Boy is this timely. Since my husband nixed the idea of building our own, I did my closet design on Easyclosets.com. I could buy from them for about $1500 (ouch) but I don't know what the quality is like.

Took my design to HD just today. Found that they have Mills Pride (press board) which ended up more expensive than Easyclosets.

I have yet to price California and Closetmaid. I have never heard of Closet Stretchers so I will have to check them out.

I am very interested in what others have to say as well.

Houseful - yes, it is indeed timely. I've been looking at closet systems this week. Here's what I've found:

Expo has EasyTrack system. They look like they're super easy to install -- you attach a horizontal track to the studs and the vertical panel just hang from it. Pressed board stuff that looks to be of decent quality.

Home Depot has Mills Pride. A bit cheaper looking than the EasyTrack stuff, but looks fine.

Lowes has Closet Maid. It looked a bit nicer than Mills pride and was slightly cheaper than the EasyTrack.

All of the above systems are ca. 14 to 16 inches deep. A couple of them have deeper bottom units that are better for drawers IMHO.

IKEA has the Pax system. The main advantage that I see is that they are quite a bit deeper than most (22 inches, but they also make them in 14 inches as well) and you can get them ceiling height.

Seems like Closet Stretchers are in the Maryland/D.C. area. I've never heard of them before, but here's a link from someone with a bad experience.

Had California Closets do master closet in my previous house, and two closets in our present house. They did an incredible job and put in more space than I ever could have imagined. They were professional, neat, and extremely creative.

Thanks for the responses. I guess Closet Stretchers is mostly in the DC-MD area. I'd heard that California Closets was more expensive than some of the other chains, but I guess it can't hurt to get an estimate. We had hoped to include some drawers, which I believe add a lot on to the cost.

I put my design into the EasyTrack website and found the price almost identical to Easyclosets. I have seen the EasyTrack in person at the Great Indoors and the seem much nicer than Mills Pride. I am not sure how they compare to Closetmaid. Great Indoors usually runs a 25% sale at the beginning of January.

I thought about IKEA, but thought they would have a very contemporary flair. Am I right?

Deesee, I will be calling CA Closets next to see how they compare.

IKEA is perhaps a bit more contemporary than the others (they don't have the raised panel doors and drawers, for instance), but they are pretty neutral style-wise.

Unfortunately, their units come in just 2 widths (ca. 19.5 and 39.5 inches). Turns out, I'm 1 inch short of being able to fit 3 of the 39-inchers (I've only got 116 inches and need 117.5 :-( ). Oh well - back to the drawing board (literally and figuratively)

I purchased a closet system from Easycloserts and I can vouch for the quality of the materials. I had brought in Closets by Design to give me a quote ($3000 installed versus $1250 from Easyclosets -- big difference!!). The melamine used by Closets by Design looks to be only slightly better than Easysclosets, and that is upon close inspection.

I haven't installed the system yet, so I can't vouch for ease of install (it appears to be very straightforward), but I can highly recommend Easycloset's online design tool and their customer service. If you don't want to use the online tool, then you can just fax them your closet dimensions and they will design it for you (no cost). I designed it myself, they took a look at it, and improved it (better design than Closets by Design).

Shipping was fast and free. I'll report back once I install the system, but so far the company and product are top notch.

We installed the ClosetMaid units in DIL/DS's home (turned a small bedroom into a walk-in closet) and found the units to be well built and heavy and the drawers have heavy-duty, extended glides. All sections were easy to put together, but it wasn't done done quickly.

The units sit on the floor, not hung from the wall. Because of how we designed the room it was questionable as to whether we'd find studs located where we needed them, and found the track system limited in options.
We visited the showrooms of two closet companies and found the only difference in materials to be the choice of finish/trim color. Also, some of their drawers were lined in felt/velveteen.

They saved over $1000 by doing it themselves and ended up with more storage space than the closet companies offered in their design.

Good to hear about the ClosetMaid units, Annz. So if the units sit on the floor, do they need still need to be anchored to the wall?

dee,
Only if you live in earthquake country or have children that are going to try to climb on them. ;)
The units are heavy, and with the extra weight of clothes they're not going anywhere. Tho, it would be easy to attach to the wall if needed.

