IKEA PAX wardrobes vs custom cabinetry - Pros and Cons
As an interior designer you would think I would avoid using IKEA cabinetry in my home! 😳
But recently I used it in our walk in wardrobe/closet and I was really happy with the results.
In this post I am sharing the before and after images plus the pros and cons of using IKEA cabinetry over custom.
Before images
To give you a bit of an idea of what this space looked like before we started renovating it - here are a few images.
Note these are NOT my clothes :) These were images I took before we bought the house when the previous owners still had their clothes in the old wardrobes. As you can see it was a bit of a dark and miserable space - but it definitely had lots of potential with the views out over the National Park!
IKEA PAX or Custom Joinery??
I was tossing up between IKEA PAX wardrobes and custom joinery for the renovation of this space. So while I was still thinking about it I drew up some custom cabinetry and had this quoted by a joiner. Unfortunately (due to my expensive taste haha!) the quote for this came back at around $18,000 or so - which was way out of our budget for this particular house.
So I decided to look in to IKEA’s PAX wardrobe system as an alternative and see if I could make that work instead.
Here is the design I drew up for the custom cabinetry in SketchUp.
If you’re interested in how I drew these wardrobes I used a program called SketchUp, which is the drawing package that I use for all my interior design client projects.
If you would be interested in learning how to create your own drawings like this then I have a course that teaches how to use SketchUp - check that out here
Once I had decided to go with the IKEA PAX I used the PAX Planner on the IKEA website to design the wardrobes for the space I had available.
The great thing about the planner tool is that once you have designed the wardrobes the tool will tell you everything you need to order and dump it straight in to a checkout cart for you.
This makes it super easy to make sure you don’t miss a screw or a shelf that you might need!
Pros of IKEA PAX wardrobes
There are definitely good and bad things about the IKEA PAX - and generally there are more pros than cons - but I thought I would share some images of the space now it is completed and just share the pros and cons that I have experienced.
Let’s start with the pros.
✅ Easy to assemble
While the wardrobes are easy to assemble I did outsource this bit as I didn’t have time to put them together myself and my husband was travelling for work at the time they arrived.
So I used AirTasker to find someone who is skilled in putting together IKEA furniture and he came and put them all together for me in a few hours. If you are going to assemble them yourself be aware that you will need more than one person to help lift up the carcasses and make it all work.
The good thing about getting someone experienced to come and put these together is that because they do this regularly they are normally very fast and will make less mistakes than someone who hasn’t put them together before.
✅ Can be customised
I didn’t need to do this but you can actually customise the size of your wardrobes to make them fit in any sized nook if you need to.
This would require someone quite handy to help you - but it is possible and if you search around on Google you’ll find instructional tutorials for how to do this.
✅ Come in different colours
Although I obviously used white you can get the IKEA PAX in three different colours - white, black/brown and a light oak sort of colour as well.
For me the white worked with what I wanted to do with the house, but I do really like the look of the oak veneer as well.
✅ The average person won’t be able to tell they aren’t custom
I have seen IKEA PAX systems used in all sorts of houses over the years.
My husband and I do quite a bit of house flipping so that also means we do quite a bit of house hunting as well! Only last week I was watching a livestream ‘open home’ (they are doing them online at the moment due to COVID shut downs) and in this house, which had a price guide of $4.5 million - I noticed in the walk in wardrobe that the developer had used the IKEA PAX system!!
I thought this was a bit dodgy given the price tag of the house - but it does show that you can get away with using them and that the average person really won’t know the difference.
So that makes them a really good option if you are doing renovations to flip as you’ll save yourself some money on custom cabinetry that way.
✅ Lots of door profiles to choose from
You don’t have to have the wardrobes open like I’ve chosen to do.
There are heaps of different door profiles available to create completely closed off wardrobes as well - some of these are really nice so check them out.
✅ The price!!!
One of the biggest pros of the IKEA PAX system is obviously the price tag.
All up, including paying someone to install the wardrobes - we spent about $3,000 on these wardrobes, which is a fraction of the price you would pay for custom cabinetry.
The quality of the product is pretty good and they have bonus extras like soft close drawers to make them feel even more like a custom product.
✅ Heaps of accessories
Another thing I love about the PAX is that it comes with lots of different accessories. These really suit someone like me who has OCD and loves to have things neat and tidy and well organised :)
Some of the accessories you can get to work with your IKEA PAX system include:
felt pull out trays
glass shelves
trouser hangers
pull out shoe shelves
felt drawer inserts
different types and sizes of drawers
jewellery trays
belt/tie/sunglasses trays
lighting
So overall there’s a lot to like about the IKEA PAX and I’m really pleased I chose it. I think it looks great in our space and for the price we paid I couldn’t be happier.
But there of course are some cons to using this product as well.
Cons of IKEA PAX wardrobes
Some of the cons include:
❌ Not a custom fit
Given that the frames only come in 3 widths it is not going to give you a custom fit in your wardrobe straight out of the box.
You can adjust the wardrobes - but this does require someone who is quite handy to help you (that’s not me!). In most cases you will be able to create a combination of sizes that will work well in your space, but you may find you have small gaps if you are trying to put it in as a wall to wall system.
If you have cornices/crown mouldings (like I do) it also means you can’t push them all the way to the wall so in my wardrobe I have a little gap behind the wardrobe - as you can see in the images below.
❌ Can have damaged parts
Give the frame itself is made of particleboard if you bump or scratch it during assembly then this does cause the laminate to chip off (as you can see in one of the photos below).
This is super annoying but not massively noticeable unless you look closely.
❌ Can see the holes for the adjustable shelves
The other thing I don’ thing I don’t like about the PAX is that you can see the holes where the adjustable shelves and drawers slot in.
I haven’t bothered to do it - but IEKA do have a product that you can use to block up all these holes and it does make quite a big difference to the overall look of the wardrobes. One day I must do that step myself!
❌ Time consuming to put together
The assembly isn’t really that complicated but it does take time - especially if you’re new to putting together IKEA furniture.
As mentioned, I paid someone a few hundred dollars to come and do this for me. But keep in mind it is something you will need some patience for if you are going to be doing this yourself!
Design your IKEA PAX wardrobe (and the rest of your home!) in SketchUp
If you want improve your work with design clients or you are about to start renovating or remodeling then you will love SketchUp.
With this software you can mock up an entire home in 2D (floor plans, joinery/millwork elevations, lighting and electrical plans and more) and 3D (renderings and perspective drawings) so you can picture exactly what it will look like when it is finished plus prepare your technical drawings for use with your clients, trades and contractors.
Learning SketchUp will save you time, money, mistakes and so much more! It is a well known piece of software in the interior design and architecture industries and will give you a solid technical drawing skill that will immediately upgrade the professionalism of the work you are doing.
I teach an online course for beginners that is focused specifically on using SketchUp for interior design purposes. We have had more than 10,000 students come through the course with so many fantastic projects designed and built!
We have all sorts of students in the course including designers and architects, cabinet makers, home renovators/remodelers, kitchen and bathroom designers, event planners, landscape designers and design enthusiasts.
To get started watch my free info session all about SketchUp
Enjoy the rest of your day!!
Cheers
Clare x