Which material is good for wardrobes?

Many people ask us for the best material to use. We are unbiased because we have the machinery to process all sheet materials.

Answer: Melamine Faced Chipboard

Often people will ask us which is the best material for making wardrobes.

The short answer is:

“The best material to use for fitted wardrobes is 18mm thick Melamine Faced Chipboard (MFC)”

We can make your wardrobes in a wide range of materials ranging from MDF to real wood veneers to high gloss acrylic. What makes MFC ‘best’?

Short answer again:

• appearance
• quality
• cost

But I want my wardrobes in real wood!

Real wood is used to a much lesser extent in fitted furniture. We are referring to hardwoods (Oak, Walnut etc) as softwood (Spruce, Fir etc) is not used to make furniture. (Softwood can be used in conjunction with other materials such as plasterboard to make stud walls). Furniture grade hardwood is used very little to make wardrobes because:

• real wood is expensive. Furniture grade hardwood grows slowly and the supply chain is geared up for slicing it into veneers to make it go further.
• it needs finishing (varnish etc)
• it can move/bend if used in solid pieces. Wood movement can be mitigated by using real wood veneers with an MDF core. But even then the relative increased cost and the need for finish means MFC is preferred.

You may be thinking that some notable retailers sell solid wood furniture - how do they do it? Typically these pieces will be manufactured in the far east and sadly there is a high chance they will contain wood obtained from non-sustainable sources in an environment without stringent regulations.

What are the other wardrobe material choices?

• MDF
• Veneered MDF
• Birch Plywood
• Lacquered MDF
• Laminated MDF

These are all materials we can make your wardrobes from. It is important to note that there are no ‘bad choices’ here. All the materials are sustained and sourced from high quality suppliers.

MDF is the cheapest material but we would rarely sell an MDF wardrobe unless it is an ingredient in an overall design. This is because MDF needs a finish (paint, varnish etc) so typically we would do the finish for you. The range of finishes start from priming ready for you to apply a finish coat on-site or it could be a high-gloss lacquer to match a Farrow & Ball colour for example.

MDF attracts a wide range of opinions. Some think it is a cheap furniture signifier. Others think it is the best material to build wardrobes from (the latter opinion is often held by site carpenters because they can cut MDF onsite to a good standard whereas MFC can’t be cut onsite). The problem with overarching statements is that they are reductive. If the material comes from a reputable manufacturer then any material can be used for making furniture and quality is determined by how it is processed rather than what the material is.

Solid wood as mentioned earlier is not often used for fitted furniture but if you seek a real wood look then veneered MDF may be the material you are looking for. Veneered MDF is almost indistinguishableshable from real wood - you would need to look closely at the edges - and veneers available include Cherry, Oak, Walnut and White Ash. The end result can be varnished/stained with all the products solid wood can be finished with.

For a high gloss colour finish, as well as lacquer there are a number of acrylic laminates available. The acrylic laminates are generally preferred because the quality is extremely good and acrylics are more hard wearing that gloss lacquer. Also the manual sanding necessary to make a high-gloss lacquered finish mean the labour costs are higher.