By Valmont Custom Cabinetry · Published September 12, 2026 · No prices in the guides
Start with an inventory
Pull everything out and sort it into five piles. Long hang is coats, dresses and robes. Short hang is shirts, jackets and folded trousers on a hanger. Folded is knitwear, denim and anything that stretches on a hanger. Then shoes, then accessories: bags, belts, watches, jewellery.
Measure the hanging piles by pushing them together on a rail and reading the length. That number is honest in a way an estimate is not. Add a margin for what you will own in a few years, then bring the five numbers to the first meeting.
- Long hang: linear length on the rail.
- Short hang: linear length, which can be doubled up.
- Folded: number of shelves or drawers it fills.
- Shoes: pairs, split into flat and heeled or boxed.
- Accessories: bags, belts, and anything that wants a lined drawer.
Hanging heights and shelf depths
Double hang is where the space is won. Two rails stacked in the height of one turns a short hang section into twice the capacity, and most wardrobes are mainly short hang. Long hang gets a single full height section, sized to the longest coat you actually keep. Set the top rail so the tallest user can reach it without a step.
Shelf depth follows the fold, not the wall. A deep shelf turns into two rows of jumpers where the back row is forgotten. Keep folded shelves to the depth of a folded garment and add adjustable pins so the spacing can change later.
Drawers, inserts and accessories
Drawer banks do the work that open shelves do badly: socks, underwear, gym kit and anything that looks untidy in view. Shallow drawers at the top, deeper drawers below. A glass fronted drawer keeps folded knitwear visible without the dust.
Jewellery inserts are lined trays with dividers, ring rolls and a section for chains, and they are built into a drawer rather than added on top. Belts and ties suit pull-out racks. Watches and sunglasses go in a shallow lined drawer, and a glass lid keeps them visible.
Reach-in and walk-in layouts
A reach-in closet is one wall you stand in front of, so everything has to be visible from the front. That means double hang across most of the width, a shelf over the top, and drawers in the middle bay where you can reach them straight on. Corners in a reach-in waste space, so avoid returning a run into a tight corner.
A walk-in gives two or three walls and a floor. The best layouts put hanging on the long walls, drawers where you naturally stand, and full height storage for luggage at the far end. Keep the door swing and any window clear.
An island in a walk-in
An island in a walk-in is a drawer bank with a top, and it needs a walkway on every side. If the room cannot give a comfortable aisle all the way round with a drawer open, the island will bruise your hips daily. In a narrower room a shallow peninsula off one end, or a bench with drawers under it, gives the same drawer space without the aisle.
Where the room does take one, the island top is a good place for a tray of jewellery, and drawers can be split shallow over deep.
Lighting, mirrors, doors and air
Lighting is what makes colours readable. Strips over the hanging rails and inside the drawer banks are wired in the shop before the boxes leave, and the electrician makes the final connection. A full length mirror needs a place to stand back from, so plan the distance before the mirror position.
Doors keep dust off and hide a busy interior. Open runs read lighter and cost less in doors. Either way the closet needs air: a closed cabinet with no ventilation and damp clothing gets musty, so leave a gap at the back or a vent detail and check the room's own airflow.
Finishes and what the rendering shows
Melamine interiors are hard wearing, easy to wipe and the practical choice inside a closet. Veneer interiors read warmer and suit a walk-in that is on show. Painted fronts on the doors and drawers let the closet match the rest of the millwork in the house. Every box, door and drawer front is cut, edged and finished in the Valmont shop in Richmond Hill and dry-fitted before delivery.
Step two is elevations plus a photorealistic 3D rendering, so you see the rail heights, the drawer split and the shelf spacing before anything is built. The quote is itemized line by line, which makes it easy to see what a change to the drawer count does.