It looks like Adobe Flash is gone as of 2021 so IKEA has updated their PAX tool! 🎉 🎊 🥳 It even works on Macs! 😲 I haven't had a chance to play with it too much yet, but comment below if you've used it for your wardrobe and let us know how it goes! Happy planning everyone!
I don’t know if it’s the same system I tried to use for a kitchen reno I’m planning buuut it was so hard to use 🥴 It was so glitchy and I couldn’t get the exact measurements. Everything overlapped. And I have a Dell.
I should have decided on my closet before they made the change lol... I am wishing for the old glitchy system back so that I can make my L-shaped closet.
I bought an original PAX wardrobe when IKEA first released them, and it's still going strong and looking like new. In fact I've just bought some large drawers for it to change the space up. Love the fact so many years (decades) later I can still buy parts to change things up.
This has to be the best review I've seen on youtube..ever..straight to the point..not going off topic..touch on all points..this video really gave me clarity..thank you👍
Ikea Closets are a third of the cost of any of their competitors! If you want an IKEA closet, you can do the design at home, but I recommend that you see an IKEA design specialist in that department. They are the best! And you will get the closet you desire! The corner units could be a waste! But did you know, you could do a 20 inch IKEA closet on an angle, and put any insert you want in that? This does work, and will give you the best corner closet you’ve ever wanted! Again, talk to an IKEA specialist, they are amazing, and take the guesswork out of what you are trying to do!
It is "a third of the cost of any of their competitors" at the first sight. Then you discover you have to buy every element separately and it becomes pricey. Also, normally, only the cheapest versions are cheaper than competitors. In my case, a big pax wardrobe was one of the first things I bought for my new apartment. And I regretted it so much! It was incredibly rickety and I had 2 wardrobe corpuses that didn't want to stick together. And assembling it was a drama. It cost my technically skilled brother 2 days of work to fix it in a way that actually made it stable. Moreover, it resulted very costly for the quality. I selected one door with a mirror, but that's it when it comes to "fancy add-ons". Still, it would be possible to buy a wardrobe of the same or lower cost in most chain furniture stores in my country. Ikea has some good things but PAX is a big no.
I had some IKEA delivery guys give me a card of an ex colleague who now only puts IKEA furniture together. This worked very well for us as we'd bought two bunk beds which were incredibly complicated to put together. The guy was very professional and was worth every penny we paid (not expensive).
For assembly, it depends on your experience with Ikea products. I assemble a 12 FT long, 6 sliding doors, accessories, full height and dept. Dit it alone, female 60 yrs old. Difficult and some nasty words here and there but doable. The most difficult was since you have to build it upright ( 2 '' clearance with ceiling) I used the wall to hold one pannel while fixing the other one. When a 4 sided ''box'' is made, the rest is easy. I'm over 65 now and a 8 ft wardrobe is being done in a few weeks. ( also built a full kitchen of cabinets ).
I have a smaller walk in closet too so what I did was a combo of double hung closet rods from Home Depot in the corners and used the pax units to box them in. Just wanted to share in case anyone was looking for a solution to the corner cabinet issue.
I find it so so interesting that 2 people can have completely different opinions and experiences when talking about the exact same product!! I designed my full ilea pax closet system on their website and didn’t have any issues at all! I also have 2 corner units, and multiples of the large and smaller sized units. I ordered everything myself, and I assembled the entire room with my husband. I love everything about my guest room turned closet room! I found the assembly to be more time consuming than difficult. I didn’t miss any of the small parts or pieces, and I have just about everything they offer; from drawers, to pullout pant and shoe racks, to mirror door fronts and an accessories tray. My 2 cons are: 1) on my largest unit, the backing has split just a tiny bit and I haven’t been able to figure out how to re-tape the seam since I can’t access the back of the unit and 2) you can’t put too much weight on the shelves as they will slightly bow over time. I have had my pax closet system for 6 or 7 years now, and it’s still my absolute favorite room in my whole house!! I loved hearing about your specific pros and cons, and as I said, I am always so interested in hearing different experiences people may have for the same product:) I really enjoyed your video!! Be well!
Added two Pax units to my office. We used thin plywood as a back instead of the cheap cardboard. I wall papered the back with grass cloth. Looks high end and I just love it. I would use Pax again but I am really good with 3D planners and my husband has mad skills.
This system is great for more than just closets! We live in a small metal building that was converted to a farm house that has no laundry room, no utility closet and no pantry. I used the extra tall pax system to meet all those needs with limited space. I was thrilled.
Great review (I have been checking into the Ikea Pax for my closet) - Wish you had pictures to show some of your points - visual points (for both pro's and con's) are SOOO helpful. Thank you for taking the time - both for putting together your closet! and the review!
Love my Pax. Paid for delivery and installation of the frames, and installed the interior fittings myself (although we didn’t have exterior doors to contend with). One note: I completely underestimated the difficulty of installing the little plastic plugs to camouflage the extra holes. The IKEA rep suggested Id need about 600, but had to go back and pick up more - over 1000 tiny plastic plugs. Thought my thumbs would fall off 😂
Great review! So helpful about corner units. DEFINITELY going with a long wall wardrobe in our oversized room instead of custom tiny walk in. Guess I have a new mini en suite nursery after all!
We bought the framed sliding doors and made Baltic birch inserts and then framed it with birch plywood and now we have what looks like a wall of custom built in wardrobes. I also used a ton of those rolling shelves for my shoes and it is the best storage for those I’ve had.
California Closet quoted us 12K for a large walk-in closet. I was willing to go with them but im thinking of going with the Pax for about half the cost including installation. Excellent review!
this is a brilliant must have review before making your purchase - it consolidated what I already suspected. I think the planner has improved since this review.
