Bespoke walk-in wardrobe prices: the real ranges

The walk-in wardrobe (a dressing, in French) is the most accessible bespoke project: far more affordable than a kitchen, and it is often how my clients first discover the workshop. It is also a market where the price gaps are huge and rarely explained. Let us start with my ranges, fitting included.

What moves the price

The doors, first. It is the most underestimated line: an open walk-in wardrobe costs almost half as much as a closed one. Fronts, hinges or rails, adjustments: the doors soon account for a third of the quote. In a dedicated room or a large cupboard, doing without them is a genuine option.

The interior, next. A shelf is cheap; a drawer is not. Each drawer adds a front, a quality runner and assembly time. Same logic for the accessories: trouser racks, pull-down railPull-down rail (penderie escamotable in French): a hanging rail on a mechanism that swings down within reach when you pull it. Essential for using the heights above 2 m., LED lighting. You can put them everywhere, or use a measured hand.

The room, finally. A space under the eavesUnder the eaves (sous-pente in French): the space beneath a sloping roof. No standard furniture fits it properly: it is the natural playground of made-to-measure., a stone wall that is not straight, an awkward alcove call for templates and adjustments. That is more work, but it is exactly where made-to-measure pays back the most: those square metres were lost.

And what about IKEA's PAX?

Let us talk about it frankly, because it is the real alternative. A complete PAX walk-in wardrobe, with doors, interior fittings and installation, comes to roughly €400 to €600 per linear metre: two to four times cheaper than made-to-measure. In a regular bedroom, with 240 cm or more of ceiling height and straight walls, it is a good product, and I will say it plainly: in that case, do not buy from me if budget is the deciding factor. The limits of PAX are geometric: carcasses 201 or 236 cm tall, fixed widths, 58 cm deep. Under a sloping roof, around a window, in an old house in the valley, it leaves gaps everywhere: and those gaps are storage you already paid for in square metres of house. My last under-eaves walk-in wardrobe, in an old house near Bagnères, turned an unusable loft into hanging space for the whole family: no standard carcass would have gone in.

A firm opinion in passing: entry-level sliding doors, I advise against them, on my pieces as much as in kit form. Rails that clog, rollers that give up, doors off the rail within three years: they are the number one reason a walk-in wardrobe ends up left open. On a small budget, hinged doors with good hinges age far better. Sliding doors I keep for the cases where they are the obvious answer (a narrow passage), and with serious hardware.

Made-to-measure or modular: the real test

It is not a question of status, it is a question of the room. Straight walls, standard height, simple layout: modular does the job, keep your budget. An irregular room, space under the eaves, the wish for fronts that look like your house rather than a catalogue: made-to-measure uses every centimetre and lasts for decades, and measured in genuinely usable storage area, the price gap narrows a lot. My completed projects and detailed ranges are on the fitted storage page. And if you are hesitating over carcass and front materials, read solid wood, MDF or plywood.