Consumer Reports Gets Behind This Stylish IKEA Home Office Solution (And It's Under $200)

When you think of Consumer Reports, you might focus on its expert testing that delivers buying recommendations for more than 10,000 products and services tested annually. Not all of its help for consumers focuses on product testing, though. Consumer Reports provides advice on getting the lowest price on appliances, how to find the best brands for cars, and information on recalls, too.

Sometimes, rather than relying on testing scores, staff members at Consumer Reports share their personal recommendations for products. The Consumer Reports team recently picked their 15 favorite products at well-known home furnishing and household item retailer IKEA. One of the sturdiest items that made the list was the IKEA LILLÅSEN bamboo desk ($160), as it can support up to 110 pounds of weight with a desktop that measures about 40 by 19 inches. Considering premium home office desks often start at $500, the compact LILLÅSEN desk is one way to make your home office cozier on a budget.

The Consumer Reports staff member who selected the LILLÅSEN desk for the list of best IKEA products appreciated that its simple design fits well with different home office layouts and design schemes. Even though it's small, it's also functional, as it can support a laptop stand, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. "It's small enough that [it] has fit well in three apartments," the CR staffer said.

About 94% of IKEA customer reviewers gave the desk a four- or five-star review. The customer reviewers at IKEA gave the LILLÅSEN bamboo desk the highest rating in the category of appearance. One IKEA customer reviewer bought multiple LILLÅSEN desks to place in different rooms because of the complementary style that it offers. "We have five desks in the house, and three of them are this one," the IKEA reviewer said. It "looks great in any room because it is neutral in color."

Ease of assembly was another strength of the LILLÅSEN desk, according to customer reviewers. If the difficulty of assembling IKEA furniture is one of your recurring nightmares and you're looking for some of the easiest IKEA products to assemble, most reviewers said that the LILLÅSEN desk fits the bill. It "took me maybe 20 minutes to assemble by myself, and I'm not a handy person," another customer reviewer said on IKEA's site.

The desk has three small drawers that each measure 1 ⅝ inches in height and 12 ⅝ inches in depth. While some desks have unfinished backs that forcing you to place them against a wall to hide the unfinished edge, this isn't the case with the LILLÅSEN, giving you more flexibility with styling. The writing surface sits atop a steel frame with a powder coating. Cleaning the unit only requires wiping it with a damp cloth, keeping maintenance simple.

Less than 3% of customer reviewers on IKEA's website gave the LILLÅSEN desk a one- or two-star rating. Even though many IKEA customer reviewers gave the desk a positive rating for ease of assembly, problems putting the desk together was the primary complaint from customers who gave the product a poor score. One customer reviewer said using WD-40 was the only way to force everything together. "The bottom back bar comes in at an angle that makes it almost impossible to bolt the left and right side together," the reviewer said on IKEA's website. A few other reviewers said the desk's legs weren't sturdy enough for working on the surface.

Another reviewer said the design of the LILLÅSEN desk changed recently, which contributed to the difficulty in assembly and the unsteady design. The customer said a friend had the old version, but when the reviewer ordered the product, the slight design changes were noticeable when comparing the two. If you're uncertain, feeling the desk in person is the best way to determine whether or not it's the product for you.