It’s a standard inexpensive 6-paneled door but we dressed it up by adding {this stylish rectangular flush pull} in satin brass instead of the typical small circle pull:
We’ll head inside in just a minute…
but first I’ll quickly share how you start the design of an IKEA closet. Their closet system is based on using PAX wardrobe frames (available in three width, two depth, and two height options) that you then customize with KOMPLEMENT accessories. Since part of our new closet is where our old bathroom use to be, the width of our closet was determined for us at about 6.5 feet. That meant we had room for the deeper 22″ wardrobe frames on one side but only the shallower 13″ deep frames on the other (if we did all 22″ deep frames, there wouldn’t be enough space in the middle of the closet):
We were able to customize the length of our closet in the building process – we designed it so that three wardrobes (two 39″ wide frames on the ends + one 19″ wide in the middle) on each side are a perfect fit. This is a quick iPhone pic of what it looked like when we had put only the PAX wardrobe frames in our new space:
The wardrobes frames were secured to the walls on the top back side of the frames with drywall anchors and secured to each other with binding post screws near the base and near the top (simply drill through one of the pre-drilled holes from one wardrobe into the pre-drilled hole of the neighboring wardrobe and insert and tighten the screw). A quick tip – be sure you’re putting the screws through holes that won’t be used by any of your interior accessories so you don’t have to redo them.
Now comes the fun part – building it out with all of the KOMPLEMENT accessories:
I’ll share how we customized the 13″ deep frames on the right side first:
KOMPLEMENT Pull-Out Clothes Rail
The 13″ deep IKEA wardrobes aren’t deep enough for a typical clothes rod but IKEA has a pretty genius solution for providing hanging clothes space – these pull-out clothes rails that give you the option to store hanging clothes facing forward:
It’s not as easy to find something with a quick glance when they’re hanging in this direction but it works really well for things that aren’t worn daily like my dresses. And the rails extend out which is a neat feature if you want extra hanging space to air dry a few things or hang the outfit you’re planning to wear the next day:
IKEA KOMPLEMENT Pull-Out Pants Hanger
Below the clothes rail with my dresses I have a 39″ KOMPLEMENT pull-out pants hanger with a standard shelf separating the two:
The 13″ deep size that I have fits one pair of pants per hanger (unless you layer them on top of each other) while the 22″ deep size fits two pairs of pants per hanger with a little bit of overlap. I keep all of my pants that tend to wrinkle on these pull out hangers but all of my jeans, leggings, joggers, etc. in drawers.
IKEA KOMPLEMENT Shelves
IKEA makes shelves that match their wardrobes in all of the width and length options possible. I used them in several places in my closet – over the top drawer in each wardrobe on the left side of our closet (it keeps what’s inside the drawers from getting dusty), over my pants hanger, at the top of most of the wardrobes to hold large storage baskets, and from floor to ceiling in the middle wardrobe along the right side of our closet to hold medium storage baskets:
I use them to hold travel bags & toiletries, bathing suits, hats & caps, tanks, belts, hair accessories, & flip flops – they’re a perfect fit! They’re {these white woven bins} in the medium size and I used {these bin clips} for labels:
IKEA KOMPLEMENT Shoe Shelves
At the far end of our closet system I filled the 39″ wide wardrobe with {these shoe shelves} and LOVE them – I was able to pack a ton of shoes in and they’re all super easy to grab:
IKEA has other shoe storage options too including {this pull-out shoe shelf} and pull-out trays with shoe inserts and rails. I had pull out racks in my old IKEA closet and definitely like these shoe shelves better but it’s all personal preference.
Full-Length Brass Mirror
On the wall at the end of our closet I hung this large brass floor mirror that I stole from our guest room:
It’s unfortunately been discontinued but {this floor mirror} is almost identical in size and shape. Also check out {this mirror} if you prefer squared off corners.
Ready to check out how we customized the other side of our closet that has the deeper 22″ wardrobes?
KOMPLEMENT Clothes Rails
Starting at the top, each wardrobe has a shelf with 1 or 2 of {these storage baskets} in the large size that hold some of my winter boots, totes, larger travel bags, etc. Under them are KOMPLEMENT clothes rails:
I have all of my short sleeve shirts in the left wardrobe frame, long dresses and jumpsuits in the middle wardrobe frame, and long sleeve shirts in the right wardrobe frame. One thing I absolutely swear by are non-slip velvet space saving hangers like {these} (pic below is from the IKEA PAX units in our laundry room where we have {these pulls} on our drawers):
Not only do they look nice and your clothes don’t fall off of them but you can fit so many more clothes in the same amount of space versus using typical tubular plastic or wood hangers.
KOMPLEMENT Drawers with Framed Fronts
All three wardrobe frames also have a set of {these} framed front drawers – these drawers are new at IKEA and I love them! They definitely have a higher end look than the flat front drawers that use to be the only option:
They also have {these glass front drawers} that are stylish options but honestly I just don’t have anything pretty enough that I’m storing in my drawers to want to see through the front 🙂
IKEA makes some nice box set options to organize the interiors of drawers with smaller items like these:
Unfortunately they have been out of stock at our IKEA so those will have to be an add-on at a later date.
KOMPLEMENT Pull-Out Trays with Inserts
And finally my favorite part of our new IKEA PAX closet – {this KOMPLEMENT pull-out tray with inserts} that I’m using to organize my jewelry:
There are a lot of different customizations that you can make because there are different styles and sizes of inserts that you can mix and match (you can see all of your options {here}):
You can also remove the dividers within each individual gray insert which I did for earring storage. IKEA doesn’t have any insert options with smaller compartments that work well for earrings so on the far right I used {this insert} but removed the long dividers for watches and necklaces and replaced it with {this jewelry organizer} I already had, laying the two stackable trays next to each other:
I also did something different with the shelf above my pull-out jewelry tray and chose {this glass shelf} that allows me to see where everything is even before I pull the tray out:
The Finishing Touches
There are a few finishing touches that I added to our IKEA PAX closet system that made a big difference in the final look. For one, we had our contractor add crown molding along the top of our IKEA wardrobes on each side. Our crown molding is one I picked out at our local hardware store that was a good height for covering the gap between the top of the units and the ceiling. After install, we patched the holes and painted it in a white that’s a good match for the IKEA wardrobes (I had it left over from the laundry room cabinets we put in last year!). Here’s the exact formula (it’s a custom color) that we mixed in INSL-X Cabinet Coat in Satin (it’s important to use this same exact base):
I also added small decorative strips of molding to fill the gaps between the IKEA wardrobes on the ends and the wall and painted them this same color.
