How to Choose a Wardrobe

Measure before you shortlist, not after

Wardrobes are the most returned large item in a bedroom, and nearly always for the same three reasons: height, depth, or the space the doors need. Take all three measurements first and you can shop on looks with a clear conscience.

Height, and the bit above it

Measure floor to ceiling in the exact spot the wardrobe will stand, at both ends of the footprint, because very few floors are level. Then check what the quoted height covers: it is almost always the carcass alone, so find out whether a cornice or decorative top is included and add it. A cornice typically adds several centimetres and is the most common reason a wardrobe that fits on paper does not fit in the room. Leave a little room above as well — a wardrobe pushed hard against a ceiling is impossible to level.

Depth

For clothes hung on a front-to-back rail in the normal way, a wardrobe typically needs to be around 55 to 60 cm deep externally. That is not an arbitrary number: it is roughly the width of a coat hanger plus the thickness of the doors and back panel. Anything much shallower cannot take a conventional rail, so shallow wardrobes either angle the rail, use pull-out rails that hang clothes sideways, or simply hold less. None of those is wrong, but know which you are buying. Sliding-door wardrobes usually need a few more centimetres than hinged ones, because the track and the two door panels sit in front of the hanging space rather than outside it.

Width, and the space in front

Measure the wall, then check what is at each end: skirting boards, radiators, light switches, coving and a window reveal all eat into usable width, and a wardrobe cannot usually sit over a skirting board unless it has been designed with a recess. Then measure the floor in front. Hinged doors need roughly their own width of clear floor to open fully — a wardrobe with 50 cm doors is unusable if the bed sits 30 cm away. Sliding doors need no swing space at all, which is the whole argument for them.

Sliding or hinged: the decision that shapes the room

This is the choice that changes how the wardrobe lives with you, and it is much less about looks than it seems.

Hinged doors

The traditional arrangement, and still the better one when the room allows it. You can open the whole wardrobe at once and see everything in it, the inside of the doors can carry hooks or a mirror, and the interior is usually a couple of centimetres deeper because nothing is parked in front of it. Hinged doors are also cheaper for the same quality of carcass, and easier to fix: a sagging door is a hinge adjustment, not a specialist repair. The cost is floor space. Allow the width of the widest door as clear floor, plus enough room to stand there.

Sliding doors

Sliding doors need no clearance in front, which makes them the obvious answer in a small or awkward bedroom and the only answer when the bed or a radiator sits close by. They also come in wider units, so a run of them covers a whole wall neatly. The trade-offs are real: you can only see half the wardrobe at a time, which makes the interior harder to organise; the track takes depth from the inside; and grit in a bottom track is the usual reason a door starts to stick. Top-hung, soft-close mechanisms cost more and are noticeably nicer to use.

How much will it actually hold?

Doors are a poor guide to capacity. A "two-door" wardrobe can be anything from about 80 cm to about 120 cm wide, and a three-door can be narrower than some two-doors. The number that matters is the width of hanging rail inside, and you can work backwards from the clothes you own.

As a rough working figure, shirts and light tops take around 2 to 3 cm of rail each, and coats, suits and heavy jackets take around 5 cm. Add them up and most single adults with an ordinary wardrobe of clothes land somewhere around a metre of rail; two people sharing usually want appreciably more than two metres unless a good deal is stored elsewhere.

• A single-door wardrobe (typically around 50 to 60 cm wide) gives roughly 45 to 55 cm of rail. That is a guest room, a child’s room or an overflow unit, not a main wardrobe.
• A two-door wardrobe (typically around 90 to 110 cm wide) gives roughly 85 cm to a metre of rail, often with a shelf above and sometimes a drawer below. Enough for one person if the drawers elsewhere are doing their share.
• A three-door wardrobe (typically around 135 to 180 cm) gives comfortably more than a metre of rail and usually splits into a long-hanging bay and a short-hanging bay with shelves. This is the practical size for a couple in one unit.
• Two separate units side by side are often better than one large one: easier up the stairs, different internally, and two small gaps to hide rather than one large one.

Remember the rail is not the only storage. Folded clothes go in chests of drawers, and bulky seasonal things (spare bedding, coats you wear twice a year) belong in ottoman storage or under the bed rather than taking up hanging space.

The inside: layout matters more than the doors

Two wardrobes with identical outside dimensions can hold very different amounts, and the difference is all in the internal fit-out. Check the interior photograph and the specification, not just the front.

