More frequently asked questions I get asked about the relative merits of hinged or sliding doors on fitted wardrobes:

‘Does it matter how many sliding doors you have’

Well, obviously this will be partly governed by the overall length of the wardrobe installation. The minimum number of doors is two and I certainly discourage my fitted bedroom customers from having sliding doors on any fitted wardrobe under 1200 mm (4ft) wide, because sliding doors of floor to ceiling height but under 600 mm (2ft) width look ungainly, are harder to keep udjusted and may have a tendency to tilt if they hit an obstruction like a shoe on the track. Good quality, modern sliding wardrobe door systems have built in anti-jump devices fitted to the rollers but even these may not be enough to prevent a tall, thin door from coming off the track.

Sliding wardrobe doors are usually available in widths up to 1200 mm wide which means that with a 25 mm overlap and a build at the ends of over 25 mm a two door wardrobe is fine up to 2400 mm (8ft) wide.

A three door installation can then take you to 3600 mm (12ft) but a disadvantage of a three door set up is that with the usual twin track set up and each door representing one third of the overall width; you will have two thirds of the total opening with plus two 25 mm overlaps on one side of the track; thereby limiting the access to the wardrobe interiors at any position to one third less 50 mm. Also, if the wardrobe is shared by two people, one person will have to wait their turn when accessing the wardrobe at the same time. This issue disappears with a four door arrangement as access is available to half the wardrobe (less 75 mm) and that half can be split in two, thereby allowing each party 25% access to use on their half at will. sliding door wardrobes of over four doors in width are unusual but at five or even six door widths the ability to share the access improves.

Only three door wardrobes tend to lead to domestic disharmony in the mornings but it is an issue worth bearing in mind.

More to come on this topic.

A very common question I get asked is:  ’should our wardrobe doors be hinged or sliding?’

Obviously, there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer, and we offer a bespoke fitted wardrobe service to cover all client needs, however here are some factors to bear in mind and some common myths and misunderstandings:

‘Sliding doors on wardrobes will be cheaper’

Not necessarily. Very cheap sliding wardrobe doors are available from the DIY sheds but the top quality, and reliable, sliding door mechanisms used by bespoke fitted furniture makers are not especially cheap. Also the range of prices is much narrower. At Options Fitted Furniture we have a broad range of finishes on hinged doors which means that the starting price is lower than for sliders but the top end price can be double that.

‘Sliding door wardrobes  save space’

This is a widely stated hypothesis but it is not easily proven.

Firstly, because sliding door wardrobes usually have a double track so that one door passes in front of another with a gap between them, the space taken up by the doors is about 40 mm more than for a hinged door system. Added to this is the factor that hinged doors tend to push the sleeves of garments back into the wardrobe, whereas those sleeves can get caught between two sliding doors or trapped between the door edge and the framework at the ends of a sliding door wardrobe. Therefore, an ideal sliding door installation will be at least 50 mm (two inches) deeper than a hinged door one.

Secondly, In an ideal situation you will allow at least 450 mm (18 inches) of standing space in front of any wardrobe and provided you specify doors that are around 400 mm wide (400 mm or 16 inches is an industry standard for the smallest wardrobe door, although a bespoke fitted bedroom furniture manufacturer will make even smaller doors). In an extremely small room, it might be necessary for the wardrobe to extend almost up to the bed, such that it is only possible to access the wardrobe whilst standing or kneeling on the bed. In this case a sliding door is the only option.

Fitted Wardrobes, where it all started

Back in the early 1980’s, I took my first tentative steps into the fitted furniture business or, more accurately, the fitted bedroom market. My first company was called Berkshire Bedrooms, with a focus on fitted wardrobes and fairly soon I teamed up with a business partner and launched Wispaglide Wardrobes. Silly name but indicative of our focus on sliding door wardrobes.

We soon added a range of bi-folding wardrobe doors to the mix and spent several years making and installing just fitted wardrobes before morphing into Options Furniture, taking on a graduate furniture designer (he’s still with us and is now the managing director) and developing the most comprehensive range of bespoke fitted furniture for bedrooms, living rooms, home cinemas, home studies and home offices in the UK.

But still in spite of our current diversity and experience in the domestic and commercial sectors with fitting out projects and reception desks, wardrobes still account for over 50% of our production and deep down, they are in our corporate blood.

We still do sliding doors and bi-fold doors, although the systems we use now have developed by leaps and bounds and offer unrivalled levels of durability (to which we now attach a 10 year guarantee) but the vast majority of the wardrobes we make are now of the hinged door type. Even these have literally thousands of permutations with doors up to 2.6 metres high and full height or doors split into two or more sections.

Our wardrobe doors are made from mdf, lacquered in a choice of thousands of colours and finishes ranging from matt through satin to high gloss or wrapped in vinyl or foil wood effects, or laminates in dozens of faux wood effects. Or, alternatively, from almost any hardwood, either solid or veneered.

We have come a long way but basically we are fitted wardrobe people at heart.

Fitted Wardrobes – where it all started.