5 IKEA picks this week for small apartments, WFH desks, and one-person kitchens

The IKEA PS 2026 collection landed in stores on May 14 — 44 pieces by 12 designers, the tenth edition of IKEA's experimental design series. Most of it is playful in ways that don't quite survive daily life in a 400-square-foot rental. But five items from this week's new stock across the US, UK, and global IKEA sites actually make sense for small apartments, work-from-home setups, and one-person kitchens. Here's the shortlist.

Assembly ratings are relative (☆ = no tools / ★★★ = multi-hour flat-pack). Prices from IKEA US as of May 2026.

If you work from a bedroom or a studio and still want a real desk footprint when you need it, this pull-out design is the most practical new WFH item IKEA has released this year. The top surface handles your monitor and keyboard. Pull out the lower shelf to add 13 inches of depth for a second screen, a notebook, or your lunch — then push it back when you're done.

Dimensions: 35⅜" wide × 34¼" tall × 15⅜" deep at rest. The top shelf holds 110 lbs; the pull-out holds 44 lbs. For a sub-$100 desk that genuinely disappears when not in use, it's hard to argue with 1.

An inflatable chair sounds like a novelty that wears out in six months. The PS 2026 version, designed by Mikael Axelsson, is built differently: two independent air chambers sit inside a chrome metal frame, and the cover comes off for machine washing. IKEA ran it through full armchair durability testing 2.

The packed dimensions (26¾" × 5" × 30", weighing 19 lbs) mean you can actually store it flat when you have guests or move apartments. For small-space situations where a sofa takes up too much floor space but a folding chair looks too sad, this sits in the middle.

Seat dimensions: 28¾" wide × 27½" tall, seat height 17¾". Available in bright green and blue. In stores now; online from May 28 2.

The KLIPPKAKTUS series launched this spring as a full fridge-organization system 4. The herb keeper (3¾" × 3⅝" × 11") is the most useful single piece for one-person cooking: a clear dome over a water-reservoir base keeps cut herbs like basil, cilantro, and parsley alive for several days longer than a damp paper towel in a bag.

At $6.99, it's a no-assembly, zero-commitment upgrade for a small kitchen. The drink holder from the same series ($3.99 for the fridge storage box) stacks alongside it without any fuss.

Corner space in small kitchens and bathrooms is almost always wasted — too narrow for a standard shelf, too awkward for a cabinet door. The NÅLBLECKA is an 11" × 11" × 11" triangular two-tier shelf in bamboo and powder-coated steel, designed exactly for those spots 5.

The upright profile (taller than it is wide) suits bottles — lotion, dish soap, oils — rather than plates. It's water- and mold-resistant. A single-tier version is available if the two-tier feels like overkill for a bathroom counter.

The PS 2026 side table (50 × 40 cm, dark red powder-coated steel) is the smallest and most flexible piece in the collection. It works as a bedside table, a WFH surface for a second keyboard or notebook, or an end table next to a sofa. The compact footprint means it won't crowd a small bedroom.

The PS 2026 collection as a whole went live in IKEA US stores May 14; the full lineup is available online from May 28 3.