Tried the old PAX tool and it was a nightmare and I gave up. Just messed with the new updated tool today and was able to customize exactly what I wanted in a few hours! Super easy to use and I can't wait to get to work on it.
Yes, what you are saying is so very true- all of it. I helped two friends put their corner closet system together and it took every ounce of 3 brains, 6 arms, 6 hands, 6 eyes, and combined stamina to get through the 3+ hours (after the first 2 hours we stopped clock watching.) It took brut strength for lifting, supporting, and bracing for all the moving parts. My friends got mirror doors and the weight is out of this world! Can you spell "hernia potential?" It is so worth the extra money to have someone else do the unpacking and assembly. I will say, using a medium food storage container is a must to put those endless metal screws, nuts, bolts, nails, screwdrivers, and drill bits in. It also helps to have a magnet for stray metal pieces that grow quiet legs if you are working on a carpeted floor. So, two men and one woman later, it came out beautiful, with only one error, the trim at the bottom of the cabinet went on backward by mistake. The brown particle board side is facing out, but we will just paint that black like the rest of the cabinet. No, we didn't have any pieces left over at the end. Would I do it again? Only with my 2 friends because we laughed at each other and tag-teamed using the drill and hammers. I highly recommend letting IKEA's people assemble it because it is not for the faint of heart!! Hope this helps anyone considering the Pax system. Good luck!!!! Ps, Love your channel, I am a sub!!! Wouldn't miss a video!!!
This was very helpful. Love my clothes and think it might be worth investing a little more to get exactly what I want. Glad to see a really comprehensive review on these from an actual designer finally!
Hey Nick! New sub here I really enjoy your videos 💙 I used their tool or should I say I tried to then I gave up and took an appointment with an IKEA pax specialist for 49€. When I saw her juggling with her cubes I was like ok... it was worth it though because they perfectly know their stuff and now I am happy with my walk in closet 😀 Have a wonderful day!
I got my pax February 2020 right before the pandemic hit. I have a really large walk-in but I was able to use the planning tool with no issues. It was actually really fun. My husband put all of the frames together, 10 frames and 2 corners and I put together all of the drawers (17 total). It didn't seem to be as complicated as I've seen people express on youtube. We even decided to do another, smaller closet a year later. I love the system and how economical it is for the look.
Great review. Highly recommend for the right space! Agreed: PAY THEM to put it together. Too many parts compared to other IKEA furniture. Planning software is a disaster, but once I finally planned, and had it installed, it has served us amazingly well in our master bedroom for 5+ years w/ no wear/chips/malfunctions. Used the tallest units they have planned in an L-shape w/ brown/black doors and mirrors on the angled corner piece (not sure if they make the corner unit anymore) & the direct adjacent doors to create a 3 way mirror when opened. Fits exactly within 1 inch of our available space. Perfect. Similar project through a closet company would have been FAR more expensive. Thanks for the review.
Great review thanks so much. I had the same experience all the way around. I put mine together and really it’s not that hard. My husband and I did it in 2 days!
This is a PHENOMENAL review! Thank you so much. Your feedback on the corners and the matching colors is so helpful. Quick question though: how and where did you find someone to put it together?
my friend and I built two big pax systems by ourselves. It wasn't too hard, but those big three-part mirror doors are really heavy to lift and hard to place correctly. Being at least two people is a must for these kind of projects.
Very good explanation of the pros & cons of the Pax system. I actually went to IKEA today and priced out everything and I know that it’s going to be daunting to put all that together but I think it’s the system that I can afford and will work for me.
Nick Talks Design Yep, I am. I'm just waiting for one part to come back in stock so I can place my order. It's quite a basic design, but I couldn't find the exact wardrobe size, layout and price I wanted elsewhere.
Excellent & unbiased PAX review. After listening to your each & every word, I finally decided to purchase an alternate brand unit. Thank you for your succinct review… 👍🏽
I totally agree with the complexity of the PAX system and IKEA's business model. We purchased the PAX to create a pantry in our kitchen and to figure out the PAX + door process took 2 hours. I wanted to be exact and we had to change our sizing. In the end - I love it, but it took some time.
Here’s a comment for the algorithm. This helped a ton! Moving into a smaller home with basically coat closets in the rooms, looking to set up the free standing stuff. Thanks!
I appreciate your telling us the cons as well as the pros. I saw a Pinterest post about replacing a traditional reach in closet with a PAX wardrobe. They took of the doors of the original closet and put in the PAX. It needed some wood on either side to finish it. It looked great, though.
I agree that the availability of colors/styles in different sizes is a problem. Unless you are having a closet custom made from scratch, closet systems are usually bad with corners. The worst being the bulky units with the diagonal fronts that are like a black hole. The best way they could fix this is to create a unit similar to an easy reach kitchen cabinet with just shelves up the entirety. I do think that there is a way to do hanging bars but it would be a very inefficient use of space. Personally, I love to put together stuff like this. I think it is fun and generally speaking IKEA stuff is pretty well thought out. Also the service part is not really an issue at the IKEAs (I live about half-ish way between two) in our area. They do not let you just pickup kitchen cabinets or the Pax wardrobes. You have to speak to the sales people in the display area or in the self service area and they will enter the entire order into the computer. You are given an order slip that is then taken to the register to be paid. Once paid, you will collect your order which someone in the back has already placed on a flatbed for you to take to your car. Basically, they are trying to make sure that you do not have to know every little piece that must be purchased separately to get what you want and also so that you aren't having to come back 23 times to get what you need and ending up annoyed with the whole process. If the salesperson does their job properly, you will walk out with everything you need and the process will be as painless as possible.
