IKEA Hemnes Dresser: 8 drawer or 3 drawer?

Pixelpants

I know this is a popular dresser in the community.  Wondering which size everyone has?  Was leaning toward the 8 drawer but now I am considering the 3 drawer and using the extra money for a rocker, but I am afraid the 3 drawer might not hold much.  Thoughts?

Shanmarie1083

We have the 3 drawer in our DS room and while the drawers are large, I find myself constantly trying to cram all of his clothes in there. I think it would be fine for a baby but you may need to upgrade to a larger one when they get older.  

We also have the 8 drawer and if you haven't seen it in person, I would recommend doing so... it is huge and takes up a lot of space, especially if your nursery is on the smaller side.

HTH 

Pixelpants

Thanks for responding!  We are headed to Ikea shortly to see them in person.  We do have a small closet in the nursery as well so I am thinking maybe the small dresser will work, but I can't imagine hanging a ton of tiny clothes either.  Also, we currently live in an apartment so I have no idea what size room she will have in the future so it is good to know the 8 drawer is huge.  

Corey-chick

I had the 3 drawer for my first and although the drawers are good sized, it still wasn't enough to hold all that baby stuff. I found myself constantly emptying out the drawers to eliminate everything that DD had grown out of so that I could squeeze in more stuff. Also, when she was a few months old, she would kick off the wipe warmer while I was changing her because there just wasn't room for much else besides the changing pad. It was a good size for a very small room however.

Since then we have moved into a bigger house with a larger nursery so we bought the 8 drawer and I already love it. The drawers are so spacious, and there is plenty of room for the changing pad, wipe warmer and a basket of diapers on top. I filled it with all the clothes for the first few months and even had room for the extra blankets and crib sheets etc. Best of all, I know that it will be this kids "forever" dresser.

AKB090609

We have the 8 drawer and love it, works great especially if you CD.

tmdavis1021

We have the 8 drawer in our bedroom and it is pretty big.  I purchased the malm series for my kids though.  My son has the 5 drawer and we bought the 3 drawer for the new baby.  If you have the room I would suggest the 4 or 5 drawer.  I don't even use all the drawers fully in the 5 drawer.  Check them out at least.  They are also cheaper than the hemnes.

kac831

We bought the 8 drawer . We have the room and I'm glad we got it. I used the smaller top drawers for organizing diapers, socks, bows, diaper changing stuff, ect. The bottom drawers are already getting filled with clothes of various sizes

drpayne

We have the three drawer and its plenty big for us. We hang some stuff but not much. I do take out everything that doesn't fit him any more.

MintBerryCrunch

I got the 3 drawer for our new baby and it seems pretty big to me, actually. The top drawer has cloth diapers, socks and a few other things, and I got all of our newborn and 3 month clothes to fit into the bottom 2 drawers very easily. We used the Skubb boxes to organize it. 

Diapers. 

The Skubb box on the right has pants, the box on the left has shirt/pants sets, onesies are in the middle. Shorts are behind the box on the left, gowns behind the box on the right.

Sleepers.

 

 

pitch77

We just bought our second 3-drawer Hemnes to serve as a changing table/dresser. It worked well with our first LO, paired with a small closet. And we used the entire top drawer with the drawer organizers mentioned above for all our diapering supplies, accessories, etc. 

Pixelpants

Well, we ended up buying the 4 drawer Hopen because we liked the look more.  No clue if it will work as a changing table, too.  The dimensions are exactly the size of the changing pad and the height seems fine for us (5'7"-5'10"). We have a little end table thing to use for diapers so I think it should work. Thanks for all the input, ladies!

meganwv

I have the 8 drawer for myself in my bedroom and my dad is making one similar in cherry for LO's nursery. I love it and it'll be a great size to grow with the child!

virginiagirl11

drpayne:

We have the three drawer and its plenty big for us. We hang some stuff but not much. I do take out everything that doesn't fit him any more.

Same here. The 3-drawer has been fine for us and I prefer it to the large one with the huge footprint. We hang a few things and I alway switch out smaller or out-of-season clothes because it drives me crazy to have extra stuff like that around anyway. I haven't had a need for a larger dresser.

ETA: Also, once your baby gets bigger and wigglier, you will probably end up changing him/her on the floor for safety purposes anyway. You won't need a large dresser-top for very long.

lrn327

We have the 3 and it's always been enough space, particularly since we have a closet too.

starrjelly

Is anyone using the 3 drawer for an older child?  I can see how they would fit infant clothes, but I can't wrap my head around older kid clothes.  My kids have 5 drawers that are busting at the seams with current season/size clothes.  And they don't have a crazy amount, maybe a weeks-1.5 weeks worth (size 5/6 and 3-4t).

anakah

We bought each of the twins a 6 drawer Malm.  It's more a chest of drawers then it is a dresser heightwise, but we wanted to maximize storage with the least footprint.  They have a small room.  It's cheaper than the Hemnes version and it volumetrically has more storage space.  I measured and calculated at the store, I'm sure I was a sight to see.  Right now there is a lot of space not being used, but my husband pointed out that as the kids grow, so do their clothes and the amount of space they take up.

