Jay's Brick Blog

A blog about LEGO bricks

  • Home
  • About Me
  • LEGO Reviews
  • News
  • Summer 2022 Sets
  • SW Advent Calendar

Review: LEGO x IKEA BYGGLEK Boxes

October 2, 2020 By Jay 25 Comments

One of the most anticipated LEGO collaborations is with Swedish furniture giant IKEA, which was heavily teased for obvious reasons.

The notion of two big household names partnering on a range was especially enticing to LEGO fans, many of whom I suspect already use IKEA furniture to organise or display their sets.

When the range was revealed to just be a set of white storage boxes with studs on their lids, AFOLs collectively groaned across the internet.

The LEGO x IKEA BYGGLEK collection releases today, 1 October 2020 in Europe and the United States, and will be available in IKEA Stores, or on their website. Unfortunately for those of us in Australia and Asia, we’ll have to wait till early 2021.

Update: The LEGO x IKEA Bygglek collaboration will land in Australia on 17 February 2021, and will be available online and in-store! See below for Australian pricing.

1. BYGGLEK 201-piece LEGO® brick set, mixed colours, $35

2. BYGGLEK LEGO® box with lid 35x26x12 cm, $22

3. BYGGLEK LEGO® box with lid, white 26x18x12 cm, $20

4. BYGGLEK LEGO® box with lid, set of 3, white, $20

LEGO got in touch with a unique brief- not to review the BYGGLEK range, but to do something creative and build with them. This was both exciting and terrifying as I don’t fancy myself a talented builder, but I was up to challenge myself.

If you follow me on Instagram, or on Youtube, you might’ve already seen some of the work I’ve done with my set of BYGGLEK boxes, but in case you haven’t, check out a video of me unboxing BYGGLEK.

I’ll reveal what I built at the end!

Like all IKEA products, some assembly is required, but thankfully you won’t need power tools or an Allen key.

The box design is typical IKEA minimalism, with a pop of colour along the side, with a colouful and haphazard LEGO element pattern along the side.

There are 4 different products, 3 boxes, and an set 40357 BYGGLEK with a small assortment of parts to get you started.

There are 3 variants:

  • Large (USD $14.99 CAD $24.99 €14.99)
  • Medium (USD $12.99; CAD 19.99; €12.99)
  • Bundle with a small, and extra small box (USD $9.99 CAD $15.99 €9.99)

Dimensions:

  • Large: 32 x 44 studs (35 x 26 x 12 cm)
  • Medium: 22 x 32 studs (26 x 18 x 12 cm)
  • Small: 16 x 22 studs (17 x 13 x 6 cm)
  • Extra small: 11×16, (13 x 9 x 6 cm)

The BYGGLEK boxes are exactly as advertised – boxes designed to bridge the gap between play and LEGO storage.

The lids of each box have studs on them, and the tolerances and clutch are indistinguishable from LEGO. These are the real deal, and function as intended – base plates fused to storage boxes.

I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the boxes, which are made out of ABS plastic, just like your LEGO elements.

With these boxes manufactured by IKEA, I was a little concerned that they might skimp on quality, but my fears were unsubstantiated.

What I really liked was the design language, curves and subtle details of BYGGLEK.

Here’s the underside of the lid where you can see the bars for added support and strength.

Here’s the underside, which instead of tubes like traditional LEGO brick, “teeth” are present.

The undersides are also embossed with product details which I think is a nice, subtle yet premium touch.

As you can tell from the photos, BYGGLEK boxes stack on each other firmly, and the secret to it is a devilishly simple solution – using the teeth to lock the boxes in place with studs.

Kudos to the IKEA and LEGO Engineers and Designers who came up with this solution as it functions as a close analogue to “clutch power”, and allows for stability when these boxes stack on each other, or on baseplates.

It’s brilliant in the sense that this is an entirely new product, made compatible with LEGO’s System in such a seamless way.

