Removing fitted wardrobes in new house?

[Greenfairydust]

I visited the house I am buying again yesterday as we are exchanging soon and the sellers and I agreed on what furniture would remain in the 3 bed house.

It got me thinking about removing the fitted wardrobe in one of the rooms to create more space.

It is a small box room and the fitted wardrobe takes the entire wall and I would like to turn this into an office or similar, instead of keeping it as a 3rd bedroom.

Is it a big job to do? has anyone ripped out fitted wardrobes recently and what was the costs of getting that done?

They are incredibly expensive to put it so I would never get rid of them (might update the fronts by new doors. new knobs or painting existing ones) and would welcome the extra storage. It's an easy job to remove, probably half a days work for anyone even slightly skilled, basically an easy DIY task and then a couple of hours/half a day decorating ... unless the wall is in a very bad state behind and you need to re-plaster etc.

If it's for an office I would keep the fitted wardrobes (change the doors if they're mirrors) and shelve it inside, to house all business and household paperwork, plus store paper box files in there with other household items for storage, like Christmas decorations, etc.

I am desperate for storage in this house and would never remove decent fitted wardrobes.

Do what the PP suggested and add shelves. Change the doors or paint them if they're ugly.
I'd store all household paperwork, batteries, light bulbs, cables etc etc

Depends on the wardrobe! I removed a whole wall of fitted wardrobes in our large spare room – it was a DIY job to put in and take out. The graft was free, the waste disposal a few quid (floor to ceiling doors weren’t going to fit in our Coke can car), walls made good with some polyfilla.

We viewed a house yesterday and we agreed we would take out the fitted wardrobes in one room. It's the either side of the bed and between it - quite old fashioned.

Are they the ones that go over the bed too? God yeah I'd take those out! Apart from anything I'd be worried the contents would come crashing down on my head in the night. 😂

I've assumed these ones are more modern but maybe no.

By fitted wardrobes, do you mean the type that has been added to the room by a company, or the type that are built by the house builder by building an extra wall, like a cupboard with hanging rail in?

We initially kept fitted wardrobes for the room used as an office, but it looked odd and wasn't the best use of space so we took them out. I attempted to do this myself but there was a bit where I wasn't physically able to do it on my own.

We've taken them out in three rooms over 2 houses. I think that unless there is no other arrangement that will giove you the storage space you need, they are generally a nuisance, especially in small rooms, and make a room look and feel much smaller because they go up to the ceiling. They can be musty, especially if on outside walls. Wardrobes can be moved where you want, you may not even want any in the room in question.
One place they had been put in after the house was built, so we took them out with just a little damage to the plaster, no problem. That made it possible for the smallest room to have two single beds in for guests. The second two had been built when the extension was built, covering an entire wall in both cases. One room was destined to be a workroom and I needed the space and not the cupboards. The other, our bedroom, we had much nicer wardrobes, and now the room looks much bigger and is better laid out. When we took those two sets out, the **s who had built the extension hadn't plastered the plasterboard behind them, so we had to get a plasterer in. But I'm still glad we did it.

If they are actual wardrobes, they're usually much deeper than is practical for office storage.....

We removed them in one room but that room had had walls and ceilings papered after the wardrobes were installed. So knock on DIY needed there.

I'd like to remove them in another room but that has the same issue re the papering so it's put me off. Re repainting them etc, some have horrible dingy beige interiors. Where do you stop on revamping? And the deep shelves are useless for storage as stuff just gets lost in them.

Interesting thread - house I'm buying has fitted wardrobes but very dark wood faces - wondering if I can paint them. One room has a built in bed and unit that takes up a lot of space, so will remove that. No idea what condition of wall will be behind it and will have to consider flooring. (House is, in general, very lovely, just a question of personal taste)

Oh gosh, I hate fitted wardrobes. On the ads they are always grey and boring and replace nice things with baskets on top. I’d replace them even if they seem useful tbh

I took a whole wall out all by myself! Like you say too much wasted space.

You can do it with a screw driver!

Alternatively you could change how they work so you can lock the office away - have a slide in chair so it can still be used as a bedroom or guest room/

I'd maybe live there a while first and see if they come in useful for storage? We're just looking around for some and they're really expensive to put in! Are they in good condition?

Also check what's inside/behind them - normally they don't have backs (to save space) so the back wall IS the wall, if that makes sense. Check what condition that is in - does it need plastering? It may be decorated entirely differently to rest of room, although not a problem if you're planning to redecorate.

What flooring is down? Normally they install them before carpet goes down, so the bottom of the wardrobe is the floorboards or whatever is underneath the carpet. That means, if you take them out, you may need to re-carpet the entire room or use offcuts that don't match.

We needed hammers and a wrecking bar to get ours out- they had been nailed sideways into the walls, floors, and ceiling. 😬😆
Very well built, though. We saved the internal drawers and one of the drawer units- one set we use as a small chest of drawers, the spare drawers slide under an existing chest on legs and look great. Other parts we used to board a section of the loft.....and some of the rather nice ply backing boards have been stored to 'come in useful'- part of one sheet has been used already to back a shelf unit I built. We try not to waste anything here!

Good point about the carpets, that was the case in all 3 of ours.

If they're in good condition, could you have an office/dressing room to free up more space in your bedroom? They're also good for out of season clothes/coats.

I ripped out 1 double from a run in my son's room, to free up space for a desk. Not much work and wall behind was fine. Will need to replace flooring, but was going to do that anyway.

Thank you everyone for the all the answers!

Basically I also want to remove all the carpets as well (there is floorboard underneath and I hate carpets, especially as the current owners have had dogs in the house...) and get the wardrobe removed at the same time, all before my furnitures are put in.

This is a 1930s terrace (originally built as miner cottage) so the rooms are not that big and the wardrobes definitely make them look and feel even smaller.

I removed the fitted wardrobes from our smallest bedroom when we moved in, they didn't have any drawers incorporated unlike the replacement ikea wardrobe and because they go floor to ceiling I think they make the room look much smaller.

We still have 2 others but they will be taken out eventually, they just don't function as well as ikea pax wardrobes.