Wardrobe rail, door and drawer dimensions: set-out and swing

At a glance

Millimetres. Thicknesses, gaps, heights and the standing zone are examples chosen to show the sums, not standards. Only the Approved Document M row is regulatory. The interior sizes are on the wardrobe and dressing room sheet.

From the clear interior to the overall size

The interior sheet works out what a wardrobe needs inside: the clear depth for hangers, the rail heights from the longest garment, the shelf and drawer sizes. This sheet starts where that one stops, with how a clear interior becomes an overall size and how the doors and drawers use the room. Three stacks decide the outside, and each is plain addition.

• Height. The floor to the ceiling is the plinth, the leaf height and the top rail: 100 + 2,350 + 150 = 2,600 in the example. The plinth is levelled first and the carcass set on it, and the top rail is where the run meets the ceiling, which is rarely level. Give each as a number and say what the top rail is scribed to.
• Width. Wall to wall is the leaves, the gaps between them, the gaps at each end and whatever remains. Four leaves in a 2,400 run, with 3 mm gaps, are 596 mm each and leave 1 mm for the scribe.
• Depth. The interior sheet defines the clear depth as the space from the back panel to the inside face of the closed door. The overall depth is that plus the back and the door: 600 + 18 + 22 = 640 mm with our example thicknesses. A handle projects beyond the door, and a sliding door adds a track zone. When a drawing says "600 deep", ask which of these it means.

The drawing shows all three on one run: two full-height leaves on the left, and on the right two shorter leaves over a bank of three drawers, 300, 250 and 150 mm high. The thicknesses, gaps and heights are examples chosen to show the sums.

How many leaves a run needs

A leaf cannot be wider than its hinges and its timber allow, and our interior sheet gives 500 to 600 mm for a hinged leaf and 900 to 1,000 mm for a sliding panel. Taking 600 and 1,000 as the limits, the table gives the fewest leaves that keep each one within the limit, and the width each comes to, with 3 mm edge and leaf gaps.

Two points on the table. A hinged run is always fully open: every leaf can be swung back, so the whole interior can be reached at once. A sliding run is only ever partly open, so for panels on n tracks stacked at one end the open share is (n - 1) / n of the width, ignoring the overlap between panels: half for two, two thirds for three. The sliding panel widths ignore that overlap, which adds to each panel and to the total, so ask for the maker's track and panel sizes.

Leaf height matters as much as width, because a tall leaf is heavy and bears on the hinges. We give no hinge count and no maximum height: the hinge maker's chart sets the count for a given height and weight, and the partner workshop states the heaviest leaf it will guarantee. See the door sizes sheet for the principle and the sideboard sheet for the same question on smaller doors.

Door swing: the floor each type uses

Each door type spends the floor differently, and all three are drawn for the same 1,200 mm bay with a 640 mm deep carcass.

• Hinged, 90 degrees. A 600 mm leaf sweeps a quarter disc of radius 600 mm. Two leaves sweep a 600 deep, 1,200 wide area that must stay clear of the bed foot, the bench and the next door. The person stands between the open leaves, so the floor needed in front is the leaf width, not the leaf width plus a standing zone.
• Hinged, 180 degrees. The leaf sweeps the same half disc but ends up parallel to the front, beside the carcass, instead of standing out in the room, which leaves the opening clear. The price is space at the side: the leaf's own width, in line with the front, must be free of walls, mouldings, outlets and the edge of the next piece of furniture, or there must be a flat face in line with the front for it to lie against. A leaf at the end of a run set between two walls cannot do it. Approved Document M volume 2 asks for it for built-in wardrobes in all bedrooms (paragraph 4.24(b)).
• Sliding. Nothing swings into the room, which is why a sliding run is used where there is little floor to give. The cost is the track zone, which adds to the depth, and the half or two thirds of the width that is open at once. Approved Document M asks that handles on hinged and sliding doors are easy to grip and operate and contrast with the door (4.24(c)).