I just bought the Audral system from IKEA, haven’t put it in yet, we are about to start remodeling our bathroom and closet. But it’s been so hard to find reviews on any system but the Pax. Pax was too big for my closet so thats why I opted for Audral. Love love love your channel!
I've had Pax wardrobes for years. I've put them together 3 times and disassembled them twice myself when I moved between the ages of 53 and 65. Only help was having someone help lift the 39" wide units to a standing position and hold the doors while I snapped the hinges in place. So the Pax system is not that difficult to assemble. It just requires a bit of time and patience.
Hello! Thanks for such a detailed review of the Pax. You have made me think twice about going with the Pax in my small walk-in closet. What do you think about the Aurdal system?
I’m turning my office into a dressing room/office and have been considering PAX because of the cost and flexibility. This was a great overview! I’m not afraid of getting all the correct parts and pieces (I design and sell complicated commercial systems furniture for a living hahaha) but I’m anxious about putting it together. If I mess one thing up, it could get bad quickly. Did you hire an IKEA team to put it together or did you go third party? I’m not sure what IKEA offers in house. I know this video is a year old now so I’m late to the game, but thanks again for your input!! Very valuable.
Thank you for this review. We are rebuilding a very old house. One way small bedroom is now to be dedicated to closet and PAX is the preferred way to go. However, I had hesitated because my past experience with Ikea service was pretty terrible. I did have a talk with management ( in the spirit of lets see how we can solve this) and they changed a few things though I felt as if it was 'this fussy lady just needs to be catered to' instead of 'we need to make a systemic change to keep all our customers happier.' Nevertheless, I will give them a try for this project. Your review convinced me. Thank you!
Nick Talks Design yes I do. I have redesigned a few times but I think I have my finished idea now. I added the tray from your video to pull out and fold clothes on. I am going for the white carcasses and white Grimmo doors but I have ordered separate bar handles in gold. Our colour theme is generally navy blue and gold but I think the white units bring a bit of brightness to the room.
PAX is a great system and at a very very good price, custom furniture will be twice as expensive. You can customeze PAX and make it look very high end. Having in consideration the fact that you get a platform where you can custom your on design, I think it's not that bad. Yes, it's glitchy and it only works on Internet Explorer but still, it's free. And if you are not that good with it, you can just go in the store and ask someone to help you plan it. The color scheme is the only real draw back. Installation for 1 single PAX unit it's a DYI job, if you have a full room with 6-7 units and tons of accesories I recommend paying for the installation. For those of you who complain about the corner piece, there are other ikea cabinets from another range witch you can put in the corner and combine it very easily. Another good thing about it, it's very well packed, everything is pre drilled and it won't do much mess in the room.
Only exception to the pre drilled part is the joining screw holes. You line up the units side by side and in one of the holes you drill through to the other unit and then use the specific screw into a screw design to secure the units together. Also useful when building them upright.
Thanks for the review. It's funny you didn't like the planning software, cause now 2 years later it is my favorite thing about all this right now. Being able to plan it out, fit all the pieces in & see a 3D representation is amazing. I do feel a little intimidated by the construction, but not having doors I feel a little better. I built 3 cabinets by myself for the laundry room & lining up the handles & hanging the doors was a pain in the arse! Then trying to hang them on the wall was a chore. After that I feel like I may be able to conquer these. Only down side right now is we'll be driving all over the southeast to pick up all the parts. Wish us luck! I'll come back an update you,
I have already designed and built two Elvarli closets. they were great, but I am graduating to a nicer PAX unit in a larger closet. I love your advice. As to the massive amount of pieces, I have learned it is best to just drive my truck up there, give them my list and pay them to pick it. Also, my 26 yr old neice is now "Ikea certified" assembler LOL. Thanks for the great advice!
Just had a UK IKEA delivery and the guys were brilliant at getting everything into the house. Simple enough to build the bed, wardobe and three Malm cupboards etc Only problem was only getting three sides for a four sided wardrobe with an extra cardboard packing spacer where the fourth side should be. Been told by IKEA that it would take 7-10 days to receive the part... Day 10 and still waiting.
great review! i need the 2 things that you recommended. we recently bought a house and now i have my first ever small walk in closet (yay :) ). because it has sloped ceilings i am going to build the shelfes myself but will probably add some of the complement inserts from PAX. i am really looking forward to it. i had the pax system in the past (just normal wardrobes, nothing wild) and it always worked well for us. but i find that they don't use the space efficent enough like they could (to much space between some compartments) i will see if i can fix that with my custom build.
Fair review. One pro I think is also the fact there are So many self help installation videos available to assist in design and assembly on social Media (RUclips etc.) to help the most inexperienced diy’er Agree fully on the design tool. I went to another provider who designed and costed a wardrobe for me and then took that design in store to ikea who replicated the design and was 60% cheaper. Paid €70 for 200 klm delivery which arrived as scheduled with all components Included so no picking problems. It can look overwhelming when all the parts arrive but assembly is very Repetitive so once you have the 1st cabinet / drawer / shelf complete it becomes much easier Delighted with the final Result and highly recommend the pax system. Deffo limited Colour options.
Thank you for a useful review. I’m looking into local custom closets company and pax. Ours is a mid sized walk in. Both of them have a 40% price difference. But I am ready to stretch my the budget for the custom one if need because I plan to live this house for long long time. But is it need? Nick, I guess I’m looking for you to tell me is it worth the price difference? Please give your opinion
Interesting that you had to self service at your Ikea! In Australia when we bought kitchen cabinets, we placed the order in store then went to a warehouse where they had gotten everything for us (all other furniture etc you self pick!). For our wardrobe it was $70 well spent to have it delivered - but they unloaded it so quickly I had a hard time checking everything off and making sure I had it all. Definitely worth doing - they had given me one item from a different order instead of one from mine, so much eaiser to have them wait a few minutes while I check instead of trying to fix it afterwards.
