Semi-DIY 36" custom closet help
drdavidge
6 years ago
Hi, I have a closet that I would love to make better use of by building it out. It is only 36" wide, but i really want to maximize the space. It would be a multi-purpose closet that could hold some shoes, towels/linens, files (paper), and cleaning products, Ideally I was thinking something like the below setup and could use one of those 16" wide starter kits (https://www.homedepot.com/p/ClosetMaid-Selectives-16-in-White-Custom-Closet-Organizer-7032/100597848) plus some add on drawers (https://www.homedepot.com/p/ClosetMaid-16-in-x-10-in-White-Decorative-Drawer-4943/202986281) and then get a few pre-drilled melamine boards for the left and right side walls, and line it all up and create some shelves on the left and right sides. I think it would be a $200-300$ project and turn the closet into a way more functional one, and I am thinking it would be pretty easy. Any thoughts on this approach? Are there better ways to do this? Am I oversimplifying the work involved? I don't mind spending more money to make it look better or make the work easier, but I'd rather not do the full custom closet vendor thing since they seem to have some pretty steep prices for something not too much different. Thoughts?
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Comments (12)
AnnKH
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Closet System or Custom?
Comments (5)I don't have any experience, but I have some thoughts. There are *other* closet systems that might be less expensive. I don't know who you went with, but you might find it cheaper to buy Ikea or something else, and then pay a handyman to put it up. I know Ikea has great planning tools for kitchens; I don't know what they've got for their Pax system. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/bedroom/19086/ http://decorthis.com/pax-the-all-in-one-storage-wardrobe-from-ikea/ You I would not go w/ a cabinet shop, because I agree with you, I think they'd be pretty expensive. Though if you have someone in the neighborhood who makes his own cabinets, it might be worth it. Otherwise, I'd go with a finish carpenter or other sort of woodworker. Or, go to a place that makes bookcases, and see what they can do for you. They can make you shelving units and rods; the Gothic Cabinet Craft near me can even do drawers. (Though they aren't necessarily as inexpensive.) You can also combine. If it really matters to you to have a rod longer than 36" (and you don't want to combine several 36" units to make what is essentially a long rod with dividers), you can get a finish carpenter/woodworker/cabinet BUILDER to make you the units that hold the rods, and you can get the drawer units from a closet place....See MoreDoes a semi-custom 9.5 inch pullout pantry exist?
Comments (6)Hafele makes an 8" wide basket for it's pullout pantry, needs 8-1/2" opening so in frameless cabinet (as apple valley was) your looking at a minimum of 10" You could get a narrow cabinet with rollouts- have the "door shipped looose, do not drill for hardware or hinges, standard interior" then have the door attached to the top and bottom and a middle ro on site, leave the other ros loose and adjustable- still would want a frameless cabinet though or you won't really be able to put anything in there. Alternatively if your working with framed cabinets and a good installer you could use the 6" wide rev-a-shelf filler pullout listed below and use panels to get it to work- needs a full 6" of width though. Here is a link that might be useful: RAS tall filler po...See MoreIKEA in Semi-custom and Custom Homes
Comments (37)Interesting thread! We built our home 15 years ago and had custom built (and I mean a single guy built them himself) cabinets throughout the house. All solid wood. Book matched. No stain--let the natural beauty of the wood show!. Maple in the kitchen. Cherry in the bar area. Walnut in the kitchenette in the lower level. They are beautiful, no doubt. My husband is a hobbyist woodworker and is a total SNOB about cabinetry. Then we bought a vacation/retirement home in northern CA a couple of years ago. Renovating it now. Here's how I looked at it. - The boxes for the kitchen cabs need to be solid, well built - If I get frameless boxes, I have the choice of changing the doors if I want something different down the road - I want a decent amount of options for designing the space, but I have long ago decided that I never will be a professional cook, and I don't need every single design feature (those of you who cook a ton deserve those clever design details!). - I wanted high end finishes (counter and backsplash in particular). - We have to spend a lot of money on the rest of the renovation and I didn't want to spend so much on the kitchen that I limited what we spent on other areas. So, we looked at IKEA. Don't be scared by the furniture. The cabinets are totally different. When we looked at what we could pay for IKEA cabs relative to other cabinet manufacturers, it was easy to say yes. We considered custom doors, but in the end we decided to do the doors with IKEA too. DH and I assembled and hung a lot of them. He is VERY handy, and he has said many times that it's all about the installation if you are DIY. We found a local former cabinet maker to finish the installation (we had to travel back home). Interesting thing is this guy, who is an amazing cabinet maker, said he can't stay in business doing cabinets any longer because he just can't compete with IKEA (this may be more true in CA than other parts of the country). Now, when I compare the kitchen in both homes, one doesn't feel more "high end" than the other. They are simply very different. Both look custom built. When we sell our current home, will 90% of the buyers out there realize the quality of our cabinets? Nope. I'm sure someone will walk in and say "I can't wait to paint these wood cabinets white". LOL! I will say that working with IKEA is easiest if there is one near you. The people in the stores seem to be very knowledgeable and eager to help. During their kitchen sales it is busy, so go on a Tuesday or Weds. And there is a learning curve when it comes to ordering. What made our process a PIA was doing it from a distance. I won't go into the gory details! Good luck with your decision!...See MoreWhich Semi Custom Cabinets are best?