Drawers: runner length and the zone in front

A drawer needs more room than its front suggests. A full-extension runner lets the drawer come out by about the runner's nominal length. The one runner listing we read gives nominal lengths from 300 to 600 mm in 50 mm steps, a minimum cabinet body depth of 604 mm for the 600 mm length and, for a 300 mm runner, a drawer travel of 290 mm. If body depth is the length plus 4 mm for every length, which the one listing suggests but does not prove, the longest runner that fits a 600 mm clear depth is 550 mm, and the drawer then comes out about 550 mm.

Add a standing zone and the drawing's 1,050 mm is the clear floor needed in front of an open drawer: 550 for the drawer and 500 for a person to stand beside it. 500 mm is an example for the drawing. It is close to the 1,000 mm aisle on the interior sheet, so an aisle of that width works with one drawer open and a person standing beside it, and not with two facing drawer banks open at once.

Two more points. A drawer front is the look and the runner is the capacity: ask for the runner's published rated load and extension, and see the drawer construction and runners sheet for the box itself. And the drawer box is narrower than the bay by the panels and the runners, which sit at each side: the listing's runner is 12.7 mm thick, about 25 mm in all, so a 764 mm clear bay takes a box of about 739 mm before any clearance.

Rails: where the supports fall

The rail itself, its section, material, finish and the span it will carry, is on the hanging rails sheet. This sheet gives the set-out facts that decide where its supports fall.

• Span is the bay's clear width. A rail runs between two uprights, so its span is the bay width less the two panels. With 18 mm panels the clear spans are 564 in a 600 bay, 764 in a 800 bay, 864 in a 900 bay, 964 in a 1,000 bay, 1,164 in a 1,200 bay. If the partner gives a span limit for the rail and the load, any bay wider than the limit plus the panels needs a centre support.
• Position. Height to the tube centre, and the centre line, set the hanger's hang: the interior sheet gives the sums and puts the centre about half the clear depth from the back. Measure from the same datum as the shelves.
• Supports. A rail is carried by sockets at each end and by centre supports. Where the end supports fix to is a drawing detail: a panel, a solid fillet or a metal bracket, each with its own limit.
• Shelves above and drawers below. Shelf and rail spans are structural questions. The shelving sheet shows how to check a shelf; the partner workshop gives the rail and the drawer loads it has tested or the maker rates.

Hotel and accessible bedrooms, and the standards

For hotel and other bedrooms in buildings other than dwellings in England, Approved Document M volume 2 says that in all bedrooms swing doors provided for built-in wardrobes and other storage systems open through 180 degrees (paragraph 4.24(b)); that handles on hinged and sliding doors are easy to grip and operate and contrast with the door (4.24(c)); and that built-in wardrobes and shelving are accessible and convenient to use (4.20). It gives no rail, shelf or drawer height. Our hotel guestroom sheet sets those paragraphs in a plan, and the Approved Document M sheet lists the rest. For dwellings, the interior sheet gives the provisions of Approved Document M volume 1 that touch wardrobes.

The test standards for storage furniture are named, not applied: BS EN 16122:2012 (test methods for strength, durability and stability of domestic and non-domestic storage furniture; BSI lists it as current), BS EN 16121:2023 (non-domestic storage furniture; current, published 30 April 2025) and BS EN 14749 (domestic and kitchen storage units; BSI Knowledge lists the 2016 edition as current and under review, while standards sellers show it replaced by BS EN 14749:2016+A1:2022: confirm which applies). None was read, and none gives rail, shelf or drawer layout dimensions.

Wardrobe run [ref]: [2,400] mm wall to wall x [2,600] mm floor to ceiling x [640] mm overall depth (clear depth [600] mm from the back panel to the inside face of the closed door, back [18] mm, door [22] mm, handle projection [ ] mm). Plinth [100] mm, top rail [150] mm scribed to [the ceiling]. Leaves [4] x [596] mm with [3] mm gaps and [3] mm edge gaps; the remainder [1] mm taken in the scribe. All dimensions from finished floor level and [named wall]; the drawing governs over any catalogue figure.

