Guide · Updated August 2026
How much do fitted wardrobes cost in the UK?
Most pages about what fitted wardrobes cost in the UK will not give you a number. This one does: real price bands per linear metre, what actually moves them, and where the money goes inside the wardrobe.
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The numbers
Average fitted wardrobe costs in 2026
Fitted wardrobes are priced per linear metre of wall, not per wardrobe. A typical bedroom run is 2.5 to 3.5 metres, so multiply accordingly.
| Specification | Per linear metre | 3m run |
|---|---|---|
| Open alcove wardrobe, painted, rail and shelf | from £600 | £1,800 |
| Hinged doors, painted, rail and adjustable shelving | £900 – £1,200 | £2,700 – £3,600 |
| Hinged doors with drawer bank and lighting | £1,100 – £1,400 | £3,300 – £4,200 |
| Sliding doors, top-hung, mirrored or panelled | £1,200 – £1,600 | £3,600 – £4,800 |
| Solid oak, ash or walnut fronts | from £1,600 | from £4,800 |
| Walk-in dressing room, open hanging and shelving | £700 – £1,000 | £2,100 – £3,000 |
For comparison: a flat-pack wardrobe from a national retailer is £300–£900 for roughly a metre of storage, and a semi-custom range from a national fitted-furniture company typically lands between £1,000 and £1,800 per metre for a modular carcass scribed in with filler panels.
Variables
What actually moves the price
In rough order of impact. The first two account for most of the difference between a £2,500 quote and a £5,000 one for the same wall.
1. The doors
Fronts are the single biggest line. Open shelving with no doors is the cheapest wardrobe you can have; hand-painted shaker doors cost more than flat slab; solid timber costs more again. Fewer, wider doors are cheaper than many narrow ones, because you are paying per door rather than per metre.
2. What goes inside
A rail and three shelves is a fraction of the cost of a drawer bank, a shoe rack, a pull-down rail and internal lighting. Drawers in particular are small pieces of cabinetmaking in their own right — each one is a box with runners.
3. How wrong the room is
Scribing to a wall that leans, a floor that falls and a ceiling that is not level is time, and time is labour. A square modern bedroom is genuinely cheaper to fit than a cottage bedroom of the same width, which is why any quote given without a site visit is a guess.
4. Finish
Spray-lacquered in a workshop is quicker than hand-painted on site, but on-site painting is what lets the wardrobe match woodwork already in the room. Factor a decorator's day rate in if the quote excludes painting — plenty do, and it is the commonest reason two quotes are not comparable.
5. Hardware
Blum or Hettich soft-close hinges and full-extension runners add perhaps five per cent to a wardrobe and are the part you touch every day for twenty years. It is the worst place on the whole job to save money.
6. Access and height
A wardrobe on a third-floor landing costs more than the same wardrobe on the ground floor. Ceilings above about 2.7 metres need a taller carcass and often a separate top box, which adds material and a second set of scribes.
Breakdown
Where the money goes
A rough split for a £3,200 painted, hinged-door wardrobe across a three-metre wall, which is about the commonest job we quote.
- Materials, roughly 30 per cent — carcass board, door blanks, mouldings, paint, hardware
- Workshop time, roughly 30 per cent — cutting, machining, assembly, spraying or priming
- Fitting, roughly 30 per cent — one to two days on site, scribing, levelling, hanging and adjusting
- Design, survey and overhead, roughly 10 per cent — the free visit, the drawing, insurance, waste disposal
This is why a fitted wardrobe does not get much cheaper when you shrink it: the survey, the setting out and the travel are the same whether the run is two metres or four. Per metre, bigger jobs are better value.
Comparison
Sliding against hinged doors
Sliding doors run roughly 20 to 30 per cent more than hinged for the same wall, because the gear costs real money and the doors themselves are larger panels. Top-hung systems, which run more quietly and stay true for longer than bottom-rolling ones, are the more expensive of the two.
They earn it in a narrow bedroom, where a hinged door would swing into the bed. They cost you something too: a sliding wardrobe can only ever be half open, so you never see everything at once, and the track needs vacuuming.
In a room with the space to swing a door, hinged is cheaper, gives you the whole opening, and is easier to adjust in ten years when the house has moved.
Next
Get a price for your room
Numbers on a page only go so far. The survey, the drawing and the written quote are free, and there is no obligation at the end of them.
- Fitted wardrobes, made to measure Carcass construction, door gear, finishes and how a wardrobe gets scribed to your walls
- Fitted wardrobes in Swindon Including the sloping ceilings in Freshbrook, Toothill and Abbey Meads loft rooms
- Fitted wardrobes in Salisbury Period and listed property across SP1 and SP2
- Alcove shelving and storage The cheaper answer where you do not need doors
Questions
Fitted wardrobe costs — common questions
Are fitted wardrobes cheaper than freestanding?
Per metre, no — a fitted wardrobe is joinery and a freestanding one is furniture, and the labour is most of the difference. Per unit of usable storage the gap narrows a lot, because a fitted wardrobe uses the full height and depth of the space and leaves no dead strip beside a chimney breast. And it does not need replacing when you redecorate.
Do fitted wardrobes add value to a house?
Estate agents generally reckon good fitted storage in a main bedroom returns most of its cost at sale, and more in a house short of built-in storage. It is not an investment and nobody should sell it to you as one — but unlike a freestanding wardrobe it stays with the house and is part of what a buyer is paying for.
Why are quotes for the same job so different?
Usually because they are not the same job. Check the carcass thickness, whether the backs are rebated or pinned, whose hinges and runners are being fitted, whether the price includes scribing to the walls, whether the interior is adjustable, and whether painting is included or a decorator is coming afterwards. Two quotes £2,000 apart are often two quite different wardrobes.
How can I bring the cost down?
Open hanging instead of doors is the biggest single saving, because the fronts are most of the cost. After that: fewer, wider doors rather than many narrow ones; painted MDF rather than solid hardwood; shelving instead of drawer banks; and leaving the internal lighting out. We will price the options separately so you can decide rather than guess.
Get a written quote
Send Alex the room dimensions and a photograph, or book a free home visit. Itemised written estimate, no obligation.