Comments (26)I just pulled out my old invoice for my kitchen, to give you some idea of price. I used the local Home Depot, and bought Innermost cabinets in white and green for a two toned effect. I also bought some master bath cabinets, painted saffron yellow. The style is called Kingston, it's a flat panel Shaker, frameless. Innermost is a middle of the road brand, not the cheapest. The invoice is dated 10/27/12. The cabinets were ordered without a toe kick (I hate toe kicks), and with two sink cabinets for the kitchen, one of which I ended up not using (long story). I got the plywood upgrade, although a lot of Gardenwebbers don't see value in that. The kitchen uppers are 30" without crown moldings. There are six uppers, four with glass and two plain. I have one super susan. The base cabinets are all drawers, except the sink cabinets and one 1'0" base pull-out. The two sink bases are apron sink ready, 36" wide each. There are no inserts, special features, or any ornamentation. These cabinets almost completely fill a 10' x 13' space. The master bath cabinets consisted of two 30" sink bases, an 18" wide three drawer base, and two medicine cabinets with mirror glass, each 18" wide. The grand total for all this stuff, cabinets only, not including handles or installation, came to $10324.32. If I subtract out the bathroom cabinets, the subtotal for the kitchen cabinets is $8170.97. If I take out the sink base I didn't end up using, that probably comes to somewhere around $7500 - $7800. This is in New Hampshire, so no sales tax. Innermost threw in both sink bases for free, so I'm guesstimating that number. IIRC, there are complicated discounting systems applied here, but don't ask me to explain, it's some sort of secret handshake thing... If I had to do it over again, I would skip the glass, and maybe get a warmer white color overall. I've become somewhat "meh" about the IKEA Domsjo apron sink, I can take it or leave it. OTOH, the drawers are absolutely fantastic and worth the money. I haven't missed the little inserts and things you see in the catalogs, I figured I could always buy this stuff after the fact, and I never bothered. My designer never tried to upsell me. I told her my ballpark budget, and she was happy to work with it. I think the key thing in saving money is to keep the order as simple and free of "extras" as you can. In fact, I'm pretty pleased with the whole experience, even though there were a lot of life pitfalls along the way, that had nothing to do with the cabinets. My kitchen designer at Home Depot was/is really good and very easy to work with. The cabinets themselves were packed very carefully, and were absolutely flawless, which is unusual, apparently. OP, I know this is a lot of info, but I'm thinking the specificity will help you in your process. Good luck. :)...See More
Denita
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoYes, you are overthinking the design.
Simple is better. ^AnnKH is right. First decide what you want to store in the closet and then measure for it.
36 inches is not big and you will have room taken up by the wood too, so account for that in your planning. Allow room to retrieve what you store.
Her idea is the most efficient way to customize your closet. You may want to add in 'drawers' if the stuff you want to store is on the bottom few shelves.
Carpenter & Carpenter · More Infodrdavidge
6 years agoAnnKH
6 years agodrdavidge
6 years agodrdavidge
6 years agoAnnKH
6 years agodrdavidge
6 years agoAnnKH
6 years ago
lazy_gardens
6 years agodrdavidge
6 years agoStill need to fully organize (just jammed things in there for now) but here you go..
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