Wardrobe Inside Design: Shelves, Drawers and Hanging Space

A good wardrobe inside design splits a 600 mm deep unit into bays about 580 mm wide, each with one job: long hanging, double hanging for shirts, or folded shelves over drawers, with a loft above for bedding and suitcases. How much of each you need depends on what your household wears, so count your clothes first, then give every bay a measured height.

About the numbers below: there is no Indian standard for wardrobe interiors, so the bay heights in our drawings are planning guidance, labelled as ours. Fitting sizes and load ratings come from the makers' own pages (Ebco, Hettich India, Blum India, IKEA India and Godrej), read on 22 Oct 2026. The only cost figure is HomeLane's published one, and it is not a quote.

Below: a measured 4 ft and 6 ft wardrobe, drawer sizes, pull-outs, the locker, the loft, and monsoon details. Doors and finishes are in our coming guide Wardrobe Design for Bedroom: Ideas for Indian Homes.

Start with what you own, not a catalogue drawing

Count what you hang, what you fold and what fits a drawer. Makers' figures turn those counts into heights:

Folded stacks: IKEA's PAX buying guide plans about 25 cm of shelf height for 10 folded T-shirts and about 30 cm for 10 folded sweaters (IKEA PAX and KOMPLEMENT buying guide).
Drawers: IKEA India's KOMPLEMENT drawer for a 100 cm frame is 16 cm high, 90.1 by 53.3 cm inside, and holds about 18 pairs of folded trousers or 30 T-shirts (IKEA India).
Hanging: the same guide plans about 80 cm for blouses and shirts, 100 cm for coats and up to 190 cm for really long garments. Sarees, lehengas and long kurtas are not on its list, so hang one of yours and measure it.

For rail length, our guidance: push everything you hang to one end of the rail, measure what it fills, and add a fifth.

How much hanging, folded and drawer space, by household

Household	Hanging	Folded and drawers	Add
Wears sarees most days	One short rail for blouses and a few sarees on hangers	Most of the wardrobe: shelves for silks, drawers for petticoats and blouses	A saree pull-out and a shallow jewellery drawer
Kurtas, salwars and dresses	One long-hanging bay of 1,300 mm or more	Shelves for dupattas and leggings	A lehenga bag on the long rail or a box in the loft
Office shirts and trousers	A shirt rail of about 800 to 950 mm	Drawers for innerwear and T-shirts	A trouser pull-out, a tie and belt pull-out
Child	A low rail they can reach	Drawers at waist height, deep enough for toys	A rail you can raise later
Elderly parent	Rails between waist and shoulder height	Drawers rather than low shelves	Nothing they need in the loft

The table is our guidance, not a rule.

Open white modular wardrobe with long and short hanging clothes, shelves of folded sweaters and T-shirts in neat stacks, a column of five white drawers and storage boxes on the top shelf. — Folded stacks on shelves, drawers below and hanging space beside them: the three kinds of storage every wardrobe plan balances. Image: Alex Tyson on Unsplash, Unsplash License

Simple wardrobe inside design for a 4 ft wardrobe

A 4 ft wardrobe (1,220 mm) with 18 mm boards gives two bays of 583 mm. We drew it as a 7 ft unit on a 100 mm plinth with a 2 ft loft above, which fills a 2.75 m room, the minimum height for a habitable room in India's Model Building Bye-Laws 2016 (clause 4.3; your state's rules may differ).

Measured internal elevation of a 4 ft (1,220 mm) wardrobe, 600 mm deep, with a 600 mm loft above a 7 ft unit on a 100 mm plinth: one bay with a 1,350 mm long-hanging rail between a 353 mm top shelf and a 260 mm bag shelf, and one bay with a 423 mm folded shelf, a 950 mm shirt rail and three drawers of 160, 180 and 250 mm. — A 4 ft wardrobe planned bay by bay: long hanging on one side, shirts, folded stacks and three drawers on the other, with a 2 ft loft above. Diagram: MOA

Bay A, long hanging: 1,350 mm clear under the rail for kurtas, dresses and a jacket, a 353 mm top shelf, and a 260 mm shelf at the bottom for bags or a shoe box.
Bay B, shirts and folded: a 950 mm shirt rail, a 423 mm shelf for two stacks of folded clothes, and three drawers of 250, 180 and 160 mm. The top drawer locks, for jewellery and papers.
Loft: 564 mm clear behind two lift-up flaps.

