Ikea Pax or Frestanding wardrobes

[kubbs]

I am moving into rented accommodation (small terrace) and need to decide whether to get Pax or freestanding wardrobes.

I'll probably move again in a year so want stuff that will move well and not too hard to match if I change the bedroom style.

I don't actually like the Pax aesthetic, I find them a bit overbearing/plain, but I guess that's for a smaller room and when I move again, it will be to bigger room sizes hopefully.

If I get freestanding, any recommendations for nice freestanding (also Ikea I expect).

For Pax, I'm concerned about the stability. I can't fix to walls in rented and I have a three year old who might be tempted to reach up for something.
Any tips on that?
Anything else that I haven't thought of?

Cheers folks

I just bought a pax. Its massive. I haven't fixed to the wall as its only a plasterboard wall anyway but it's pretty sturdy. I don't see it falling over. But yes I wouldn't let a toddler use it as a climbing frame.

I did have to remove the skirting board and coving so that it would fit snug into the corner though.

Pax are fine stability wise ime as long as it's the 60 deep ones. We did have a 50 wide 36 deep which wasn't stable but it had a heavy mirrored door.

Our big daddy 4m wide, 236 tall, 60 wides go nowhere. You can also attach them to each other if you have more than 1.

The flexibility is valuable if you might move too - easy to buy extra bits to fit a space. Ours have moved 3 times...

I thought pax wardrobes were free standing?

Ikea recommend you attach them to the wall. Although they recommend that on everything. So literally speaking, they are freestanding, but aesthetically they more like fitted IMO. Hope that makes sense.

I'd go pax for flexibility and if you're moving again soon or regularly easier to dismantle (carefully!) Also tend to be easier to shift on ebay/gumtree etc if you do find they don't meet future needs. Don't think they're any easier to topple than a freestanding one as ikea quite lightweight anyway

Any and every tall piece of furniture regardless of brand or style (including tall chest of drawers and wardrobes) should be fastened to the wall - particularly when you have a small child that might climb on them.

You are allowed to fasten things to the wall for safety when renting, you just need to fill in the holes and repaint the area to match the rest of wall when you leave.

Ikea recommend you attach them to the wall. Although they recommend that on everything.

No they recommend it on everything over the height that every brand should recommend fixing to a wall. Any brand who doesn't put it in their instructions are likely to end up sued when a child gets crushed by one of their items falling on the child. IKEA are just very good at making it clear, whereas many brands just put a sentence about it in the instructions.

You would be insane to have pax with no wall mounting and a three year olds. You don't have to climb it, just pull one of the doors downwards and it would be over.
Whatever you get needs attaching. There are strap things you can buy too, but still requires a wall fitting.

I had pax. They definitely need wall mounting with a toddler. Other thing is we did move them to a new house, but dissent dismantle and reassemble that we'll. if you're planning on moving I s year I'd get free standing

I have pax, it looks great. We have the 236cm high. Only 4cm clearance to the ceiling. No way that's tipping over. Not physically possible. I actually have a piece of white wood that fills the 4cm gap for the built in look, which was wedged in for aesthetics but would stop it moving even a millimetre.

Some good tips, thank you. I'm leaning towards Pax 60cm and can wedge them in as per ShakespearesSisters.... I don't have the room measurements yet but from memory that sounds like a goer.

Depending on how big you are going you could consider the sliding doors - as I say the only time any of mine could have tip would have involved an open hinged door. They're now sliders...

I have lots of Pax wardrobes, they are really good and offer lots of flexibility with internal fittings meaning they can change with your needs, especially good as children's wardrobes. And decently priced too.

They are sturdy and re fitting them to the wall, I would if you can. You can always have the holes filled when you leave. Remember that on carpet the back of the Pax sits on the carpet gripper raising the back up, so you need to adjust the feet at the front to level them out.

Depending on ceiling height and the height of the wardrobe you can end up with a situation where they can't fall forward due to physics and angles. This is where that pesky Pythagoras comes into play

I had to work out whether I could tip a double Pax sideways to get it out of the door of the room for carpet laying ah, maths, I love it.

Beware floors that are not flat. Our pax didn't like that.

We couldn’t have the highest PAX without assembling them stood up so had to go for the lower option.

We have them in front of radiators so they are fixed to each other, not the wall. I can’t imagine ours tipping (3.5m). But we have boxes on top to fill the space.

We couldn’t have the highest PAX without assembling them stood up so had to go for the lower option

So worth it though! The few hours pain of assembling stood up gives you massive wardrobes that are in-tippable :-)

+1 for sliding doors

I love pax. Have had them in every house for about the last 12 years.

I want to use the PAX as a room divider. Is the back finished same as the rest of the unit?

@JokersWild
As far as I remember, it's some ugly brown plywood board. I had Pax as a room divider and I needed a big MDF board behind, that I painted and sealed to the wall.

Was cheap, not really hard to do (need two people) and looked beautiful

I love my pax, it fits in way more than the freestanding wardrobe it replaced

I would fix to wall with a child around even though v stable

As you are renting/planning to move again: maybe look on local sites (Facebook) for second hand pax, so less invested?

Back is flimsy rubbish: ok on a wall but I have a corner one & its ‘popped’ at back (not built well didn’t help). If I was using as a room divider I would put an Mdf panel on back...

Love Pax. We used to have a big boy 3 of the 60cms depth ones joined together to give us a 3 metre wide 236 tall jobbie. Fitted an insane amount in and wasn't attached to the wall. It was on a wood floor and not going anywhere.

We have just moved and unclipped them. Now they are 3 separate 100 cm wide ones. 10 years old but updated internally over the years. Highly recommend.