Issue 3: a reversible chair, a pantry cabinet, and a table that works as your desk

Issues 1 and 2 covered the PS 2026 launch headliners — the inflatable chair, the portable lamp, the pull-out desk. This week's five picks go deeper into the collection: pieces that work quietly in the background of a small apartment rather than announcing themselves. One chair with three sitting orientations. A cabinet with handwoven pine doors that can hold a semester's worth of dry goods. A shelving unit designed as a direct callback to an IKEA classic from the 1980s. A round green table at exactly the right size for one person's desk-and-dining-table dilemma. And a dome-shaped rice paper lampshade built for the ceiling heights most of us actually live under. 1

All five are from the PS 2026 collection, which launched globally on May 14, 2026. 1 Sweden online sales opened May 21; US and UK online open May 28 and June 1 respectively.

Best for: Small apartments where one chair has to do duty at the desk, the dining table, and the occasional awkward guest perch

Henrik Preutz, a designer with two decades at IKEA, built this chair around a single question: why does a chair have a fixed front? The PS 2026 reversible chair can be sat in forward, sideways, or straddled from behind — the seat and backrest geometry works in all three orientations. 1 Preutz described the result as a surprise even to himself: "Despite 20 years of design work, I am surprised that a few circles and squares can be transformed into a chair with its own character." 1

In a small apartment, that flexibility is the actual value proposition — this is one chair that changes function depending on where you drag it.

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Assembly: Moderate — estimated 15–25 parts, approximately 25–40 minutes. Standard hardware (Phillips screwdriver, Allen wrench typically included). The reversible hinge mechanism requires alignment patience; one person can manage it.

Best for: One-person kitchens that need a full pantry without a dedicated pantry; living rooms that need the appearance of order

Friso Wiersma trained as a boatbuilder before becoming a designer. The handwoven pine doors on this cabinet are a direct application of the boat-building technique of bending and weaving wood strips — the same craft used to shape a hull, applied here to a kitchen cabinet door. 1 He was explicit about what he was after: "You can see the hand movement in the weave. It is a tribute to the skilled woodworkers in our factories, by making it the central element of the design." 1

The cabinet is 80 × 46 × 140 cm — tall enough to be a genuine storage unit rather than a decorative piece. The pine is untreated, which means it will develop its own patina over time. 2 3

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Assembly: Complex — estimated 30–60 parts, approximately 60–120 minutes. Two people recommended for the cabinet body; handwoven doors require careful alignment. Wall anchoring standard for IKEA cabinets this size — confirm with your landlord if renting.

Best for: WFH setups that need books off the floor; kitchens where spices live in a pile on the counter; any wall that could use a vertical organizing anchor

Friso Wiersma designed this shelving unit as an explicit reinterpretation of an IKEA shelving unit from the 1980s. 1 The red-painted shelf edges are a direct reference to the lumber yard practice of marking the ends of drying wood — a functional marking turned into a design signature. The dimensions are 160 × 35 × 161 cm: nearly floor-to-ceiling height at standard European room measurements, 35 cm deep, wide enough for a row of full-size cookbooks or a laptop plus a monitor. 2 4

At 35 cm deep, it won't eat into floor space the way a bookcase with a full 45 cm depth would.

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Assembly: Moderate — estimated 15–30 parts, approximately 30–60 minutes. Wall anchoring strongly recommended (anti-tip bracket likely included). Renters: check your lease before drilling.

Best for: One-person apartments where the dining table is also the desk; anyone currently eating on their couch because the table they have is too big to fit anywhere logical

This is the highest-utility pick in this week's five. Designer Ola Wihlborg put the case for it plainly: "Round tables are a good choice in small spaces." 1 The table is 96 cm in diameter — generous enough to fit a laptop, a notebook, and a coffee cup simultaneously, compact enough to tuck into a corner. 5 The color is a deep, opaque green — not a pastel, not a neutral.

At €89, it also has the most straightforward price-to-utility ratio in the collection.

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Assembly: Moderate — estimated 8–18 parts, approximately 15–30 minutes. Straightforward table leg attachment; one person can complete it.

Best for: Adding real ambient light without drilling into the ceiling; any corner that a floor lamp would occupy but a pendant wouldn't

The standard problem with large rice paper pendant shades is headroom: they look right only in rooms with high ceilings. Designer Lukas Bazle acknowledged this directly — he said he liked the style and the light quality of traditional rice paper shades but didn't like "that they are only suitable for rooms with high ceilings — most people don't live like that." 1 His solution was to take a sphere and cut and reassemble it as a dome: the dome provides ambient glow around the sides and directs the main light downward, while hanging closer to the ceiling than a full sphere would.

The shade is 90 cm in diameter, handmade, white. 6 It's sold as a shade (lampshade only) — you'll need a separate pendant cord or ceiling lamp holder.

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Assembly: Minimal — unfold the shade, attach to pendant cord. No tools required. Electrical connection depends on whether you're using a plug-in cord (no electrician needed) or a hardwired ceiling fitting.

Availability note: Sweden and Finland prices above are confirmed from live product pages and the IKEA Sweden collection listing. 2 US and UK prices for this wave have not yet appeared on their respective sites as of May 25, 2026 — they go live online May 28 (US) and June 1 (UK). Assembly estimates are category-based — IKEA has not published official assembly times for these pieces.