Another key thing to do is to fill all of the remaining holes once you’re done with your closet – it makes a big difference! IKEA has VARIERA cover plates that come in a pack of 100 for $1.29 to fill all of the holes that run along the edges of the PAX frames. It’s tedious work to plug each individual hole but worth it (I paid my daughter to do it 🙂 ). This in-progress pic I took during installation of our PAX wardrobes in our laundry room shows you the difference it makes:
(acrylic drawer pulls found {here})
There are holes at the top of each IKEA wardrobe that I filled too – I covered the IKEA cam lock holes with {these adhesive cover caps} and I covered the 3/8″ open holes at the top with {these hole plugs} – both are a perfect fit:
There are also some tiny holes at the bottom of each frame that I simply filled with caulk. And finally, I took a tiny paint brush and painted the heads of the screws holding the units together with the same white paint I used on the crown molding.
Obviously one other finishing touch was putting in our carpeting – I chose Kaleen’s Peter Island Stripe in Graphite:
While we chose to install our IKEA PAX wardrobes first and carpet after so that the wardrobes were sitting on the wood subfloor where they’re most stable, in our old house our wardrobes were installed on top of the carpet and that worked fine too. As long as your carpet is fairly low-pile and your wardrobes are appropriately secured to the wall you should be good!
Phew… I think that about covers the tour of our PAX closet! Just one last thing – here’s my quick review of the IKEA PAX closet system with what I love and what I don’t love about it:
IKEA PAX Closet System Review: The Pros (+ Cost!)
- The price of an IKEA PAX closet system is one of the biggest pros. You can create a pretty amazing closet for significantly less than other closet systems including The Container’s Store Elfa system and California Closets’ systems. My total cost (without tax) for everything I bought at IKEA for our closet is $1630. While that’s a lot of money, it is far less than higher end closet systems.
- IKEA offers delivery of your closet components at a pretty reasonable price (if you’re doing a large closet it’s worth it!) and they offer returns with a receipt for a full year for anything you decide not to use. My advice is to get an IKEA Family Card and use it when making your purchase – they can then always use your card to look it up if you need to return something down the road and don’t have your receipt.
- It’s not difficult to put the PAX wardrobes and interior accessories together, it’s just time consuming. They come with instructions that I think are pretty easy to follow and require no special tools. Putting the wardrobes together and installing them is a two person job but one person can manage the rest. You can also hire out for assembly too (IKEA partners with TaskRabbit for this)
- The wardrobe frames line up and connect to each another well (we were able to connect our three PAX frames so that there are no gaps or spaces between them and they appear to be one continuous unit) and they’re very sturdy. The IKEA PAX closet we had in our old house was over five years old when we sold our home and it was still in amazing shape.
- I love that the KOMPLEMENT drawers have soft close drawer slides so that they close full close with just a little push.
- The finished closet system has an attractive, custom, high-end look, especially if you add the simple detail of crown molding along the top.
IKEA PAX Closet System Review: The Cons
- IKEA has an online PAX Planner that allows you to create your dream closet online but honestly it’s a pretty clunky program to use. I found it easier to just draw it out myself. The one big benefit of using the online PAX Planner though is it gives you a full list of everything you need for your closet once you’ve designed it in the planner.
- It takes a lot of time. I enjoy organizing so the hours spent figuring out the design of our closet and putting it together is right up my alley but if it’s not up yours, you might want to at least get someone to assemble it for you. The pro of using companies like The Container Store and California Closets is that you can pretty much have it all done for you from design all the way through to install (we used The Container Store for our garage organization that you can see {here} and it was such a stress-free way to go).
- The PAX wardrobe frames come in multiple sizes and in most cases, you can create a combination of sizes that will work well for your space but depending on your closet size there might not be a combination that fits completely wall-to-wall like you can get with more expensive closet systems.
- I wish that IKEA made well-priced, stylish baskets that worked well with their closet systems. I love the ones that I found and the two different sizes were perfect fits but they weren’t cheap and that cost really added up.
- The drawers and pants rack aren’t full extension – I really wish they were to make it easier to access things in the far back.
So now that you spent half your day reading my post (ha – this was definitely a long one!), do you have any questions? If you happen to be wondering where the heck all of Jeff’s clothes are, he now has our old master closet to himself (you can check out the upgrade we gave that closet {here}). Considering he used to have clothes spread out between that closet, our guest room closet, upstairs closet, and chest of drawers in our living room, he’s not complaining :). Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!
I only recently started following your blog but I’m so glad I did. Thank you very much for posting up this review and photos. We’re really lacking in storage space but low on budget so the PAX has been the main contender for a wall of closet space. It’s nice to see it in action!
I’m glad that you found it helpful Lindsay!
Same I’m in college with an apartment without closets… I’ve been researching the PAX and I’m so glad I saw this review! Pros and cons are always necessary!
No problem – thanks for the comment Becky!
I too am really glad you posted this. I have been going over and over the Pax system online, trying to configure everything and wishing there were reviews. This is great. Thanks!
I remember how overwhelming that process was. Good luck and hope you love your new closet!
This is a fabulous review. I have been wanting to do drawers under hanging clothes for some time now, but surprisingly have not seen many examples of that configuration. Thanks for posting!
That arrangement worked out great for us in our previous home with PAX so we knew we wanted to repeat it in this one!
This is perfect! I’ve been planning and planning which Pax setup I’m going to choose for our new closet organization. I’ve been trying to decide if the 39″ KOMPLEMENT elements hold up to lots of use – namely, the drawers… I’m worried the drawers will sag over time (they’re just SO WIDE) or fall off the rails, etc. Have you had any trouble with the extra wide Komplement drawers?
