Minimum coat wardrobe depth I should accept

[Adsibob]

We are getting some bespoke wardrobes made up for our entrance hallway. Currently, the joinery company has proposed an overall depth of 550mm, but because the construction is very solid (these wardrobes will be very tall, floor to ceiling), once the oak veneered birch ply doors and the backs are factored in, the internal usable space will only be 510mm. This seems narrow to me. We would like horizontal clothes rails, but even ikea make their wardrobes 580mm deep.

 It’s all bespoke, so we can of course go bigger, the issue is that the bigger we go the more we narrow our entrance hallway. Will 510mm be enough to hang winter coats on a horizontal rail, or should we try and go for a bit more?

[PeterW]

Look at stepped forward facing rails used in shop fitting as an alternative as they also provide varied hanging lengths depending on the coats 

[joe90]

Just measure your biggest coat on a hanger (the ones with the padded shoulders 🤣)

[Temp]

I'd say 510 is too small. Perhaps run rails front to back rather than sideways? Hang front to back rails from a shelf?

Edited May 30, 2023 by Temp

[Mike]

I'd normally specify a depth of 600mm, including the door thickness. However the room that I'm currently in has wardrobes with a clear hanging space of 520mm and it's OK, even for a couple of winter coats.

 

From the other perspective, what's the width of your hallway? Presumably quite tight if you're concerned about saving a couple of centimetres.

[Adsibob]

Going to try to re-engineer this for an internal depth of 530mm. Not sure why, but the joinery company has allowed 20mm thickness for the back piece. Wondering what the downsides would be of replacing this with 6mm oak veneered plywood? The wardrobe is quite big, 2m wide and 2.73m tall although that includes quite tall  shoe drawers under the wardrobe and some overhead storage above the wardrobe. The wardrobe itself is 1.63m tall. Maybe the backing piece needs to be that thick for structural reasons? Could be attached to the plasterboard wall though.

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Adsibob said:

Wondering what the downsides would be of replacing this with 6mm oak veneered plywood?

Most flat-pack furniture uses nailed-on hardboard, so 6mm ply would be an improvement on that. But it depends how robust you want it to be.

[SteamyTea]

Are we going back to the padded shouldered 1980s?

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by SteamyTea