Sliding wardrobe doors – what do you keep in yours?

Over the course of our 10 years of business, we have designed and supplied sliding wardrobe doors for use in a wide variety of situations – some of them quite surprising! We thought we'd share these with you and so below are what we believe are the top ten most imaginative uses of our sliding wardrobe doors.

1. The work-from-home office in a wardrobe

Over the last couple of years, for reasons not too difficult to imagine, more people than ever were forced to work from home. For many, this meant setting up temporarily on the kitchen table but for those with a little more space, a small spare bedroom or a space partitioned off from a larger room was often commandeered to create a home office. Indeed, if you find yourself often working from home (either permanently or occasionally) then creating a dedicated office or studio room that offers a contained yet flexible working environment through the day (or night!), but one that can be hidden away after work hours, is an essential. Sliding wardrobe doors can offer a perfect solution for creating such a space – simply slide them open to start the day’s work and then, when the kids come home from school, or it’s time to make the evening meal, or you’ve just had enough! – slide them shut again until the next day.

Spaces that lend themselves well to partitioning with sliding wardrobe doors to create a home office at one end of a long, narrow room or rooms that feature large or deep alcoves. Even if your home-working only requires an area of desk space to house a computer, some file storage and a pot plant, this can be effectively contained within a reasonably-sized alcove and the sliding wardrobe doors used to shut off the space safely and securely when your work is over for the day.

2. Hiding TVs and media centres in wardrobes

Most people have them but we don't all want them on show when they’re not in use. If you have a television mounted on a chimney breast in your bedroom with alcoves of reasonable depth on both sides then sliding doors can be used to great effect. The alcoves can be utilised as valuable wardrobe space and the TV screen, when not in use can also be hidden behind an additional door (or doors).

In a similar manner you could also use sliding doors in your living room or lounge to hide the TV, media centre, books, CDs, collections of games and film DVDs, or just your everyday clutter!

3. Bike storage in your wardrobe

If you need to store your bike indoors, in a hallway or lobby space for example, why not hide it away behind some sliding doors? If space is limited think about storing the bike vertically by hanging it from strategically positioned pegs in the wall, or by using one of the many specially designed storage rack systems available on the market.

4. The multi-functional sliding door cloakroom

We all accumulate clutter within our homes but this is often at its worst in the entrance porch or hallway, which can become a dumping ground for everything from shoes and boots, coats, bags and umbrellas to prams and buggies, scooters and bikes and all manner of pet paraphernalia! You likely won’t be able to stop all that stuff accumulating but at least with a smart installation of some sliding wardrobe doors and cleverly designed internal shelving/hanging space you can hide it away when it’s not in use. The beauty of made-to-measure sliding doors is that you can install the doors at any depth so no matter how narrow your hallway / entrance space is, you can create useful storage.

5. Sliding door kitchen pantry

If you like the idea of having open shelves in your kitchen but you’re not the tidiest person in the world, or you don’t like the idea of everything being on show when you have friends around for a meal, why not have the best of both worlds and hide them away with a set of sliding doors? Sliding doors can be installed effectively in the kitchen environment but we recommend that our aluminium framed doors are used as opposed to steel - framed doors, as with high moisture vapour arising from cooking, washing, mopping and the likelihood of splashes, drips and spills from everyday use, the steel will eventually begin to rust. Whether you are planning to use woodgrain effects or specific colours on the unit doors, shelves or end panels within your kitchen, there is a high probability that we can match them so if you are able to supply us with the product reference code (or a small sample) we can produce sliding door panels that match with your other kitchen furniture.

6. Utility spaces behind sliding door

Create a utility space with sliding wardrobe doors in your kitchen, or even your garage, and hide away the laundry, washing machine, tumble dryer, ironing board, vacuum etc. Or if you have a boiler you would prefer not to see but still need to have access to it, sliding wardrobe doors can offer a great solution. Again, for any environment that is likely to have increases in moisture vapour or humidity, we would recommend using our aluminium framed sliding doors.

7. A secret en-suite behind sliding wardrobe doors

Whether you’ve got space in your bedroom only for a small washbasin, a complete en-suite bathroom or a separate dressing room, then sliding wardrobe doors can be used effectively to create an area that can be partitioned-off or made more private from the rest of the room. We also know of customers who have entrances into an en-suite room with space either on one side or both sides and who have created wardrobes either side with sliding doors and used a double-sided door in the centre with a corridor / passage way into the en-suite. From the bedroom it looks like a continuous wardrobe but it is only when the central door is moved to one side that the entrance to the en-suite is revealed.

8. Showcase sliding cabinets

Clear-fronted sliding wardrobe doors can be used very effectively to protect and display your prized possessions, whether they may be a shoe collection in you bedroom or Star Wars memorabilia in your living room. With a wide range of options between full glazed to part glazed doors they can make the perfect show case or display case. Find out more about our Sliding door display cabinets.

9. Wardrobe reading nooks

Everyone needs a space they can call their own for a little 'me time'. If you have trouble finding your own quiet space for settling down with a great book, why not incorporate a reading nook reading snug within your wardrobe?

10. Built-in wardrobe clothes storage

Yes, we know this is at number ten but we couldn’t talk about what to put in your wardrobes without mentioning clothes at some point – it’s perhaps not the most imaginative use our doors get put to, but then again, people do have all kinds of clothes…

For help or advice

We hope you've found some inspiration in this article and that it’s given you some fresh ideas on how you may be able to use our sliding wardrobe doors in your own home. As always, if you would like to speak to one of our Design Team to discuss a specific use of your wardrobe please call us on 0800 035 1730.