Bespoke Shaker Wardrobes, Made to Measure in London

Every Metro shaker wardrobe is priced individually, so the figure depends on your room width, the door construction you choose and the internal fittings. Most projects fall in the low to mid four figures, with media and TV wardrobes and their integrated units at the upper end. Hand-painted timber carries a premium over painted MDF, and your designer will recommend the construction that suits your room rather than defaulting to the dearer one.

A shaker wardrobe has doors built in the shaker style — a flat recessed centre panel framed by four square-edged rails, with no ornament or moulding. The style originated with 18th-century Shaker communities in America, whose furniture principle was that beauty comes from utility. Its plainness is why it suits both period London homes and modern interiors, and why it has stayed in fashion for two centuries.

Shaker has been in continuous use for over 200 years and remains the most-requested door style in UK fitted furniture, which makes it close to trend-proof. The reason is that the design carries no decorative detail to date it — what changes is the colour and the handle. A shaker wardrobe in a current colour can be repainted in ten years and read as new.

Sage green, cashmere, off-white and deep blue are the four finishes we're asked for most, and each does something different to a room. Sage and cashmere warm north-facing bedrooms; off-white keeps small rooms feeling open; deep blue and dark green work best where there's good natural light. All 100+ finishes are available, and your designer brings full-size painted samples to view in your own light.

On a shaker wardrobe the doors sit proud of the carcass, overlaying the frame. On an in-frame wardrobe the doors are set flush inside a visible surrounding frame, like a traditional cabinetmaker's piece. In-frame costs more because the tolerances are much tighter, and it slightly reduces internal space. Shaker gives you the same clean look with more storage for the money.

We offer both. Hand-painted timber uses solid timber frames and panels in a five-coat finish, and suits period properties and listed buildings. Hand-painted MDF is more dimensionally stable, finishes perfectly flat, and will not move with humidity — which matters in bathrooms, lofts and heated rooms. Once installed and painted, most people cannot tell them apart. Your designer will recommend based on the room.

Yes to both, and both are among our most requested variations. Mirror can be set into the shaker frame in place of the centre panel, giving you the shaker profile with a full-length mirror. Integrated media units combine shaker doors with an open TV recess, display shelving and drawers — our Ashford, Holland Park and Richmond designs all use this layout.

Matt black bar handles and brushed brass knobs are the two most popular choices, and they pull the same door in opposite directions — black reads contemporary, brass reads classic. Cup handles suit heritage and cottage interiors. Handleless is possible but works against the style, since the shaker frame is designed to carry a handle. All hardware families can be mixed with any door.

Not for many years. Our five-coat hand-applied finish is far more durable than a single spray coat, and normal wear shows first at the handle rather than across the door face. When you do want a change, a shaker door is one of the easiest to repaint because the flat panel and square rails have no mouldings to cut into. We keep your exact paint mix on file indefinitely.

Around 21 days from design sign-off for a standard shaker wardrobe, covering manufacture at our Wembley workshop and scheduling your fit. Installation takes one to two days. Hand-painted timber doors and larger media wardrobes take longer because the five-coat finish is applied and cured by hand — allow 6 to 8 weeks for those. Your designer will confirm the timeline with your quotation.

Not in the true sense, and it is worth understanding why. A shaker door is a framed door with a recessed centre panel, and that construction is too deep and too heavy to run reliably on a sliding track. What we can do is fit a sliding system with panels that echo the shaker proportion — a framed aluminium profile with an inset painted panel — which reads as shaker from across the room. If the room is genuinely too tight for hinged doors and you want an authentic shaker frame, the usual solution is narrower doors across the same opening rather than sliders.

A shaker door has a flat centre panel set back inside four square rails, so the face carries a shadow line. A slab door is a single flat face with no detail at all. The practical difference is what each does to a room: shaker adds a small amount of texture and reads as considered in period rooms, while slab is quieter and disappears into a contemporary interior. Slab is also marginally easier to keep clean, since there is no recessed edge to collect dust. Both are available in the same 100+ finishes and both start at similar prices, so the choice is about the room rather than the budget.