Groove Crate vs IKEA Kallax: Which Is Better for Vinyl Storage?

Kallax is furniture. Groove Crate is a modular system. Both store records well, and the right answer depends almost entirely on whether your collection and your address are likely to change.

By Zachary Medeiros, Groove Crate. . 5 min read.

The IKEA Kallax is probably the most common piece of record storage in the world. It is inexpensive, the cube openings are close to the right size for a 12-inch sleeve, and it looks like furniture. Groove Crate is a different kind of product: a stackable, collapsible crate sized around the LP.

Both store records properly. This is about which one suits you.

The short answer

  • Choose Kallax if you want a permanent piece of furniture, your collection is fairly stable, and you are staying in one place.
  • Choose Groove Crate if your collection is growing, you rent or move regularly, you want to browse a section in your lap, or floor space is tight.

Plenty of collectors end up with both: a Kallax for the records they play most, crates for the rest and for anything that has to move.

Fit and sizing

Kallax cubes are close to a 12-inch sleeve, which is exactly why collectors adopted it. Check IKEA's current published dimensions before assuming a particular model fits, because IKEA revises ranges and the cube sizes vary between products in the same family.

Groove Crate is designed for the format rather than adapted to it: a 13 inch square interior, 13.5 inches deep, so an LP stands square with the sleeve top clear of the rim.

The practical difference is what happens when a container is only partly full. A half-filled cube lets records lean, and a leaning record is slowly being bent. A crate can be moved to a different section, or folded away, rather than left half empty.

Capacity

A Groove Crate holds approximately 80 to 100 records depending on sleeve thickness. Cube capacity depends on the specific unit, so check the internal dimensions of whichever Kallax you are looking at rather than relying on a figure from a forum post.

The more useful comparison is how capacity scales. A shelving unit has a fixed number of cubes; when it is full, your options are a second unit or a cull. Crates scale one at a time.

Floor space

This is where the two are genuinely different. A shelving unit occupies its footprint permanently, full or empty. Crates stack, so capacity grows vertically: one Groove Crate takes a 14.5 inch square of floor, and three stacked hold roughly 240 to 300 records in that same square.

A Kallax also gives you a surface on top, which is a real advantage if that is where the turntable is going.

Browsing

Kallax browsing means reaching into a cube and flicking through with your fingers. It is fine, and it is what most collectors are used to.

Crate browsing means lifting a section out and going through it properly, the way you would in a record shop. Whether that is better is personal, but it is the reason shops use crates rather than shelves.

Assembly and moving

A Kallax is flat-pack furniture: assembly the first time, and usually disassembly if you move, since a built unit is awkward to get through doorways and up stairwells. Repeated assembly and disassembly is not kind to particleboard furniture generally.

Groove Crates unfold ready to use, with no tools and no assembly. When you move, records travel upright in the crates they already live in, and crates you do not need at the other end fold flat to 4 inches.

If you have moved a record collection recently, this difference tends to dominate the decision. If you have not, it will seem like a minor point.

Appearance

Kallax looks like furniture, because it is. It sits in a living room without explanation and takes a turntable on top.

Groove Crate looks like record storage. In a listening room or beside a turntable that reads as intentional; in a formal living room it may not be the look you want. This is a matter of taste rather than function.

Expandability

Adding to a Kallax means buying another unit, which needs wall space and ideally matches the first. Adding to a crate system means buying a crate. That is the core structural difference between fixed and modular storage.

Cost

Prices for both change, so compare current prices rather than trusting any figure in an article. When you do, compare per record rather than per unit, and include whether you will need a second unit within a year or two.

Where each one wins

Kallax is the better choice when

  • You want one permanent piece of furniture in a living space.
  • You need a surface for the turntable and amp.
  • Your collection is not growing quickly.
  • You are settled and not planning to move.

Groove Crate is the better choice when

  • The collection is growing and you want to add capacity gradually.
  • You rent or move every few years.
  • Floor space is more constrained than wall space.
  • You want to pull a section out and flip through it properly.
  • You want storage that can disappear when it is not in use.

The honest conclusion

Kallax is a good product and a deservedly popular one. It is the right answer for a collector who wants furniture. Groove Crate is the right answer for a collector who values modularity, portability, stacking and the ability to fold storage away.

If you are not sure which you are, ask one question: is your collection or your address more likely to change in the next three years? If either is, modular storage will age better.

Working out how many crates you would need? The vinyl record storage guide has the capacity maths, or use the collection size calculator on the home page.

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