We had also considered the black/brown finish but were afraid it would scuff/scratch easily, so were thinking about the lighter birch finish. Have you had any troubles with this?
Finally, I know the shelves create a really deep ‘pocket’ of a shelf. I had considered using those shelves to stack jeans/pants or sweaters. Would I be better off with drawers, baskets, or hangers? I’m thinking now that it’ll become a messy sweater pit. 🙁
Thanks again for this review. I’ll ask more questions as I think of them. HAHA. But no really. 🙂
We had our old PAX closet system for over five years and had no problems at all with the wood drawers – they weren’t sagging at all and still rolled in and out smoothly. The black/brown finish in our old PAX closet didn’t scuff at all. As far as the shelves go – you are totally right. There is a some area in the back that isn’t super easy to access so I recommend either going with drawers instead (if they’re lower down) or using baskets on the shelves if they’re higher up. Good luck with planning your closet!
As for the deep shelves, there’s a PAX shelf that’s only 13.75″ deep, vs. the full-depth 22&7/8″. I used some as the topmost shelves in a 29″ wide PAX system in my garage, and they make seeing things on the top shelf much easier. The 29″ ones are plenty strong for the yard chemicals, spray paints, etc., I have on them, so I suspect 39″ ones would be strong enough for clothes and stuff. The black-brown one is 602.469.33.
And Kris, thank you so much for your article. I’ve looked and looked at PAX at the store (and we got a quote from The Container Store, wow), but after using PAX in my garage and reading your post I’ve decided to finally do my wife’s closet in it. Now I’m off ot read the rest of your blog!
HI Kris! LOVE this review! We have planned the closet and purchased the frames and components. Do you have any advice for installation? Not sure that the frame mounting brackets will line up with studs. Do you recommend using furring strips that would be anchored to wall and then frames mounted to strips? Or screw directly flush into drywall. Also, do you have any wall anchor (L-bracket) recs? Thank you!!!
Hi Alyssa! When we installed our closet, the units had to go in a particular spot so we weren’t able to position them where they would line up with the studs. To secure the units to the wall, we used our own drywall anchors & screws (specifically, the metal Cobra Wall Drillers). Hope that helps – good luck with the install!
Thank you so much for the detailed review! I’ve been comparing various closet systems for months but after spending hours trying to sort out the details and dimensions, I usually give up! Your post makes the PAX really approachable and I’m ready to take the plunge! So glad to discover your blog today!
We just finished installing our Pax system. Boy those frames are heavy!! Once we got the first frame together, which took us 4 hours, the others went quickly. We thought it would be nice it Ikea would label top/bottom left right. It is obvious once one is complete, but while in the middle of assembly it’s a bit confusing. The video was very helpful. There are LOTS of pieces; I laid everything(not the whole system, just each drawer, chest, etc.) out first and then assembled it all We have 9’ceilings so there is plenty of room above the frames for whatever. I’m thinking all my Vera bags. Our frames are 93″ tall.
It also would have been helpful if a template for installing handles on the chest of drawers would be included in the box. We made our own template, but since handles are necessary to open the drawers, an included template would be nice.
I still have 5 more Komplemnt drawers to install, but they won’t arrive until Tuesday, they were back ordered. We had them pull the order and deliver it. It did add $180.00 (we live way oustside the cheap delivery area) to our bill, but it was well worth the cost.
The unit looks great and was way cheaper than the “closet lady”, $1,800 vs.$3,700.
If we ever move, we will install another system. Though we might pay to have it assembled. We are not getting any younger.
I felt the same way – there was a big learning curve but once you got the hang of it, it was fairly easy. And definitely much, much less expensive than other options! Thanks for the kind words about our new house – I love it but I sure miss my old closet!
Thanks for your post. I was planning to have a contractor do a custom closet for me, but in his delay getting back with me, I found PAX. And I found this great blog article (thanks Kris!). BCGramma, your comments have convinced me that I will definitely go with PAX and not worry about custom closets from a contractor.
This is a great article and I too am looking at the PAX system to solve my issues with closet space. I intend to use it in a den and turn it into a walk-in closet a lot like the “apartment” set up from an earlier comment. Budget is an issue. I used the PAX planner and found that my system (gonna rethink the baskets now) without doors is $585 and with doors is $1230. Can I add doors after it is built?
Hi Franklin – you can definitely add doors after the fact but the hinges for the doors attach in certain holes and sometimes it can be the holes that you already being used by your interior organizational components so it’s possible you’d have to change around the inside components a bit.
We just purchased ours and the lady who helped said that you can add doors after but you need to consider which kind first. Certain drawers at the bottom wouldn’t work with certain doors (I can’t remember which, but they have sliders and hinged doors. The mounting for one would be obstructed if you had a drawer at the bottom.) Also, you can only get sliders if you have two units of equal size right next to each other.
Thanks for this review…how much weight do you find that the clothes rod can hold? We are thinking about buying a PAX closet system, and I’m trying to decide if we can put all our hanging clothes in there or if that will strain the bar too much—
Thanks!
Hi Laine, I’ve found the clothes rods to be very sturdy – at times ours have been packed full of hanging clothes and we’ve never had any issues with the rods not holding the weight.
Is there any way to put half doors on? I didn’t see them in the designer but thought they would be pretty cool.
We installed our PAX closet system a few years before I did this post so we’ve now had it for over five years. It’s in great shape with no problems!
I paid Ikea (who outsources it) to put it together. I think it crazy to do it yourself. $350 to assemble. Money well spent.
that is very helpful!
Thanks, it does help. Unfortunately ours are already assembled and installed. We couldn’t find our studs so we made do and attached to the wall as we best we could with the recommendations of the hardware pro at the local hardware store. Here’s hoping the big one doesn’t hit any time soon (we’re in California). So far, though, I’m LOVING my Pax closets. Thanks for your blog – it’s beautiful and very inspiring. Take good care.
