I recently purchased a home and my search was quite extensive. To be exact, I looked at 74 options!
When I walked through the rooms of all these households, I came across something that I didn’t really like - my own reflection in the mirrored doors of the closets. Framing the mirrors in gilded frames only increased my distaste.
I’m not against mirrors, in many cases they are a great opportunity to visually expand the space and add variety to the interior, but mirrored cabinet doors are not for me. So I contacted several designers and asked for suggestions on cabinet door designs for the walk-in closet and more.
I present to the visitors of the Design Museum website the projects that these talented specialists offered me for various interior styles.
Leave your mark
A great way to add contrast to a neutral closet palette is to use dark wood on the cabinet doors, creating a sort of crosshair pattern across multiple cells. For those who like the “X” pattern, such door decor will help, among other things, to ventilate items of clothing in closets - a thin fabric matching the color is simply attached to the wooden frames on the inside.
The cabinets pictured here use silk fabric in a neutral shade, but you can use brighter colors to lift the mood and give a more positive vibe to your closet.
Color solutions
As for colors, here, as they say, imagination is limitless. Based on the client’s personal preferences, the choice can fall on any of the existing colors of modern cabinets. The popularity of using painting and photo printing continues unabated, thanks to which manufactured cabinet furniture is highly original and has a bright design accent.
When choosing a color scheme, it is necessary to take into account that darkened shades tend to absorb the color of the sun, while white ones enhance it. In addition, from the presented photos we can conclude that the tone of the wallpaper should also be taken into account.
If you are leaning towards a light modern cabinet, shades of ash, maple, milky oak, cherry, alder, beech, and coco bola would be a suitable choice. These tones will create an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. Fans of dark colors should take a closer look at wenge, cedar, zebrawood, Italian walnut, mahogany, and ecco walnut.
Use oriental motifs
Instead of traditional wardrobe doors, try adding a little oriental beauty to the style of your space. Use Feng Shui practice to create a harmonious and balanced environment.
By using soft-colored screen doors, you will not only bring a touch of Asia to your bedroom decor, but you will also be able to diversify the color scheme of the room.
Forms
Cabinets are made in the shape of a rectangle, semi-oval or semicircle.
Straight cabinets
A straight cabinet is the classic and most popular design in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped.
It comes in different widths and heights. The straight façade is suitable for almost any interior style; you can choose the optimal size for any room size.
Radial
The cabinet itself and its facade are made in the shape of a semicircle or semi-oval. It comes with an inner radius (concave) or an outer radius (convex). In complex structures, the outer and inner radii are combined. The result is elongated furniture with smooth shapes.
Corner wardrobe with concave facade
Corner wardrobe with a convex facade
Radius facades look original and are irreplaceable in rooms with a non-standard layout; if you want to place furniture in a corner or niche.
Stay within your budget
If you have to arrange a really large dressing room with several closets, then it is important not to go beyond the amount that you initially planned. As an option, you can use ready-made solutions for dressing room furniture from Ikea.
This is a visually attractive and practical option for decorating the fronts of your cabinets, which will not ruin the family budget.
Make sure it matches the style
To decorate the facades of wardrobes, use the same models as when decorating interior doorways. Thus, you can not only achieve a stylistic match of all elements of the bedroom interior, but also create a more harmonious atmosphere.
The photo shows a non-trivial version of doors that are used as interior doors in all rooms of the house and as facades of built-in wardrobes. These are four-panel doors made of white painted MDF and bronze fittings. Such doors will look harmonious both in a traditional interior and in a modern room design.
Basic materials for facades
Cabinet doors are made from different materials. The environmental friendliness, reliability, durability and price of furniture depend on their quality.
Tree
Wood is the most expensive material used to make luxury furniture.
Wood is valued for its naturalness, safety for health, durability and the special appearance of its natural texture. Wooden facades can be decorated with beautiful carvings, reconstructed if necessary and matched to any interior style.
