Glass-front wardrobes with an open, unenclosed layout — what we list as Glass Open Wardrobes — sit between two different problems. They carry the visual lightness of a glazed cabinet and the exposure of an open rail, so the specification has to be right the first time: glass cannot be swapped on site the way a shelf can. For a villa or apartment fit-out, the two decisions that cause the most rework are how much hanging and shelf length each bedroom actually needs, and whether the glass, carcass, interior fittings and hardware arrive as one coordinated package or as four separate orders that meet at the wrong dimension.
The practical answer is to treat the wardrobe wall as a build-up of measured modules rather than as a piece of furniture you buy and place. This article sets out how we work out the quantity of a run, what to lock down before ordering, and how the surrounding products — glazed sliding doors, walk-in layouts and adjoining joinery — are coordinated so that installation day is short.
Start from hanging length, not from a room plan
A wardrobe quantity is only meaningful in terms of what it stores. Before any drawing is issued, we work out hanging length per room based on how the space is used:
- Master bedroom — full-height hanging for long garments on one side, double hang for shirts, jackets and folded items on the other, plus drawer banks for daily wear.
- Second or guest bedroom — single hang, a shelf stack, and space for luggage on a higher shelf.
- Dressing room — open rails for items in rotation and closed storage for off-season stock. Our Open Walk in Wardrobes are normally specified here, where a glazed enclosure would be redundant.
- Corridor or box room — linen and household storage, where the door carries most of the cost and the interior can stay simple.
This matters for quantity because hang length, shelf count and drawer count decide the module width, and module width decides both the panel sizes and the glass sizes. Plan the storage first and the numbers follow. Copy an elevation from a magazine and then try to make it fit the bedroom, and the compromise always lands on the interior.
What to send us: room dimensions (width, height, depth, notes on out-of-plumb walls), which wall the unit runs along, the door and window openings that interrupt the run, and a list of what each bedroom has to hold. From that we return a module layout, a panel schedule and a glass schedule that match.
Reading a wardrobe wall as a module schedule
Once the run is drawn to scale, split it into modules and label each by function. A typical villa elevation reads, left to right, as a return unit into the corner, a double-hang section, a drawer tower, a single-hang section, and a shelf unit that ends the run square with the architrave. Two rules keep the schedule buildable:
- End the run with a closed carcass rather than an exposed side, so the visible return is a finished panel and the glass edge is never left buried in an internal corner.
- Keep module width consistent across the run so glass panels share a size. Every unique panel size is a separate cutting operation and a separate replacement risk later on.
Because these units are made to measure, height is not the constraint it is with off-the-shelf cabinets. A full-height run to the underside of the ceiling is straightforward, and the top shelf simply becomes deep storage. What has to be settled early is the relationship between the wardrobe face and the ceiling, cornice and skirting: those details decide whether the carcass is scribed, recessed or built forward of the existing wall line.
Counting the glass: what drives panel numbers
Glass is the item you cannot afford to get wrong last, so it is the one we pin down first on paper. For each glazed section the schedule needs panel count, frame system, glass type and edge treatment. Two questions move most of the numbers:
- How many openings, and how wide? A wide glazed bay reads better with three narrower panels than with two very large ones — lighter to handle, and easier to keep flat through a lift or stairwell.
- Framed or frameless? An aluminium-framed glazed door gives a hard edge that forgives small site variances; a frameless glass door leaves the edge exposed and puts the whole tolerance on the measurement.
For comparison within our own catalogue, Aluminum Frame Glass Wardrobes hold the glass inside a metal frame, and Glass Sliding Door Wardrobes run the glazed panel on a track. Both need a head detail and a clearance zone that an open glazed layout does not. When a project mixes systems on one wall, the frames and reveals have to be drawn together, because a sliding section consumes depth that an open section gives back as usable storage.
Glass tint and surface finish are specified per elevation, not per room. Clear glass opens up a small bedroom; smoked or ribbed glass hides a busy hanging rail in a corridor run. Mark the glass by location on the drawing so the same panel description is not accidentally ordered for two different elevations.
Coordinating the products that meet the wardrobe
A wardrobe wall rarely fails on its own; it fails where it meets something else. These are the items that belong in the same drawing set:
| Element | Coordination point |
|---|---|
| Flooring | Decide whether the carcass sits on the finished floor or on the screed. Engineered oak run up to a wardrobe face needs a different threshold detail than a floating floor run under the unit. |
| Lighting | Rail and shelf lighting inside the unit has to be wired before the carcass closes. Specify the fittings and the driver position on the same sheet as the interior layout. |
| Wall finishes | Reveal widths and order of works: panelling and wall panels should be set out against the wardrobe face, not trimmed to fit it afterwards. |
| Adjoining joinery | Bedside panelling, vanities and shelving should share the same carcass, handle and edge language. That shared detail is one of the main reasons wardrobes and Custom Built-in Kitchen Cabinets end up on one order. |
| Doors and architraves | The door swing has to clear the glazed panel and any drawer that pulls past it. Mark the swing on the plan before the run is fixed. |
Coordination is the reason we run the wardrobe, the joinery and the finishes through one specification stage — space planning, product specification and drawings that carry all of it together, so production and the site programme work from the same sheet.
Sequencing: what is fixed before production starts
Because the glass, carcass panels and interior fittings are all cut to one set of dimensions, the information freeze comes earlier than many buyers expect. Our sign-off list:
- Final room dimensions taken on site after plaster and screed, including floor level and wall plumb.
- Module layout confirmed — hang, shelf and drawer positions per section, and which sections are glazed.
- Carcass material and finish confirmed, together with the matching finish for adjoining joinery.
- Glass type, tint and edge detail confirmed per elevation, with the frame system noted.
- Lighting, ironmongery and internal accessories confirmed, with fixing positions shown.
Anything still open after that becomes a change order, and a change to a glazed module is the dearest one on the list. That is why we treat the layout sign-off, not the glass selection, as the milestone that matters.
Delivery, packing and installation
Panel-pack the carcass with the glazing separated and protected, and label every bundle by elevation number rather than room number alone — one villa level can carry two wardrobe walls with near-identical dimensions. On international projects, our Logistics & Door-to-Door Delivery service covers freight, packing lists and container loading plans, so bundles arrive in installation order rather than in the order they left the line. Installation & After-sales Support covers on-site guidance, inspection and snag lists, which is where the final tolerance corrections on a glazed run get made.
Pre-order checklist
- Hanging length and shelf count agreed per room, not per elevation.
- Module schedule issued with a consistent panel width across the run.
- Glass schedule showing panel count, size, tint and frame system per elevation.
- Flooring, lighting, wall finish and door swing resolved on the same drawing set.
- Site dimensions re-measured after wet trades, before the information freeze.
- Packing list keyed to elevation numbers, with the installation sequence agreed with the site team.
Get the quantities and the coordination onto one drawing before production starts, and a glazed open wardrobe behaves like any other made-to-measure joinery: measured, delivered in order, installed without drama. Send us the room dimensions and the storage list for each bedroom, and we will return the module schedule, the glass schedule and a specification you can sign off.