I know this is quite an old video but I may as well throw in my experience so far. I've ordered but I'm still waiting for it it to arrive, so I can't speak to the assembly experience. Can't imagine it being pleasant. Pros: Good design tool, customisability is second to none, durability Cons: Stock issues, wait for delivery, door options could be better I initially had a budget that was more than half the cost of the PAX I designed. In retrospect, it was probably the only thing where my budget was completely unrealistic. Was trying to find a decently wide wardrobe, black or brown (or mostly one of those colours), with most of the wardrobe dedicated to rails rather than shelves or drawers, and preferably sliding doors. The latter is the thing I was most willing to compromise on to stick to my budget. First looked in charity shops (thrift stores) to find something I liked, obviously much happier to compromise on it, but didn't find anything close to what I needed. Also looked in local stores and nothing suitable or in budget. So I looked on IKEA and I found a pretty nice one right at the top of my budget but no stock. So, I decided to look into going above budget to get something I really loved. I didn't mind doing this as I'd gone WAY under budget for lots of other items (first ever new place, so lots of stuff to buy that each had their own budgets that were set to be not too expensive if I had to go top end, but not too restrictive that I compromise too much and hate it. They also accounted for buying firsthand too, which I didn't do for many things). The PAX was the most suitable by far due to its customisability. I found that with a lot of sliding wardrobes in particular, there's way too much shelving or drawers. Shelving in a wardrobe is useless, at least to me, and I'd only use drawers for underwear and socks so I don't need three big massive drawers at the bottom. Mine has two rails on one side of wardrobe on top of one another on one side, then the other side has a single rail with a longer drop to the three small drawers at the bottom. I can't really name anything that compares, especially for the price. Also the new tool is great and runs perfectly. The one thing I wish they had were more door options. Either a plain black version of the cheapest door or them to bring back the fully mirrored door. Most options seems to be this metal grid with panels, including the mirror door. My mum's is just a plain mirror door and it's great, but I see no point in a full length mirror for it to be broken up by thin line. Why did they change it? The black panels were really glossy, which I wouldn't mind if the panel doors didn't cost a fortune. The price was obviously more than double my initial budget, but as Nick says in this video it's high quality. My mum has had one for over 10 years and it's still good as new from what I've seen. I knew that if I was going over budget, I wanted something that'll last both in terms of durability and design. Hell, if my needs change later (eg, I got a chest of drawers after moving again for whatever reason and didn't need so much rail space) I can just change up the inside instead of selling it. However, there have been issues. The biggest one being stock. IKEA was/is having stock issues due to several factors and has apparently had issues with the system wardrobes since the start of COVID. Particularly an issue with the black wardrobes, which is what I needed for this space. Tried looking for minor compromises but there weren't any small enough for the price. I was checking for a few weeks on the wardrobe components. Really frustrating as I'm living out of bags of clothes and have been for 2 months, missed the opportunity to get the stuff delivered on my week off, and I needed other items too to get stuff out of boxes but didn't want to pay £40 for delivery more than once. I have no IKEA near me as it's 2 hour drive, so it would need to be a day trip to be worth it. Which I wouldn't mind doing if this only involved me, but I can't drive and I can't exactly carry the big items home on a train. The items came in stock at chance at like, 2am. So I had to madly look through the website to make sure I got everything I wanted and ordered at 4am. The second thing is the delivery time. Despite there being a warehouse relatively close, it's an extra 3 weeks wait from the order time. I get shifts 2 weeks in advance (or I'm supposed to anyways) so I had to just click the slot and hope. And of course I get a long shift that day. So I'm trying to fix that mess. Not all down to IKEA but it's just a thing you have to work around.
Love the review. I’m writing this 5 months after you posting. On one of the cons you mentioned - I bought many pax systems recently. The Ikea I went to will not let you walk-in and self serve Pax systems. You must use an employee as a planner to order parts. They print out order, you pay and pick up. This may help with the complex system. Not sure this if this is nation wide. If you are savvy you can order it yourself online and collect it at the parking lot- I think it’s call Click and Collect.
It’s the same at my ikea. I used the online planner and gave my code to an employee…got the printout, paid, went to a separate warehouse down the street and everything was ready for me on a pallet. I had to load it I’m my car by myself. I also did the assembly/installation myself. I broke one frame because it was so heavy and I dropped it trying to get it upright lol
It looks like Adobe Flash is gone as of 2021 so IKEA has updated their PAX tool! 🎉 🎊 🥳 It even works on Macs! 😲 I haven't had a chance to play with it too much yet, but comment below if you've used it for your wardrobe and let us know how it goes! Happy planning everyone!
I recently used it and loved it! It was missing the accessories part, but besides that it's a great upgrade.
I don’t know if it’s the same system I tried to use for a kitchen reno I’m planning buuut it was so hard to use 🥴 It was so glitchy and I couldn’t get the exact measurements. Everything overlapped. And I have a Dell.
I believe they’ve upgraded/dated their online pax system now.
The new planner is awful. They don’t have options to put in windows or obstacles if you are building a whole room With corners
I should have decided on my closet before they made the change lol... I am wishing for the old glitchy system back so that I can make my L-shaped closet.
Playing with LEGO and jigsaw puzzles as a child prepared me for constructing IKEA. 🤣
As a Lego fan as a child and IKEA addict in my early adulthood I totally agree!!!😆
I am still a Lego fan; so I would pay to be allowed to build the Pax myself...
