Fitted wardrobes

Hannimal

I've ordered a brochure from Hammonds and I've a design visit booked but I've seen some rather negative reviews and I am now expecting it'll be a bit more expensive than I'd like. I would be really quite happy with IKEA pax if I knew how to make it look fitted but frankly, I've no DIY skills and this seems like a bit of an undertaking. I want the wardrobe to cover my whole wall (2.7m) and I might also want a second under the stairs wardrobe. 

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to save money on this but still get nice-looking wardrobes? Or if I can't save money - should I go with sharps, hammonds or somewhere else? The important thing is that I absolutely do not have the skills to pull this off myself, so I'll need a pro to do it. 

I am Bristol-based in case anyone knows any local companies. 

Doozergirl

Find yourself a carpenter and buy the Ikea wardrobes. 

It will be cheaper than Hammonds by a mile.  Ikea offer fantastic storage options and there's nothing bespoke about Hammonds, despite their pricing being the same as genuine bespoke. 
 

We're doing exactly that and our dressing room is in the loft, so full of sloping ceilings! 

In the kids rooms we're going to use Ikea carcasses but have the carpenters make the doors and trim and side panels from mdf and then have them professionally sprayed.  

The only thing is that Ikea are out of a lot of stock of PAX wardrobes at the moment, but the supply chain should hopefully start to improve soon.  

Browntoa

A skilled local carpenter ( not a general builder ) should be able to build a bespoke design for much less . I've used one to build custom storage under a bath with a hidden push opening door. 

Hannimal

Thank you - I am not even sure where to get started with this. I am inclined to go with something like Hammonds to avoid the hassle but the cost is probably a bit too much, especially if I can save £1000 by having someone else do it. Where and how did you identify a carpenter?

lesalanos

Hannimal said:

Thank you - I am not even sure where to get started with this. I am inclined to go with something like Hammonds to avoid the hassle but the cost is probably a bit too much, especially if I can save £1000 by having someone else do it. Where and how did you identify a carpenter?

Asks friends for recommendations, or ask on Facebook for recommendations.  Just make sure to check out the FB ones a little more thoroughly. 

ST1991

We bought a 2m run of ikea pax recently and it looks great - but it is within 1 cm of our ceiling (we bought the tallest ones), and we cut the skirting board to make it flush to the wall/fixed it to the wall - so it looks just as good as built in IMO.

As above, we had problems getting the actual frames due to them being constantly out of stock, but ended up with 2 x 50cm/58cm and 1x 100cm/38cm (it was to fit around a shallow chimney breast).
No idea on bespoke prices, but we got ours with frames, doors and internal fittings including lights for around £600 in total for the lot. It's the internal fittings that bumped it right up, the actual frames and doors were really cheap and very easy to put together.

I'm also in Bristol - We are actually using a carpenter to build and fit a brand new hardwood front door for us - he came recommended by 'door world' which is a door shop in Bristol, and we're happy with everything so far. Might be worth a short for a quote? They are called Beeline carpentry, and i've sure he does fitting cupboards/wardrobes etc as well. I'm sure there are tonnes though if you have a google for your specific area.

rob7475

We're wanting to go for the fitted wardrobe look in our bedroom and initially planned to use IKEA Pax due to the price. I'm quite handy so will be infilling the gaps around the edges and to give the built in appearance. However, the sliding doors from Ikea just looked a bit 'naff'. 

We looked around places like Furniture Village and Barker and Stonehouse etc and the quality was much better on some of their german wardrobes but they were triple the price of Ikea. We found a sliding door wardrobe we liked at furniture village but it was over £3,000 by the time you added the interior drawers etc. So, I've looked online and found exactly the same wardrobe, by the same german manufacturer for £1400 including all the extras. The only difference is Furniture village build it up for you but I'd rather save over £1600 and build it myself.

Shop around before getting Ikea Pax. Once we saw the quality from other suppliers, Pax doesn't compare.

Hannimal

Rob that would be helpful but I don't have the skills to even try to build myself  

Doozergirl

Hannimal said:

Rob that would be helpful but I don't have the skills to even try to build myself  

You don't need special skills for flat pack.   Just patience and the ability to read the instructions properly and double check yourself.   That said, perhaps it is a special skill give  how many people repeatedly get their first attempts wrong.  (Cough, Doozerboy). 

You've been given a nice recommendation By a Bristolian so hopefully that works out nicely for you.  🙂

Hannimal

Yeah I looked at the instagram for this carpenter and it's not really my style. I quite like modern, sleek and minimalist or scandi boho. So aesthetically IKEA would be better. I am not sure what you say about anyone being able to assemble a PAX being true, I am not even sure I'd be strong enough to carry all the pieces upstairs!! Let alone know how to make it look fitted and cut the extra pieces that don't come in the flatpack. 

Hannimal

... also looking at the IKEA PAX instructions online they recommend to have two people build it as opposed to one. I really disagree that this is something anyone can do. When I say I have none of these skills, I really do mean it.