Ikea BEKANT Desks Impressions: Part 2, Now in English

The Ikea BEKANT release now appears to be well underway. Thanks to a commenter in the last article, I bothered to check the United Kingdom Ikea website and did indeed find BEKANT tables available. The good news was that I could finally read about the desk in a language I understood. On the flip side, all the prices were in pounds, which I had no clue about -- converting money just isn't the same as living with it 24/7/365.

Underneath a Regular Ikea BEKANT Desk

Note: I didn't check every single product page out and definitely didn't review the ones I did in detail. This is just a summary of the ones I did check and my general impressions of what I found. And, once again, I had not had any firsthand experience with any BEKANT products when I wrote this piece.

What about Canada and United States?
This encouraged me to check out the Canadian and United States Ikea websites again. As of midday on August 21, 2014, I still wasn't able to find any BEKANT products on either of the sites using the search function.

Anything new?
So, aside from what I found from the German website, was there anything new to report from across the United Kingdom?

Goodbye GALANT
The GALANT appears to be a goner. I could only find a few GALANT desks and desk parts. Not really surprised here.

Frames and Legs
Relating to the BEKANT desks, I was able to find combinations, desk tops, frames, and legs listed for sale. Interestingly, legs and frames appeared to be sold together and not separately like the GALANT series. Some of the frame combinations were found in black and white. Product pages for these frames had a note about what size of table top would fit on it.

Table Tops
Table tops appeared to have rounded corners. I found some in birch, oak, black-brown, and white. The common ingredient in the ones I checked was particleboard. From what I recall, that was the case for GALANT table tops as well. Right and left-corner tables made a return. One interesting new options was the 5-sided table, which was essentially a rectangular cable with part of a corner cut off.

Electric Height Adjustment?
What I didn't find were the electric powered height-adjustment tables available on the German website. This was when the product was just rolling out though, so we'll see if it shows up in the future or not. However, being an electric powered device, it probably has to go through lengthier tests and approvals with various agencies.

Et al.
Conference tables and other tables with straight legs, not T-legs, showed up in my search as well.

So now then...
And the roll out of the BEKANT continues in the United Kingdom. My takeaway from all of this was that the BEKANT did not appear to be as modular as the GALANT. Under frames with legs sold together? This felt more like the Table Bar system than the GALANT. Would extensions be available to make more combinations? Guess I'll find out when I get a chance to review more of the product literature once it matures.

Anyway, I am about to order a GALANT table top on sale to use with that second set of legs I bought a while ago. This should set me up for desks for the next while, so it doesn't look like I'll be getting a BEKANT table anytime soon. However, looking forward to the continued roll out and its arrival in Canada and the United States.

<<<  Ikea BEKANT: Part 1, In German

Ikea BEKANT: Part 3, In North America >>>

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