Disadvantages of wooden doors: high price, low resistance to moisture, need to be treated with anti-fungus and mold products.
MDF
This is a wood-fiber board, which is characterized by high density and ductility. MDF is almost as strong, environmentally friendly and durable as wood. It can also be milled and carved; bent facades can be made from the material. Unlike wood, MDF is not afraid of moisture, does not require regular maintenance, and is cheaper.
The color of the MDF wardrobe is usually monochromatic, neutral shades predominate
Disadvantage of MDF: sensitivity to high temperatures.
Chipboard
Chipboard is the most common type of facade due to its low cost.
A budget option for wood board, which is significantly inferior in characteristics to MDF. Chipboard is a less durable material, but is resistant to moisture and high temperatures. Not suitable for making shaped furniture and due to the content of formaldehyde resins it is considered harmful to health.
Glass and mirror
Such cabinets are mainly installed in corridors and small rooms.
Tempered glass or mirror are used to make cabinet doors. Glass material is practical, durable, easy to maintain, and resistant to mechanical stress. But it has a strength threshold - it can break if hit hard by a hard object.
Cladding and decoration
In addition to the beautiful texture of wood, the main materials of the facades are lined and decorated with various materials. This helps achieve visual appeal and improves the performance characteristics of the basic materials.
PVC film
Facades made of MDF and chipboard are covered with PVC film.
After lining with PVC film, the base material becomes moisture-resistant, durable, and resistant to high temperatures. The PVC surface does not fade or wear out. The downside of PVC is its low resistance to mechanical stress and the impossibility of restoration. If you are not careful, scratches and chips will appear on the surface.
The material comes in different colors and can imitate the texture of wood, stone, leather and other natural materials. You can purchase a cabinet with an original facade for a relatively low price.
Plastic (acrylic)
Plastic facade is an alternative to expensive types.
MDF and chipboard are covered with plastic. The material has the same properties as PVC film, but is more resistant to mechanical damage and is more expensive. It comes in different colors and textures, matte or glossy. Plastic is applied only to flat surfaces; carved facades are not finished with it.
Lakobil, lakomat, sandblasting pattern
These are three ways to decorate durable glass. Lakobil is glass with the back side painted in different colors. Lakomat - frosted glass, to obtain such a surface, the material is coated with a special varnish.
Lacobel glass cabinet front
Sliding wardrobe with frosted glass Lakomat
Sandblasting pattern allows you to refine the facade
Sandblasting technology - spraying and fixing sand or powder on the surface of glass. The result is a pattern on the glass with a rough and matte surface.
Mirrors
A sliding wardrobe with mirror doors fits perfectly into the interior of the hallway and other rooms.
The facade of the wardrobe can be made entirely of tempered mirror. Such furniture visually expands the space and is recommended for cramped rooms. Mirrors are also used as a decorative and functional element. Usually they are attached to one of the doors.
Veneer
Veneer helps to achieve an unusual and unique external design of a sliding wardrobe.
This is a thin layer of natural wood that completely replicates its texture. Veneer is used for cladding chipboard, MDF or cheap types of wood, the surface is varnished. In appearance, veneered furniture is no different from wooden furniture, and will cost much less.
Rattan and bamboo
Bamboo is glued onto strips of fabric, which are attached to MDF or chipboard panels.
An original solution is to decorate it with rattan or bamboo. This option is ideal for interior styles in the following styles: eco, country, Scandinavian, Provence. Both materials are moisture resistant, retain their shape well, are easy to clean and have good strength. The materials are often used in combination with wood and glass.
Leather
Cabinets trimmed with leather look expensive, extraordinary, and are pleasant to the touch.
Artificial or natural leather is used to cover the main material. This is a practical material that does not fade in the sun, does not crack or deform, but scratches quickly appear on it.
The cabinet facade can be solid - made entirely of wooden materials, glass or mirror. The design of some models combines these materials.
Accentuate your cabinets
You can make your closet an accent element of your interior. Use the well-known method of artificially aging wooden furniture - walnut wood looks antique if it is partially treated with light plaster.
