A fitted wardrobe is one of the few things you can buy for a bedroom that makes the room bigger. It costs more than a freestanding unit, it cannot come with you when you move, and it is worth it in most London bedrooms for three plain reasons: it holds far more, it lasts far longer, and it is one of the details buyers and tenants notice first. This guide sets out the numbers so you can decide for your own room.
The short answer
- Made-to-measure wardrobes start from £900 per metre at Level 3 of our price guide, so a double about one metre wide from around £900 and a two-metre wardrobe from £1,800, rising by door style to £3,720 per metre at Level 12, including VAT and installation.
- Fitted furniture gives roughly 30% more usable storage than freestanding pieces in the same footprint, because it runs floor to ceiling and wall to wall.
- A well-made fitted wardrobe carries a 10-year guarantee; most freestanding wardrobes are replaced within five to eight years.
- Fitted wardrobes are counted as fixtures, so they stay with the property and are part of what a buyer or tenant is paying for.
Fitted versus freestanding: the real comparison
The wrong comparison is price tag against price tag. A freestanding wardrobe is cheaper on the day, but it is built to standard sizes, so it leaves a gap above, a gap beside and often a gap beneath. In a typical London bedroom with a 2.4-metre ceiling, a 2-metre-tall freestanding wardrobe wastes the top 400mm of the wall along its whole length. That dead space above one double wardrobe is the volume of a large suitcase.
Fitted furniture uses that space. It also works around the things that defeat standard units: chimney breasts, alcoves of unequal width, sloping ceilings in loft rooms, bay returns and boxed-in pipework. The result is that clients who move from freestanding to fitted storage usually gain 30% to 50% more usable space from the same wall, without the room feeling any fuller.
| Question | Fitted wardrobe | Freestanding wardrobe |
|---|---|---|
| Fit to the room | Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, around chimney breasts and slopes | Standard sizes; gaps above, beside and beneath |
| Usable storage | Around 30% more in the same footprint | Loses the space around and above the unit |
| Typical life | 10-year guarantee; 20 years is normal | Five to eight years before doors sag or backs bow |
| When you move | Stays as a fixture and forms part of the sale | Comes with you, if it survives the move |
| Entry cost | From £900 per metre made to measure; a two-metre wardrobe from £1,800 | Lower on the day |
What fitted wardrobes cost in London
Because every wardrobe is made to measure, price follows the room rather than a catalogue. As a guide, a made-to-measure wardrobe is priced per metre on our twelve-level price guide: £900 per metre at Level 3 with slab doors, £1,860 per metre with shaker doors at Level 6, so a double about one metre wide starts from around £900 and a two-metre wardrobe from £1,800. A wardrobe wall about two metres wide runs from £1,800 at Level 3 to £7,440 at Level 12. Those prices include VAT, delivery and installation by our own fitters. Our price guide explains the twelve levels we sell and what each one includes.
Do fitted wardrobes add value to a London home?
Estate agents in London routinely list "fitted wardrobes to all bedrooms" as a selling point, and for good reason. Storage is the thing London flats and terraces lack most. A buyer walking into a bedroom with floor-to-ceiling fitted wardrobes sees a finished room; a buyer walking into a bedroom with a freestanding wardrobe sees a room they will have to sort out. The furniture will not add its cost pound for pound to a valuation, but it removes an objection and speeds up a sale, which is often worth more.
For landlords the case is even simpler. A bedroom with fitted wardrobes lets faster and photographs better, and there is nothing for a tenant to break or take. Our guide for landlords covers the factory-built Essential Collection, which starts at £600 per unit for exactly this use.
When a fitted wardrobe is not the right answer
We would rather tell you now than after a visit. Fitted furniture is a poor fit if you are renting and cannot alter the property, if you expect to move within a year or two and want to take the storage with you, or if the room is so small that a wardrobe on the only free wall would block a door swing (in which case a sliding wardrobe or an over-bed run may still work). A good designer will say so at the visit.
How to make the investment pay
- Go floor to ceiling. Top boxes cost little extra and hold the seasonal things that otherwise live under the bed.
- Plan the interior around what you own. Long hanging for coats and dresses, double hanging for shirts, deep drawers for knitwear, shoe shelves at the bottom. Measure your clothes, not the wall.
- Choose a finish you will still like in ten years. Painted shaker and soft matt slabs date far more slowly than gloss and fashion colours.
- Buy from one company that designs, makes and fits. One point of contact, one guarantee, and no gap between supplier and fitter when something needs adjusting.
Frequently asked questions
Are fitted wardrobes worth the money?
For most London bedrooms, yes. They hold around 30% more than freestanding furniture in the same footprint, last two to three times as long, and stay with the property as a fixture. A made-to-measure double wardrobe starts from around £900 at Level 3 of our price guide, including VAT and installation.
Do fitted wardrobes add value to a house?
They rarely add their full cost to a valuation, but they remove one of the commonest objections London buyers have, a lack of storage, and bedrooms with fitted wardrobes sell and let faster. Agents list them as a feature.
How long do fitted wardrobes last?
Metro wardrobes carry a 10-year guarantee on the furniture and the installation, and a well-made 18mm carcase with soft-close hinges will normally last twenty years or more. Doors and finishes can be refreshed without replacing the carcase.
Is it cheaper to buy freestanding wardrobes?
On the day, usually. Over ten years, rarely: freestanding wardrobes are replaced more often, hold less, and leave storage space unused above and beside them.
Explore Metro
Ready to see what your room could hold?
Book a free home design visit. A Metro designer measures the room, brings full-size door and finish samples, and returns a 3D design with an itemised, fixed price within two to three days. No deposit is taken at the visit and there is no obligation. Or see every door style at our Wembley showroom, next to the workshop that makes them.
