Raised panel wardrobe doors carry a decorative moulded profile that reads as classic craftsmanship from a distance and holds up under close inspection in a guest room. That dual behaviour is why raised panel wardrobes appear so often in hotel, serviced apartment and villa specifications. They are also one of the easiest items to get wrong on a procurement schedule, because they are made-to-measure joinery: nothing about them can be corrected after the panels are machined.

The sequence below follows how we take built-in wardrobe packages from enquiry to handover at SANTERSON, a China-based furniture and building materials manufacturer supplying fitted and loose furniture plus finishes for hospitality, villa and office projects. It is written for procurement managers, contractors and interior consultants who need the joinery package to land on site in step with wet trades, flooring and final fit-out.

1. Fix the room schedule before you touch a door profile

Wardrobe quantities are rarely stable at tender stage. Confirm the room-by-room schedule first: how many typologies, how many units of each, and which rooms are affected by still-open decisions on bed walls, skirting, architraves and built-in lighting. A raised panel door sits inside a carcass that butts into wall finishes, so a change in floor build-up or wall lining moves the reveal you have allowed.

For each typology, record:

• Room type and unit count, including rooms that will repeat across floors — repeats are what make a made-to-measure package economical.
• Opening dimensions with the finish level stated, so the manufacturer knows whether the measurement is to finished floor or structural slab.
• Door type and count per unit, since hinged and sliding configurations take different clearances around the panel edge.
• Interior layout intent — hanging heights, drawers, shelving, mirror or glass inserts, and any integrated lighting.
• Site conditions: wall material, moisture exposure from an adjoining bathroom, and whether the unit is recessed, alcove or free-standing against a partition.

Our Classic Paneled Wardrobes range, including the raised panel design, is produced to project-specific dimensions with selectable finish and layout, which means this schedule — not a catalogue size — becomes the production instruction. Send it as a single document rather than a set of marked-up drawings from three sources; conflicting dimensions are the most common cause of delay in joinery packages.

2. Specify the panel and finish against how guests will use the unit

The profile is the decision that shapes everything else. A raised panel presents a moulded field with a shadow gap around the frame; it catches light, so it flatters a corridor or a room with side lighting, but it also shows dust and fingerprints along the moulding more readily than a flat surface. Housekeeping routines should be part of the specification conversation, not left to the operator after opening.

Then set the finish. Within our paneled and solid wood wardrobe families we work with veneer, painted and solid timber constructions, each taking a moulded profile differently: solid timber holds crisp routed edges, while veneered substrates give consistent colour across a long run of doors where natural grain variation would be distracting. Sample two or three finishes on an actual door sample rather than a flat board — the moulding changes how a colour and sheen read.

Practical checks at this stage:

• Sheen level against the corridor lighting scheme; high sheen on a raised profile multiplies reflections.
• Edge durability at handle and grab points, where trolley bumps and luggage contact concentrate.
• Colour consistency across batches, which matters when the same typology is delivered in two shipments.
• Hardware duty cycle: hinges, slides and handles are specified for daily guest use, so state the expected frequency rather than assuming domestic fittings.
• Interior fit-out: soft-close drawers, a luggage shelf arrangement, and clear hanging heights for the room's target guest profile.

Where a project needs a classic profile with a plainer face, the recessed panel wardrobe in the same family gives the frame detail without a protruding field. Where the brief calls for timber grain throughout, compare against classic paneled solid wood wardrobes. Reviewing two or three profiles side by side at sample stage prevents a late change request after the schedule has been released.

3. Lock dimensions, then lock them again

Made-to-measure joinery has one unforgiving property: site measurements must be taken after the finishes that define the opening are complete. For wardrobe packages we ask for second-fix confirmation — walls lined and finished, floor levels set, ceiling set-out resolved, and services located — before panels go into production.

Build one verification step into the programme and name who owns it:

• First fix: setting-out from drawings, allowing for wall build-up and any structural packing.
• Site re-measure: taken by the site team or by our installation crew, against completed finishes, and returned in writing.
• Production release: only after the re-measured dimensions are countersigned. Everything downstream — panel cutting, edge profiling, finishing, hardware pre-drilling — follows that document.

For multi-tower or phased hotel projects, phase the release by floor or block instead of ordering the whole quantity at once. Rooms completed at different times should be measured and released as separate batches; this keeps one delayed bathroom fit-out from holding up an entire wardrobe order.

4. Group the joinery package with related trades

Wardrobes rarely sit alone. They meet skirting, architraves, wall panelling, doors and flooring, and they are usually made by the same workshop that can supply the rest of the built-in package. Consolidating those items with one supplier reduces the coordination burden on site: one set of drawings, one finishing schedule, one delivery window, one installation team.

Items commonly bundled with a wardrobe package include wall panel systems for headboards and feature walls, internal doors that need to match the joinery finish, vanities and countertop assemblies in the adjoining bathroom, and the engineered timber flooring that sets the wardrobe threshold. As a one-stop furniture and building materials supplier, we produce these categories under one project package, which is where procurement teams usually see the real saving — not in unit price, but in fewer interfaces to manage.

A single supplier also keeps finish matching honest. A wardrobe lacquer and a door frame from two workshops will drift; specified together against one approved sample, they will not.

5. Plan production, shipping and installation as one sequence

Joinery is bulky, heavy and easily damaged at the corners of a moulded panel, so packing and container loading are part of the specification rather than an afterthought. Confirm with your supplier:

• Packing standard for profiled doors — edge protection, interleaving, and whether panels ship loose to be hung on site or pre-assembled to carcasses.
• Container loading sequence against the room order, so the first rooms to be finished arrive first rather than last.
• Marking system by room number and typology, matching the site's own room schedule.
• Delivery address and unloading arrangements, including crane or lift access for upper floors.
• A spare allowance for hardware and any replaceable panel component, held on site.

Our project workflow runs from consultation and design through production, logistics and door-to-door delivery to installation support, with a single coordination contact across those stages. For international hospitality sites that means the joinery package arrives on the same schedule as the rest of the fit-out materials it has to coordinate with, instead of being tracked as an isolated import.

On site, wardrobes should be installed after wet trades have dried and after flooring is laid, but before loose furniture and final dressing. Book the installation window into the master programme and hold it; joinery sitting in a store for six weeks is where damage usually happens.

6. Snagging and handover

Walk the first two or three installed units before the crew moves on, not at the end of the project. Check door alignment and reveal consistency along the run, hinge and slide operation under load, drawer runners for smooth travel, finish continuity where doors meet frames, and stability of any glazed or mirror ｉｎｓｅｒｔ. Correcting a profile or reveal issue on the first units is straightforward; repeating it across forty rooms is not.

Hand over a snag list with photographs, the approved finish samples referenced by code, and the hardware specification for future replacement. Keep the room-by-room schedule that drove production — it is the document you will need when the property is refurbished years later and someone needs to know what was actually made.

A short procurement checklist

• Room schedule frozen, with typologies and quantities signed off.
• Profile and finish approved on a door sample, not a flat board.
• Interior layout specified for guest use, including hardware duty cycle.
• Site re-measure taken after finishes and countersigned before production release.
• Related joinery, doors, wall panelling and flooring bundled with one finish schedule.
• Packing, container sequence, room marking and unloading agreed in writing.
• Installation window booked; first units snagged before the run continues.

If you are assembling a joinery or wider fit-out package for a hotel, serviced apartment or villa project, send us the room schedule and target programme. We will return a wardrobe specification with profile, finish and layout options priced against your quantities, together with the delivery and installation sequence that fits the site programme.

Talk to our project team about your wardrobe and joinery package: contact SANTERSON.