In the bedroom image shown in the photo, the closet doors do not reach the floor, touching the snow-white panel, placed specifically to give the closet a more built-in look. Such a cabinet looks great against the background of walls decorated with decorative plaster, especially if the bedroom is designed in one of the country, Provence or shabby chic styles.
Features and Benefits
It is difficult to overestimate the advantages of sliding wardrobes. Combining practicality and elegance, they fit well into even small rooms. Thanks to the presence of a huge color palette, today you can purchase a model of any color. There are both single-color options and furniture in two or more colors. It’s also good that you can choose any internal filling yourself.
Sliding wardrobes are relevant everywhere, from the hallway to the children's room. And to make this element of the interior even more attractive, there are many ways. Chic sandblasting designs, photo wallpapers and photo printing, laser engraving are available to every owner today.
A wardrobe can be made beautiful even without a pattern; beautiful mirrored and glossy facades look no less majestic. And due to good lighting, the interior will only benefit - the room will visually increase in size and be brighter.
Use the garage door principle
If you have a narrow closet or little space in the bedroom to accommodate swing doors (they require at least a meter of free space to open them), try large “garage” doors on slides.
A large door like in a garage or shed can open only a closet or the entire room, depending on the position. In a snow-white design, such a door will not look heavy and can bring a touch of rural life to the decor of your room.
Designer novelties
Regularly, thanks to the efforts of designers and developers, new products appear that are distinguished by bold decisions and fresh views. Extraordinary ideas that never cease to amaze with their originality are implemented year after year. Those who are not indifferent to fashion trends, picked up by the modern world of cabinets, will certainly like models where such materials as were used to transform the facade:
- bamboo;
- rattan;
- decoracrylic;
- artificial leather;
- varnish;
- sandblasting.
Decoracrylic
Faux leather
Sandblasting
Bamboo
Rattan
For connoisseurs of the beautiful and extraordinary, a design with stained glass windows can be offered, which will turn unremarkable furniture into a real work of art.
Other creative solutions involve the presence of colored mirrors and lighting. Among the super-new products are radius models with a round-shaped door, which will add a touch of extravagance. The option made according to an individual sketch still remains relevant. You can simply show the photo to the manufacturers, and you will have the opportunity to get an absolutely unique solution for a modern cabinet with the desired color, size, shape, so you are guaranteed exclusivity.
Practical, functional, reliable – this is how we can characterize today’s cabinet furniture. In addition to the fact that the function of modern fashionable wardrobes is the convenience of storing things, they can now be considered as a stylish element of any interior.
Add ventilation to cabinets
If you use a wood louvre design at the top of cabinet doors, you allow air to circulate in the space around the cabinets. This is very convenient and practical, especially for the southern regions of the country.
The photo shows a design project for a bedroom in a Mexican house. The doors were made from local wood sourced from the forests of Cancun. In the design of this built-in wardrobe, the designers decided to use a mirror insert in the arched part to create the illusion of refraction of the space of the room.
Use contrasting combinations
An option to dilute standard sliding doors on an aluminum frame is to use contrasting inserts. If the main door leaf is white, then you can insert stripes in the color of walnut and the now popular wenge.
The play of contrasts will not only add style to your doors, but will also transform the entire room. Any catchy, bright decorative elements can change the character of the interior without any special financial costs. In addition, sliding doors are an excellent option for rooms where it is not possible to install swing doors.
Avoid "conflicts"
It happens that the possibility of installing hinged cabinet fronts is limited by the movement of interior doors. If a “conflict” between the doors is possible, then it is better to avoid it by any means, so that later you do not suffer during the operation of the cabinets.
In the project presented in the photo, the designers had to deal with an architecturally complex building - a new structure erected on an existing foundation. As a result, the ceilings of the rooms were low, the doors leading from the room to the stairs were located exactly where the closet should open. Therefore, it was decided to install built-in wardrobe doors sliding on skids.
