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Fitted wardrobes and built-in storage
A fitted wardrobe is built into the room rather than placed in it, so it uses the full height and depth of the wall and there is no dead space above or beside it. Most UK installations run £1,200 to £4,000 for a wall, fitted, with the spread driven by the carcass material, the doors, and whether the room is square.
What it costs. A fitted wardrobe wall costs £1,200 to £4,000 in the UK, supplied and fitted. Full cost breakdown for fitted wardrobes.
What the job covers
- Built-in wardrobes in bedrooms
- Sliding-door wardrobe runs
- Under-stairs storage
- Loft and eaves storage
- Walk-in dressing rooms
What is involved
The work splits into three stages. A carpenter measures the opening and scribes a frame to it, because almost no wall is plumb and almost no floor is level: the frame is what makes the doors line up afterwards. Carcasses go in next, either built on site from MDF and ply or assembled from workshop panels. Doors and interiors come last, and this is where the money goes. Hinged doors are cheaper and give full access to the interior. Sliding doors cost more and lose around 100mm of depth to the track, but they need no swing space, which is why they win in small bedrooms.
Eaves and chimney breasts are the two situations where fitted beats freestanding by the widest margin. A sloping ceiling wastes a third of a standard wardrobe's height; a fitted run follows the pitch and puts drawers where the headroom runs out. Alcoves either side of a chimney breast are rarely the same width, so a matched pair has to be made to two different sets of measurements.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask to see a job with the same doors you want, not just any job. Ask whether the carcasses are built on site or in a workshop, because that changes the timeline more than anything else. Ask what happens where the frame meets an out-of-square wall: a good answer involves scribing and a filler strip, a bad answer is that the wall is fine.
Common questions
How long does a fitted wardrobe take?
Two to four days on site for a single wall once the parts are ready. Workshop-made carcasses add two to six weeks of lead time before that, which is where most of the wait sits.
Do fitted wardrobes add value to a house?
They are usually treated as a fixture and stay with the property, and in bedrooms with awkward eaves or alcoves they solve a storage problem a buyer can see. Nobody should install one purely as an investment.
MDF or solid wood?
MDF for painted carcasses and doors: it is stable, takes paint without grain showing, and does not move with humidity. Solid wood for anything that will be stained or oiled, and for face frames that need to take a knock.
Can a wardrobe be fitted into a sloping loft room?
Yes, and it is the case where fitted earns its cost most clearly. Expect a stepped run of units following the pitch, with drawers or shoe storage in the low section.