Fitted wardrobes vs IKEA in Ireland: what you actually get with each

1 August 2026 · The Home Upgrade Co.

Half the people who message us about wardrobes have already stood in IKEA looking at a PAX unit, and it is a fair place to start. IKEA wardrobes are decent, the planning tool is genuinely good, and for some bedrooms they are the right answer. But a flat pack system and a custom fitted wardrobe are different products solving different problems, and knowing the difference before you spend is worth five minutes of reading.

Where IKEA works well

An honest comparison starts here. A freestanding IKEA wardrobe suits a rented home, because you can take it with you. It suits a square room with flat walls, high ceilings and no awkward corners. And it suits anyone who enjoys DIY and wants the lowest outlay possible. If that is your situation, buy the PAX, take your time with the planner, and you will do fine.

Where flat pack runs out of road

Irish bedrooms are rarely square. Sloped ceilings under a converted attic, chimney breasts, alcoves either side of them, bay windows, radiators exactly where the wardrobe wants to be. A flat pack unit comes in fixed sizes, so in a real Irish bedroom you usually end up with a gap above the unit that collects dust, a gap beside it that fits nothing, and a wardrobe that stops short of the ceiling and the wall.

A fitted wardrobe is built to the room. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, around the chimney breast, under the slope. The awkward corners stop being wasted space and become the storage. In a typical alcove bedroom, that difference is not cosmetic: it can be the difference between one rail of hanging and a full wall of organised storage.

The parts you do not see

The carcass, hinges and runners decide how a wardrobe feels in year five. Doors that still close cleanly, drawers that still glide, rails that have not bowed under winter coats. Custom fitted wardrobes are specified piece by piece, so the internals match how you actually store things: long hanging for dresses, double hanging for shirts, deep drawers for jumpers, shelves for bags. A flat pack system offers good internals too, but only in its fixed module sizes, and the modules decide your layout rather than the other way around.

Sliding, hinged or walk in

Sliding doors suit tighter rooms because they need no swing space, and a mirrored sliding door does double duty in a small bedroom. Hinged doors give you full access to the whole wardrobe at once and suit a more classic look. If you have the depth, even a shallow walk in layout changes how a couple shares a room. A good design visit works this out with you in the room, which is exactly why we start there.

Fitting is the half of it people skip

An IKEA wardrobe is only as good as the person assembling it, and a custom wardrobe is only as good as the fitter. Fitted properly means scribed to the wall and ceiling so there are no gaps, levelled on floors that are never level, and fixed so nothing moves. One of our recent fitted bedrooms, with a custom upholstered headboard, fitted side tables and wall panelling, is in the gallery on our home page: that finish comes from the fitting, not just the furniture.

How to decide

• Renting, moving soon, or love DIY: flat pack is the sensible answer.
• Awkward room, alcoves, slopes or a chimney breast: fitted will use space flat pack cannot reach.
• Want the room to look finished, floor to ceiling, no gaps: fitted.
• Not sure what the room can take: measure it, or let us do that for you.

See it before you decide anything

We design and fit wardrobes across Dublin and Leinster. The design visit is free: we call out, measure the room, and our designers create full 3D plans of your fitted wardrobes so you can see exactly how the room will look. You get the designs and an itemised quote, and you decide in your own time. No cost, no obligation.