Inside a 6 ft wardrobe for two

At 6 ft (1,830 mm) you get three bays of 586 mm, and room for the fittings Indian wardrobes ask for: a saree pull-out, a trouser pull-out and a locker.

Measured internal elevation of a 6 ft (1,830 mm) wardrobe for two, 600 mm deep, with three 586 mm bays under a 600 mm loft: a saree pull-out zone of 640 mm below 1,341 mm of long hanging; drawers of 250, 180 and 120 mm below a 600 mm trouser pull-out zone and an 813 mm shirt rail; and a column of shelves with a 320 mm bag shelf, a 470 mm locker bay, two 350 mm folded shelves and a 437 mm bedsheet shelf. — A 6 ft wardrobe for two: sarees and long hanging, shirts and trousers over drawers, and a folded column with a locker bay, with every clear height in mm. Diagram: MOA

Bay A, sarees and long hanging: 1,341 mm of long hanging for lehengas, long kurtas and dresses, over a 640 mm zone where a saree pull-out hangs from the shelf.
Bay B, shirts and trousers: an 813 mm shirt rail, a 600 mm zone for a trouser pull-out, and drawers of 250, 180 and 120 mm.
Bay C, folded and locker: a 437 mm shelf for bedsheets, two 350 mm shelves for folded kurtas and T-shirts, a 470 mm locker bay and a 320 mm bag shelf.

Swap bays to suit you: with no sarees, Bay A becomes a second shirt bay.

View through a doorway into a wood-finish wardrobe: one bay with open shelves of folded clothes above four drawers, and one bay with two hanging rails, light tops on the upper rail and dark garments on the lower, under closed cabinets at the top. — Double hanging in one bay, a rail above a rail, beside a column of folded shelves over drawers. Image: Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, Unsplash License

Wardrobe design with drawers: heights and depths

Heights. Makers build drawer sides in a few set heights. Blum India lists LEGRABOX sides at 90.5 mm (M), 177 mm (C) and 241 mm (F), with inner drawer versions for use behind a door (Blum India). In practice that gives three useful drawer sizes (our guidance):

About 100 to 120 mm for jewellery, watches and bangles. Ebco's wardrobe drawer organisers for ornaments and for watches and bangles are 316 × 117.5 × 50 mm (Ebco), and IKEA's KOMPLEMENT jewellery insert is 5 cm high (IKEA India).
About 160 to 180 mm for T-shirts, innerwear and socks, like IKEA's 16 cm drawer above.
About 250 mm for sweaters, shawls and folded sarees.

Depths. In a 600 mm wardrobe, roughly 554 mm is left inside once you take off the shutter, the back panel and an air gap at the wall. A 500 mm runner fits with room to spare. Ebco's soft-close telescopic slides come in lengths from 300 to 600 mm, open fully and carry 35 kg (Ebco). Blum's LEGRABOX comes in 40 kg and 70 kg load classes (Blum India), so ask for the higher class on a drawer of heavy silk sarees.

Side section through the lower part of a 600 mm deep hinged wardrobe: a 20 mm air gap at the wall, an 8 mm back panel with a vent slot, 554 mm clear inside, an 18 mm shutter, two inner drawers of 250 and 180 mm on 500 mm runners, a hanging rail on the centre line 277 mm from the back, and a 100 mm plinth set back from the front. — Where the 600 mm depth goes, with the air gap, vent slot and plinth that help a wardrobe through the monsoon. Diagram: MOA

Behind hinged shutters, drawers are inner drawers, set back so they clear the hinges; set the gap from the hinge maker's template.

