veneered particle board, it is very solid once made up. Like most Ikea items it comes flat packed so you put it together yourself at home, and it's pretty simple to do. The instructions are always pretty clear with Ikea items and it doesn't take long to put together. Most of the shelves are height adjustable which means you can use this just as easily for CDs as DVDs, and each shelf sits on four little metal pins that push into holes all the way up the inside sides of the unit at regular intervals. My husband put ours together and it took him about 20-30 minutes I'd say.

The tower holds about 80-90 DVDs, on the Ikea website it says 88, but that's based on standard size DVDs and as I've got some larger cases and some skinny ones as well as a few box sets, I'd say it's a bit variable. (Alternatively you can set the shelves closer together, and it will hold 180 CDs instead).

As a unit that fits in a very skinny space, this is ideal I think. It's depth is good, not too deep like many DVD/CD stands available at the moment, and the price is quite reasonable at between £17.99 and £29.99 depending on which colour you buy - of course ours being the oak look was the most expensive typically!

I'd recommend these to anyone looking for sturdy, tall skinny storage for DVDs and/or CDs, it's well worth the money.