Doors [hinged / sliding]. Hinged leaves not wider than [600] mm and not higher than [2,350] mm, on hinges rated by the hinge maker's chart for a leaf of [ ] kg (count [ ] per leaf, stated by the partner workshop in writing). In bedrooms in buildings other than dwellings, swing doors to built-in wardrobes to open through [180] degrees (Approved Document M volume 2, 4.24(b)), with hinge, offset and opening angle on the shop drawing, and the space beside the wardrobe in line with its front kept free for each leaf. Sliding panels not wider than [1,000] mm on [track ref], track zone [75] mm added to the overall depth. Handles easy to grip and operate and contrasting with the door [ref].

Drawers [3] fronts [300 / 250 / 150] mm, full-extension runners [nominal length 550] mm rated [ ] kg, minimum body depth [554] mm, in a clear depth of [600] mm; clear floor in front of an open drawer [1,050] mm. Hanging rail [section, material and finish as hanging rails sheet ref], centre [1,800] mm above finished floor, centred in the clear depth; clear span between supports not more than [ ] mm as stated by the partner workshop for a load of [ ] kg; centre support where the clear bay width exceeds it. Rail, shelf and drawer loads confirmed by the partner workshop in writing.

Standards and sources

• Approved Document M, Volume 2 (2015 edition incorporating 2020 and 2024 amendments; England): paragraphs 4.20 and 4.24(b) and (c) read on 5 and 6 November 2026.
• BS EN 16122:2012, BS EN 16121:2023, BS EN 14749: storage furniture test methods and requirements: status read from BSI Knowledge listings on 6 Nov 2026 (16122 current; 16121 current, published 30 Apr 2025; 14749:2016 current, under review, with a conflicting seller listing for the 2016+A1:2022 edition). Texts not read; no figures quoted. BS EN 15338 (extension elements): the BSI record seen is a draft for comment, so no edition is cited here; see the drawer construction sheet for the published edition.
• Make Bespoke Studio technical library: wardrobe and dressing room dimensions: the interior sizes this sheet builds on.

Questions we are asked

How wide can a wardrobe door be?

Our interior sheet gives 500 to 600 mm for a hinged leaf and 900 to 1,000 mm for a sliding panel, which are conventions, not a standard. A wider leaf loads its hinges and its timber, and a wider sliding panel is heavier on its track. The partner workshop states the widest and heaviest leaf it will guarantee.

How many doors does a wardrobe of a given width need?

Divide the run by the largest leaf you will accept. With a 600 mm limit and 3 mm gaps, 1,200 needs 2 leaves of 595, 1,800 needs 3 of 596 and 2,400 needs 4 of 596. The table on this sheet gives the fewest leaves that keep each within the limit.

How much floor space does a hinged wardrobe door need?

A leaf swept through 90 degrees needs a quarter disc of its own width: 600 mm for a 600 mm leaf. Two leaves sweep a 600 mm deep area across the bay. A leaf opened through 180 degrees sweeps the same area but ends parallel to the front, beside the carcass, so it needs its own width free at the side.

Do hotel wardrobe doors have to open to 180 degrees?

In England, Approved Document M volume 2 paragraph 4.24(b) says that in all bedrooms swing doors provided for built-in wardrobes and other storage systems open through 180 degrees. Ask the partner workshop for a hinge that does it and for its offset, and keep the space beside the wardrobe, in line with its front, free for the leaf.

What drawer runner length fits a 600 mm deep wardrobe?

In the one runner listing we read, the body depth needed is the nominal length plus 4 mm and lengths come in 50 mm steps to 600, so a 600 mm clear depth takes 550 mm runners, not 600. Confirm with the runner maker's data sheet, which also gives the rated load.

How much space is needed in front of an open drawer?

About the runner length plus a standing zone: 550 plus 500 is 1,050 mm in our example, close to the 1,000 mm aisle on the interior sheet. The standing zone is an example value.

How do I work out how far a wardrobe rail spans?

A rail runs between two uprights, so the span is the bay width less the two panels: 1,164 mm in a 1,200 mm bay with 18 mm panels. If the partner gives a span limit for the rail and its load, any wider bay needs a centre support. The rail itself is on the hanging rails sheet.