Sorry – I don’t know the answer to that since I don’t have any of the narrow PAX units.
Hi Kris! Great write up, enjoyed! If you have a moment, I would like to ask some questions before we proceed with our project. We have not purchased anything yet. Our closet accessed through our master bath is 13.5 ft wide by 9.5 ft deep with two windows on opposite wall of the door. Plan right now includes on one wall (left side of the room) a combo of a 30″, a 20″, and 30″ (rounding to nearest inch and all are the taller 93″ and 23″ deep). There will be about 1″ space left on each end so a near perfect fit. On front wall and right side will be a 30″, a corner unit, a 40″ and a 30″. This will end up with about 7″ of left over wall space. The back wall, between the two windows, we plan to put a thinner 13″ frame, 40″ wide, and 93″ tall and fill 80-90% of it with the metal shoe shelves.
My questions are: 1) since we need to replace the carpet, we’re contemplating ceramic tile (like the bath has and make continuous through closet (wife does not like that option) or re-carpet. My concern is how well the PAX frames will set on carpet and remain level and maintain a uniform look from one frame to another? 2) Since the frames don’t have a notch in the back bottom to fit around baseboards, did you remove / re-cut baseboards, or cut a notch from the back of the PAX frame, or just sit against the baseboard and managed to secure to the wall while keeping vertically straight? Thanks in advance and sorry for long message! – Marv
Hi Marv,
When we did our first closet with IKEA PAX in our old house, it was part of an addition to our house – we debated ceramic tile vs. carpet too and ended up going with the carpet. We were able to make the PAX frames sit completely level and uniform from one frame to another by doing a few things. First of all, along our long wall where our frames almost completely covered the wall, we removed the baseboard so that the frames sat flush along the wall. For our other wall where we only have one unit and it would be obvious if there was no baseboard, we rested the PAX frame up against the baseboard and then used a small square of wood that’s the same depth as the baseboard as a spacer between the PAX unit and the wall where it was attached to the wall (our screws went through the PAX frame, then through the spacer, and then into the wall – we made sure we did it where we would hit studs). Then for the walls where you have more than one frame, we attached the frames to one another so they lined up perfectly and stayed lined up over time. Good luck with your closet!
Do you see many PAX units used outside of the closet on freestanding walls within the bedroom? That’s what I am going to have to do. Any website references, tips or tricks for that?
You can definitely use IKEA PAX wardrobes as freestanding units. If you look on IKEA’s site at their wardrobes with doors you can see some good examples: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/pax-wardrobes-with-doors-24337/
Great diy project, that looks beautiful! Thanks for your detailed pros and cons list. You said the drawers do not fully extend. Could different cabinetry hardware be used with the Pax system in order to fully extend the drawers? Maybe Ikea will consider providing this option in the near future.
Hi, thanks for all this information! I’m wondering how many pull out shoe shelves you were able to stack?
You’re so right Milja – IKEA rolls out some things in the US first and some things overseas first. I haven’t seen the new wire baskets yet but will look at them the next time I’m at IKEA and add some info to this post!
Did your PAX hanging bars come with screws??
Yes, the bars did come with the screws even though they don’t show that online.
I am just about to buy the PAX wardrobes so it’s been great timing to find your blog. I see you have kept the system ‘open’ without doors – I have thought of this but do your clothes not get dusty? I have a temporary rail at the moment and they tend to get quite dusty so I thought doors would be a must! Any thoughts?
Hi Michelle,
I really never had a problem with my clothes getting dusty when I had a similar set up in our old closet. Having a shelf immediately above all of the drawers, the pull-out-pants racks and even the hanging clothes helps!
Hi, thanks so much for this review, it’s really helpful! I was curious how your old closet held up? We’re considering having our contractor drywall around it to give a built-in look, but that means if it breaks afterwards, it may be expensive/painful to replace. So we really want to get a sense of the quality beforehand. Thanks!
Hi Dita,
Yes, we had our old IKEA closet over five years and it held up really well which is why I went with a PAX system again. It is particle board so it can chip and, if it does, probably isn’t very patchable. If you’re treating it well that shouldn’t be a problem but in a more rough and tumble space like a kids closet it’s possible it wouldn’t hold up as well or for as long.
Thanks Gina! Our PAX system has held up beautifully – we’ve had it for seven years now and it looks as good as the day that we installed it!
I love your review. I’m still in the process of deciding on which system to go with. I love the Pax system so far but my issue is the return in closet is only 18 1/2 inches on both sideds of the door. I think the pax comes in at least 22 inches in depth. Do you have any ideas?
That’s a tough one! Maybe you could integrate some IKEA narrow depth bookcases with shelving for open storage in those areas?
Kris has a really great idea. You could center the narrow bookshelves along the wall, while leaving 2’-4’ of space on either side of the bookcase. Purchase clothes rods separately. Secure the bookcase to the wall, and install the clothes rod on each side of the bookcase, running the 2’-4’ length to the adjoining wall. You won’t have the drawers like Kris, but you could have a tower of shelves for baskets, folded clothes, or shoes; and plenty of room for hanging clothes.
I’m thinking of using the Pax for a Pantry with shelves and drawers. I know there are many types of particle board. Some will sag quickly if anything heavy is in the middle of a shelf; some are very strong (e.g. Calif. Closets – but $$$). Do you know if the shelves can handle pantry items over time?
Hi Mary – unfortunately I don’t have the answer to your question because I’ve only used the PAX system for clothes. Maybe someone else will read your comment and be able to chime in.
Thanks for your review. Extremely helpful. I too priced California Closet and wow, the price tag is 3K for Ikea and 15 K for California Closets.
How do you like the glass front drawers. My husband thinks they will finger print since you are pulling the actual glass. I thought they looked nice to show off the colorful sweaters inside and relief from just a solid set of drawers. We also have a bank of four drawers so I am thinking it mixes it up.
I am building a island and using six drawers under a custom top and adding a bench on the end. Have you heard of anyone doing that? Thanks for your help.
I think the brown black looks more expensive than the white. I could use either but definately like the elegance of the brown black.
