What’s your Wardrobe Style? Sliding or Hinged

By Usha Balasubramanyan- April 06, 2024

When you’re designing your fitted wardrobe, you should make the right design decisions as you will be forced to live with the choices you make! Take your time to choose and weigh all the design elements carefully. The colour and style you pick will affect the aesthetics, and the materials and hardware you choose will impact the functionality and durability.

You might be wondering whether you should opt for sliding shutters or hinged shutters that will swing open. We’re here to tell you the pros and cons of sliding or hinged. Make your choice based on your usage patterns, the space available, your convenience and the décor theme that you are following for your bedroom.

sliding vs hinged wardrobe

Hinged Shutters Wardrobe

Most traditional wardrobes have hinged shutters, and this is the most conventional, cost-effective choice. Hinged shutters can be adapted to classical as well as contemporary design themes. They also suit L-shaped corners and can be fitted along walls that are angled.

Hinged doors offer better visibility of the contents as all the doors can be kept open at the same time. This is not possible in a wardrobe with sliding shutters, as the shutter will always slide against one-half of the wardrobe which will be concealed.

If your bedroom is on the smaller side, you have to plan the space to allow the doors to swing out in such a way that free movement is not obstructed. This means that ideally, if each shutter is 2 feet wide, you should have at least 4 ½ to 5 feet space in front of the wardrobe to allow ease of usage.

Sliding shutters vs hinged Shutter Wardrobe

Sliding Shutters Wardrobe

Sliding shutters slide horizontally on a track that is fitted either to the top and bottom of the wardrobe or are hung from just the top alone. Depending on the width of the room, you can have two or three doors for the length of your wardrobe. Each shutter should ideally not be more than three or four feet wide as it becomes very heavy and hence difficult to handle.

Sliding shutters do not obstruct the circulation space in the room, and as the doors do not swing out you require just 3 feet of free space in front of the shutter. This helps to streamline the space if your room is on the smaller side.

These shutters usually impart a sleek and contemporary look to your room and go very well with modern and minimalistic décor themes.

Sliding Vs Hinged Shutter Wardrobe

Properties	Sliding shutters	Hinged shutters
Appearance	Conventional, classic	Modern, elegant
Utility of inside space	Only one half can be viewed/accessed at a time	All doors can be kept open so you can view and access all the contents at once
Clearance in front of the wardrobe	Takes up minimum clearance in front of the wardrobe as the shutters do not open out	Requires space for the shutters to open out, plus circulation space in front
Cost	Expensive	Cost-effective
Durability	Needs to be handled with care, not suitable for very rough use	Rough use possible, sturdy and dependable
Repair/replacement	Not easy to repair, the entire door can be replaced easily	Hinges can be easily replaced
Design	These wardrobes can be adapted to different styles – flat panel, raised panel, steel, or mirrored, and can even have finishes like vinyl, opaque glass, fabric and leather	Hinged doors can either be flat or raised panelled, stained or painted
Space for accessories	The back of the shutter cannot be used at all	The back of the shutter can be used to store accessories, by adding a rack or hooks for ties, belts, scarves and so on.
Durability of hardware	Over time, these doors can come off the track. They need to be checked for levelness and whether tracks are clean of dust and debris.	Hinges often wear out or rust over a period of time. They get creaky with age too.
Maintenance	Tracks must be kept free of dirt	Relatively maintenance-free

Choosing your wardrobe design, and finding yourself overwhelmed by the choices available? You’re not alone. Set up a meeting with the HomeLane team, who can walk you through all your choices and the pros and cons of each!