What the tape measure says
The floor it takes, before it arrives
An open drawer needs 34 cm of clear floor in front of the chest, and the wall behind it has to take an anchor.
A couple more room tipsListed size: 70 cm wide, 40 cm deep, 72 cm tall. Drawer box 63 × 34 cm, the figure the KULLEN line listings give.
What the listing does not say
Seventy centimetres is the whole point.
Seventy centimetres wide is the reason this chest exists. It stands 72 cm tall and 40 cm deep, so it drops into the gap beside a bed, into a wardrobe opening, or into the end of a run where a 100 cm chest will not go. Tape the 70 by 40 cm footprint on the floor and stand where the drawer will open before you order.
That 40 cm case depth is also the limit. The drawer box the KULLEN listings give for the line is 63 cm wide and 34 cm front to back, which takes folded clothes, towels and paperwork, but not a winter duvet. Going up the range does not fix it: the 5 and 6 drawer chests use the same drawer box.
The drawers run in a channel cut into the drawer side rather than on separate metal runners, and that is the point owners return to most. They want a firm, straight pull, and they are not as light as the wheels on a MALM. There are no handles either, so you pull from the gap under the top edge of each front, and one owner's fix for a stiff drawer is a little candle wax rubbed into the channel.
The top and sides are particleboard with plastic edging under a paper foil, and the top shows wear first. A wet glass left standing can raise a ring where water gets under the foil, and the edges chip or peel, especially after a move. How long it lasts splits by load rather than by batch: light use in a spare room runs for years, while a drawer packed to the top every day is where owners report drawer bottoms tipping and runners failing.
It has to be fixed to the wall, and the anchoring kit comes in the box. Recall 20-085 covered KULLEN 3 drawer chests in birch and black-brown sold between April 2005 and December 2019, with a refund or a free anchoring kit as the remedy. The white finish is not named in that recall, but the hazard is a chest tipping when a loaded drawer is pulled, which does not depend on the colour. On a second-hand chest, check the fittings before the first drawer goes in.
Assembly is long and loud. Most of the work is hammering, and the three drawers use identical parts, so the confusing part is telling one side panel from another rather than the frame itself. Sort the fittings in the order the manual uses, build it in the room it will live in, and have someone hold the frame to the wall while you drive the anchor.
Wipe with a damp cloth and dry with a clean cloth, as the KULLEN listing says. Keep standing water off the foil top, and lift the chest rather than dragging it when you move it.