The difference in price is really astounding, right?! I actually don’t have any of the glass front doors so unfortunately I can’t comment on them. As far as your island plan, I haven’t seen that done before but it sounds fabulous – you should go for it!
Oh no – that’s crazy! Good to know though – thanks for sharing that info!
Hello! I think this is fantastic and super insightful – I am looking to purchase a giant “2 bed” loft style apt. I say “2 bed” as there are currently no walls separating any of the rooms (the whole unit is 2200sf!) and I was thinking of using PAX to create the walls that separate the rooms from the main living space! Provides the privacy that you would want in a room, as well as, the needed storage that does not currently exist. My question for you is: did you attach these units to the wall behind the system or just to themselves? Do you feel they are study enough to standalone in a space without securing? Thank you so much!
Hi Erin! Yes, we attached the units to the wall behind them. Unfortunately, they are so tall that I’d be concerned about them not being secure enough without being attached at the back.
As an architect I love Ikea and have a house full of their products, but as a bit of a perfectionist, I was disappointed to discover some big flaws in the Pax/Complement system everyone should know about…if you want drawers and doors, Ikea made a big faux pas in not designing the drawers to be compatible with the hinge locations…You cannot place a drawer at the bottom and also have a door… so you end up with useless space – not the best concept in either design or ” organization”. I also believe the 93″ doors are too big for the self-closing hinges and will eventually pull themselves out of the unreinforced particle board doors. Ikea should go back to the drawing board on this one.
Thanks for your helpful input/advice John – I’ve never used the PAX system with doors so this is useful info to have!
We put four of them together with two very large sliding doors to hide all our mud room mess. We have had them since 2008. They have taken a lot of abuse living in Minnesota weather extremes. I caulked the lower seams to protect the particle board insides from water when storing snowy boots and equipment. We have 6 family members and a dog. I LOVE the sliding doors and I am impressed with their performance after all of these years; still glide back and forth effortlessly. I am having trouble finding replacement plastic drawers for our recycling. They may have discontinued these drawers. Will definitely buy another PAX system and assemble myself. I go to IKEA to save money and cringe at the thought of paying someone to assemble for $350. Very good product.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
I have had 4 PAX closets (2 for me & 2 for my husband) for the last 4 years or so and I really liked them. We had them without sliding doors and with the sliding doors since they were actually in the bedroom as opposed to inside a walk-in closet. The doors looked nice, but I preferred being about to just walk right up and pick out something out of both closets without having to slide the doors back and forth. We installed lighting at the top that was plugged in to an outlet on a switch for one set of closets and the other set was plugged into a radio frequency wireless plug/light switch set up. It worked great!
We just moved to a different house with a walk-in closet that has built in shelves, etc and I’m really missing my PAX closets because now I’m going to have to buy a dresser so I can have some drawers storage space! Boohoo!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I love your tip on the lighting!
Hi Kris,
I read far and wide before I purchased my Pax system but would say yours is the best detailed article I found. I would comment that you need to make sure that you have ordered everything. I found the IKEA planning tool cumbersome and it was always tricky trying to make it back to my plan at the website (yes I did have a log in and account). I made my shopping list twice and still forgot to order the poles! I was also concerned because IKEA posted prominently about buying your own hardware to affix and never got a straight answer from their support. My closet system flanked one entire wall in my bedroom and I did not remove baseboards. It was easy to find anchors but I had to scour Home Depot for a “spacer” to insert between the back of the unit and the wall, which ended up being a plastic end piece for furniture legs that fit exactly.
Also…we found out that we had just enough space to assemble and would have been up a creek with any less space.
I also read everywhere in their literature not to forget the hinges with the doors. So I ordered hinges. Ikea FORGOT the hinges in the shipment. I guess good thing so, because when I called them they said when ordering online you don’t order extra hinges, they come with the doors, so they credited me for the double order. But if you go to their store you DO have to buy the hinges separate.
Great article and thorough.
Best regards, and thanks! KK German, Virginia Beach, VA
Thanks so much for adding all of that helpful info!!!
Hi Rachael, I never had any issues like that whatsoever – the bars are all really sturdy, as are the wardrobes themselves!
Hi Gil,
On the long side of our closet we did take out the baseboards since you wouldn’t be able to see if they were there or no. On the short side we kept the baseboard intact and added wood spacers between the PAX units and the wall to keep them exactly upright. And all of them were installed over preexisting carpet – that didn’t cause any type of issues. Hope that helps!
Kris
Love what you did! You are inspiring me to re-do my master. Quick question. I could either do 2 columns of 39″ PAX, or 3 columns of 29″. I have never had a “real” closet before, just what comes standard. In your opinion, would it work better to have fewer wider drawers, or more narrower drawers? I appreciate any advice!
Hi Wona! You lose a little bit of space with every additional unit that you use so my personal preference would be to do the two frames but it also depends on what you are planning to put in them so I would figure out your needs first. Good luck with your project!
Thank you for your honest review on the Pax. My husband and I are currently renovating our home and are going to use the Pax as a wardrobe in our bedroom. Unfortunately, we will not have a closet to put it in so it will be be near the entrance of the room. I am debati
I’m sorry, this was posted before I could finish but I am asking if the brown black showed signs of scratching or dust? I am debating between white and brown black
The brown-black definitely does show dust more than the white. Our black-brown closet system in our old house didn’t scratch at all – we even had renters in the house for two years and it still looked perfect!
We connected them together with screws and nuts through the predrilled holes on the sides of the units.
Hey Kris,
Thanks so much for providing an honest review. I am considering to purchase a Pax wardrobe with a door (to kind of serve as a standalone wardrobe in one corner of the room). I just wanted to ask if you guys decided to wall mount the pax wardrobes or just left them without the wall mount? I wanted to have Ikea folks assemble the wardrobe for us however, they said that for them to wall mount the wardrobe, the baseboards should be removed (so that the wardrobe can line up perfectly against the wall). Did you have any experience with mounting the Pax wardrobe on the wall? I have recently renovated my condo and I need extra storage space so I was very excited about Pax until I heard about removing the baseboards. Any help and advice that you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot.
