A fitted wardrobe is assumed to be furniture screwed to a wall, and in a Cockenzie cottage it turns out to be a piece of the wall that happens to hold clothes.
The Short Version
- The two recesses either side of a chimney breast are rarely the same depth, so the run is built to both.
- The access route is walked at survey, which matters in terraced cottages with narrow stairs.
- Everything is built and sprayed off site, so fitting is a day or two with floor protection down first.
- Under a slope the rails go high and the drawers go low, and the roof line decides the interior.
- Ironmongery is specified for salt air rather than for looks.
George Herkes & Son Joinery has worked across East Lothian since 1989, holds East Lothian Trading Standards Trusted Trader accreditation and is rated 5.0 from 62 reviews, and the joiner across Cockenzie & Port Seton who measures the room is the one who builds and fits the run.
Send George a photo of the bedroom and the rough sizes and he will come and measure it properly.
Bespoke Fitted Wardrobes
The assumption is that a fitted wardrobe is furniture that happens to be screwed to a wall. In the stone built cottages here it turns out to be a piece of the wall that happens to hold clothes, and that is why it works where furniture does not.
The recurring shape in this town is a chimney breast with a recess either side, rarely the same depth because one side carries a flue. Matched shop bought units sit proud on one wall and leave a gap on the other. A built run takes both depths and the face frames are made to one line. The wall reads flat from the door. That is the whole trick.
Want a price for Fitted Wardrobes in Cockenzie & Port Seton? Ask George Herkes & Son Joinery for a free quote.
Installation Process and Lead Times in Cockenzie & Port Seton
The worry is a firm that measures, takes a deposit and goes quiet. The sequence is arranged so you can see where it is at every stage.
Survey
Room measured at three heights and both recess depths. Floor fall checked across the run. Access route walked from the front door, which matters in the terraced cottages with their narrow stairs.
Drawing
A drawing comes back with the sizes and the interior on it. Nothing is cut until you agree it.
Workshop and fitting
Built and sprayed off site, flatted between coats, stacked to cure. Fitting is a day or two with floor protection down first. It runs the same as bespoke joinery in Cockenzie & Port Seton. Nothing is subbed out.
Bedroom, Alcove, and Sloping-Space Solutions
The problem in the cottages is that the upstairs rooms sit partly in the roof, so the usable height runs out before the usable floor does.
Rails go at the high side of a slope and drawers under the low side. Below about a metre four hundred of headroom a rail is no use and a drawer bank is, so the roof line decides the interior rather than the floor plan. In the later houses off Gosford Road and Edinburgh Road the rooms are square and the run goes full height on the wall opposite the door. Same reading as fitted wardrobes in Prestonpans. The room picks the layout.
Wardrobe Styles and Finishes
The failure here is a door style chosen from a photo and fitted into a house it does not belong to.
A shaker door with the room’s own architrave profile copied into the frame belongs in the older stone built stock. A flat slab door suits the later houses. Sliding doors suit a narrow room where a hinged leaf would foul the bed, at the cost of half the opening at any one time. Finishes run from hand painted colour to clear lacquered oak. On this coast the ironmongery is specified for salt air rather than for looks, which is the same rule behind our fitted wardrobes work in Elphinstone. The house decides.
Materials, Craftsmanship, and Manufacturing
What you are paying for is the carcass, and the carcass is the part nobody photographs.
Eighteen millimetre board, dowelled joints, glue blocks at the corners. Hand painted MDF for shaker doors because it holds an arris and stays flat through a heating season. Veneer where the grain matters, with the figure running through the run rather than door by door. Hinges chosen for leaf weight, runners rated by load rather than width. Fixings follow the wall: resin anchors into stone, frame fixings into block. Everything sprayed off site and left to cure. None of that is visible in a showroom.
Want a price for Fitted Wardrobes in Cockenzie & Port Seton? Ask George Herkes & Son Joinery for a free quote.
Fitted Wardrobes in Cockenzie & Port Seton FAQs
Will a fitted wardrobe work in a Cockenzie or Port Seton cottage bedroom?
That is where it earns the most. The upstairs rooms in the stone built cottages sit partly in the roof, so rails go at the high side of the slope and drawers under the low side, and the shallow end holds folded clothes rather than nothing.
Can you get a finished wardrobe up a cottage stair?
The access route is walked from the front door at survey for exactly that reason. Where a stair or landing will not take a full carcass, the run is built in sections and assembled in the room.
How much does it cost to have wardrobes fitted?
It depends on the run, the door style and the interior, so the figure comes from the survey rather than a price list. You get it written down and itemised before anything is booked. There is more on this in our guide, How much should I pay for a fitted wardrobe?.
Are fitted wardrobes worth it over freestanding?
In a room with alcoves, a slope or an awkward width, yes, because a freestanding unit cannot use any of those. In a large square room with a spare wall the case is weaker, and we would tell you that.
