A slim wardrobe is generally between forty five and sixty centimetres wide, around fifty to sixty centimetres deep and between one hundred and seventy and two hundred centimetres tall. It will fit your room if you have that footprint free, plus roughly sixty centimetres of clear floor in front for a hinged door, and enough diagonal height to raise the assembled carcass upright. Those four figures, width, depth, height and swing, are the whole decision.
The rest of this guide explains how to take each measurement properly, where people usually go wrong, and what to do when one of the numbers does not quite work.
Most people measure width first and depth as an afterthought, which is the wrong way round. Depth determines whether clothes hang properly at all. A garment on a standard hanger occupies about fifty centimetres from the wall, so an internal depth below roughly fifty centimetres forces shoulders to press against the back panel and the door.
If your alcove will only take a shallower unit, look for a wardrobe with a pull out side rail rather than a front to back rail. On these, garments hang parallel to the doors and the unit can work at around forty centimetres deep. It is a specific fitting, so check the product description rather than assuming.
Remember that external depth includes the door thickness and any handle projection. A handle that sticks out four centimetres into a corridor is a bruised hip waiting to happen.
Walls in British homes, particularly in older properties, are rarely parallel. Measure the space in three places: just above the skirting, at about one metre, and as close to the ceiling as you can reach. Use the smallest figure.
Then subtract for the obstructions people forget. Skirting boards hold a flat backed carcass away from the wall unless the plinth is cut around them. Radiator pipes, light switches and window reveals all eat into a run. Leave one to two centimetres of tolerance at each side so the unit can be manoeuvred into place and levelled.
Within our range of single door wardrobes UK homes use in tight spaces there are widths that suit alcoves and chimney breast recesses where a standard double unit would never go.
Ceiling height is straightforward. The trap is the raising diagonal. Flat packed wardrobes are usually assembled lying on the floor and then tilted upright, and the diagonal across the carcass is longer than its height. A two metre tall, sixty centimetre deep wardrobe needs roughly two metres and ten centimetres of clearance to stand up.
If your ceiling is close to the wardrobe height, there are two workarounds. Build the unit standing up, which takes longer and is easier with two people, or assemble it away from the wall and slide it into position once vertical. Sloping ceilings and stairwell landings make this harder, so measure the clearance at the exact spot the unit will be raised.
A hinged door on a fifty centimetre wide slim wardrobe needs about fifty centimetres of clear floor in front. That sounds modest until you place it beside a bed with a sixty centimetre walkway. Stand in the room and mark the arc on the floor with masking tape before you order. It takes two minutes and prevents the most common return we see.
Where the arc will not work, a sliding front is the alternative, although slim units are less commonly available with sliding doors because the opening becomes too narrow to be useful. For rooms that are genuinely tight, browse the modern wardrobes UK sale range and filter by width before anything else.
A fifty centimetre wide unit gives you roughly forty five centimetres of usable rail. That holds around fifteen to twenty garments on slimline hangers, or closer to ten on bulky plastic ones. Switching to velvet hangers is the cheapest capacity increase available and typically gains a third more rail space.
Above the rail there is usually one shelf, good for bags or folded bedding. Below, there is often space for a two tier shoe rack or a shallow storage box. Plan for one of those rather than leaving the base open, because loose items at floor level are what make slim wardrobes feel chaotic.
If a slim wardrobe cannot hold everything, pair it with low level storage rather than a second tall piece. A blanket box UK bedrooms often place at the foot of the bed takes bedding and out of season clothing without adding visual height to the room.
Where a wall could take either, two slim units often work better than a single wide one. They can be separated to flank a window or a chimney breast, they are easier to carry upstairs, and the vertical rhythm of narrow doors tends to look more considered than one broad expanse.
The exception is shared storage. Two people with a full seasonal wardrobe each will find two slim units frustrating, because neither has a full length hanging section for coats. In that situation, one wide unit with a divided interior is the better arrangement.
The errors we see repeatedly are worth listing plainly. Measuring the wall but not the door swing. Forgetting the skirting board. Ignoring the handle projection into a walkway. Assuming the floor is level, when a carpet with a thick underlay can tilt a tall unit forward by a noticeable degree. And measuring the room but not the route into it.
That last point deserves attention. Measure the narrowest turn on the way from the front door to the bedroom, particularly the top of a staircase, and compare it to the longest panel in the flat packed box. Delivery of a wide range of furniture across the country is something we handle daily at Furniture in Fashion, and access is the point where plans most often come unstuck.
Write down six numbers: narrowest wall width, available depth including door and handle, ceiling height at the wardrobe position, raising diagonal clearance, clear floor in front for the swing, and narrowest point on the delivery route. If all six exceed the product dimensions with a little to spare, the wardrobe will fit. If one is marginal, address that specific constraint rather than hoping the piece will squeeze in.
It is also worth checking whether the floor is level with a spirit level or a phone app. A wardrobe that leans forward will not close cleanly, and packers or adjustable feet are far easier to fit during assembly than afterwards. Pairing the unit with matching modern bedside cabinets UK shoppers can order alongside keeps the proportions of a small room consistent.
Occasionally the measurements work but the wardrobe still will not suit the room. If you own a substantial amount of clothing, a slim unit will be full within a week and the overflow will end up on a chair. If two people share the bedroom, a single narrow unit rarely satisfies either of them. And in a room with a very long clear wall, a slim wardrobe can look undersized against the space around it.
In those situations the better solution is a wider unit with a divided interior, or two slim units placed side by side to read as one run. The second option is often easier to get up a narrow staircase than one wide carcass, which is a practical advantage in older terraced houses.
Once the unit fits, placement decides how the room feels. A slim wardrobe tucked into an alcove beside a chimney breast disappears into the architecture, which is usually what you want. Standing alone in the middle of a wall, the same unit can look stranded.
If there is no alcove, pair it with something of similar height at the other end of the wall so the two read as bookends. A tall mirror, a narrow bookcase or even a floor lamp will do the job. Leave the space between them lower and quieter, and the room gains a sense of order that has nothing to do with how much storage you actually have.
Around fifty centimetres internally for a standard front to back rail. Shallower units need a pull out side rail so that garments hang parallel to the doors instead.
Typically between forty five and sixty centimetres. Anything above about eighty centimetres is generally sold as a standard single or double unit rather than a slim one.
Roughly the same as the door width, so about fifty centimetres on a slim unit. Mark the arc on the floor with tape to check it against your bed or radiator position.
Often yes, provided you measure the alcove at several heights and allow for the skirting board. Alcove walls are frequently narrower at the top than at the bottom.
Around fifteen to twenty garments on slimline hangers. Bulky hangers reduce that considerably, so switching hanger type is the simplest way to gain capacity.
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