I bought an original PAX wardrobe when IKEA first released them, and it's still going strong and looking like new. In fact I've just bought some large drawers for it to change the space up. Love the fact so many years (decades) later I can still buy parts to change things up.
This has to be the best review I've seen on youtube..ever..straight to the point..not going off topic..touch on all points..this video really gave me clarity..thank you👍
So glad you enjoyed it Stephanie!
Ikea Closets are a third of the cost of any of their competitors! If you want an IKEA closet, you can do the design at home, but I recommend that you see an IKEA design specialist in that department. They are the best! And you will get the closet you desire! The corner units could be a waste! But did you know, you could do a 20 inch IKEA closet on an angle, and put any insert you want in that? This does work, and will give you the best corner closet you’ve ever wanted! Again, talk to an IKEA specialist, they are amazing, and take the guesswork out of what you are trying to do!
It is "a third of the cost of any of their competitors" at the first sight. Then you discover you have to buy every element separately and it becomes pricey. Also, normally, only the cheapest versions are cheaper than competitors. In my case, a big pax wardrobe was one of the first things I bought for my new apartment. And I regretted it so much! It was incredibly rickety and I had 2 wardrobe corpuses that didn't want to stick together. And assembling it was a drama. It cost my technically skilled brother 2 days of work to fix it in a way that actually made it stable. Moreover, it resulted very costly for the quality. I selected one door with a mirror, but that's it when it comes to "fancy add-ons". Still, it would be possible to buy a wardrobe of the same or lower cost in most chain furniture stores in my country. Ikea has some good things but PAX is a big no.
Which is the 20 inch ikea closet?
I had some IKEA delivery guys give me a card of an ex colleague who now only puts IKEA furniture together. This worked very well for us as we'd bought two bunk beds which were incredibly complicated to put together. The guy was very professional and was worth every penny we paid (not expensive).
I don t like the idea of keeping dirty laundry in the wardrobe. I would never do that. But i love the pax system for a budget friendly option
For assembly, it depends on your experience with Ikea products. I assemble a 12 FT long, 6 sliding doors, accessories, full height and dept. Dit it alone, female 60 yrs old. Difficult and some nasty words here and there but doable. The most difficult was since you have to build it upright ( 2 '' clearance with ceiling) I used the wall to hold one pannel while fixing the other one. When a 4 sided ''box'' is made, the rest is easy. I'm over 65 now and a 8 ft wardrobe is being done in a few weeks. ( also built a full kitchen of cabinets ).
Superwoman
@@wheresmycoffeeineededit3639 Wish I didn't have to be. ''Necessite oblige'' .
I have a smaller walk in closet too so what I did was a combo of double hung closet rods from Home Depot in the corners and used the pax units to box them in. Just wanted to share in case anyone was looking for a solution to the corner cabinet issue.
This is helpful! Could you please elaborate more! I'm looking for alternatives for my non-existent artic closet!
I find it so so interesting that 2 people can have completely different opinions and experiences when talking about the exact same product!! I designed my full ilea pax closet system on their website and didn’t have any issues at all! I also have 2 corner units, and multiples of the large and smaller sized units. I ordered everything myself, and I assembled the entire room with my husband. I love everything about my guest room turned closet room! I found the assembly to be more time consuming than difficult. I didn’t miss any of the small parts or pieces, and I have just about everything they offer; from drawers, to pullout pant and shoe racks, to mirror door fronts and an accessories tray. My 2 cons are: 1) on my largest unit, the backing has split just a tiny bit and I haven’t been able to figure out how to re-tape the seam since I can’t access the back of the unit and 2) you can’t put too much weight on the shelves as they will slightly bow over time. I have had my pax closet system for 6 or 7 years now, and it’s still my absolute favorite room in my whole house!! I loved hearing about your specific pros and cons, and as I said, I am always so interested in hearing different experiences people may have for the same product:) I really enjoyed your video!! Be well!
I noticed that your comment was written a year after Nick reviewed the system..ha, seems to me IKEA took notice and improved some of those cons 😊
I want to see your Pax to understand better. I bet it’s amazing 🤩.
Umm hello, we need a home tour!
Added two Pax units to my office. We used thin plywood as a back instead of the cheap cardboard. I wall papered the back with grass cloth. Looks high end and I just love it. I would use Pax again but I am really good with 3D planners and my husband has mad skills.
This system is great for more than just closets! We live in a small metal building that was converted to a farm house that has no laundry room, no utility closet and no pantry. I used the extra tall pax system to meet all those needs with limited space. I was thrilled.
That was so helpful. Great review; very objective yet based on personal experience. Thanks Nick.
Great review (I have been checking into the Ikea Pax for my closet) - Wish you had pictures to show some of your points - visual points (for both pro's and con's) are SOOO helpful. Thank you for taking the time - both for putting together your closet! and the review!
This is so helpful. Thank you!
Love my Pax. Paid for delivery and installation of the frames, and installed the interior fittings myself (although we didn’t have exterior doors to contend with). One note: I completely underestimated the difficulty of installing the little plastic plugs to camouflage the extra holes. The IKEA rep suggested Id need about 600, but had to go back and pick up more - over 1000 tiny plastic plugs. Thought my thumbs would fall off 😂
Best review of anything I have ever heard about everything! So clear and much appreciated
Great review! So helpful about corner units. DEFINITELY going with a long wall wardrobe in our oversized room instead of custom tiny walk in. Guess I have a new mini en suite nursery after all!
We bought the framed sliding doors and made Baltic birch inserts and then framed it with birch plywood and now we have what looks like a wall of custom built in wardrobes. I also used a ton of those rolling shelves for my shoes and it is the best storage for those I’ve had.
