Which IKEA PAX height fits your ceiling, and what goes above it?

Short answer: PAX frames come in two heights, 201 cm and 236 cm (2010 and 2364 mm). Take the frame off your ceiling height. If 300 mm or more is left, the frame gets an MDF top box with its own doors. If less, it gets a strip of infill scribed to the ceiling.

Either way the wardrobe goes all the way up. That is half of what makes PAX look built in rather than flat-pack.

Measure the ceiling where the wardrobe will stand

Measure the height at both ends of the wall and in the middle, near the wall and further out where the doors will be. Ceilings dip, and in an older house they can dip a lot. Work from the lowest number.

If the ceiling is only just over 201 cm (lower than about 2030 mm), a PAX frame will not go in. That is a made-to-measure job.

What some ceiling heights give you

• 2400 mm. The 201 frame leaves 390, enough for a top box. The 236 frame leaves 36, a slim infill strip.
• 2500 mm. The 201 frame leaves 490, a top box. The 236 frame leaves 136, an infill strip.
• 2700 mm. The 201 frame leaves 690, a tall top box. The 236 frame leaves 336, still enough for a top box.

Option 1: the 201 frame with a top box

This is how the Haringey wardrobe was done. A plain MDF box goes on top of each frame, made to whatever height is left, and sits flush with the front of the frame.

The frames stop well short of the ceiling. The boxes take them the rest of the way.

What you get:

• A separate cupboard up high for suitcases and spare bedding.
• Doors above and doors below. Line up the joints between them and the lines run straight from floor to ceiling.
• Any ceiling height works, because the box is made to fit the gap.

The boxes and their doors are made to measure in MDF, ready for your decorator.

Option 2: the 236 frame with an infill strip

The taller frame gets you more IKEA storage and fewer made parts. What is left above it is closed with one strip across the top, up to the ceiling. Ceilings are rarely straight, so the strip is scribed: I hold it in place and run a school compass along the ceiling to copy its line onto the board, then cut to the line.

The planner on this site only offers the 236 frame once the ceiling is 2380 mm or more, to leave a bit of room over it.

An infill strip across the top and a filler at the end, in Finchley. No gap to the ceiling.

Which one?

On a 2400 ceiling both work. The 236 frame gives you more IKEA storage and less made work. The 201 frame with a top box gives you a high cupboard of its own and doors that line up top and bottom. On a ceiling of 2700 or more, either frame ends up with a top box over it, so the choice is how tall you want that top cupboard to be.

See it with your own sizes

The wardrobe planner in the brief on Plan your project does these sums for you. Pick IKEA PAX built in, type your wall width and ceiling height, and the Height step shows both options drawn to scale, with the top box or the infill and every size marked. Rough sizes are fine: I measure properly on the free visit.

Next: how to work out the widths and fillers. Or, if you are still deciding, PAX or made to measure? Already designed it in IKEA's planner? Where to find your design code.