EagleWife

Shanmarie1083 said:

We have the 3 drawer in our DS room and while the drawers are large, I find myself constantly trying to cram all of his clothes in there. I think it would be fine for a baby but you may need to upgrade to a larger one when they get older.  

We also have the 8 drawer and if you haven't seen it in person, I would recommend doing so... it is huge and takes up a lot of space, especially if your nursery is on the smaller side.

HTH 

Corey-chick said:

I had the 3 drawer for my first and although the drawers are good sized, it still wasn't enough to hold all that baby stuff. I found myself constantly emptying out the drawers to eliminate everything that DD had grown out of so that I could squeeze in more stuff. Also, when she was a few months old, she would kick off the wipe warmer while I was changing her because there just wasn't room for much else besides the changing pad. It was a good size for a very small room however.

Since then we have moved into a bigger house with a larger nursery so we bought the 8 drawer and I already love it. The drawers are so spacious, and there is plenty of room for the changing pad, wipe warmer and a basket of diapers on top. I filled it with all the clothes for the first few months and even had room for the extra blankets and crib sheets etc. Best of all, I know that it will be this kids "forever" dresser.

AKB090609 said:

We have the 8 drawer and love it, works great especially if you CD.

tmdavis1021 said:

We have the 8 drawer in our bedroom and it is pretty big.  I purchased the malm series for my kids though.  My son has the 5 drawer and we bought the 3 drawer for the new baby.  If you have the room I would suggest the 4 or 5 drawer.  I don't even use all the drawers fully in the 5 drawer.  Check them out at least.  They are also cheaper than the hemnes.

kac831 said:

We bought the 8 drawer . We have the room and I'm glad we got it. I used the smaller top drawers for organizing diapers, socks, bows, diaper changing stuff, ect. The bottom drawers are already getting filled with clothes of various sizes

@Shanmarie1083 @Corey-chick @AKB090609 @tmdavis1021 @kac831

Hi Ladies! I hang out on July 2013 BMB, but as I was googling to find the drawer dimensions of this dresser, I found this thread. 

Would any of you be willing to measure the depth of the drawers for me? I'm looking to put the Hemnes 8 drawer dresser in a home office for a downstairs changing station and baby gear storage location, and also want to be able to file papers in at least the bottom drawers. I can't find the drawer dimensions anywhere on IKEA's site or elsewhere on the interwebz.

Thanks in advance!

AKB090609

@EagleWife I don't have access to the dresser right now (DD is sleeping), I don't think the typical file folder would fit. I can measure for you tomorrow.

EagleWife

AKB090609 said:

@EagleWife I don't have access to the dresser right now (DD is sleeping), I don't think the typical file folder would fit. I can measure for you tomorrow.

@AKB090609 - thank you! that would be awesome! I don't need it tonight, so that would be just fine. I appreciate it.

And congrats on the DD Your siggy turtle badge is adorable.

headgear03

We have the 8 drawer in both our room and our two daughters shared room. We will be getting the three drawer for our son shortly. In my girls room ( they are almost six and four ) I can fit all their pants, jeans and skirts in one drawer. All their shirts in another and then each girls pajamas and socks and underwear in the two top drawers . I think as long as you have a closet you should be fine with just a three drawer .

mrsR12

we have the 8 drawer and so far we still have a lot of room left.  haven't gotten everything we need for him yet but it is a good size and we're hoping it'll grow with him atleast for the first few years. 

EagleWife

EagleWife said:

AKB090609 said:

@EagleWife I don't have access to the dresser right now (DD is sleeping), I don't think the typical file folder would fit. I can measure for you tomorrow.

@AKB090609 - thank you! that would be awesome! I don't need it tonight, so that would be just fine. I appreciate it.

And congrats on the DD Your siggy turtle badge is adorable.

@AKB090609 - did you get a chance to measure the drawer depths? Thank you!

AKB090609

I totally zoned! Sorry, I'll measure as soon as DD wakes up from nap!

EagleWife

Thanks! I'm hoping it will work and we can pick one up on Sunday. Time to get organized!!!

virginiagirl11

We have the 3-drawer in the nursery and it has been fine for us. We use the drawer organizers as well. Whenever I find that there's not enough room in a drawer, it means there's too much random crap or too many clothes that are too small and it's time to swap in the larger stuff. I also hang a few items in DS's closet and have a hanging sweater organizer that I use for blankets and crib sheets, etc.

The way I see it, if we get to the point where the dresser's not cutting it, then we have too much stuff. It holds a lot.

As pp said, once LO is a bit older, you'll want to do diaper changes on the floor anyway for safety reasons, so you don't need a super-wide dresser-top anyway.

The one issue I have had with this dresser (DS1 used it as well) is that the drawers are very heavy and roll shut easily. I am always extremely paranoid that tiny baby/toddler fingers will get caught. I watch the kids like a hawk when they're around it.

GirlyGirl319

We just bought the 8 draw with the organizers

Ms.MKBT

We got the three drawer and the six drawer chest for DDs room since she didn't have one long wall.  We used the three drawer for cloth diapers and blankets and the other for clothes.  We had more than enough room.  She is not just using the taller chest in her room and we will probably use the three drawer for LO #2.