Nina
Thanks Chris a lot. Really appreciate your insights.
Removing the baseboards is best but in our old house we left it in front of one of our wardrobe units and then just used a wood spacer between the wardrobe frame and the wall that was the same thickness as the baseboard. It allowed us to still safely attach it to the wall in a way that it was safe and completely upright.
This was great. Thank you for taking the time to write this review. If you did home modeling I’d ask you to come to ours – it’s an organizational NIGHTMARE!!!!!
Hi Jill, if you look a few comments up at my response to Nina I detail more about how I attached them. And no, I had no problems with the carpet!
Nice, helpful review. I just came back from IKEA and will be ordering a PAX system to fill up (most of) a 7′ x 10′ bedroom wall. With sliding mirrored doors, it will be about $700, but that is Much Less than having an actual Closet built!
I’ve been married 18 years and don’t have a closet!!! I’m finally getting one and this review helped as I was looking at closetmaid wardrobes. I’ve expanded my search thanks to your article and am having a closet built and will be taking the two hour trip to IKEA. Looking forward to it! I think after 18 years I deserve a nice closet, don’t you?
That’s super exciting – you totally deserve it!!
My wife and I purchased the Pax system for our bedroom and was so impressed and pleased with it that our 3 sons now also have it in their rooms too.I find the fact that you can customise it to suit anyone is brilliant and personally I will be buying it again when needed not that it will be any time soon as this is so well made I think it may outlast me.
Did you mount your PAX system to the wall? I just bought mine yesterday. I have yet to put it together and am reading mixed things on whether to mount it to the wall or not. Some people say putting it on carpet should be fine and others say as long as you have enough stuff in it it should be fine. But then others say it’s best to mount. I have no idea where to even start with wall mounting. Any advice? Or what did you do?
Yes, I did mount it to the wall – based on their height I honestly wouldn’t feel comfortable not securing them at the top because they could easily fall over. There are instructions in the box with the Pax system about how to secure them – it’s pretty easy to do!
I have a ten year old wood pax system and have been very happy with it. Unfortunately, they are no longer made of wood. I agree that the three colours are nice today. I went to Ikea a couple days ago and am now debating on California Closets for double the price or more. I don’t relish the thought of using particle board. I will still consider Ikea.
PAX was never made of “wood” but rather a wood substance . California Closets are, according to their own website, made from “recycled wood fibers” which is about exactly the same as PAX so either system you choose will not be real “wood” and you don’t want real wood as it’s completely unnecessary in this application.
I am so happy I googled reviews on the Pax system. Our closet is HUGE, like I am talking 8ft x 10ft, or some crazy thing and spending the money on the container store, and other highend places was not going to happen. I was browsing their site and came across the Pax system and I am so happy I did. They look great, i can’t wait to measure my closet and put together a beautiful closet that will last years to come.
They are not full extension.
The biggest question I have about the pax system you used is this……can I get doors to hide all the clothes. We don’t have a closet in our master bedroom. But we do have a long narrow room and would love to build a wardrobe along one wall. But I want them to look like wardrobes with hinged doors. ?
Ps….love what you’ve done!
Yes, you can absolutely get doors for it. In fact IKEA has a ton of different door options!
Yikes! That’s good to know!
It sounds as though the holes are stripped and the screws holding the doors on are slipping. You could try removing the doors entirely and filling in the holes with a filler that allows the re-installation of the screws. Something like a bondo filler that will really allow the screw to re-grip the material. This could have been installation error or just sagging over time due to the weight of the doors.
What would you say the percentage of cost Ikea vs Container store?
I would estimate that IKEA is about 1/3 the cost of The Container Store
We installed the pax wardrobe system on our master bedroom. We have two of the larger wardrobes an one more smaller (same height) they have the white lacquer sliding doors. LOVE the contemporary look and function is incredible. Have had them for 5 years. LOVE the look and function and was priced well enough we could splurge and get a custom look for less. Thank you IKEA.
Thank you
Just adding suggestions that might help someone else save some $$$.
1. Buy second-hand in good condition with no missing wood or major (like drawer slide rails) pieces.
Once you’ve sussed out the Pax size and color/doors you want, and have an idea as to how you want to organise the interior, check your local classifieds – craigslist in America, gumtree in Australia, and maybe ebay local pickup items. You can often get used Pax at absolute bargain prices. I got a 3 year old Pax set, 2m long with white doors, lots of drawers, a couple jewelry trays, glass pull out shelves, and clothes rails, for $100 – the person had been trying to sell it for $400, then $300, then she ran out of time in her moving schedule and was giving it away if it could disappear that night. Because I recognized value, I offered $100 for it even though I could have gotten it for free. It’s in at least “very good” condition, and all exterior surfaces are in excellent condition. Assembly (and therefore disassembly if you’re buying something put together) instructions can be downloaded from the IKEA site. Just make sure you have all the wood bits and pull-out rails.
Bonus: buying something used that’s already been disassembled likely means that any drawer slides and random pegs are already at least partially assembled and attached to the sides of frames, and can save time during assembly.
Screws and fasteners are available at the IKEA service counter (free in Australia and presumably elsewhere as well) if you’re missing any of those. The exact part numbers to request are in the assembly instructions.
In Australia, the Pax I have would sell for about $1000 before delivery. My cost including delivery a helper to cart it up 2 stories of stairs: $280. And you’re saving the planet.
2. Check your local IKEA’s “As is” section, particularly around mid year and end of year, because that’s where discontinued doors (and colors of doors) end up, marked down 40% or more, brand new.
I’m unable to use the PAX Planner because it requires the Adobe Flash Player which Chromebooks do not allow/support. Are you aware of any workarounds?
Unfortunately I’m not – sorry!
Hi, I took a scan through the comments and didn’t see this question asked/answered. I have had a set of pax wardrobes (with doors) in my apartment for a while! I was wondering if I could add on another unit now a few years later? Thanks
Yes you should be able to add on another wardrobe unit – they haven’t changed their wardrobe sizes in a very long time.
