Fitted wardrobes can have doors that slide or open on hinges. The question is, which is better?
Hinged Door Wardrobes Or Sliding Door Wardrobes?
Conventional hinged doors usually offer a more flexible solution in most bedrooms, with the added advantage that they seamlessly match with the other fitted furniture in the room, such as dressing tables, chests of drawers and bedside units.
Add to that the fact that bespoke hinged wardrobes usually cost less than a good quality sliding system, and there has to be a strong liking for sliding doors to sway the decision.
Choose Based On Your Room’s Features
Sliding Doors
Sliding doors need to be over a certain width to be stable and work reliably, so if the area available to fit the wardrobes is too narrow then hinged doors will be a better option.
Sliding doors can be made to fit sloping ceilings, but in practice, this is often a compromise solution and gives access problems; Hinged doors are easily made to follow sloping ceilings.
It is a common misconception that sliding doors save space, when often just the reverse is true, as sliding wardrobes have to be made deeper than conventional hinged wardrobes to allow one door to pass the other, so in fact, take up more room.
If there isn’t sufficient room to open a hinged door, then realistically there isn’t room to use the wardrobe, and the layout of the room may need to be redesigned.
Where space is an issue, special hinges that open back flat against their neighbour solve the problem.
Hinged Doors
Hinged doors allow you to quickly open each wardrobe to see what you want, and one of you can open any wardrobe while your partner opens another.
Sliding doors require you to open one door at a time, then slide it back out of the way to access the adjacent wardrobe – so you or your partner may have to wait for each other to finish getting what you want from your wardrobe before sliding one door, then another, to access their wardrobe – not good when you are both in a hurry!
Choose Based On Style & Appearance
If sliding doors don’t save space, why would you choose them?
The best answer to that is simply because you like the appearance of them. If that is the look that you like, then that is the best reason to go for sliding door wardrobes, not because you feel that they save space, as usually, that is not the case.
Sliding doors offer the chance to have large areas of mirrors or to have a minimalist, streamlined appearance.
Made To Measure
Both sliding door wardrobes and hinged door wardrobes can be made to any size, and the interiors can be customised to suit your needs and style.
Conclusion
The answer to the question as to whether hinged doors are better than sliding doors is of course that they both have their merits. If you prefer the look of sliding doors, then that is the best reason to choose them.
Whichever style you prefer, contact us and one of our designers will work with you on a fully bespoke furniture solution.