If you’re an adult LEGO fan, the main draw here is likely storage, which the BYGGLEK boxes do well. The fact that they stack nicely and easily is a big drawcard.

This is an observation I made – the BYGGLEK boxes definitely don’t feel like LEGO, mostly because they’re not as dense and the materials used aren’t quite LEGO.

They make a very distinct sharp sound when you click the lids to the boxes, which I’ve illustrated with this video above.

If you’re used to handling all sorts of LEGO bricks, you’ll likely notice this immediately. The lid also doesn’t have a tight seal and can wiggle around, mostly to make it easier for younger kids to lift the lid off when building/storing their LEGO.

So what happens when you build on them? Here’s what me and my daughter came up with. It was mostly her creative direction (she wanted a Princess castle), so I helped put some of the elements together, but this was mostly hers.

Not bad for a 4 year old and a 31 year old.

As a parent, I had a lot of fun with this – the white BYGGLEK boxes serve as a blank canvas, inviting you to to decorate and build on and around it to create something new, which is why I think LEGO have something special on their hands here.

The main benefit as a builder, is that you can quickly obtain height and mass for builds, encouraging you to stack them up and create multi-level creations.

Here’s a gallery of our Disney Princess BYGGLEK creation.

This is really a product designed for smaller children, and parents who want to help facilitate the love of creative building and expression.

The “storage” function is also ultimately very useful.

For those of you with kids, there’s the tendency to have LEGO minifigures, parts and small models strewn everywhere (especially when multiple sets inevitably get combined), so I really appreciated that you can just dump all sorts of random bits into BYGGLEK when you’re done.

For more seasoned builders, don’t write the BYGGLEK boxes off. In addition to being great (if a little pricey) storage solutions, it’s also a quick (and modular) solution to quickly getting height and scale for your builds.

As actual storage solutions go, the fact that they’re opaque doesn’t help, but I reckon these could be great for more specialised elements like animals, or minifigures.

Final Thoughts: Ultimately, BYGGLEK is designed for younger children, not only as a canvas to build on, but doubles up as a storage solution as well.

I think of these as 3D baseplates, as they instantly open up new levels and scales to build with, and it’s been spectacular to see what the LEGO community have been doing with these – just check out the #playdisplayreplay hashtag on Instagram to see what people have been doing with them.

I really love the BYGGLEK boxes, I think the pricing is extremely reasonable for the utility AND plastic that you get. With the biggest BYGGLEK box coming in at US$15 and the small bundle at US$10, if you regularly purchase $200+ LEGO sets, these are a no-brainer.

I expect these to be very popular, not just with parents but with adult LEGO fans.

IKEA x LEGO BYGGLEK is available in Europe and the US from 1 October 2020 onwards, and the rest of the world in early 2021.

Check your country’s IKEA website to order some, or head into your closest IKEA.

Special thanks to LEGO for the creative opportunity with BYGGLEK.

What do you think of BYGGLEK? Let me know in the comments if you’re looking forward to picking these up!

Filed Under: LEGO Reviews Tagged With: 2020, ikea, lego, lego review, review, reviews

« LEGO x Levi’s Collection is now live!
Review: LEGO x Adidas ZX 8000 Sneaker »

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Amanda says

    January 25, 2021 at 2:43 PM

    What is the brand of the white play table that the castle is on? Do you know why we can’t buy them online in the US at the moment? Is the pandemic limiting supply, etc.?

    Reply
    • Jay says

      February 6, 2021 at 11:03 AM

      Sorry for the late reply! The white table is a FLISAT table. I’m not 100% sure about the situation in the US and Ikea, do you guys normally have Ikea online shopping? It might be a case of restricted supply or deliveries issues, especially if you’re not close to a physical Ikea – at least that’s the issue we have here.

