Wardrobes - built in or free standing

[tatcity]

I live in a house that has no storage. I have loads of fireplace alcoves that are crying out to help me with my storage problem.

Have looked on the web for wardrobes/dressers/display cabinets but none of them make the best of the space in the alcoves.

Would it be best to get some built in floor to ceiling or would that be more expensive. Any ideas anyone?

Built-in wardrobes/cupboards in the alcoves would presumably protrude a bit into the room beyond the chimney breast. That would allow you to have shelves across the chimney breast. We had such arrangments in our bedrooms when we were children, and they were excellent. I don't know how much it would cost compared to free-standing, but perhaps you could find a local carpenter to make them and a reasonable cost, rather than use a fitted furnishings company.

If you've got alcoves I'd use them for built-ins (unless you think you'll move house in the near future). I had fitted wardrobes built in around a chimney and I'm really regretting not getting shelves across the chimney as they would have been really useful (the chimney is in a bedroom so will never be used but somehow I had a plan to make a feature of the chimney - never did of course so should have gone for the shelves).

word of warning if any of the alcoves are on outside walls:

make sure the walls have a cavity and are insulated otherwise you will get terrible damp problems.

Our old house has solid walls, and almost every bedroom had built in cupboards, complete with peeling, mouldy, damp wallpaper and damp, mouldy clothes. Any wood screwed directly to a solid outside wall draws in moisture from outside.
Have now ripped them all out and have freestanding ones.

good point ginger - I've had the same problem - I love built in cupboards, but only on internal walls

A very good point, but to me curious, because our (childhood) cupboards had one end on outside walls. A 20s house, so almost certainly not cavity-walled. Yet we never had the least issues with damp. I wonder how the cupboards were built?