Way to get into details that are actually meaningful! Great insight!
Glad you think so!
California Closet quoted us 12K for a large walk-in closet. I was willing to go with them but im thinking of going with the Pax for about half the cost including installation. Excellent review!
Yes California Closets are beautiful but $$$!
I agree with you! California Closet quoted me 6.7K for my 140"x80" closet space. I was able to order everything using Pax Planner for below 2K.
Honestly I think he just sold me on the unit since I’ve been going back and forth for 5 months
Such great detailed and helpful info. Loved this video! Thank you.
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching!
this is a brilliant must have review before making your purchase - it consolidated what I already suspected. I think the planner has improved since this review.
Tried the old PAX tool and it was a nightmare and I gave up. Just messed with the new updated tool today and was able to customize exactly what I wanted in a few hours! Super easy to use and I can't wait to get to work on it.
What a thorough review.......You did an amazing job! I'm about to design one for my elderly mother and this helped me so much, thank you!💕
Great review! This answers a lot of questions I had about using the PAX system. Your honesty and thoroughness is amazing.
Glad it was helpful!
Yes, what you are saying is so very true- all of it.
I helped two friends put their corner closet system together and it took every ounce of 3 brains, 6 arms, 6 hands, 6 eyes, and combined stamina to get through the 3+ hours (after the first 2 hours we stopped clock watching.) It took brut strength for lifting, supporting, and bracing for all the moving parts.
My friends got mirror doors and the weight is out of this world! Can you spell "hernia potential?" It is so worth the extra money to have someone else do the unpacking and assembly. I will say, using a medium food storage container is a must to put those endless metal screws, nuts, bolts, nails, screwdrivers, and drill bits in. It also helps to have a magnet for stray metal pieces that grow quiet legs if you are working on a carpeted floor.
So, two men and one woman later, it came out beautiful, with only one error, the trim at the bottom of the cabinet went on backward by mistake. The brown particle board side is facing out, but we will just paint that black like the rest of the cabinet. No, we didn't have any pieces left over at the end.
Would I do it again? Only with my 2 friends because we laughed at each other and tag-teamed using the drill and hammers. I highly recommend letting IKEA's people assemble it because it is not for the faint of heart!!
Hope this helps anyone considering the Pax system. Good luck!!!!
Ps, Love your channel, I am a sub!!! Wouldn't miss a video!!!
Thank you Nick. I’ve been thinking of getting a Pax for years and this review really helped me.
Perfect review, exactly what I was looking for. Thanks man
This was very helpful. Love my clothes and think it might be worth investing a little more to get exactly what I want. Glad to see a really comprehensive review on these from an actual designer finally!
Thanks so much! Been trying to figure this out for weeks!
Hey Nick! New sub here I really enjoy your videos 💙
I used their tool or should I say I tried to then I gave up and took an appointment with an IKEA pax specialist for 49€. When I saw her juggling with her cubes I was like ok... it was worth it though because they perfectly know their stuff and now I am happy with my walk in closet 😀
Have a wonderful day!
I was relieved to hear that others had trouble with the planning tool! Im glad it wasn't just me. Great Review!
Very informative video...great explanation of the Pro and Cons😃😍
I got my pax February 2020 right before the pandemic hit. I have a really large walk-in but I was able to use the planning tool with no issues. It was actually really fun. My husband put all of the frames together, 10 frames and 2 corners and I put together all of the drawers (17 total). It didn't seem to be as complicated as I've seen people express on youtube. We even decided to do another, smaller closet a year later. I love the system and how economical it is for the look.
I didn’t have any trouble putting together my husband’s PAX closet system. Did the entire thing myself and it has two mirrored doors. Love it.
Great review. Highly recommend for the right space! Agreed: PAY THEM to put it together. Too many parts compared to other IKEA furniture. Planning software is a disaster, but once I finally planned, and had it installed, it has served us amazingly well in our master bedroom for 5+ years w/ no wear/chips/malfunctions. Used the tallest units they have planned in an L-shape w/ brown/black doors and mirrors on the angled corner piece (not sure if they make the corner unit anymore) & the direct adjacent doors to create a 3 way mirror when opened. Fits exactly within 1 inch of our available space. Perfect. Similar project through a closet company would have been FAR more expensive. Thanks for the review.
Great review nick. Very helpful.
This review is Excellent. Thank you very much!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for all this info! I found this so helpful!!!
Excellent review...really fair handed and brought to light issue that we may not have thought of.
We chose our closet system from The Container Store after looking at IKEA and California Closet. We are super happy with the quality and price.
Great review thanks so much. I had the same experience all the way around. I put mine together and really it’s not that hard. My husband and I did it in 2 days!
Great review, thank you.
This is a PHENOMENAL review! Thank you so much. Your feedback on the corners and the matching colors is so helpful. Quick question though: how and where did you find someone to put it together?
my friend and I built two big pax systems by ourselves. It wasn't too hard, but those big three-part mirror doors are really heavy to lift and hard to place correctly. Being at least two people is a must for these kind of projects.
Thanks for the review! I’ve been wondering if the Pax would work for my space and this was extremely helpful! Love your channel!
Aww glad you like the channel and you found the video helpful! So what's the verdict? Are you going with the PAX?
Nick Talks Design probably not because I’m converting a small bedroom into a walk-in closet and it seems like it will be a lot of wasted corner space.
Yeah I'd only recommend if you did open shelving to be honest!
You are so great, thanks for all the info so helpful 😀
I'm glad, do you think you'll go with the Pax?
Very good explanation of the pros & cons of the Pax system. I actually went to IKEA today and priced out everything and I know that it’s going to be daunting to put all that together but I think it’s the system that I can afford and will work for me.
very thorough and informative - thanks!