Loved, loved, loved the out come! It looks high end and sleek. I will be taking a trip ti IKEA very soon!
I love the entire closet system and I love that you did it yourself! One of my favorite parts of your closet is the carpet. Did you have to go through a dealer or were you able to order that yourself?
Thank you,
Hi Kris, Well… your closet is wonderful, I would swear it was all custom. You did a fabulous job and I’m sure it feels so good to have it all finished and organized. I am obsessed with your carpet from Kaleen. I looked it up but could not find anyplace in the Los Angeles area that carried it and it would be perfect for our bedroom. I loved so many of their styles but I really want to see them in person. Guess I’ll contact them and maybe they can help.
Lovely! How would you say the Ikea closet compares in cost to an Elfa system, if you have ever compare the two?
This is disgustingly neat and beautiful. I have an overwhelming compulsion to yell “No wire hangers and throw some baby powder around (corn starch, of course).” Seriously, you closet is absolutely gorgeous. Well done!
Hi, could you let us know what font you used on the labels?
Kris, your closet and bath look soooo good! Don’t you want to spend all your time in it now?
We put IKEA Pax system in our master closet last summer/fall. My husband and I installed faux wood flooring in ourselves. I will say we debated back and forth on carpet or wood. I am so glad we put the faux wood.
I too wish the planning tool was more user friendly. When we went in to order, we sat down with a kitchen cabinet designer to make sure we had maximized the space. So thankful we did because we were able to add a corner piece and taller units on the side of our closet where the ceilings were lower. I wish they had the new drawer fronts….love the look! We added drawer pulls as well and like that it adds a more custom look since there is so much flat white. The only thing we have to add is glass doors to the shoe shelves. I wasn’t sure we would want them but you see our shoes from our bedroom and I think it will add more.
Your jewelry drawer looks so organized and handy with the glass shelf. I went back and forth on adding one but I already had a jewelry armoire that my husbands grandmother gave us. Their inserts are useful. I am with you on the baskets. We added the container store linen wrapped boxes.
Your pocket door and hardware is one I would love to add to our future home. Speaking of future home, we will not hesitate to add IKEA Pax to our next home. It is that good!
Thanks for sharing all the details. Have a wonderful Monday!
Love! (especially the drawer pulls). When we finished our basement & installed a bathroom, the debate was shower (him) or storage (me). I won the battle, and am so glad I did. I was able to fit two deep PAX units wall to wall, and framed it out with trim & crown molding, which makes it look like it belongs. Add some high gloss white doors and it`s a fashion statement, not just a closet. SO much storage space….I honestly don`t know what I`d do without it! Now, I have to get myself the plug covers….something I never did, that bothers me every time I open the doors!
My husband and I are currently planning something similar but are stuck on the width of our closet, worried using the traditional width pax 22” on both sides wouldn’t leave a wide enough walk space in the middle. I hadn’t considered 2 sizes. Can I ask how much space you have between the two now using both 22” and 13” compared to if you would have done 22” on both walls? Does it seems awkward at all having them different depths? Thanks!
Kris, congratulations on your amazing results — and, yes, I do have closet envy! In the closet I want to re-do, I’m looking for jewelry organizing options that will help prevent tarnishing of silver jewelry. Does the fabric lining in your jewelry drawers have tarnish-resistant properties? Are jewelry drawer locking systems available as an option for safekeeping valuable pieces? Also, what suggestions do you have for storing hats? I’d also love to know what font you used for your basket labels — so classy!
What a fantastic post! I’ve learned so much and wow !! I’m floored at how inexpensive this gorgeous closet is! I REALLY need to do the closets in my kids shared room. It’s a disaster in there! Thanks again.
Very informative and well done! But what about “hubby” Is he a nudist?
Nice wardrobe! May I ask does the screw to connect two PAX come with the wardrobe frame package or you get from Home Depot type of store? I am about to setup and would like to know . Thank you !
Hi the attachment bolts come with the frames. 2 per frame. I attached 2 frames so had 4 bolts and attached them in the 4 “corners” about 5 holes in from the edge on the front/back top/bottom.
This was so helpful! We just moved and we are looking at our options of installing custom closets! Thanks for sharing.
OMG! I’m in love with this space! What a beautiful job you did designing and adding the finishing touches!
Great post. Can I know how the clothes pull out hanger was installed. The backing rail , is that sold by ikea?
Great post! Planning my closet/office and I found this very helpful. Thanks so much
Hi Kris! Thank you for your great review. We are planning on doing our master closet in the Pax system (haven’t bought anything yet). Just wanted to know if you are familiar with the corner pieces. When we’re doing final measurements, how do you measure properly for the corners? We will need two corner pieces and not sure which measurement goes on what wall. Does that make sense? Thanks
I just want to say I love your blog and thank you so much for for all these details! I love that pants hanging feature you got!
I just want to say I love your blog and thank you so much for for all these details! I love that pants hanging feature you got!
I do have one question, do you have to rip out the flooring in order to install the closet? Thanks!
I love your closet, we are doing a dressing room and are thinking of doing the Ikea pax system. Can you please let me know where you got the white weaved baskets, they look great, also the carpet, is it a large rug or a carpet that you meed to install it
Thanks a lot
Marcia
Hi! I admire your shoe storage design section. can you tell me the tilt angle (or how many holes the end part is high than the front part of the shoe shelf)? And the distance between she shelves??? It seems like you have the perfect design, thanks!!
You did an amazing job! I am looking at Ikea’s new system, Aurdal, for my son’s closet. Your walk-in is amazing and the photos are beautiful. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
Hi! Thank you so much for this. I’m redoing my closet based on these steps and so excited to get it complete. I’ve taken the trim paint color to both Lowe’s and Home Depot but they don’t recognize the code. Can you share where the paint was mixed? Thank you again!!
Super helpful. I’m planning out a 14′ wall. Have the Pax units picked out and found your post while researching accessories. Are you happy with the pants hanging system? Wondering if they are much better than just using hangers. I tend to pick out lots of bells and whistles then wish I had kept things simpler.
