Beds with Storage Drawers: Measure What You Mean to Store
Beds with storage drawers publish an inside drawer height of 5 7/8 ” and 5 1/2 ” on the two IKEA listings I read.
That is shallower than most people picture. Measure the thing you mean to put in there, lying down the way it will go in and pressed flat, then hold it against that one published figure. And read the label carefully, because a second row in the same section has a name that sounds almost the same and is four times the number.
- 5 7/8 “Height of drawer (inside) on the MALM with 2 storage boxes
- 5 1/2 “The same label on the SONGESAND Queen with 4 storage boxes
- 23 1/4 “Drawer depth (inside) on the MALM. A different row, in the same section
- NoneNeither page publishes a Max load figure for the drawer
IKEA writes that the SKORVA midbeam “is required for the stability of the bed frame and to keep the mattress in place”, and that it comes packaged separately. Look for it in the parts list before you start assembly, not halfway through. The same section says the slatted bed base and the mattress are sold separately, which is worth checking against your order before the delivery date.
On what the drawer is rated to carry, I have an absence rather than a figure. In the Measurements section of both pages I read, there is no Max load label and no figure for the drawer’s load. One page names a standard: the SONGESAND carries the line “This bed frame has been tested and meets the requirements for safety, durability and stability set forth by standard EN1725.” The MALM page carries no equivalent line. I am not telling you the MALM is untested. I am telling you that one of the two pages names a standard and the other does not. If you mean to put something heavy in that drawer rather than something bulky, ask the seller in writing what the drawer is rated to carry, and say what you plan to put in it.
Measure it lying down, once. Page 5 of the free Small Space Fit Planner asks for the height of what you mean to store, measured lying down the way it will actually go in the drawer. Page 2 takes the gap under the bed. Five printable pages, and every published figure carries its source. Send it to me
📏 Check your comforter against the drawer before you order Two numbers. And it catches the row most people read by mistake, which is the one that sounds almost the same. Try it ↓Beds with storage drawers: the two rows that sound alike
5 7/8 “
That is the MALM figure, and the SONGESAND publishes 5 1/2 ” under the same label. Both pages put it in the Measurements section, a few lines from Drawer depth (inside), which is 23 1/4 ” and 25 1/4 ” and runs front to back. Two names that sound alike, and only the first one is the number your comforter has to clear.
Measure this before you shop
Step 1
Pick the thing you actually want to hide
The winter comforter, the spare pillows, the suitcase. Not a guess at what a drawer holds in general, the one object you have in mind.
Step 2
Lay it down and press it flat
Lay it down the way it will go in the drawer. Press it flat with your hand if it is soft. Then measure from the floor to the top of it. Soft things spring back, so press and measure again.
Step 3
Write that number down
It is the number you compare against the inside height the listing publishes, and it is the one the listing cannot take for you. If your listing does not publish an inside height, that is the question to send the seller before you order.
Will it fit in the drawer? Put your item’s height lying down and the inside height your listing publishes into the tool further down, and it tells you whether it goes in, or that it cannot tell you yet. Try it
What these two pages publish, label for labelthe three measurement rows, side by side
Here is what the two IKEA pages publish, label for label.
| What IKEA publishes | MALM, 2 storage boxes | SONGESAND Queen, 4 storage boxes |
|---|---|---|
| Height of drawer (inside) | 5 7/8 “ | 5 1/2 “ |
| Drawer width (inside) | 38 5/8 “ | 22 “ |
| Drawer depth (inside) | 23 1/4 “ | 25 1/4 “ |
Both pages label those three the same way, and both put them in the Measurements section.
Two of those names sound alike and are not the same figure. Read the first row and the third row separately, and compare your own number against the first.
Does either page say what the drawer will hold?no, and here is the question to send instead
No. Neither publishes a Max load label in its measurements, and I found no figure on either page for what the drawer is rated to carry.
A drawer of books is not a drawer of pillows. If that matters for what you plan to store, put the question to the seller before you order.
| The figure | Where it sits on these two pages | If your page does not have it |
|---|---|---|
| Height of drawer (inside) | Measurements, on both | Ask the seller for it in writing |
| What the drawer is rated to carry | Neither page publishes it | Ask what the drawer will take, and say what you mean to put in it |
| The SKORVA midbeam | Good to know, on both | Check the parts list before you start assembly |
The one standard named on either pageEN1725, on one of the two, and not on the other
The SONGESAND page carries this line: This bed frame has been tested and meets the requirements for safety, durability and stability set forth by standard EN1725.
That is the only standard named on either of the two pages I read. The MALM page carries no equivalent line.
I am not telling you the MALM is untested. I am telling you that one of the two pages names a standard and the other does not.
Two more lines from the same Good to know section, on both pages. The SKORVA midbeam is required for the stability of the bed frame and to keep the mattress in place, and it is packaged separately, so look for it in the parts list before you start. And the slatted bed base and the mattress are sold separately. Check that before the delivery date.
What I could not verifythree things, said plainly
Three things, said plainly.
Under Measurements on both pages I found no Max load label, and no overall frame height on the SONGESAND, where the only height labels are Height of drawer (inside), Footboard height and Headboard height. The SONGESAND page also carries a Questions and answers section whose text I could not open, so I am not speaking for what is in it.
I read the published measurements on both pages in full. The SONGESAND also carries a section headed Questions and answers, with one entry, and I could not open its text. On this site an answer below the table has contradicted the table before, so treat my reading of that page as covering its tables and not its answers.
And both of these are IKEA. Two pages from one maker is not the market. I am telling you what I found on the two I read, not what the rest of the market publishes.
Frequently asked questionsdrawer depth, and the winter comforter
How deep are the drawers in a bed with storage drawers?
The two IKEA listings I read publish two figures whose names sound alike, so read both. Drawer depth (inside) is 23 1/4 ” on the MALM high bed frame with 2 storage boxes and 25 1/4 ” on the SONGESAND Queen with 4 storage boxes. Height of drawer (inside) is 5 7/8 ” and 5 1/2 ” on the same two. Lay your item down the way it will go in the drawer, measure it, and compare it with the Height of drawer (inside) figure your own listing publishes.
Can I store a winter comforter under a storage bed?
Measure it rather than assume. Lay the folded comforter down the way it will go in the drawer, press it flat, and measure from the floor to the top of it. Then compare that with the inside height the listing publishes. On the two IKEA pages I read, that figure was 5 7/8 ” for the MALM and 5 1/2 ” for the SONGESAND. I found no figure on either page for what the drawer is rated to carry, so if you are putting in something heavy rather than something bulky, ask the seller for that in writing first.
Our guide to a storage ottoman lands in the same place from the other side: it tells you to ask for the inside dimensions rather than reading the outside ones. Our mudroom bench with storage guide does the same for a bench.
Will it fit in the drawer?
Your item lying down, against the inside height the listing publishes.
Lay it down the way it will go in the drawer, press it flat with your hand if it is soft, then measure floor to top.
That exact label. It is not Drawer depth (inside), which is a different row. Leave empty if your listing does not publish it.
The two figures this tool compares yours against, 5 7/8 in and 5 1/2 in, are IKEA’s, in the Measurements section of the MALM with 2 storage boxes and the SONGESAND Queen with 4 storage boxes, the two listings we read in full for this article. Neither of those two pages publishes a Max load figure. The height you type in the second box is whatever your own listing prints. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Taking the tape around the bedroom?
The Small Space Fit Planner takes the bedroom in two steps: the gap under the bed on page 2, and what you are storing on page 5. Five printable pages, and every published figure carries its source.
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