Ikea Pax for hall help please

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I'm about to paint our hall after a big clear out and am intending to buy this to put all the 'stuff' in, including my bags and coats, which never seem to have anywhere to go!

Would you go for Harvik sliding doors or Forsand hinged doors (38cm deep, 2 x 50cm wide, 1 x 100cm wide frames).

We want white so it kind of disappears into the walls, and it is the cheapest option.

I have added pictures of Forsand hinged frames, can the handles be on either side? They look a bit weird on the 50cm frames both the left, I kind of like symmetry.

Or with the Harvik sliding doors, might they be a nightmare to assemble, would we have to bolt the whole 200cm width together and are there any attachments/holes to do this?

Picture of are hall is pre-painted, but finally cleared all the stuff out and got it ready!

We can only fit 200cm height, floor to ceiling is about 220cm.

@DivorcedAndDelighted, thanks, I wanted 1x100 and 2x50, so total 200cm. Thanks for your reply, the idea was for it to kind of disappear visually. We've had lots of different storage stuff in the hall over the years and if too much is on open shelves it just gets really messy and dusty a d people dump stuff on top of it.

We had 2x100 Pax in our old bedroom with sliding doors. It was really useful but the sliding doors do stick out a lot at the top and bottom and ours occasionally came unhooked if I was a bit too heavy handed!

I currently have built in wardrobes with normal pull out doors and it's ok apart from you have to remember where things are or you end up opening multiple doors. Might be a pain if anyone wants to get past at the same time.

Sorry I'm no help, choose what you like the look of the most!

Sorry but I agree with the others that it will look/feel cramped and might be a safety issue (access etc).
Could you have a big clear out instead? Store bulky coats under a bed?
Is there nowhere else you could have your things ?

I have had a pax with sliding doors but I think with heavy handed teenagers I'd go with hinged ones.

I think you're on the right tracks. As a pp said, you can't have sliding doors under a certain width of carcass anyway, but if you use the planning tool, it won't let you do anything you can't (and it will also let you hing the doors either side if you're allowed to and move handles accordingly).

I think sliding doors are fine for a hall, but if you won't be in and out very often, hinged probably look cleaner.

What is the rationale for wanting 2x50cm + 1 X 100 cm rather than 2 X 100cm? You can customise the interiors, eg this setup. Personally I'd add in one Vikkedal mirror door to add light in the hall too.

Thanks, my teenagers are unlikely to use it.

It is worth considering alternative doors, depending on your budget. They have a nice new lightweight mirror door now, Aheim, or if you went for high gloss white instead of the basic Forsand standard doors, the high gloss ones would reflect more light around plus would be easier to keep clean. Alternatively the panelled doors with frosted glass also give the illusion of space as they hint at extra space inside whilst not showing mess. Pics attached of door examples. You can hinge any of these to either side & attach handles to either side as well.

We've already had lots of big clearouts. The rooms are not that big but the hall is huge in comparison.

@DivorcedAndDelighted, we already have a mirror shoe storage cabinet I'm the hall, we don't need another mirror. It's one of these:
www.futoncompany.co.uk/shop-by-product/furniture/mirrors/hallway-shoe-tower.html

Thanks, sounds like hinged might be better then.

@DivorcedAndDelighted, thanks for the advice, that is very helpful. I thought having 2 x 50cm units with shelves might be stronger than 1 x 100cm. I get the impression these particleboard shelves bow if heavy stuff is put on wide shelves. But I'd like 100cm width for hanging, I have a few big wool coats and they really need more than 50cm width, so with some overlapping of bigger and smaller coats I could fit them better in 100cm.

Sounds fine to me; UK standard doorways are less than that width (762mm I think). Building regulations for new properties specify hallways should be 900mm wide but can reduce to 750mm at pinch points.
www.self-build.co.uk/guide-designing-hallway/ .

We have Pax with sliding doors as our coat storage in our hall. I prefer it to hinged doors, it’s much easier to manoeuvre in the remaining space, or have a good look for something. We have shelves across the top, then a rail and coat hangers for coats, then a couple of wide drawers for shoes at the bottom. The other side has bulk storage stuff, like spare bottles of squash, kitchen roll etc.

Oh in that case I'd go for sliding although as pp said, it does increase the depth of them slightly but it does mean you can sort of treat one side as open cupboard space if you need to and then hide it away when you want

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate creating a safety/access issue is not a good idea. But I do think there is adequate width to walk through, always wider than a doorway and in a way it is better than having open storage with stuff on shelves which would make a much less safe fire exit as things could get knocked off. We've always had some kind of storage along the length of the hall, I think everyone in these houses does, as it lacks other storage space and the houses have very wide halls and landings.

Yes, you're absolutely right on the bowing on the 100cm wide shelves. Just be aware a 38x50 shelf isn't actually a very big space, so make sure you'll fit in everything that you want to before committing!

(But it's what we've got, because I wanted a full height divide and don't need 100cm wide shelves).

We have Pax in our bedrooms. I much prefer the hinged doors. I think I was traumatized by bad quality sliding doors on my bedroom cupboards as a child. Unless people are zipping up and down your hallway all the time, they won't block people in.

If you are trying to get a built in look we used Unflatpack to install ours. They make them look built in. It is more expensive obviously.

We have a Clever Closet drawer under the stairs for our shoes. I know you have shoe storage already but wasn't sure if that was what you have.

IKEA Fitted Wardrobes | IKEA Built in Wardrobes | Custom Wardrobe | Unflatpack

Thanks, I don't ever want to leave it open. It is really for me to use to store a mix of my stuff and house stuff that is occasionally used, without creating clutter on open shelves. As soon as it is left open it will be used as a dumping ground, closed and nobody will bother with it.

Yes, it would certainly be stronger - depends how much weight you want to put on them, but the whole assembly would feel more solid. Just grab some of those connector bolts from customer services.

Thanks, we are trying to do this on a budget and DH is good at flat-packed furniture. The teens could help too, they are both quite handy. But I think the sliding doors sound problematic. We have a tall mirror shoe unit from the futon company and also some bamboo shoe racks by the front and back door. The under stairs cupboard is in the kitchen and most of that is a pantry.

Thanks, that's really helpful. Will also look at other door options. To be honest I would love some nice, expensive built in cupboards to fill the whole wall, but it is way above budget. We are redoing and moving our bedroom at the moment which is where the main expense is, finally getting rid of the ancient mattress I had with my ex and rehoming bedroom furniture bought with him to different rooms. So (new) DH and I will finally have a bedroom that is all ours. And DS1 and 2 will be swapping bedrooms after their exams (GCSEs and A levels) as DS1 will be off to uni so DS2 can have the bigger room. So everything in the house is being moved around and we're trying to find the best way to store and arrange everything making best use of existing furniture but moving things that could be better used elsewhere. Creating better storage in the hall is part of this, but not the main thing so we don't want to spend a fortune. It's a 3 storey terrace house and only the kitchen is on the ground floor, it is more of a functional space. So we are trying to make the other floors the nice living space, the hall is really just used for coming in and going out.

Thanks, that's interesting and really useful. I also think most people have some stuff in their halls even if they are 900mm wide, such as shoes, bags, coats on hooks etc. So 84cm min clearance width should be plenty.