Designer modular shelving in the UK: USM Haller, Montana, HAY, and Muuto compared

The short answer

USM Haller, Montana, HAY New Order, and Muuto Stacked are all sold in the UK, and all four are well-made modular systems built from a fixed range of module sizes. Choose USM Haller for freestanding Swiss steel, Montana for lacquered colour, New Order for an open metal frame, and Stacked for boxes that clip together. If you want shelving set to the width of your wall in birch plywood, fixed to the wall and made in Norfolk, Mestra is the closer fit.

What this guide covers

These four names come up again and again when people look for designer modular shelving or a USM Haller alternative. We checked each brand’s current UK lines, stockists, and prices in October 2026. All four are on sale in the UK.

If you are also weighing up Vitsoe, String, ON&ON, FRAMA, Moebe, or HAY Pier, we compare those in Vitsoe alternatives in the UK.

We make Mestra, so read this with that in mind. We have kept the facts about other brands to what they and their UK stockists publish, and listed every source at the end.

The four systems at a glance

Prices are at the time of writing (October 2026), from the brand or a UK stockist: USM’s UK website, Innes for Montana, and Really Well Made for HAY and Muuto. Montana’s Innes prices were 15% lower during an offer at the time. USM charges for delivery and installation. Our prices include VAT and delivery to mainland UK addresses. The units differ in size and parts, so compare by what you need on the wall rather than by the headline price.

USM Haller

Swiss architect Fritz Haller and Paul Schärer Jr. designed USM Haller in 1965, and USM still makes it in Switzerland. It is a chromed steel frame with powder-coated steel panels, in 14 colours. USM sells doors, drop-down doors, drawers, and filing parts that fit the same frame, so one system can be a bookcase, a sideboard, or a home office unit.

Sizes follow a grid. Widths run from 100 mm to 750 mm, and depths are 250, 350, 500, or 750 mm. USM measures between the centres of the tubes, so the outside of a unit is 23 mm larger than its grid size.

USM sells directly through its UK website and through stockists such as Holloways of Ludlow. The Shelving M24, a tall unit with three open compartments and two drop-down doors, is W 773 × H 1790 × D 373 mm. It costs £2,039.16 at USM UK at the time of writing (October 2026). It arrives fully assembled. USM lists delivery at 6 to 7 weeks and gives a two-year warranty. In London, USM delivers and installs. Outside London, you choose installation or kerbside delivery, and USM charges for delivery and installation.

Best for: a freestanding steel piece that can grow from a sideboard into a bookcase or a filing unit, from a 1960s design that is still in production.

Montana

Montana is a Danish system designed by Peter J. Lassen. The company was founded in 1982 and makes its storage at its factory in Haarby, Denmark. Its shelving modules are 12 mm MDF in a water-based lacquer, with 41 colours to choose from.

Montana works on a 5.7 cm unit. The basic module is 69.6 × 69.6 cm, and depths are 20, 30, 38, or 46.8 cm. Modules can hang on a wall rail, about 8 mm off the wall, or stand on a plinth, legs, or castors. For wall-hung modules, Montana prefers concrete or brick walls and asks for plaster walls of at least two layers.

There are two ways to buy Montana shelving. A stockist can plan a Montana System layout with you, module by module. Montana Selection is a set of fixed designs, where you choose the colour and the base. UK stockists include Innes. Loom, a tall, slim bookcase from Montana Selection, is W 468 × H 2088 × D 300 mm wall-hung and costs £1,520. The wider Read bookshelf is W 1392 × H 2088 × D 300 mm and costs £3,450. Both were 15% off at Innes at the time of writing (October 2026).

Innes lists Quickship colours at 3 to 4 weeks. For other colours, Montana’s dispatch time is 5 weeks or more from the factory, with delivery on top. Montana gives a ten-year durability warranty on construction, moving parts, and function, as long as the furniture is assembled and loaded as Montana recommends.

Best for: colour, and smaller spaces such as hallways, bedrooms, and media walls. The same modules work wall-hung or on legs.

HAY New Order

New Order is a shelving and table system that Stefan Diez designed with HAY. HAY describes it as interconnecting aluminium parts on an open grid. Really Well Made, a UK stockist, lists extruded aluminium shelves and profiles in powder-coated finishes. HAY sells it as ready-planned combinations in a few colours, and has a configurator if you want your own layout.

Combinations come in 100, 150, and 200 cm lengths, 34 cm deep. The ones we checked run from 109.3 cm to 250.5 cm high. It arrives flat-packed, and HAY says it goes together with a single Allen key. It stands on the floor, with wall or floor safety brackets. UK stockists also show it standing in the middle of a room as a divider.

Combination 501, a tall open bookcase, is W 1000 × H 1799 × D 340 mm. It costs £1,500 at Really Well Made at the time of writing (October 2026), made to order in 3 to 9 weeks. Holloways of Ludlow lists Combination 202 at 3 to 5 weeks. HAY gives a ten-year warranty on its furniture frames, but the policy does not name New Order and excludes parts bought separately. Ask your stockist which terms apply to your order.

