fitted wardrobes - any recommendations?

[nightcat]

Does anyone have any recent experience of B&Q fitted wardrobes, esp the fitting. The wall length is 4m, with possibly a corner unit.
Would prefer hinged rather then sliding doors although this might work out too expensive.
Any other recommendations? Not DIY-savvy enough to install sliding doors w/o professional help.

[Bearcat]

Try Wickes.
DH built very nice fitted floor to ceiling wardrobes for the DS's from there.

[Figgyrolls]

In our last house we used Hammonds as we were in the eaves and needed something a bit more than was on offer to us elsewhere - they were very good, very nice man and there were deals to be done with them. I loved my cupboard and MISS my cupboard!

[lalalonglegs]

Can I say Ikea Pax range before anyone else does? Completely brilliant.

[Thandeka]

Can I ask about costs! We have been quoted 2.5k for a wall of wardrobes!

[nightcat]

thank you guys, I can feel the trip coming, haven't been to IKEA in a long while.

Bearcat - when I looked at Wickes they didn't seem to do bedroom anything, is yours a sliding door version?

Figgy, glad you meantioned Hammonds would do a deal, coz I was so scared of their prices that wasn't going to look in their direction, but will try now.

Annoying thing is that places like Homebase sell sliding doors & fittings but don't have fitters, so it's all DIY job, but our walls are a bit wanky so it could prove harder then it looks to DIY.

[nightcat]

ah, I was thinking it might come to £2k, Thandeka, is your quote for sliding or fitted?

[lalalonglegs]

Are those custom-made? Never fails to surprise me how much it costs to have wardrobes built even in crappy old MDF.

Pax would be about a third of that, I would imagine (maybe a bit more if you went for sliding doors) but they have really amazing interior fittings so they are fantastically space efficient.

I'm sounding a bit cultish, aren't I ?

[nightcat]

thank you lala, they do look good on the website, so I will make a trip, I agree that the cost is shocking, even for sliding doors + fitting (£2k is my v rough estimate which doesn't even include any internal fittings/shelves/rails)

[Bearcat]

Nightcat
It was about 5 yrs ago that DH did these wardrobes and I have just looked on their site and it does look like they've stopped doing them. A pity as they had lots of choice and the internal fittings are very good.
We had Sharps fit our floor to ceiling wardrobes in our bedroom all along 1 wall about 10 years ago and it cost us £2000 then, but we did reckon it was probably one of our best spends as the storage we got was fantastic and the fitter was superb. He cut the wood so brilliantly around our picture rail.
MIL has used Sharps twice in her last 2 houses after our recommendation.
DH had to do DS,s Wickes fittings as we couldn't afford to have anyone do it and I think they cost £500 and £600 to buy all the kit to DIY.

[nightcat]

I think Sharps feature at some large Homebase stores, I really want fitted and too big a job for DIY. In the old house we had sliding doors and although fairly basic inside, they had a very neat look.
Bearcat, your Sharps - are they hinged or sliding? If hinged, are they wearing well?

[Pannacotta]

For 2K you could get a local carpenter/joiner to make you some cupboards to your spec. We did something similar in the utility room in our last house and it was fab, I had rails/shelves/racks etc.
You could always use the IKEA Pax interior fittings (provided you had standard size frames).

[NoseyNooNoo]

I'd highly recommend Sliderobes - had a dressing room fitted in old house. Now in new house and will do it again once we've done all of the more necessary work.

[nightcat]

thank you Nosey, never heard of Sliderobes, so will investigate. Your idea Pannacota sounds good too, will go to have a look at Pax, the overall size should be fairly standard.

[Thandeka]

This was for opening doors rather than sliding ones (enormously high ceilings- would never get a door tall enough!).

Hmmm so price is about right then. :( As its not our forever house more a stop gap I think we may get rip out the nasty ones and just go with ikea (but then the ripping out may cost a fair bit!)

[moomiemoo]

I'm with Lala We've just put the PAX into our new house and they are AMAZING!!! The choice of internal fittings is fab and the online designer thing is great.

We looked at B&Q and it looked v. expensive for MDF compared to IKEA.

[Filmbuffmum]

Wickes don't do them anymore- we have a very nice set from there, but one word of warning. We installed them on an outside wall to make the best use of space. Our house does not have cavity wall insulation (as only single brick construction) During any cold snaps, the walls and clothes get wringing wet with water due to poor air circulation (?) Bit of a thread hijack- but just wondered if anyone has any experience of this. Have just spent the entire Xmas break doing laundry to remove the damp/mould, and now living with clothes hangers on the back of doors, on chairs etc etc.

[yomellamoHelly]

FBM - In our old house I pulled out the old wardrobes (poorly made DIY affair) to replace with proper one. Same had happened to wall behind and plaster was coming off the wall in chunks and skirting mouldy beyond saving. Had room replastered (that wall back to bricks and new skirting. New wardrobe had a gap behind it and was open sides and top so wouldn't have same problem I was told.

[nightcat]

no experience of damp, but ours are also going to go on the external wall, so good point, might ask when getting a quote for any ideas short of wall insulation (that must be so annoying :()
Next stop for me IKEA - to see what you guys are raving about :)

[Bearcat]

Nightcat
The Sharps wardrobes look as good today as the day they were fitted.
We haven't had a single problem with them.
Doors are hinged.

[heartsnflowers]

have made the modular B and Q wardrobes and some of the chests.Is that what you are thinking of?

[jollyma]

I would agree that pax have great storage space and fittings but a word of warning; work out which interior fittings you want when you price it up, they can really hike the price up. Plus make sure you go to the shop to look at them, some of the finishes look really cheap.

[herethereandeverywhere]

That nice interior design man off the telly - Danie Clarke I think his name is (sprays the whole place white) he recommends that you get carcasses from Ikea with all the useful interior rails and drawers etc then get a local carpenter to fit them and produce some nice doors

[nightcat]

I think the modular is the free-standing, made some small chests of drawers in the past, have been OK, but really thinking fitted main wardrobes, chests can be free standing/modular but need to make sure the finish matches.
I will visit IKEA to see what you guys are raving about, they also do a double fitting for the curtains (layered net + curtain track) which is of interest.
Many thanks all.

[Figgyrolls]

I think ours was about £2k from Hammonds, it was very beautiful on the inside and matched the walls perfectly - they were in the eaves and had the chimney to take into account. they listened to what we said and complied, however it did look fantastic.

In our current house (forever hopefully!!) we had a carpenter build the wardrobe (no wardrobes at all in the house!) in our spare room, it isn't nearly as nice as the hammonds one BUT I did use the internal bits from ikea. They are very good and it looks great on the inside. If it makes any difference we had lots of little doors that opened on the hammonds which made it far smoother, the current one is a sliding one and it doesn't look as nice although it is gorgeous anyway!

Have heard great things about sharps, always worth it if you have funny shaped walls to get a pro to do it. funnily enough I think built in wardrobes are actually quite a personal thing and it is worth doing a bit of research, get these guys out to come and give you a quote AND some glossy pamphlets and see what you feel. Really good luck!

[nightcat]

Thanks figgy, just been to IKEA and have to say, wow times have moved on when I wasn't looking (last time I went to IKEA it must have been 10+ years ago)
So, getting ideas at the moment, will ask Hammonds and Sharps for quotes, but will have to keep the cost down, somehow.