I saw another blog post where they didn’t use the back panels and instead lined their wall with cedar. Do you see any red flags with that? FYI that we will be putting the hinged doors on so will only see the cedar when doors are open.
Thanks
Love your closet design. Can you please share the name and brand of carpet you chose for you closet?
Hi Amy – that info is actually in the post. Just check out the paragraph above the close up photo of the carpet 🙂
What are these gorgeous handles that you used on your closet drawers?? Where can I find them?
Hi Jamila,
Those pulls are linked to two sources in this post: https://www.drivenbydecor.com/coat-closet-ikea-pax-wardrobe/
This may be a strange comment but I’m obsessed with the carpeting you chose! Haha
Thank you for sharing your ideas and information! Your closet looks beautiful. We just finished ours and I am wondering what was the best method you used to take off all the stickers from the cabinets? They are horrible to remove! Thanks!
Thank you! I used a razor scraper and Goo Gone to remove the stickers! It’s so stupid that they even put those stickers on there in the first place…
One more question, the small trim between walls and cabinets, what medium did you use to secure them to the wall/cabinet?
Great article! Ikea did just very recently update their PAX planner tool and it is somewhat more user friendly now! However, now we’re dealing with an “out of stock” issue! Hoping to get out closet soon!
So glad I found this post on Pinterest! Hubby and I are redoing one of our main large closet sections on our main level to store my whole family’s shoes (5 total, 1 away at college) and some storage for other items. Right now we are planning on using 1 wardrobe frame to house the shoes like you have in your closet. How many shoes can you fit on 1 shelf? I am loving all the options to store all of our miscellaneous items as well! Thank you so much!
Hi Myra – I have 5 pairs of shoes on each shelf. If you nested them (turned one of each pair upside down) I’m pretty sure you could fit 6. Hope that helps!
Hello! So happy I found your IKEA PAX closet review!! I am about 3/4 of the way through building my PAX closet and I just recently built my first flat front drawer. It was only after that, that I found and started considering the framed front drawers…so I went out and bought some thinking I would switch to those instead, but when I built the first one, The front panel makes a creaking noise and doesn’t seem as sturdy as the flat front drawer. Now I’m not sure which to use! Just wondering if you’ve had any issues with the new style drawers? Your site is the ONLY thing I can find anywhere with these new frames front drawers!! Any cons with these drawers so far? Thank you and LOVE your closet!!!
Hi Lisa – that’s so strange! I built out Pax wardrobes using the flat drawer fronts in our laundry room and honestly didn’t notice any difference between those and the framed ones I used in our master closet. I’ve definitely not had any issues with it making noises or not being as sturdy with the framed fronts!
Thank you SO much! I knew you had both, so I was totally curious. I will contact Ikea…maybe I got a bad batch? Again, thanks for all of the tips! I have ordered all the hole covers that you talked about now too! 🙂
Hi Kris! I am in the process of building my Pax closet and need paint an old closet to match the new ones I have just bought, but I am having a hard time finding the paint. Do you remember where you bought it? Thank you! Karina
Yes, this post has the details on the paint I used: https://www.drivenbydecor.com/coat-closet-ikea-pax-wardrobe/
Thanks!
I love your walk in closet. I have one I would love to do that I share with my husband.
Do you share this closet with your husband. I don’t see his clothes
We still have our old master bedroom closet that was really small for the two of us to share but not bad for one person so he now has that one all to himself and I have the new one 🙂
Did you do anything to upgrade the backs that come with the Pax system? I am trying to figure out if I should upgrade them to plywood or wallpaper over them
Hi Coree – I didn’t do anything with the backs. Honestly once they’re full of clothes you really don’t see much of the back so I didn’t think it was worthwhile…
Thank you for this great post! I’ve been designing for a couple of weeks. It’s nice to see “real life” photos. I’m also looking at the framed front drawers. Two questions about those: Can you position them so that there isn’t a gap between each, so that the drawers are more flush against one another? I haven’t looked yet, but I wonder if the kitchen and wardrobe drawers are interchangeable for more options with colors and front sizes?
Hi Jamie – no you can’t position them so there’s no gap – mine are as close together as they will go. And I’m not sure about being able to use kitchen drawers – my guess is that it’s not possible since the width of the wardrobes isn’t standard kitchen cabinet width but I’ve never checked into it. Good luck with your closet!
Thank you, very helpful!!
I just want help with my bedroom as it is small and I have no storage space.
Thank you so much for this post! It was exactly what I was looking for to make a decision on our closet!
This is such a great detailed review, perfectly organized – to create such a perfectly organized space. I love that you included so many links and types of photos most people don’t think to do that are super helpful!!
Would you mind please telling me for the bin clips you used:
1) Did you print the labels on a certain size card stock with a certain font?
2) Would those same bin clips also fit on the Komplement/Pax drawers?
I have been slowly building my own wardrobe and really want to label the drawers and just love your labeling style!
Hi Ashley – I’m so glad it was helpful! Yes, I printed the bin labels on lightweight cardstock – I unfortunately don’t remember the exact font I used. I don’t think those bin clips would fit the drawers – the clip at the top is too narrow for that…
I have been in the process of designing our new closet and found this post. I am so thankful I did!! The tips on how to fill all the little holes and screws will save my sanity!!
Your closet is beautiful! Great job… and thank you for all the wonderful info! One question: do you have any suggestions for how to do an island with the Pax system? I don’t really want to do just a dresser, because I’d love to have the Pax skinnier drawers for jewelry in the island. Just wondered if you had any clever hacks for making that work!
Thank you!
Do I need to put paneling on the walls before I stalking g the PAX co.po ends or will the system. Cover them? Right now the closet has press board walls
Hello, Kris. Your closet design turned out beautifully- pretty to look at yet super functional, too. It has inspired me to create something similar. I also appreciate your expert finishing tips which are very creative.
We have a long and narrow master closet and I am wondering how wide the path is between the two wall systems? Also, how much space did you allow for each shoe shelf, i.e. distance between them?
Thanks so much!