How to Plan Built-in Wardrobe Storage

What you need

A tape measure, a list of what goes in the wardrobe — hanging clothes, folded clothes, shoes, boxes — and the closet space calculator. Count what you actually own before you plan: a wardrobe planned for the clothes you have is useful, and one planned for the clothes you wish you had is not.

Step 1 — Measure the space

Measure the width, depth and height of the space. The standard depth for hanging clothes is about 600 mm (24 in) — a hanger needs that much, and anything shallower crushes the clothes against the doors. Check the height too: a double hanging rail needs about 1.8 m of clear height, and a single long rail needs about 1.5 m.

Step 2 — Plan the hanging

Hanging length is the width multiplied by the number of rod levels. The closet space calculator does it: a wardrobe 2.4 m wide with two rod levels gives 2.4 × 2 = 4.8 m of hanging. Two levels work for shirts and trousers; long coats and dresses need one full-height level. Split the width between the two if you have both.

Step 3 — Plan the shelves

Shelf area is width × depth × number of shelves: 2.4 m × 0.6 m × 3 shelves = 4.32 m². Put folded clothes and boxes on the shelves, and keep the shelf depth shallow enough to reach the back — a shelf you cannot reach is a shelf you do not use. Leave the top shelf for things you rarely need, and the bottom for shoes or drawers.

Step 4 — Check the volume and the garments

The storage volume is width × depth × height: 2.4 × 0.6 × 2.4 = 3.46 m³. The calculator also estimates garments from the hanging length — one garment per 5 cm of rail — so 4.8 m of hanging holds about 96 garments. That is the calculator's own estimate, and it is a planning figure, not a promise: bulky coats take more rail than shirts.

Step 5 — Plan the layout

Put hanging on one side and shelves on the other, drawers at the bottom and the rarely used things at the top. Leave room for the doors to open — sliding doors need no clearance, hinged doors need the full swing. The room size calculator gives you the room's floor area and wall area, and the furniture space calculator checks the wardrobe fits the room with space to walk past it.

Worked example

A wardrobe 2.4 m wide, 0.6 m deep and 2.4 m high, with 2 rod levels and 3 shelves. Hanging length: 2.4 × 2 = 4.8 m. Shelf area: 2.4 × 0.6 × 3 = 4.32 m². Storage volume: 2.4 × 0.6 × 2.4 = 3.46 m³. Garments: floor(4.8 ÷ 0.05) = 96 garments. Those are exactly the numbers the closet space calculator gives you.

Common mistakes

• Too little hanging length. Everything folded and nothing hung means a wardrobe that fights you every morning. Count the hanging clothes first.
• Shelves too deep to reach. A 600 mm shelf is fine for folded clothes; a 900 mm shelf hides everything at the back. Reachable beats big.
• No room for the doors. Hinged doors need their full swing, and a wardrobe that blocks a door or a drawer is a wardrobe that annoys you daily.

Safety

Planning is safe work, but fixing is not free of risk: check for wires and pipes before you drill into a wall, and fix tall units to the wall so they cannot tip over — a falling wardrobe can seriously injure a child. Use the right fixings for the wall type (plasterboard needs different fixings from brick), and get help lifting the carcass: wardrobe panels are heavy and awkward.

Try these calculators

• Closet Space Calculator — hanging length, shelf area and volume.
• Room Size Calculator — floor area, wall area and volume of a room.
• Furniture Space Calculator — whether furniture fits a room.