Hinged doors are the traditional arrangement and, where the room allows them, still the better one. You open the wardrobe and see all of it at once. They suit period rooms, they take a painted finish beautifully, and there is no track to run rough in five years.
How much clearance do hinged doors need?
Roughly the width of the door itself in clear floor in front of the wardrobe, so it can open past ninety degrees.
That is the whole decision. Measure from the wardrobe wall to the nearest obstruction, usually the bed, and compare it to the width of a single door. Narrower doors need less swing, which is one way to make hinged work in a tighter room.
It is worth checking at the foot of the bed as well as the side, because that is often where the clearance runs out first.
What do hinged doors do better than sliding?
They show you the whole wardrobe at once, they take a painted finish better, and there is less hardware to wear.
Opening both doors on a hinged wardrobe exposes the full interior. If you tend to stand and look for something rather than reaching for a known spot, that is a real daily difference.
They also suit a painted shaker finish in a way sliders cannot, because the door is a proper framed door rather than a panel in an aluminium frame. In a period room that matters.
What styles suit hinged wardrobes?
Shaker and flat slab cover most of what people choose, with the finish doing more work than the profile.
Shaker, a framed panel, is the safe choice in an older house and next to existing joinery. Flat slab reads modern and works well handleless with a push catch or a routed grip.
Colour matters more than either. Painted to match the wall makes the wardrobe recede and the room look bigger. A contrasting colour makes it furniture.
Can hinged wardrobes go into an alcove or a sloped ceiling?
Yes, and that is where made to measure earns its money.
Alcoves either side of a chimney breast are rarely the same width, and a fitted hinged wardrobe is cut to each one. Sloped ceilings in attic conversions are the same problem in another direction, and the doors are made to the rake rather than to a standard height.
Sliding systems struggle with both, because the track needs a consistent height and a straight run. That is often what decides hinged over sliding rather than taste. See our sliding wardrobes page for the comparison.
Everything we make in wood carries a two year warranty against defects.
How it works
Send us photos, a short video and rough sizes of the space and tell us what you want. Our designers draw it in 3D so you see the finished piece in your own room, and you get one complete itemised quote. Nothing is ordered and nothing is charged until you say yes.
One team for this and the rest of the job
The same team that makes this fits it, and we also do kitchens, fitted wardrobes, internal doors and windows. If more than one thing needs doing, it is one contractor, one schedule and one point of contact rather than four. See the rest of our work.
Who our wardrobes are for
Everything we make is premium and made to the highest spec: made to measure, scribed to the walls, designed in 3D and fitted by our own team, and it is priced to that standard. Quality at this level is not a budget purchase, and we would rather say so here than after you have waited for a quote. If you are working to a tight budget, we are honestly not the right fit.
Frequently asked questions
Are hinged wardrobes cheaper than sliding?
It depends on the doors and the finish rather than on the mechanism. Both are priced from your photos, video and sizes and you get one itemised quote. Either way, every wardrobe we make is premium and made to the highest spec, so it is not a budget purchase.
Can you match the doors to my bedroom door?
Yes. Matching the profile and colour of existing joinery is what makes a fitted wardrobe look built in rather than added.
Do the doors need handles?
No. Push catches or routed grips give a handleless look, which suits a flat slab door particularly well.
When is a hinged wardrobe the wrong choice?
When the bed or a radiator sits within the door swing. Hinged doors need clear floor in front; sliding doors do not.