The Storage of Electronic Components is always a hard thing. For years, my audio components have been housed in a Ikea Besta Media Cabinet with ventilation and wiring holes cut into the rear panel. This created some support issues, as the cabinet wasn’t designed for the function I was using it for.
I could have hacked the thing more, but opted for replacement, as the color Besta I use was discontinued, and thus replacement parts weren’t going to be an option in the future.
All of my home networking equipment, cable modem, router, etc, happen to converge under my stereo system, which contains a receiver, Blu-Ray player, DVR Cable Box(under protest from the cable company), etc.
I needed something that was structurally strong, open for ventilation, and easily adjustable. I looked at a variety of commercial media cabinets, relay racks, etc before deciding on Elfa.
Yes, Elfa…I switched from Ikea, the Swedish home furnishings company, to Elfa, a Swedish shelving company. Elfa is owned by The Container Store, which happened to be having its annual Elfa shelving sale.
So, why Elfa? While they offer the traditional easy hang closet type shelving, they offer a freestanding option, which is what I used. While I went for ventilated shelving, they offer solid shelving as well as decorative pieces.
I did go for a simple industrial look, but I didn’t have to. I found examples online of people using the same shelving for TV stands and other functions as well.
In the end, Elfa, even with a 30% off sale, was more expensive than the Besta solution I had, and comparable to assembled media cabinets. I could have gotten a pressboard or glass cabinet of similar design.
But what appeals to me in design is modularity. I will replace a component, need to adjust the height of shelving, need to replace wires…a modular layout permits me to do this. A fixed layout means I am limited.
What solutions have you come up with to solve this sort of problem? What do you think of this one?