      Reply
  2. Rose says

    December 7, 2020 at 3:25 PM

    May I ask which lego sets do you have in order to build the castle? My daughter only have the walmart black friday lego set with a bunch of different pieces in it and I’m looking to expand her collection so that she can build something like yours. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Jay says

      December 11, 2020 at 10:43 AM

      Hey Rose, I mostly used parts from https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/cinderella-s-dream-castle-41154

      Unfortunately, it’s quite an old set, so it isn’t available any longer. If you’re looking for something similar, try looking for set 43178 https://amzn.to/3m75qar / https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/cinderella-s-castle-celebration-43178

      That should get you close to what I built as the parts are quite similar!

      Reply
  3. Ronny says

    December 1, 2020 at 9:45 AM

    Hi Jay,
    Awesome review. I was wondering on how many bricks tall equivalent is the large box? Was thinking of using them for raised platforms. Many thank’s.

    Reply
    • Jay says

      December 2, 2020 at 11:28 PM

      Hey Ronny, including the lid (which is 2 bricks tall), the large boxes are 12 bricks tall.

      For exact measurements and dimensions, the Brick Architect has a great review with more information on dimensions and sizes if you’re planning on using them for platforms! https://brickarchitect.com/2020/review-ikea-bygglek-lego-storage-box/

      Reply
  4. Henry Chen says

    November 7, 2020 at 3:18 PM

    That’s neat. At first, I thought it sounded pretty stupid but now I understand it more.

    Reply
    • Jay says

      November 14, 2020 at 7:01 PM

      Yeah – the great thing is that the quality is top-notch, so it feels like you get a lot of value.

      Reply
  5. George Andrew Rodgers says

    October 8, 2020 at 10:32 AM

    Can they design a display version one long enough for the Batmobile and one for Steam Boat Willie?

    Reply
    • Jay says

      October 12, 2020 at 9:19 AM

      It’s not technically designed for LEGO, but I really like the Spanst transparent shoebox: https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/spaenst-shoe-box-transparent-00401267/

      Makes for a decent-sized display box. Batmobile is gonna be a little tricky…

      Reply
  6. Ian Hazlehurst says

    October 3, 2020 at 5:03 AM

    Not sure they are available in UK as you didn’t show UK price. But I fear they will be too expensive for storing my vast collection of bricks, as I will need 100’s of them.

    Reply
    • Jay says

      October 4, 2020 at 4:22 PM

      It’s definitely available in the UK! https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/products/?q=bygglek

      Yeah, they’re not great solution for categorising/storing large brick inventories, but more for larger elements. I think they’d work really well for minifigures.

      Reply
  7. Ben says

    October 2, 2020 at 8:11 PM

    Jay, great write up!
    I just watched your video on putting the lid on the box and how you can still wiggle it.

    Can you let me know if it’s a stable lid when you move the boxes around so can it fall off if you hold the boxes on the side or upside down?

    Reply
    • Jay says

      October 4, 2020 at 4:25 PM

      Thanks Ben, glad you enjoyed the review!

      It’s relatively stable, as long as the “teeth” are locked in place to studs. If you hold the box upside down or to the side, it will pop off with no effort. It’s not a tight seal.

      Reply
  8. Shawn Xie says

    October 2, 2020 at 10:42 AM

    I just bought all 4 boxes for my son in Canada, where they are most expensive… But I am thinking return since I don’t what to do with those boxes. Please share how to play with them with more different ideas.

    Reply
    • Jay says

      October 4, 2020 at 4:30 PM

      I’d just let your son take the lead on what to do – they’re a really open-ended storage solution, so maybe build something in or around the boxes?

      Try going on Instagram for some inspiration https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/playdisplayreplay/

      Reply
  9. Andrew says

    October 2, 2020 at 9:25 AM

    Delightful build, Jay, would definitely purchase this if it were a set. Kudos to you and your daughter. Shame we here in Australia have to wait so long for this.

    Reply
    • Jay says

      October 4, 2020 at 4:32 PM

      Thanks Andrew! Yeah, what a wasted opportunity and a step backwards to the time when it would take ages for products to arrive in Australia.

