Freestanding open wardrobes sit on the floor as standalone storage pieces rather than being fixed into a wall opening. Where an Open Walk in Wardrobes fit-out occupies its own room, a freestanding unit has to earn its place inside a bedroom or dressing area with limited floor space. For a buyer working on a villa, apartment or guest-room project, that distinction changes almost everything that follows: how the unit is measured, how it is delivered, what the quotation covers, and which questions have to be settled before an order is placed. This guide sets out the comparison points that matter, using the Freestanding Open Wardrobes page on our site as the reference example.

1. Confirm the footprint and clearance the room can give

A freestanding unit needs a continuous run of floor, and the dimension that limits the layout is usually the depth, not the width. Before comparing quotations, record the clear wall length available, the depth from the finished floor surface to the front of the wardrobe, and the height clearance if the room has a suspended ceiling, cornice or light fitting in the way. Note also how far the room door, an adjacent cabinet door or a bed swing needs to open, because open storage has no door to hide a tight circulation gap.

Our Freestanding Open Wardrobes are made to measure, so the width, depth and height are specified to the site rather than chosen from a fixed catalogue size. Send the measurements with a sketch that shows windows, skirting, power points and any recess; that is what allows us to confirm whether the unit will sit flush or whether a scribe or plinth detail is needed.

2. Fix the internal layout before the price is discussed

Open wardrobes are judged by what you can see and reach. Two units of identical external size can hold very different volumes of clothing depending on how the hanging space, shelving and drawer bank are distributed. When comparing quotations, ask each supplier to show the same three things on one drawing: the number and height of hanging rails, the depth and spacing of open shelves, and the width and depth of any drawer or accessory unit. If the quotations are not laid out on the same basis, the lower price may simply be buying less storage.

Layout is also where the design choices separate. If the brief calls for a rail-forward arrangement, compare it against the Hanging Modular Wardrobes configuration; if folded storage and drawer capacity dominate, the Drawer Focused Modular Wardrobes layout is the closer reference. Both are built to the same made-to-measure process, so the comparison is a planning decision, not a limitation on size.

3. Specify materials and finishes as written descriptions

Ask every supplier to state the carcass material, the door or frame material, the edge treatment, and the surface finish by name — lacquer, laminate, veneer, metal frame — rather than by a trade name or colour code that only their own catalogue recognises. Open wardrobes expose the carcass edges and the interior surfaces, so a specification that only describes the front will not cover the parts a project inspector will actually look at.

Because finish options are specified per project, a freestanding open wardrobe can be matched to a wardrobe already built elsewhere in the same development. A Wood Tone Open Wardrobes scheme can carry the same timber tone as the joinery in the bedrooms, while a Minimalist Open Wardrobes treatment suits a room where the storage should read as a plain surface. When the unit is expected to sit against a wall without a fixing, ask about the wall-mounted option, the Wall Mounted Open Wardrobes version, and treat the fixing method as a separate line item on the quotation.

4. Check how the unit reaches the site and gets installed

Freestanding pieces are usually delivered as panels and assembled or fitted on site, which means the quotation should say what is included: packing and protection for transit, the container or crate arrangement, the number of pieces in the shipment, and whether installation is supplied by the factory team, a local contractor, or left to the buyer. For a project importing from overseas, these items decide the real landed cost far more than the unit price, so request a written delivery scope covering freight, customs documentation, and who is responsible at each handover.

We handle this end to end for project orders — production, packing and container loading, export documentation, door-to-door delivery, and site installation with inspection and snagging before handover. If the same project also needs doors, sideboards or vanity units, ordering them together lets one delivery and one installation visit cover the whole set, which removes the coordination risk of several suppliers arriving on different dates.

5. Verify the dimensions on the drawing, not in the e-mail

The single most common source of disputes on made-to-measure storage is a dimension that was agreed in correspondence but never carried onto a signed drawing. Before production starts, require an approval drawing that shows overall size, internal compartment sizes, rail heights, shelf positions, and the finish note you specified, and keep that drawing with the purchase order. Once the drawings and specifications are confirmed, production proceeds to shipment, so any change after that point costs time that a project programme rarely has.

Putting the comparison together

A shortlist of freestanding open wardrobes is usually won or lost on five points: does the footprint fit the measured space, do the internal layouts match across quotations, are the materials and finishes described in writing, what does the delivery and installation scope actually cover, and is every dimension fixed on a signed drawing before production. Set those questions out in a request for quotation and send the same measurement pack to each supplier, and the numbers will line up when they arrive.

SANTERSON works as a furniture and building materials manufacturer supplying villa, apartment and hospitality projects, so the same drawing pack can cover the wardrobe together with the cabinetry, doors and finishes around it. Send us the drawings, room measurements and finish references for your project and we will confirm dimensions, layout and configuration for each unit against the Freestanding Open Wardrobes specification, with quotation and delivery scope in the same response.