About to expand our master closet and trying to decide on the final cabinet build. The closet is going to be roughly 60" x 100". While I am perfectly capable of building the full closet out of plywood with custom sized cabinet boxes, drawer boxes, shelves, etc., I have also been messing around with the IKEA Pax planner and viewing some custom PAX installations on YouTube, feel confident I can rip down some of the PAX frames to fill out the space almost completely. Leaving my OCD out of this, do the advantages of a full custom build outweigh the time saved by buying the PAX system and custom cutting the components? Are prebuilt IKEA drawers on 3/4" extension slides that much worse that a custom sized drawers on full extension slides?

Pros of IKEA
- Everything is already prefinished
- All the parts are already included. No constant trips to the hardware store
- Drawer and lighting components can be easily interchanged by a simple trip back to IKEA

Pros of Custom Build
- All the space is fully used. The custom IKEA layout will have a lot of empty space behind the drawers (15-18" deep cabinets with only 13.5" deep drawers) and there is some wall space not getting used with the IKEA layout.
- No limit to components that serve a specific wardrobe storage function
- The finished look
- Roughly half the cost ($2100 @ IKEA vs $1200 plywood)

Time wise the IKEA closet can be assembled in a long weekend. The custom built closet will probably take 3 solid weeks of evening fabrication, assembly, and painting.

Here are the two different renderings (yes my custom built closet looks like the PAX because functionally the system is pretty awesome). The IKEA room is oversized so that I could get all frames in that will be need to be purchased but later cut down.

IKEA


Custom Option (Sorry for the fish eye elevations, just trying to get everything in one screenshot)

I went with IKEA with absolutely no regrets. They may run a bit more but the ability to quickly change things up makes it worth the price.

I am over 45yo = IKEA
I am under 45yo = Custom
Haha

Went with Ikea for nursery closet, needed something simple. Easy to install and look fine. Would say if you're going that way make sure they have all the components in stock or available for delivery; been waiting for a particular pullout drawer since January and have no indication it'll be available anytime soon.

The amount of finishing required for the custom option makes me want to puke just thinking about it. I would go with ikea and then custom on the infills you need. Matching the ikea finish isn't that hard.

I used IKEA for my laundry room. I used trim to finish out the edges o0f the IKEA units and hide the seams between them. IMO you can still have a custom look with IKEA for a marginal amount of additional work and expense.

Honestly, it's the price. If you are capable of doing yourself, you're going to save yourself a few grand doing it.

mts6175 said:

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Honestly, it's the price. If you are capable of doing yourself, you're going to save yourself a few grand doing it.

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Maybe if your time is worth nothing to you. I'm at the point I have to factor in a minimum amount of cost for my time into these decisions because it will either take away from family time, working out, or sleep (or all 3).

Aggietaco said:

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mts6175 said:

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Honestly, it's the price. If you are capable of doing yourself, you're going to save yourself a few grand doing it.

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Maybe if your time is worth nothing to you. I'm at the point I have to factor in a minimum amount of cost for my time into these decisions because it will either take away from family time, working out, or sleep (or all 3).

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Then you answered your question.

Made this same decision recently. Went with a combo of IKEA and custom. Turned out great and super happy with the results.

I'll provide the obligatory non-requested answer...

Have you considered any of the other semi-custom closet options? You could put in your specific dimensions and build-out the whole space vs. having to have fillers with IKEA since you're tied to their dimensions.

Side Note: I used PAX to build out some hallway storage closets for my mom. While they were standard IKEA assembly, there were a few pieces that chipped-out/broke while I was assembling them, and since it's particle board, once it was broken, there was no fixing it. Our entire kitchen is IKEA boxes with custom fronts, so I know how to assemble IKEA furniture and not overtighten things. For whatever reason, some of these pieces of PAX didn't hold up.