      Reply
  10. Kim says

    October 2, 2020 at 5:42 AM

    I’m in the US and Bygglek is not available yet. I thought it was supposed to available starting today but in their website it just says “coming in October”. It’s not there for purchase yet which is a bummer?.

    Reply
    • Jay says

      October 2, 2020 at 9:24 AM

      Yeah, that’s really odd – it’s already up in Europe.

      Try calling in-store?

      Reply
    • Kevin says

      October 4, 2020 at 5:38 AM

      Hello. I am in the US and work for IKEA as well. I do know that every store was shipped the same amount of pallets to work with and all stores should have had them out and being sold on Thursday the 1st. I do know our store was ready in Ohio. I would contact the store that you are wanting to shop at and see why theirs was not ready.

      Reply
  11. Sharon Donohoe says

    October 2, 2020 at 4:51 AM

    Got mine in Dublin today. Immediately began categorising and counting the bricks in the set. I like that they mostly come in 2s or 4s. Made a sad rendition of a summer patio, because mine never got built IRL, due to crappy Irish summer rain from June till…well, now. Anyway, the minifigs look happy sipping something from their red mugs. Good value sets I think. I like the range of fun accessories in the brick set and although the boxes are a different type of plastic, they feel sturdy and look attractive.

    Reply
    • Jay says

      October 4, 2020 at 4:33 PM

      Oh nice. My favourite thing about the set is the Ikea Hotdog.

      Felt like a wasted opportunity to include an Ikea worker minifigure.

      Reply
  12. Dario says

    October 2, 2020 at 12:12 AM

    Disappointing. I have a bunch of TROFAST frames and boxes @ my home office – I have LEGO sets I’ve built on top, and LEGO parts on the boxes.

    https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/trofast-storage-combination-with-boxes-white-white-s69228473/

    And having a LEGO-compatible top add-on would have been awesome – I could build “scenes” on top of the storage furniture, as if the whole top was a big LEGO plate.

    Highly disappointing – such an opportunity, such a miss.

    Reply
    • Jay says

      October 4, 2020 at 4:36 PM

      Yeah, this was one of the weaker IKEA collaborations, and I was really expecting some display solutions. I suspect this isn’t the end of the collaboration, though and that maybe Covid caused some sort of delay.

      Fingers crossed we get more stuff next year.

      Reply

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Jay's Brick Blog. In here, you'll find independent LEGO set reviews, commentary on LEGO trends & news, bargain hunting tips and an inside look into the life of an average LEGO fan. Find out more about me here

Subscribe for updates

Enter your email address here to receive updates about new posts from Jay's Brick Blog - straight to your inbox!

Join 3,181 other subscribers

Site Search

Like my page on Facebook

Facebook Pagelike Widget

Buy LEGO

Buy LEGO

jayong28

Jay Ong | Jay's Brick Blog
Here's 10303 Loop Coaster next to 10261 Roller Coa Here's 10303 Loop Coaster next to 10261 Roller Coaster!

If you want both displayed at the same time, you're going to need a LOT of space!

Which Roller Coaster do you like more?

#lego #lego2022 #legoleaks #LEGOnews #legoicons #creatorexpert #legocreator #afol #legos #rollercoaster #rebuildtheworld
The Loop Coaster is complete and it is HUGE! One o The Loop Coaster is complete and it is HUGE! One of the tallest @lego models yet! 😵‍💫

Shall we power it up and see it run?

Special thanks to @annegal for building this beast over the last few days!

#lego #lego2022 #legoleaks #legonews #legoicons #creatorexpert #afol #legos #jaysbrickblog #rebuildtheworld #rollercoaster
LEGO Minifigures Series 23 is looking great! Here LEGO Minifigures Series 23 is looking great!

Here's a look at the entire line-up, and the blind bags which are orange!

Series 23 will be available on 1 September.

Which characters are your favourites from this series! 

Nutcracker
Sugar Fairy
Green Dragon Costume
Snowman
Reindeer Costume
Holiday Elf
Turkey Costume
Cardboard Robot
Popcorn Costume
Wolf Costume
Ferry Captain
Knight of the Yellow Castle

My picks are Knight of the Yellow Castle, Snowman, Reindeer and Popcorn Costume!