HAY’s lighter Pier system is still sold in the UK. We cover it in our Vitsoe alternatives guide.

Best for: an open metal frame that you can take apart and rebuild, or stand in the middle of a room.

Muuto Stacked

Stacked is a box system designed by JDS Architects for Muuto, updated as Stacked 2.0 in 2018. Each box is MDF finished in three layers of PU lacquer, or in oak veneer, and the boxes join with powder-coated steel clips. Stacked is made in Slovenia and arrives assembled.

There are three box sizes, 21.8 × 43.6 cm, 43.6 × 43.6 cm, and 65.4 × 43.6 cm, all 35 cm deep, plus plinths and podiums. A stack sits on the floor or on a plinth. Boxes with a backboard can be fixed to the wall with the kit supplied. To change the layout, you unclip the boxes and fasten them somewhere else.

Bookcase Configuration 7 is W 650 × H 2180 × D 350 mm. It costs £1,795 at Really Well Made at the time of writing (October 2026), made to order in 2 to 3 weeks. Single boxes start at £159. Muuto states a ten-year warranty on products tested to BIFMA strength and stability standards, and five years on other products, for the contract market. We could not confirm which applies to Stacked bought for a home, so check with your stockist.

Best for: a box-by-box arrangement you can change whenever you like, with one of the shorter lead times here.

Which of these are mid-century designs?

If you are looking for mid-century modular shelving, USM Haller is the 1960s original in this group. Vitsoe’s 606 is another, designed by Dieter Rams in 1960, and we cover it in our Vitsoe alternatives guide. Montana was founded in 1982, and New Order and Stacked are more recent designs. If what you want is a Scandinavian shelving system, Montana and HAY are Danish, and Muuto builds on the Scandinavian design tradition.

When Mestra is the better fit

All four systems above come in set module sizes, so you pick the nearest size and live with the gap at the end of the run. Mestra uses standard parts too, but we make each bay to the width you set. The parts are standard; the widths are yours.

• Your wall sets the size. Set each bay to any width from 500 mm to 800 mm, in 1 mm steps. A run can fill an alcove or a whole wall instead of stopping at the nearest module. Narrower or wider bays are priced by quote.
• You want real wood. Our shelves and cabinets are 18 mm Baltic birch plywood, finished in Rubio Monocoat hardwax oil in 13 colours. Read more about our materials, or order a sample pack from £24. We deduct the pack price from your first order.
• You want the floor clear. Rails fix to the wall, with steel pins every 100 mm. Shelves and cabinets hang from the pins, and you can lift them off and hook them back on higher or lower.
• You want to repair and add, not replace. You can buy single replacement parts, so a damaged shelf or rail is a part, not a new unit. Add a bay with one more rail, or swap a shelf for a drawer cabinet or a cupboard. We make each part to the width of its bay, so order new parts at that width. See how the modular shelving units fit together.
• You want it made in the UK. We make every order in our Norfolk workshop. The lead time is 5 to 10 weeks from order, and delivery to mainland UK addresses is included. Every order has a ten-year warranty and a 60-day Home Trial. If you return it in resalable condition within 60 days, we collect it at no extra cost.

An open layout starts from £828.34 for one bay (W 632 × H 1800 × D 254 mm, with six bookended shelves) and from £1,496.71 for two bays (W 1234 mm), at the time of writing (October 2026). A layout with a cupboard starts from £1,181.37 for one bay, and the four-bay media wall from £3,316.75. See all Mestra shelving layouts, or plan your own in the configurator.

When Mestra is not the right fit

• You need a freestanding piece or a room divider. Every Mestra part hangs from rails fixed to the wall. USM Haller, New Order, and Stacked can all stand on the floor.
• You cannot drill into your walls. Our rails screw to the wall. Fixings come in the box, matched to your wall, and we check your wall type with you before we send them. You still need to drill.
• You want a corner or an L-shaped run. Our runs are straight. Corners are bespoke projects, priced by quote.
• Your walls are far out of true and you want a scribed, built-in look. We do not scribe bays to the wall, so expect small gaps where a wall is uneven.
• You want glossy lacquer or a powder-coated colour. Montana offers 41 lacquer colours and USM 14 steel colours. Our finish is hardwax oil on plywood, with a solid melamine colour by quote.
• You need it within a month. Stacked (2 to 3 weeks) and Montana Quickship (3 to 4 weeks) arrive sooner than our 5 to 10 weeks.
• You need office filing. USM makes A4 drawers and hanging file baskets for the Haller frame.
• You need an unusual height. Our units are 900 mm high, or 1800 mm with two rails, and some layouts use a low 395 mm rail. Other heights are by quote.

Frequently asked questions

Is USM Haller worth the money?

