A walk-in wardrobe works or fails on a handful of numbers: how wide the aisle is, how high the rails sit, and how much of each kind of storage it holds. Get them right and the room holds everything. Get them wrong and it feels like a corridor with clothes in it.
The aisle
With storage on one side, 900mm of clear floor is the minimum. With storage on both sides, allow 1200mm, so an open drawer and a person can share the aisle. An island needs 900mm clear on every side.
Hanging heights
- Long hanging, for coats and dresses: a rail at about 1700–1800mm, with the full drop below it.
- Double hanging, for shirts, jackets and folded trousers: two rails, the upper at about 2000mm and the lower at about 1000mm.
- Hanging depth: 600mm, so hangers never touch the doors or the back.
Most wardrobes need far more double hanging than long hanging. Count your long pieces before anything is drawn.
Drawers and shelves
Folded clothes belong in drawers, or on shelves no more than 300–350mm apart; any taller and the pile topples. Drawers behind doors or in an island keep the fronts calm. Shoes sit well on shelves 350mm deep, angled if you want to see them at a glance.
Lighting you can dress by
Clothes should be lit from the front, not only from above, and a neutral white shows colour more truthfully than a warm one. Plan the lighting with the electrician at drawing stage, so the switches and ceiling lights fall where the rails are.
Doors, glass or open
Open shelving is easy to use and hard to keep tidy. Glass doors keep the dust out while still showing what is inside; solid doors keep the room calm. Many walk-ins mix all three: open for what you wear daily, glass for display, solid for everything else.
Draw it around the wardrobe you have
The best starting point is an honest count: how much long hanging you use now, how many shirts, how many pairs of shoes. We draw from that list, not from a standard layout. See our wardrobes and walk-ins, or read built-in cupboards, room by room for the rest of the house.