Really helpful and comprehensive review! Thanks for posting this :)
Glad it was helpful! Do you think you will get the PAX?
Nick Talks Design Yep, I am. I'm just waiting for one part to come back in stock so I can place my order. It's quite a basic design, but I couldn't find the exact wardrobe size, layout and price I wanted elsewhere.
Such good insight and very clear. You should do a video on built-ins from IKEA using the Billy shelves.
I was deciding on whether I should get the corner unit. Thanks for the heads-up!
Love your informative videos, more more!
Thank you! More to come!
Super helpful, thank you!
Excellent & unbiased PAX review.
After listening to your each & every word, I finally decided to purchase an alternate brand unit.
Thank you for your succinct review… 👍🏽
what alternative?
I totally agree with the complexity of the PAX system and IKEA's business model. We purchased the PAX to create a pantry in our kitchen and to figure out the PAX + door process took 2 hours. I wanted to be exact and we had to change our sizing. In the end - I love it, but it took some time.
Yeah it's a great system, but there are a few challenges for sure!
Thank you...The corner was what I was concerned about thanks for that. Great video.
You’re welcome! Yeah honestly it’s a bit fussy!
Here’s a comment for the algorithm. This helped a ton! Moving into a smaller home with basically coat closets in the rooms, looking to set up the free standing stuff.
Thanks!
PAX as a free standing unit is a great option. Glad the video helped!
I'm doing the same. Did you go with this system and do you like it?
Hey babe so helpful thank you!
You are so welcome!
I appreciate your telling us the cons as well as the pros. I saw a Pinterest post about replacing a traditional reach in closet with a PAX wardrobe. They took of the doors of the original closet and put in the PAX. It needed some wood on either side to finish it. It looked great, though.
Very thorough review. 👍
Great video!
Very great review! thanks 🙏🏻
Glad it was helpful!
Great review. I have mounted so many PAX in my life by now that I could almost do it with closed eyes! ;-)
Is it really that hard to put together
@@williambrucesanders6878 It was my second ever IKEA thing I put together. Took me two days, but I managed.
So I'm sure you can do it too!
I build a kitchen with IKEA planner and installed it myself from all the boxes without any issues. It is so straight forward you just do it.
I agree that the availability of colors/styles in different sizes is a problem. Unless you are having a closet custom made from scratch, closet systems are usually bad with corners. The worst being the bulky units with the diagonal fronts that are like a black hole. The best way they could fix this is to create a unit similar to an easy reach kitchen cabinet with just shelves up the entirety. I do think that there is a way to do hanging bars but it would be a very inefficient use of space. Personally, I love to put together stuff like this. I think it is fun and generally speaking IKEA stuff is pretty well thought out. Also the service part is not really an issue at the IKEAs (I live about half-ish way between two) in our area. They do not let you just pickup kitchen cabinets or the Pax wardrobes. You have to speak to the sales people in the display area or in the self service area and they will enter the entire order into the computer. You are given an order slip that is then taken to the register to be paid. Once paid, you will collect your order which someone in the back has already placed on a flatbed for you to take to your car. Basically, they are trying to make sure that you do not have to know every little piece that must be purchased separately to get what you want and also so that you aren't having to come back 23 times to get what you need and ending up annoyed with the whole process. If the salesperson does their job properly, you will walk out with everything you need and the process will be as painless as possible.
Thanks for the pax review. I love your pendant light in the back.
You are so welcome! I got it in a small cute shop in a small town so I can't tell you how to get your own unfortunately!
Just found your channel and love all the uber useful design tips! Subbed. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Awesome! Thank you! Love your channel too!
I just bought the Audral system from IKEA, haven’t put it in yet, we are about to start remodeling our bathroom and closet. But it’s been so hard to find reviews on any system but the Pax. Pax was too big for my closet so thats why I opted for Audral. Love love love your channel!
Love your hair and clear complexion. Nice presentation.
Great review I’m drinking right now procrastinating putting it together lol
I've had Pax wardrobes for years. I've put them together 3 times and disassembled them twice myself when I moved between the ages of 53 and 65. Only help was having someone help lift the 39" wide units to a standing position and hold the doors while I snapped the hinges in place. So the Pax system is not that difficult to assemble. It just requires a bit of time and patience.
this is really helpful. we priced easyclosets, and 4k wasn't in the budge...
Hello! Thanks for such a detailed review of the Pax. You have made me think twice about going with the Pax in my small walk-in closet. What do you think about the Aurdal system?
Happy you showed what you were talking about because I have never heard of this, lol! But I'm enjoying your videos and decided to click anyways.
My walking closet is tiny. I did consider getting the PAX system, but I will also look at other options.
Thank you so much for you review 🙏🙏
Try the Boaxel it's much more open and modular with a better planning tool. He has a review of it too
YOUR SKIN IS GORGEOUS ❤
I’m turning my office into a dressing room/office and have been considering PAX because of the cost and flexibility. This was a great overview! I’m not afraid of getting all the correct parts and pieces (I design and sell complicated commercial systems furniture for a living hahaha) but I’m anxious about putting it together. If I mess one thing up, it could get bad quickly. Did you hire an IKEA team to put it together or did you go third party? I’m not sure what IKEA offers in house. I know this video is a year old now so I’m late to the game, but thanks again for your input!! Very valuable.
I love all your videos.
Thank you for the comment! :)
Thank you for this review. We are rebuilding a very old house. One way small bedroom is now to be dedicated to closet and PAX is the preferred way to go. However, I had hesitated because my past experience with Ikea service was pretty terrible. I did have a talk with management ( in the spirit of lets see how we can solve this) and they changed a few things though I felt as if it was 'this fussy lady just needs to be catered to' instead of 'we need to make a systemic change to keep all our customers happier.' Nevertheless, I will give them a try for this project. Your review convinced me. Thank you!