• Single full-height hanging is the most flexible layout and the least efficient. A long rail with a shelf over it suits dresses and coats, but if most of your clothes are shirts and trousers, you are wasting the bottom half of the wardrobe on fresh air.
• Double hanging puts two rails one above the other in a bay, roughly doubling the capacity for shirts, jackets and folded trousers. If most of what you own is short, this is the single biggest capacity gain available, and some wardrobes let you add a second rail later.
• A mix of bays is what most three-door units do well: one full-height bay for long items, one double-hanging bay, and shelves or drawers in the third. It is worth paying for.
• Internal drawers are convenient for small items but expensive per litre, and they cost you hanging width. If you already have a chest of drawers, shelves are usually the better use of the space.
• The top shelf is the most under-used part of any wardrobe. Check its height and depth: it should take a storage box rather than being a token 15 cm gap.
• Adjustability. Shelves on pegs and repositionable rails are worth more than they look on a spec sheet, because what you own changes.

Flat-pack, pre-assembled or fitted

How the wardrobe arrives changes the price, the effort and what happens when you move house.

Flat-pack

Cheapest, and the easiest to get into an awkward room, because the largest carton is a single panel rather than a whole wardrobe. The work is real — a large wardrobe is usually a two-person, half-day job, and patience is what gets you a square carcass. Assembly is often offered as a paid extra at the point of order, and is generally cheaper there than arranging it afterwards. Flat-pack does not enjoy being dismantled and rebuilt, so treat a large one as semi-permanent.

Pre-assembled

Delivered built, usually in solid timber or with a better-quality finish, and generally sturdier and quieter than the flat-pack equivalent. You pay for that in price and in access: measure your front door, hallway, staircase turn and the bedroom doorway, and compare them to the packaged dimensions rather than the wardrobe dimensions. Check what the delivery actually includes as well, since "to your room of choice" and "kerbside" are very different propositions for something this size.

Fitted

Built into the room, usually wall to wall and floor to ceiling. Fitted wardrobes use awkward spaces freestanding units cannot — a chimney breast alcove, a sloping ceiling — and give the most storage for the floor area by a wide margin. They are also much the most expensive, they stay with the house when you leave, and the installation matters as much as the materials. Price a good freestanding unit alongside before deciding: the gap is often larger than people expect.

Materials and finishes: what you are actually buying

Very few wardrobes are solid wood throughout, and that is not a scandal: a large solid-timber panel moves with the seasons, which is exactly what a wardrobe door should not do. What matters is knowing which parts are which.

• Solid wood is normally used for frames, doors and legs, with a board back and sometimes board shelves. It is heavy, repairable and lasts decades, and it can be sanded and refinished when tastes change. It costs the most and it is the hardest to move.
• Veneer is a thin layer of real wood over a board core: genuine grain, a stable panel and a much lower price. It looks like the solid version until it is damaged, at which point it is not repairable — you cannot sand through a veneer, and a chipped edge stays chipped.
• MDF and melamine-faced board make up the bulk of the market. Modern melamine finishes are durable, easy to wipe and completely consistent in colour, which is why white and grey wardrobes are usually made this way. The weaknesses are edges and water: check that edges are properly banded, and keep the carcass away from damp, because board that has swollen never recovers.
• Painted finishes give the softest, most furniture-like look, and a painted wardrobe can be repainted years later, which no other finish allows. Sprayed factory finishes are far more durable than hand-painted ones, and paint shows knocks on corners and around handles more readily than a wood-effect.
• Gloss and mirror fronts bounce light around a dark room, and both show fingerprints constantly. Matt finishes are far more forgiving.

Colour is worth a moment of thought too, because a wardrobe is a large flat surface and it will dominate the room. White wardrobes disappear against a pale wall and keep a small bedroom feeling open; grey wardrobes hide marks better and sit more quietly against darker schemes. Wood tones bring warmth but are the hardest to match to an existing bed or chest, so if you are matching, buy from the same range where you can.

How much should you spend?

Wardrobes are long-life furniture. Unlike a mattress there is no natural replacement point, so most people keep one until they move or redecorate, which makes it worth buying a size up rather than a style up if the budget is tight. Price tracks three things: the width, the door mechanism, and whether the carcass is board, veneer or solid timber.

• Wardrobes under £300, covering single and two-door flat-pack units in melamine-faced board. The right answer for a guest room, a child’s room or a rental.
• Wardrobes under £500, the mainstream: wider two- and three-door units, better internal layouts, some sliding-door and mirrored options.
• Wardrobes on sale, which is where the larger pre-assembled and solid-timber pieces tend to become affordable.

A few things are worth paying extra for and a few are not. Soft-close hinges, adjustable feet, a second hanging rail and proper edge banding all improve daily life for very little money. Elaborate cornices, internal lighting and integrated drawers usually do not, and drawers in particular cost more than a chest of drawers would. And because the same wardrobe is often a different price at different retailers, and bedroom furniture is discounted somewhere most weeks, a sale price is only a deal if it beats what everyone else is charging. That is the part we do: we track live prices across the UK retailers we list so you can compare before you buy. Browse every wardrobe we track, or see the whole of bedroom storage together.