It can be, if you want what it does well. USM Haller is a 1965 design in chromed steel, made in Switzerland, and you can reconfigure it with the same parts later. A Shelving M24 unit costs £2,039.16 at USM UK at the time of writing (October 2026). Delivery and installation cost extra, and the warranty is two years. If you would rather have wood, or a run made to the width of your wall, another system will suit you better.

Is there a cheaper alternative to USM Haller in the UK?

Yes, depending on what you need. At Really Well Made, a tall HAY New Order bookcase (Combination 501) costs £1,500 and a tall Muuto Stacked bookcase (Configuration 7) costs £1,795. A one-bay Mestra open layout starts from £828.34, in birch plywood and fixed to the wall. All prices are at the time of writing (October 2026), and each unit has different sizes and parts. The USM M24, for example, includes two doors.

Is Montana shelving wall-mounted?

It can be. Montana modules hang on a wall rail, about 8 mm off the wall, or stand on a plinth, legs, or castors. For wall-hung modules, Montana prefers concrete or brick walls, and plaster walls of at least two layers.

What is the difference between USM Haller and Montana?

USM Haller is a chromed steel frame with powder-coated steel panels. It stands on the floor and comes in 14 colours, with a two-year warranty from USM UK. Montana is 12 mm lacquered MDF. It hangs on the wall or stands on a base, comes in 41 colours, and carries a ten-year durability warranty from Montana.

Which modular shelving systems are mid-century designs?

USM Haller dates from 1965 and Vitsoe’s 606 from 1960, and both are still made today. Montana, HAY New Order, and Muuto Stacked are later designs. Mestra is a contemporary system in birch plywood.

Can I add to Mestra shelving later?

Yes. Add a bay with one more rail, or add shelves or cabinets to a bay you already have. You can also buy single replacement parts, such as one shelf, one rail, or one cabinet door. We make each part to the width of its bay.

Sources

All accessed 6 October 2026.

Mestra:

• https://mestrashelving.com/products/mestra-shelving/open (JSON-LD offers: one bay £828.34, two bays £1,496.71, three bays £2,160.45; one bay W 632 × H 1800 × D 254 mm, from ?variant=open-1)
• https://mestrashelving.com/products/mestra-shelving/cupboard (JSON-LD offers: one bay £1,181.37)
• https://mestrashelving.com/products/mestra-shelving/media (JSON-LD offers: open boxes £3,316.75, drawers £4,091.15)
• https://mestrashelving.com/terms (ten-year warranty cover, 60-day Home Trial with collection at no extra cost, delivery within 12 weeks with 5 to 10 weeks in most cases, mainland UK delivery included, Norfolk workshop)

USM Haller:

• https://uk.usm.com/products/usm-haller-shelving-m24 (W 773 × D 373 × H 1790 mm, £2,039.16, 6 to 7 weeks, two-year warranty, materials, 14 colours, assembled, designers and 1965, made in Switzerland, London and outside-London delivery)
• https://uk.usm.com/ (delivery and installation rates apply)
• https://cms.usm.com/media/14dhic3x/usm_haller_specifications_en.pdf (widths, heights and depths, axis-to-axis measuring plus 23 mm, A4 drawers and hanging file baskets)

Montana:

• https://www.innes.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/Montana_Technical_Specification_26.pdf (updated 1 February 2026: Haarby factory, founded 1982, 5.7 cm unit, basic module 69.6 × 69.6 cm, depths, suspension rail 8 mm from wall, wall guidance, ten-year durability warranty, water-based lacquer)
• https://www.innes.co.uk/products/montana-selection-loom-shelving (W 46.8 × D 30 × H 208.8 cm wall-hung, £1,520 full price, £1,292 in offer, 12 mm lacquered MDF, Quickship 3 to 4 weeks)
• https://www.montanafurniture.com/en/montana/dispatch-times (4 to 8 business days for selected variants, 5+ weeks for the rest, dispatch not delivery)

HAY New Order:

• https://www.hay.com/products/furniture/new-order-info (system description, pre-configured combinations, configurator)
• https://reallywellmade.co.uk/products/new-order-shelving-combination-501 (W 100 × D 34 × H 179.9 cm, £1,500, made to order 3 to 9 weeks, extruded aluminium in powder-coated finishes, flat-packed, wall or floor safety brackets)
• https://www.innes.co.uk/pages/hay-product-warranty-information (ten-year warranty on furniture frames, valid from 1 April 2025, separately purchased parts excluded)

Muuto Stacked:

• https://reallywellmade.co.uk/products/stacked-storage-system-bookcase (Configuration 7 W 65 × D 35 × H 218 cm, £1,795, made to order 2 to 3 weeks, materials, made in Slovenia, backed modules wall-mountable with kit, floor or plinth)
• https://reallywellmade.co.uk/products/stacked-shelf-system-2-0 (module sizes, from £159, Stacked 2.0 in 2018, JDS Architects, assembled)
• https://www.muuto.com/content/warranty-page/ (ten years for BIFMA-tested products, five years otherwise, contract market)

Other:

• https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/606 (designed by Dieter Rams in 1960)