We've loved String for longer than we've actually owned any of it. Our last house had a String Pocket in the bathroom, and by the time we moved into this one, it felt inevitable that a proper String setup would follow.
Five years later, we've actually ended up with four different String pieces around the house. This is the first of what will probably be a small series, starting with the big one: the main shelving unit in our kitchen diner.
Why String is a design classic in the first place
String was designed in 1949 by the Swedish architect couple Nils and Kajsa Strinning, and the whole system is built around one idea: the wire ladder panels that shelves clip into.
That sounds like a small detail, but it's the entire point. Shelves, cabinets, and accessories can be added, removed, or rearranged onto the same ladders indefinitely, without buying a new unit or committing to a fixed shape.
That's not a theoretical benefit for us. It's exactly what's happened.
From desk to shelf, without buying anything new
We bought ours five years ago, during Covid, when a second desk in the kitchen diner made sense. We were both working from home and needed the space. About 18 months in, once things had settled and we were back in the office more (and had a proper study elsewhere in the house), we didn't need a second desk anymore. So we swapped the desk top out for a plain shelf instead.
the original desk setup, before the swap to shelving
That's the part of String that's easy to undersell, but the flexibility has been really great for us.
What it's actually like, five years in
We went for the classic combination: oak shelves, black metal ladders with a sliding door cupboard. It's held up brilliantly. No sagging, no marks, nothing that looks tired after half a decade of daily use.
The flexibility is the real story here, though, more than the materials. We've moved shelves up and down more times than I can count, depending on what needed to live where. At one point we added pen holders to the side of the unit, which I'll admit I get slightly overinvested in sorting (pens in one, pencils in another) before it inevitably descends back into muddle within a week.
Today, it holds a genuinely mixed bag: stationery, books, files, board games, and a fair number of things the kids have made that we're not quite ready to put away. It's not styled for a photo. It's just where a normal amount of family life ends up living.
the cabinet top, mid-week, unstyled
Five years in, we've mostly stopped noticing the shelving itself. We notice the things on it instead.
The one thing worth knowing before buying
String is a system, not a finished object: floor panels, shelves, and any cabinets are bought separately, and the final look depends on how you configure them. It's a strength once you're living with it, as we clearly are, but it's worth planning your setup rather than assuming a single box will arrive and do the job.
Was it worth it?
We can't put our hands on the original invoice, but based on the components we've got (the floor panels, oak shelves, and the sliding-door cabinet at the base), we'd estimate somewhere around £1,000 for the setup as it stands now.
For that, we've had five years of daily use across two completely different configurations with zero signs of wear and no need to buy anything new when our needs changed. That's a genuinely rare thing for a piece of furniture to deliver, and it's the main reason we've quietly built up three more String pieces around the house since.
The next chapter
We're moving house, and we're thinking it'll go into our daughter's room, with the desk reinstated so she's got a proper study space of her own. It feels fitting: the same panels that started life as our desk during Covid becoming someone else's desk, in a different room, in a different house.
Still worth keeping?
- Flexibility
- Genuinely exceptional: we've reconfigured it multiple times without buying anything new
- Ageing
- Excellent: no wear on the oak or the metal after five years
- Would we buy it again?
- Yes, and clearly we have, three times over
- Best for
- People who want a shelving system that can change as their needs do, not a fixed piece bought for one specific job