Saree, kurta and lehenga storage

Saree pull-out. Ebco's wardrobe pull-out for trousers and sarees has removable hangers lined with non-slip PVC and soft-close runners. It comes with 4 hangers for a 450 mm cabinet, 7 for 600 mm, 11 for 800 mm and 13 for 900 mm, and every size is 470 mm deep (Ebco). Our 586 mm bays are a little wider than its 564 mm unit for a 600 mm cabinet, so the carpenter packs the sides. For a narrow bay, Ebco also makes a single pull-out hanger that mounts under a shelf, needs a 450 mm cabinet and takes up to 10 sarees or trousers (Ebco).

Silk sarees. Many families keep good silks folded on a shelf rather than hung. Chennai's Kumaran Silks advises wrapping them in pure cotton or muslin rather than plastic, keeping naphthalene away, using neem leaves or silica gel instead, and refolding every 3 to 4 months so the creases do not set (Kumaran Silks). Our guidance: shelves of about 250 to 350 mm, so each stack stays short.

Lehengas hang by their loops in a breathable bag on the long rail, or go flat in a box in the loft.

Pull-out trousers rack, tie and belt storage

Trousers: Hettich India's Cargo trouser pull-out holds up to 10 trousers on a non-slip element and fits on either side of a bay (Hettich India). IKEA India's KOMPLEMENT pull-out trouser hanger for a 100 cm frame has 9 arms for 18 pairs and pulls out 42 cm (IKEA India).
Ties and belts: Hettich's Cargo tie and belt pull-out also takes watches and cufflinks. Ebco makes a fixed SS 304 tie and belt holder for the inside of a cupboard (Ebco). IKEA's KOMPLEMENT multi-use hanger holds at least 18 belts, ties or shawls in the space of one hanger (IKEA India).

A locker or tijori inside the wardrobe

Size the bay around the locker, not the other way round. Godrej lists its NX Pro Digital 40 L home locker at 420 × 350 × 350 mm outside (height, width, depth), 16 kg, with four anchor bolts (Godrej). Bay C's 470 mm clear height leaves room to bolt it down; a lockable drawer is enough for daily jewellery.

Shoes and bags

Ebco's soft-close wardrobe shoe pull-out is 564 × 470 × 56 mm for a 600 mm cabinet (Ebco). IKEA India's KOMPLEMENT pull-out shoe shelf takes about 4 pairs and up to 16 kg (IKEA India). Keep shoes in the lowest bay (our guidance).

The loft: blankets, bedding and festival items

The loft holds what you use a few times a year: razais, suitcases, winter clothes, and the diyas and torans that come out at Diwali. Our guidance: label every box and keep heavy things below.

Lift-up flaps: Blum India's AVENTOS HK top suits cabinets 205 to 600 mm high and up to 1,800 mm wide, and can be combined with BLUMOTION soft closing (Blum India).
Gas pistons: Ebco's Pro-Lift soft-close pistons for overhead shutters come in forces from 60 N to 150 N (Ebco).
A pull-down rail: if you want the top of a tall bay within reach, Ebco's side-mount wardrobe lift fits inner widths of 764 to 1,155 mm and carries up to 12 kg (Ebco). It will not fit our 586 mm bays, so plan one bay about 800 mm wide.

Photograph of a bedroom wardrobe in Rajkot with four wood-finish shutters whose upper halves are reeded glass, showing a hanging rail and a shelf inside, with a white two-door loft above and a brass pipe lamp beside the bed. — Photograph: reeded glass in the upper shutters shows the rail and top shelf inside, while a separate loft above holds what is used rarely, in Nirvana by 540X Partners, Rajkot. Image: 540X Partners on MOA

In Nirvana, a Rajkot home by 540X Partners, hanging and a top shelf sit behind reeded glass, with a white loft above.

Lighting and ventilation for the monsoon

Light. Hettich India recommends an infrared sensor switch in wardrobes with hinged shutters, so the inside lights when a door opens, and a motion sensor in sliding wardrobes (Hettich India). Ebco's door trigger sensor runs on 12 or 24 V DC and reacts at 5 to 8 cm (Ebco). Without wiring, IKEA's battery STÖTTA strip switches with the door, for hinged doors only (IKEA PAX guide).

