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Dilemas de diseño
paulwieland

Have a carpenter build my master closet or go with a closet system?

Paul
hace 6 años

I'm redoing a master bath/laundry/walk in closet (it's one 15x13 section of my house).

The closet/laundry is open to the master bathroom with no door, therefore it's important to me that the closet be high quality.

So my question is in two parts:

  1. Are these closet companies providing a high quality product in terms of fit and finish or should I have a cabinet maker custom build one?
  2. I've looked online at both Easy Closets and California Closets. I understand that California Closets are more expensive because they include design and installation, but is one of any higher quality than the other? Or are they basically the same?

Here's the space I'm working with (closet on the right in pink):


Respuesta destacada
  • Paul
    Autor original
    hace 4 años

    Wound up designing and building my own closet. It’s miles better than any closet system and cost about 1/4 the price.

    Comentarios (13)

    • acm
      hace 6 años

      I'd say they're very close to identical. The design isn't a waste, especially if you haven't had a closet system before, because they can look at your current closets and figure out the best way to fit all that stuff and a few extras into your space. But if you measure the feet of rod you have, think about what could hang double, and generally make thoughtful use of the EasyClosets tools, you can come up with a great closet design pretty cheaply.


      Brag pics · Más información

      One difference might be finishes -- that is, I think that CC may have all-wood closet options, "designer" looks, and the like, while EC has cool modern laminates, but not quite so much pizzaz. That doesn't matter to me, as I like my closets all white and not drawing attention to themselves, but given your concern about looks of what you can see from the bathroom, it might factor into your decision. (I think you can get samples of the finishes from EC, and presumably a CC rep would bring them if asked, so you can see if what they offer makes the difference to you -- I do presume that such factors could take the price up very quickly though!) Also, CC does the installation for you, while EC sends directions -- probably this doesn't really factor in, if you already have contractors doing your work...

      Paul agradeció a acm
    • Marsha Lorentzen
      hace 6 años

      Have used CC in three homes...great help with design, always very satisfied.

    • Sandy R
      hace 6 años
      If you have a lot of shoes, ask about a drawer storage system. I saved this picture from the Houzz site recently and thought it was a great idea for keeping them clean and organized.
    • PRO
      Closet Factory - Colorado
      hace 6 años

      Paul,

      I don't know what part of the country you're in, and whether this is even an option, but Closet Factory is different from the aforementioned options in that it is a floor-based system as opposed to wall-hung. Our system supports the weight of the overall unit using the strength of the floor as opposed to hanging the cabinets from a wall rail. Some differences with regard to your carpenter/closet company dilemma:

      1. Closet companies are better closet designers than carpenters and DIY designs;

      2. Custom closets are adjustable meaning if/when your storage needs change, you can alter configurations easily whereas carpenter work is fixed. Floor-based closets offer more adjustability than wall-hung systems; and

      3. A good closet designer will design the space based on your storage needs, whereas carpenters typically work off of a formula which says "X" percent of the linear feet needs to be hanging, "X" percent needs to be shelves, etc.

      Hope that helps, and good luck!

    • PRO
      Joseph Corlett, LLC
      hace 6 años

      My wife hired the closet guy a few doors down from my shop. Didn't even let me bid.

    • J Inhof
      hace 4 años

      If your concern is for efficient use of closet space I would at least interview Cal Closets or another pro closet company. They are a little expensive but you might pick up some ideas and they do have fancier cabinet faces to choose from.


      I got quotes from Cal Closets for my laundry room and our rep had lots of good ideas. Then our kitchen designer and contractor said they could do it for less and we could have our cabs match the kitchen—real wood, blah blah. Well, I went with my kitchen designer and now I realize the space planning is much less efficient than the Cal Closet plan (which of course CC doesn’t give you a copy of until you make the down payment, and rightly so.)


      I did have the CC rep do the walk in pantry and I am very pleased with that. Several years ago they did our master closet and the design is brilliant. I am not at all associated with CC.

    • mononhemeter
      hace 4 años

      Wow! Beautiful work!

      Paul agradeció a mononhemeter
    • Mittens Cat
      hace 4 años

      @Paul, outstanding! We are in the same boat (albeit with an 8x8 closet) and would love to hear how you did it! :)

      Paul agradeció a Mittens Cat
    • Paul
      Autor original
      hace 4 años

      @Mittens Cat First I did a mock up of what I wanted to build in Sketchup. Then I laid out the pieces flat to form a virtual cut sheet to get an exact amount of plywood and face frame needed. I bought 4x8' sheets of poplar plywood and matching poplar face frame boards from the local lumber yard.


      I also bought a kreg rip cut for making all of the 14 & 15" rips from the full 4x8' sheets and a kreg cabinet jig for fastening the face frames to each other and also for making some of the plywood boxes. I also bought a biscuit joiner for fastening the face frames.


      After everything was cut, I sanded and stained all of the individual pieces using a rag and minwax oil based stain. The face frame was assembled (glued, biscuited and screwed) first, round over routered second to take the sharp edges off, then sanded and stained. The staining was honestly the worst part of the project, as there is a lot of surface area to stain.


      All in I spent around $1200 in materials and another $200 in tools.


      Cut sheet in sketchup


      The workshop


      Raw materials


      kreg rip cut in action


      Staining


      A pile of ripped poplar plywood pieces that will form the boxes


    • chispa
      hace 4 años

      Paul, nicely done!

      Another option is the ELFA closet systems from The Container Store. I have used them for a couple of closet and a desk area, and have been very happy with the product. They have a good sale once or twice per year.

    • Mittens Cat
      hace 4 años

      @Paul, yowza. Very impressive--you're obviously not the average homeowner who's afraid to pick up anything beyond a tape measure!

      @chispa, I have been eyeing ELFA for decades, always pondering the next January sale...going to stop in at The Container Store today and maybe take the plunge. We have one 8x8' walk-in and two standard reach-ins. What perplexes me are the doors. Why is it so hard for these companies to supply the reach-in closets with sliding doors?

      Paul agradeció a Mittens Cat
    • emilytwalker
      hace 4 años

      I vote for a closet company. We used Closets by Design in the Seattle area for our walk-in master closet about 10 years ago. We got quotes from them, California Closets, and one other closet/garage company, as well as did design mock-ups with the Container Store’s Elfa system. The reps all sat down with us to put together a design that very specifically met our individual needs — how many feet of long-hanging vs. short-hanging clothing, how many drawer feet of underwear, socks, what we preferred to hang, stack, or put in drawers, etc. I have a pull-out folding surface that can be easily converted back to a drawer, adjustable shelves and rods, shallow jewelry drawers, etc. My husband and I each have two tip-out hamper units and we don’t have to look at laundry baskets anymore. It’s fairly easy now to get the hardware like pull-out valet rods and tie bars, tip-out hamper mechanisms, etc., but the expertise on how to design the closet you need is easier to find in a closet designer.

      My kids’ and office reach-in closets all have Elfa systems and I’m a fan of them as well. But they do not have the wow factor of the built-in systems.

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