Allocate Wardrobe Space Among Hanging Clothes, Shelves and Drawers

Divide a wardrobe by starting from what you own, not from a generic template. Sort and measure your clothes by group, then measure the cabinet's usable interior. Assign each group to the storage type that fits its length, folded size and how often you reach for it. This works only if you measure the interior that is actually available. Partitions, hinges, drawer runners, rail supports and the space a door or drawer needs to open all take space that the outside dimensions don't show, and they can rule out a layout that looks fine on paper.

Start with your clothes, not the cabinet

Just Wood, a furniture maker, has customers plan their wardrobe interiors by first sorting the garments they actually own and lining them up from shortest to longest. The breaks in that line show natural groups: short items such as shirts and folded-over trousers, medium items such as jackets, and long items such as coats and dresses. Those groups decide how much rail goes to short, medium and long hanging, so the split comes from your clothes instead of a standard ratio.

Plan shoes the same way. Just Wood's method counts each type of footwear, such as flats, trainers and boots, and considers both their size and how often each pair is worn. Tall boots and everyday sneakers need different heights and different spots in the wardrobe.

Record what each group needs

A simple worksheet keeps the measurements together so you can compare layouts later. Make one row per garment group and fill in these columns:

• Garment group (for example, work shirts, winter coats, knitwear, socks)
• Quantity
• Hanging length, measured on the hanger you actually use
• Rail width the group occupies when hung at your usual spacing
• Folded footprint (width, depth and stack height) for items you fold
• Access frequency: daily, weekly or seasonal
• Proposed compartment: short hanging, long hanging, shelf, basket or drawer

Measure on the real hanger because hanger shape changes the total drop. Measure rail width by hanging the group together on a rod, since thick coats need far more width than shirts.

Measure the usable interior of your wardrobe system

On the same worksheet, record the cabinet's usable width, height and depth inside the carcass. Then list everything that takes space from those numbers or limits where things can go:

• Partitions and side panels, with their documented thickness
• Hinges and any hinge mounting plates on the inside of the cabinet
• Drawer runners or tracks, and how far each drawer extends when fully open
• Rail brackets and shelf supports
• Door-opening restrictions: whether a door or its hinge blocks an internal drawer, and how much floor space in front of the wardrobe the doors need

If you are working within a modular system, include only the components the manufacturer confirms for that frame and depth. Parts from one product line may not fit the frames, rails or hinges of another.

Hanging, shelves or drawers: matching storage to each group

Compare the three storage types using the same criteria. A garment group belongs where the type suits its shape and how often you use it.

Criterion	Hanging	Shelves	Drawers
Best suited to	Items that wrinkle or keep their shape on a hanger, sorted into short, medium and long sections	Folded stacks, bags, boxes and less frequently used items	Small items and accessories that get lost on an open shelf
Space driven by	Measured hanging length and occupied rail width	Folded footprint and stack height	Item size and the number of dividers needed
Access	Each item visible at a glance	Front of the stack is easy to reach; deep shelves can bury items at the back	Contents visible from above when the drawer is open
Planning constraint	Long hanging needs full height in one bay	Fixed shelves can't adapt if the contents change	Needs runner space and clear extension; door or hinge position may block it
Useful variation	Split a bay into double short hanging if you have few long items	Baskets for deep shelves; adjustable shelves where contents change	Divided drawers for accessories

Just Wood's guide weighs adjustable against fixed shelving by how much the contents are likely to change. Adjustable shelves suit sections where stack heights change with the season or as your wardrobe changes. Fixed shelves suit contents that stay the same. The guide also suggests baskets for T-shirts on deep shelves, so the whole stack slides forward, and divided drawers for smaller accessories. It treats the layout as something refined over several design drafts rather than settled in one go.

Factor in how the wardrobe opens

IKEA's guidance on choosing clothes storage separates open systems, closed systems with doors, and mixed systems that combine both. For hinged doors it flags two points: they need clear opening space in front of the wardrobe, and they show the whole interior at once when opened. In a small bedroom, the door swing can collide with a bed, desk or walkway, which may favor an open or mixed system. If you choose a closed system, internal drawers must clear the door and hinges when they extend, so check this before placing drawers right behind a hinge.

Worked example: accounting for width

This is an illustrative calculation, not a recommended size. Suppose a wardrobe has an internal width of 150 cm and the system's documentation lists a 2 cm partition. That leaves 148 cm to allocate. You could plan one 58 cm bay for long hanging and one 90 cm bay for double short hanging with drawers below. Because 58 cm plus 90 cm equals 148 cm, the width adds up.

Internal width            150 cm
- Partition (documented)    2 cm
= Width to allocate       148 cm

Bay A (long hanging)       58 cm
Bay B (short + drawers)    90 cm
Total                     148 cm  -> balances

This check covers width only. Whether your coats fit in Bay A depends on their measured hanging length and rail width. Whether the drawers in Bay B work depends on runner space and door clearance. Use one unit, either inches or centimeters, for every measurement so the totals stay reliable.

Compare two allocations before you commit

Draft at least two layouts and score them against your worksheet. For example, Layout A might give more width to long hanging and keep shelves above it. Layout B might use double short hanging and a drawer stack, moving long items to a narrower bay. For each draft, check the following:

• Does every garment group have a home sized from its measured length, width or footprint?
• Do daily items sit in the easiest-to-reach zones, with seasonal items higher up or lower down?
• Do all drawers extend fully without hitting a door, hinge or neighboring furniture?
• Does the door or opening method fit the floor space in front of the wardrobe?
• Does the draft use only components confirmed for the selected system?

The layout that meets the most of these checks is usually the right one, even if it has less total storage on paper.

Arranging clothes in a small cupboard

In a narrow cupboard, place things by how often you use them. Put daily clothes in the zone you can reach without stretching or bending, and move seasonal or rarely worn items to top shelves or the floor of the cupboard. If you have only a few long garments, a single narrow long-hanging section with stacked short hanging beside it often frees more space than one full-width rail. Use baskets on deep shelves and dividers in drawers so small items stay visible instead of piling up at the back.

Rail loads, shelf capacities and wall anchoring depend on the specific product and its installation instructions. Check those details with the manufacturer before you hang heavy coats on a long span or fix a tall unit to the wall.