I forgot to mention that we removed the doors from the closet that was in the room and placed a 'corner unit' in each recessed side of the closet. We then hung a clothes rod between the two units. Along another wall is more hanging space...........between two of the stackable drawer/shelf units.

I've learned that, generally speaking, Easy Closets and California Closets use the same material for many of the closet system alternatives -- if you're talkin' about the 3/4 inch, veneer covered MDF option. However, California Closets offers a premium alternative (the "Suite" system) that is based around a 1 inch thick material.

I decided to go with California Closets for a situation that called for a "wardrobe" type closet. (Actually a "walk through" closet -- with a finished built-in cabinetry look...)

A designer with Closet Factory was very candid, suggesting that the usual cost advantage they would have over Calif Closets would be lessened for my installation, in view of the special requirements (depth of shelving/drawers, doors, etc.). When I factored in shipping, installation, scheduling, etc., the premium for having Cal Closets committed to delivering and installing the system seemed more or less worth the higher cost.

I would ALWAYS anchor a tall shelf to the wall. God forbid an adventurous grownup tries to use the bottom shelf as a step ladder. But if it sits on the floor, then you don't need to worry about studs; just use lead wall anchors or molly bolts in a couple of places.

I have heard that Creative Closets here in NYC does a great job- but I have not priced them out yet. Supposedly they are much more economical than California.

Avoid at all costs Closet World (they have a few different pseudonyms). Google them. You will find tons and tons and tons of complaints. I can tell you from personal experience that all of those complaints are true, true, true. To get them to show up, honor their contract and do a proper install of a small closet system and a small office I had to threaten to file formal complaints with the state contractor's licensing board, BBB, and the consumer affairs division of the county district attorney.

Don't know if you have already done your closet, but I bought the Closet Maid system from Lowe's. It wasn't that hard to put up, although it did take a while (did it over a long holiday weekend) and the boxes are heavy. It looks really nice, IMHO. But then again, I'm sure California Closets would look even nicer. We did anchor the units to the wall like the instructions said. The whole unit is sitting on laminate wood flooring. My closet space is about 100 sq ft and I think it cost around $1500 for the materials. I forget, though, if that included the cost of the flooring which we also put in. That was also with 20% off coupons.

If people are still looking for closet recommendations - we have used Easy Closets for two walk-ins and the quality was good and the installation was really straight-forward. Took DH a couple evenings after work and he is not really what one would call "handy" We used the online design tool since we knew what we wanted - we definitely designed a better closet the second time around as we learned from our old closet what was most useful.

We wanted to get a built in organizer for 2 MB closets. Called California closets..was put on hold. Called again, disconnected. Called the 800 number, were told someone local (Ca closets Fairfax VA) would call us. She called a week later, made an appointment - showed up an hour late (not kidding) - sent a plan with a PDF which could not be opened. I finally managed to download software to open the design plan, which did not have ANY of the elements we had discussed.I emailed. She apologised, said it would be redone..and we never heard back.
I give up, am going with European closets. Who cares about the material when the service is so unspeakable

We bought the elfa system from the Container Store. I didn't think we needed the free closet design, but it was extremely helpful. We were so happy with our 2 walk-in master closets, we then did 2 garage walls. Our neighbor was so impressed by our garage, he did his. It is very strong, and the silver finish has been durable. All the little hooks and accessories make use of every inch of space.

Interesting. Just met with someone who sells the ORG closets organizers. They are the same company as easy closets. The easy closet samples looked IDENTICAL - just not as many colors or options, plus you have to put them in yourself.

Apparently, the same company makes Easy Closets, Fast Track, ORG closets and she said something about Martha Stewart (maybe the Martha Stewart closet line).

My builder set this up so we will get her quote and one from Easy Closets and then go from there.

Anyone try Technik closet system from Costco? They seemed to be priced around Elfa system and come fully assembled. Thanks

I used a local company and I was happy surprised at the service ,design,price and installation .Sometimes smaller company seem to care more .My closet company was Euro Design Center in Maryland.

DMarieS