Damp. The US Environmental Protection Agency advises keeping indoor humidity below 60 per cent, ideally 30 to 50, and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours (US EPA). Inside a closed wardrobe, our guidance is:

leave a 20 mm air gap behind a wardrobe on an outside or bathroom wall, and fix any seepage first;
cut vent slots in the back panel near the plinth and the top;
stand the carcass on a 100 mm plinth;
use cotton bags, not plastic, and silica gel in the drawers.

For coastal and heavy-rain homes, our post on building materials and monsoon detailing in Kerala covers the walls themselves.

Sliding wardrobe inside design

The same rules apply, but plan the bays to match the panels: only one panel opens at a time, so each drawer stack, pull-out and locker should sit wholly behind one panel, clear of the track. Tracks are compared in our sliding vs hinged wardrobe guide.

What the inside adds to the cost

HomeLane's Lucknow page says internal drawers, pull-out baskets, lofts or lighting strips can raise a wardrobe's cost by 10 to 20 per cent, on a 6 ft modular wardrobe it puts at ₹68,000 to ₹95,000 (HomeLane). We found no current published price list for Ebco or Hettich wardrobe accessories, so ask for each fitting by model code. Room-by-room budgets are in our interior design cost guide, and MOA's free home cost calculator gives a first estimate. Which laminate to use inside is in our coming post on wardrobe laminates, and placement by vastu is in our vastu guide for bedrooms.

FAQ

What should be inside a wardrobe?

A hanging bay, a column of folded shelves, a few drawers and a loft above. Add pull-outs, a locker and lighting to suit your household.

What is the standard height of a wardrobe drawer?

There is no Indian standard. Plan about 100 to 120 mm for jewellery, 160 to 180 mm for T-shirts and innerwear, and about 250 mm for sweaters and folded sarees.

How deep is a wardrobe inside?

A 600 mm wardrobe leaves about 554 mm inside once the shutter, back panel and an air gap are taken off. That fits a 500 mm drawer runner and Ebco's 470 mm deep pull-outs.

How do I store sarees in a wardrobe?

Everyday sarees on a saree pull-out; silks folded in cotton or muslin on their own shelves, refolded every few months, away from naphthalene.

How do I stop my wardrobe getting damp in the monsoon?

Leave an air gap at outside or bathroom walls, vent the back panel, raise it on a plinth, and use cotton bags and silica gel instead of plastic.

Planning the inside of a new wardrobe? Find interior designers on MOA and filter the directory by your city.

Sources

IKEA: PAX and KOMPLEMENT buying guide (PDF) (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
IKEA India: KOMPLEMENT drawer, 100x58 cm (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
IKEA India: KOMPLEMENT pull-out trouser hanger, 100x58 cm (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
IKEA India: KOMPLEMENT pull-out shoe shelf, 50x58 cm (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
IKEA India: KOMPLEMENT multi-use hanger (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
IKEA India: KOMPLEMENT insert for jewellery (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ebco: Wardrobe pullout, trouser and saree (soft close) (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ebco: Wardrobe pullout hanger, trouser and saree, single (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ebco: Wardrobe pullout shoe rack (soft close) (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ebco: Tie and belt holder (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ebco: Wardrobe drawer organiser (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ebco: Sleek telescopic drawer slide 35, soft close (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ebco: Pro-Lift soft close (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ebco: Wardrobe lift side mount 12 (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ebco: Door trigger sensor (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Hettich India: Cargo wardrobe accessories (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Hettich India: Furniture lights (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Blum India: LEGRABOX programme (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Blum India: AVENTOS HK top programme (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Godrej Enterprises: NX Pro Digital 40L home locker (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Kumaran Silks: Silk saree care tips, 11 Dec 2025 (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
US Environmental Protection Agency: A brief guide to mold, moisture and your home (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
HomeLane: Popular wardrobe designs in Lucknow (accessed 22 Oct 2026)
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, TCPO: Model Building Bye-Laws 2016, clause 4.3 (accessed 22 Oct 2026)