Can an IKEA PAX wardrobe look built in?

Can a PAX wardrobe pass for a fitted one? Yes, if you deal with the gaps.

This one is in a bedroom in Finchley: IKEA PAX frames, five white panelled doors and two gold handles.

What gives flat-pack away

It is not the doors. It is what is round them. PAX frames come in set sizes and rooms do not, so once the frames are up there is nearly always a gap to the ceiling and a strip of wall at the end. That gap is what tells you it came in a box.

Before and after the fillers, both from the end of the bed.

How the gaps were closed

The frames went up first, levelled and fixed to the wall. Then the doors went on and were lined up. Last came the fillers: one across the top, up to the ceiling, and one where the wardrobe meets the side wall. The end panel goes up to the ceiling too, so the side reads as one solid piece.

A filler is where the scribing happens, because ceilings and walls are rarely straight. I hold the board in place and run a school compass along the wall, which draws the wall's line onto the board. Cut to that line and the filler sits tight along its whole length.

Inside, it is still PAX

Open the doors and the inside is what you would expect from PAX: hanging rails, shelves and drawers, with storage boxes up on the top shelf. The built-in part is all on the outside.

So, can it look built in? From the end of the bed you see five doors, two handles and a clean line along the ceiling. No gaps to give it away.

Every photo of this wardrobe is on the job page.

You can also turn the 3D model round there. It is drawn in SketchUp at standard IKEA PAX sizes, not measured, and it comes apart to show the frames and the fillers.