The clearance zone in front of cupboards

In front of any cupboard, wardrobe or chest of drawers, you must plan a clearance zone that allows you to open the door or drawer, step into the cupboard if necessary, and extract items without contorting yourself.

Three reference measurements according to the type of storage.

Seventy-five centimetres for drawers and simple hinged doors. Enough to pull out a drawer and access its contents.

Ninety to one hundred centimetres for the hinged doors of deep cupboards (50-60 cm deep, dressing-room type). Enough to pull out a hanger and take it out.

One hundred and twenty centimetres and more for dressing rooms you step into. Enough to dress inside, or for two people to dress at the same time.

Check the existing setup. In front of each cupboard, fully open the door or fully pull the drawer, and measure the space between the open door and the first obstacle (wall, other furniture, bed). If you are below the measurements above, you have a usability problem.

Three common solutions.

First solution, move the blocking piece. If the bed is too close to the cupboard, push it back if possible. If a chest of drawers blocks, remove or move it.

Second solution, replace with sliding doors. On deep cupboards, sliding doors require no clearance (just the depth of the cupboard). This is the gold standard in narrow bedrooms and small interiors.

Third solution, rethink the storage. Sometimes the cupboard is badly placed. Moving it or building a bespoke unit can free up space.

Special case, entrance wardrobes. Entrances are often narrow, and storage units (coats, shoes) must open without blocking the main circulation. Favour sliding doors or narrow hinged doors (40-50 cm each).

Small interior case. IKEA Pax with sliding doors has democratised the solution. Count £250 to £500 for a complete 2-metre-wide dressing setup, with no frontal clearance required beyond 60 cm. It is probably the best storage investment in an urban flat.

Bespoke dressing rooms are designed from the outset with the right clearance. Reference brands, IKEA Pax (value for money), Sogal, Vibieffe, Lema.

Pierre Yovanovitch often integrates through dressing rooms between bedroom and bathroom in his projects, with 1.50 m of clearance, and a central dressing corridor. A high-end hotel effect.

In small flats, pocket cupboards (the doors slide inside the wall) maximise usable space at high cost. Reserved for major renovations.