How to Plan a Built-In Wardrobe

A robe is easier than a kitchen: one opening, no plumbing, no appliances. The only real decision is how much of it hangs and how much of it stacks.

Measure the opening, not the room

What matters is the opening — the clear width and height between the reveals, or between the walls of a walk-in. Measure the width at the top and at the bottom and use the smaller. Measure the height at both ends too; robe openings are often the least square part of a house.

Standard robe depth is 445mm, which is what our inserts are built to, with a 300mm shelf insert for shallow robes and linen cupboards. 445mm is enough for a shirt on a hanger to sit square to the wall. If you have 600mm of depth, you have room for a shelf behind the hanging space rather than a deeper insert.

Work in bays

An insert run is divided into bays — vertical sections, each doing one job. As a rule of thumb, every 1200mm of opening is about one bay. A 2400mm robe is two, a 3600mm robe is three.

Within each bay you are choosing between:

• Long hang — coats, dresses. Needs the full height, so it eats a whole bay.
• Double hang — two rails stacked. Shirts and folded trousers. Twice the hanging in the same width, and most wardrobes need more of this than people plan for.
• Shelves — knitwear, bags, anything that does not want a hanger. Our shelf inserts are cut to the bay, from 400 to 800mm wide and 1600 to 2400mm high.
• Drawers — socks and underwear, so the chest of drawers can leave the bedroom. The drawer inserts put two to five drawers in a bay, and the tall boys come from 450 to 850mm wide.

The mistake worth avoiding

Almost everyone plans too much long hang. Look at what is actually on the rail now: if most of it is shirts and trousers, most of the robe should be double hang, and you will roughly double what fits without touching the opening.

Start from a package or build it yourself

If your opening is close to 1200, 2400 or 3600mm, one of the four wardrobe packages is the whole inside worked out already — hanging, shelving and drawers in a layout that fits.

If it is not, the wardrobe configurator builds the same parts to your own width. Set the opening, choose the height and depth, then set what goes in each bay; the wardrobe and its cut list rebuild as you go, so you can see the panel sizes before you commit.

Before you order

Check the skirting. An insert sitting against a wall with skirting on it will stand proud unless the skirting is cut away or the insert is scribed around it. It is a five-minute job to notice now and an annoying one to discover later.