Sliding wardrobes, floor to ceiling.

01 Why sliding

The space you save is in front.

A hinged wardrobe door needs 50–60 cm of clear space to swing open. A sliding door needs none. In a London bedroom, that space is often the difference between the bed fitting and not.

Sliding doors run on a track at the top and bottom, so the wardrobe can sit right beside the bed, in a narrow hallway or behind a desk chair. With panels from floor to ceiling, they also make a wardrobe look like a wall — calm, flat and uninterrupted — instead of a piece of furniture.

Because we make each wardrobe for its wall, the track, panels and carcass are cut to the exact width and height. There is no gap at the ceiling to collect dust and no visible filler at the sides, even when the walls are not quite straight.

The one trade-off: you only see half the interior at once. We plan the inside so that the things you reach for every day are never hidden behind the overlap.

Neither is better in every room. This is how the two compare on the things that matter day to day.

• Space in front. Sliding doors need none; hinged doors need around 50–60 cm to swing open. In a bedroom less than about 2.8 m from wardrobe to bed, sliding usually wins.
• Access. Hinged doors show the whole interior at once. Sliding doors show half or a third at a time, so the interior has to be planned around them.
• Look. Sliding doors make a flat, calm wall. Hinged doors look more like furniture and suit shaker and classic styles.
• Mirrors and glass. Both can have them, but large full-height mirror panels are more common on sliding doors.
• Uneven rooms. Hinged doors cope better with sloping ceilings. Sliding doors need a straight, level top track, so under a slope they are usually combined with hinged sections.
• Noise and wear. Modern sliding systems with soft-close dampers are quiet; hinged doors with soft-close hinges are equally quiet. Both need occasional adjustment over the years.

In practice, many London bedrooms end up with sliding doors on the main wardrobe and hinged doors on a smaller cupboard or an alcove, where swing space is not a problem. If you cannot decide, we can draw the same wall both ways in 3D so you can compare. For hinged and other fitted designs, see fitted wardrobes.

With sliding doors, the interior is seen one section at a time. Good layouts take advantage of that rather than fighting it.

One section per person

In a shared bedroom, each person gets their own door and the section behind it, with the overlap falling on shared storage such as top cupboards and long hanging.

Drawers in the middle of a section

A stack of drawers placed in the centre of one door’s width can always be opened fully when that door is slid aside. Drawers placed at the edge of a section risk being blocked by the next door.

Everyday clothes at the most-used door

Most people open one door far more than the others — usually the one nearest the bed or the bedroom door. Short hanging and daily drawers go there; seasonal clothes go behind the door you open least.

Shoes at the bottom, suitcases at the top

Low shelves or pull-out racks for shoes, and cupboards to the ceiling for suitcases and bedding, so nothing has to live on top of the wardrobe or under the bed.

Space for a full-length look

If one door is a mirror, plan a clear space in front of it — a mirror you cannot step back from is far less useful.

A sliding wardrobe takes up a whole wall, so its doors have a big effect on how the room feels. In a small London bedroom, the right choice can make it feel noticeably larger.

• Full-height mirrors reflect the window and double the sense of depth. Placing a mirror door opposite the window brings more daylight into the room.
• Light wood décors such as light oak warm a room without making it feel heavy, and they suit both period and modern bedrooms.
• Matching the walls — a door colour close to the wall colour — makes the wardrobe almost disappear.
• Tinted glass in grey or bronze adds depth and a hotel-like feel without the full reflection of a mirror.
• Split panels combine a mirror strip with wood or colour, so you get a dressing mirror without a whole wall of reflection.

Inside, LED strips that switch on as the door slides open make it easy to find things early in the morning without lighting the whole room. Every door option can be previewed in your 3D design, in the actual size of your wall, before you choose.

A well-fitted sliding system needs very little attention, but a few simple habits keep the doors gliding for years.

• Keep the bottom track clean. Dust, hair and small objects in the track are the main cause of rough running. Run the vacuum nozzle along it every few weeks.
• Do not force a door. If a door sticks, look for something in the track before pushing harder.
• Do not lean on the doors. They are designed to slide, not to carry weight.
• Clean mirrors and glass gently. A soft cloth and a mild glass cleaner; avoid spraying directly onto the edges of the panels.
• Adjust if needed. If a door ever runs out of line with the wall, its wheels can be adjusted. The fitter adjusts every door before leaving.

Looked after this way, a sliding wardrobe keeps running quietly and smoothly for many years — the track and wheels are the only moving parts, and both are easy to keep clean.