#lego #lego2022 #legoleaks #legominifigures #afol #minifigures #minifigs #legocmf #legos #legonews
Did you know, the upcoming 10497 Galaxy Explorer s Did you know, the upcoming 10497 Galaxy Explorer set will also feature the ability to build a 924 Space Cruiser and/or 918 One Space Ship.

So... you're probably going to need 2 sets as a bare minimum 🥹

Thanks to the @verge, for this additional photo! That vintage landing pad in the background is such a tease!

#lego #lego2022 #legoleaks #legoclassicspace #classicspace #vintagelego #legocon #LEGOCON2022 #90yearsofplay #rebuildtheworld
As a fan of @lego Classic Space AND Classic Castle As a fan of @lego Classic Space AND Classic Castle, can I just say how excited I am for the new Lion Knight's Castle AND reimagined Galaxy Explorer?

What a time to be alive 🥰

#lego #legocon #lego2022 #jaysbrickblog #legocollection #legoclassicspace #LEGOCastle #afol #rebuildtheworld #90yearsofplay
Yes, that’s a new Phase 2 Commander Cody, which Yes, that’s a new Phase 2 Commander Cody, which returns in 75337 AT-TE Walker!

75323 The Justifier also announced featuring Cad Bane and Omega from The Bad Batch!

75337 AT-TE Walker will be priced at US$139.99 / €139.99

75323 The Justifier will be priced at US$169.99 / €139.99

Both sets hit shelves on 1 August 2022! 

#lego #legonews #legostarwars #starwars #thebadbatch #starwars #lego2022 #legoleaks
First look at 3 minifigures from LEGO Minifigures First look at 3 minifigures from LEGO Minifigures Series 23 - Cardboard Robot, Ship Captain and Reindeer Costume Fan!

#lego #legocon #legocon2022 #legonews #legoleaks #legominifigures #minifigures
10305 Lion Knight's Castle unveiled at #LEGOCON! 10305 Lion Knight's Castle unveiled at #LEGOCON!

Celebrating LEGO's 90th birthday, this 4,514 piece set comes with a whopping TWENTY minifigures and features incredibly detailed interiors, and plenty of nods to classic #LEGOCastle!

Coming 3 August 2022 for LEGO VIPs. 8 August general release. 

#LEGO #castlelego #lego2022 #vintagelego #legonews #legoleaks #legocastle
The ICON is back! First look at 10497 Galaxy Explo The ICON is back! First look at 10497 Galaxy Explorer, a modern reimagination of 928/497 Galaxy Explorer!

#LEGO #lego2022 #legoclassicspace #legocon #legoleaks #legonews
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Recent Posts

  • 40574 LEGO Brand Store is a newly updated buildable LEGO store for 2022 that everyone can buy!
  • LEGO 40521 Mini Disney The Haunted Mansion revealed!
  • LEGO 10303 Loop Coaster now available!
  • Buying Guide: All the new sets in July 2022
  • LEGO Collectible Minifigures packaging is changing from bags to boxes in 2023
  • LEGO Double VIP Points offer now live, ends 30 June!
  • Review: LEGO 60354 Mars Spacecraft Exploration Missions

LEGO Reviews

Review: LEGO 41230 – Batgirl Batjet Chase

Review: LEGO 60271 Main Square

Review: LEGO Movie 70807 – Metalbeard’s Duel

Review: LEGO Minifigures Series 13

Review: LEGO Mixels – Electroids Tribe

Review: LEGO Disney Princess 41050: Ariel’s Amazing Treasures

Review: LEGO City 60033 Arctic Ice Crawler

Categories

Archives

Jay

Jay is passionate about LEGO and the endless creative adventures made possible by this complex interlocking brick system.
Learn more →

Popular Posts

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · WordPress · Log in We may earn a commission when you use one of our offers/links to make a purchase.