Why bespoke beats off-the-shelf in real London bedrooms
Almost every bedroom we work in has at least one of three problems that make off-the-shelf wardrobes a compromise: a ceiling above 2.4 metres (the IKEA Pax limit), an alcove created by a chimney breast, or a wall that isn’t square. A bespoke wardrobe handles all three without complaint — it’s measured to the actual room and built to fit it.
The other reason clients pick bespoke is the interior. Most flat-pack wardrobes are designed for a generic “shirts and shoes” customer — half hanging, half shelves, one shallow drawer. The wardrobes we build are designed around what you actually own. If you’ve got 20 pairs of trousers we’ll build a pull-out trouser rail; if you’ve got two it doesn’t earn its space. If you wear suits we’ll size the hanging zone for a full-length jacket; if you don’t, we use that height for drawers instead. The cost of bespoke goes mostly into design and material — the interior fit-out usually adds 10–20% over the carcass-only base price and is the part most worth spending on.
Door styles we offer
We build five main door styles. Shaker — a five-piece frame and panel — is by far the most common; it suits both period homes and modern ones, and it photographs well in pretty much any colour. Flat-slab is the minimalist alternative, typically in painted MDF or wood veneer. In-frame shaker is the higher-end variant where the door sits inside a face frame with a small shadow gap around it — more material, more workshop time, but a noticeably more handmade look. Tongue-and-groove is the rare-but-charming option for coastal and cottage interiors. Mirrored panels are for wardrobes that need to be a full-length mirror too — typically in smaller bedrooms where wall space for a standalone mirror isn’t an option.
Typical scope and budget
A pair of shaker wardrobes flanking a Victorian chimney breast — one of the most common East London briefs — usually comes in at £2,400–£4,200, takes three weeks in the workshop and two to three days on-site, and uses about 6m² of door surface and 1.4m³ of cabinet volume per wardrobe. The exact figure depends on height, door style, paint finish, drawers, lighting and how much scribing the room needs.
When fitted is not the right answer
If your room is rectangular with a flat ceiling under 2.4m and skirting that runs straight, an IKEA Pax with a panel scribed down one side and a top filler above will be 30–50% cheaper than bespoke. We’ve recommended that route more than once when it was the better answer. The line where bespoke starts to earn its premium is roughly: irregular ceiling, irregular wall, full-height usage, or a door style not in the Pax range. Below that line, off-the-shelf wins on value.
If you’re not sure which side of that line your room falls on, the free site survey will tell you. We’ll be honest about it.
