IKEA Pax Wardrobe - Shortening, Reducing Height, Building-in Floor to Ceiling

I wanted a 'built in wardrobe' look, using IKEA Pax wardrobes. Unfortunately, my ceiling height was just too low to accommodate the full-height (2364mm) wardrobes. I decided to cut down the bottom plinth by 39mm.

My wardrobes have standard hinged doors - sliding wardrobe doors need some celing clearance above the wardrobe - this Instructable does not deal with them.

Step 1: Dimensions

My ceiling height is 2345mm (it varies, so careful measurement is needed in the area of the proposed wardrobe). I have inset spotlights which protrude about 4mm below the ceiling and come into play when the doors are opened.

The taller Pax wardrobes are 2364mm high. I wanted some clearance above the wardrobes once I had cut them down - just because I would have to move them around the room during construction and couldn't afford for them to get stuck!

The only 'simple' way to reduce the height of the wardrobe is by trimming the bottom plinth. This involves trimming the two side panels and trimming the two plinth support strips. The Pax design really makes reducing the height as simple as it could be, because the doors only go down to the top of the plinth (not down to the floor), and similarly, the back of the wardrobe (a hardboard panel) stops at the top of the plinth. This means that you can cut down the height of the plinth, without causing other difficulties.

I cut my plinth down by 39mm, which leaves a plinth height of 31mm. This is about the maximum amount you can cut off, if you intend to keep using the supplied plinth support strips (with just one of their locating dowels).

(I guess, that if you made a plinth from 18mm particle board, you could cut the side panels down by 52mm. This would surely be the absolute maximum height reduction possible for a Pax, because the doors would only then have 18mm clearance above the floor when you open them - anything less than 18mm would not be enough to clear any carpet and underlay, etc.)

So, my dimensions are as follows.

2364mm Pax height as supplied

2345mm My ceiling height

39mm Amount I cut off

2325mm Pax height after trimming

70mm Height of the original plinth

31mm Height of the trimmed plinth

20mm Clearance between the top of the trimmed wardrobe and the ceiling

Step 2: Marking Up for Cutting

Careful marking up is required. It would be easy to trim the wrong side of the plinth support strips, because the dowel holes are not symmetrical.

I marked a line, 39mm up from the bottom of the two plinth support strips and 39mm up from the bottom of the two side panels.

Step 3: Trim the Four Pieces

I'm lucky and have a small table saw, which makes cutting the narrow plinth support strips safer. I cut the side panels with a cordless circular saw (Skill Saw). I've seen others cut the plinth strips successfully with the cordless circular saw, but holding it can be tricky.

To be honest, tearout (the ragged edge left by the sawing) didn't bother me because the floor will have underlay and a carpet hiding the cut edges. In fact, as you can see from the photographs, there wasn't too much tearout anyway.

I was constructing two cut-down wardrobes, so I didn't adjust the saws between the two builds, so that the heights would be identical.

Step 4: Build the Wardrobe

The rest is pretty straightforward. For such a tall wardrobe, you have to build it 'in situ' not lying down on the floor (there's no room to bring it upright). The IKEA instructions show exactly how to do this in their final section.

The only 'tweak' I did was to put one screw in the middle of the front plinth support strip (see photo), after the carcass was built. This was intended to stop the very narrow (and weak) front strip from collapsing as I moved the wardrobe, and would also stop it from being kicked inwards and snapping at some point in the future.

Obviously (?) you can't erect the wardrobe in its final position, because you have to nail-on the back hardboard panel.