Just have to say your house is very nice, i have black walls too. I love it!!
Great video thanks for the advice
You're welcome! Do you think you will get the Pax Grace?
Nick Talks Design yes I do. I have redesigned a few times but I think I have my finished idea now. I added the tray from your video to pull out and fold clothes on. I am going for the white carcasses and white Grimmo doors but I have ordered separate bar handles in gold. Our colour theme is generally navy blue and gold but I think the white units bring a bit of brightness to the room.
PAX is a great system and at a very very good price, custom furniture will be twice as expensive. You can customeze PAX and make it look very high end.
Having in consideration the fact that you get a platform where you can custom your on design, I think it's not that bad. Yes, it's glitchy and it only works on Internet Explorer but still, it's free.
And if you are not that good with it, you can just go in the store and ask someone to help you plan it.
The color scheme is the only real draw back.
Installation for 1 single PAX unit it's a DYI job, if you have a full room with 6-7 units and tons of accesories I recommend paying for the installation.
For those of you who complain about the corner piece, there are other ikea cabinets from another range witch you can put in the corner and combine it very easily.
Another good thing about it, it's very well packed, everything is pre drilled and it won't do much mess in the room.
Only exception to the pre drilled part is the joining screw holes. You line up the units side by side and in one of the holes you drill through to the other unit and then use the specific screw into a screw design to secure the units together. Also useful when building them upright.
Thanks for this review!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the review. It's funny you didn't like the planning software, cause now 2 years later it is my favorite thing about all this right now. Being able to plan it out, fit all the pieces in & see a 3D representation is amazing. I do feel a little intimidated by the construction, but not having doors I feel a little better. I built 3 cabinets by myself for the laundry room & lining up the handles & hanging the doors was a pain in the arse! Then trying to hang them on the wall was a chore. After that I feel like I may be able to conquer these. Only down side right now is we'll be driving all over the southeast to pick up all the parts. Wish us luck! I'll come back an update you,
I have already designed and built two Elvarli closets. they were great, but I am graduating to a nicer PAX unit in a larger closet. I love your advice. As to the massive amount of pieces, I have learned it is best to just drive my truck up there, give them my list and pay them to pick it. Also, my 26 yr old neice is now "Ikea certified" assembler LOL. Thanks for the great advice!
Yeah better to have them pick it out for sure!
Just had a UK IKEA delivery and the guys were brilliant at getting everything into the house.
Simple enough to build the bed, wardobe and three Malm cupboards etc
Only problem was only getting three sides for a four sided wardrobe with an extra cardboard packing spacer where the fourth side should be.
Been told by IKEA that it would take 7-10 days to receive the part... Day 10 and still waiting.
Agree wholeheartedly about the old planner (kitchen one was terrible too!) The new one works great!
great review! i need the 2 things that you recommended.
we recently bought a house and now i have my first ever small walk in closet (yay :) ). because it has sloped ceilings i am going to build the shelfes myself but will probably add some of the complement inserts from PAX. i am really looking forward to it.
i had the pax system in the past (just normal wardrobes, nothing wild) and it always worked well for us. but i find that they don't use the space efficent enough like they could (to much space between some compartments) i will see if i can fix that with my custom build.
Being from Vancouver who did you use to install it? I am considering this for our reach in closets. Been planning and playing with it.
We have the system and every word you said is correct. You really cannot beat the price so I would do it again!
Fair review. One pro I think is also the fact there are
So many self help installation videos available to assist in design and assembly on social
Media (RUclips etc.) to help the most inexperienced diy’er
Agree fully on the design tool. I went to another provider who designed and costed a wardrobe for me and then took that design in store to ikea who replicated the design and was 60% cheaper.
Paid €70 for 200 klm delivery which arrived as scheduled with all components
Included so no picking problems.
It can look overwhelming when all the parts arrive but assembly is very
Repetitive so once you have the 1st cabinet / drawer / shelf complete it becomes much easier
Delighted with the final
Result and highly recommend the pax system. Deffo limited
Colour options.
Thank you for a useful review. I’m looking into local custom closets company and pax. Ours is a mid sized walk in. Both of them have a 40% price difference. But I am ready to stretch my the budget for the custom one if need because I plan to live this house for long long time. But is it need? Nick, I guess I’m looking for you to tell me is it worth the price difference? Please give your opinion
Interesting that you had to self service at your Ikea! In Australia when we bought kitchen cabinets, we placed the order in store then went to a warehouse where they had gotten everything for us (all other furniture etc you self pick!). For our wardrobe it was $70 well spent to have it delivered - but they unloaded it so quickly I had a hard time checking everything off and making sure I had it all. Definitely worth doing - they had given me one item from a different order instead of one from mine, so much eaiser to have them wait a few minutes while I check instead of trying to fix it afterwards.
I know this is quite an old video but I may as well throw in my experience so far. I've ordered but I'm still waiting for it it to arrive, so I can't speak to the assembly experience. Can't imagine it being pleasant.
Pros: Good design tool, customisability is second to none, durability
Cons: Stock issues, wait for delivery, door options could be better
I initially had a budget that was more than half the cost of the PAX I designed. In retrospect, it was probably the only thing where my budget was completely unrealistic. Was trying to find a decently wide wardrobe, black or brown (or mostly one of those colours), with most of the wardrobe dedicated to rails rather than shelves or drawers, and preferably sliding doors. The latter is the thing I was most willing to compromise on to stick to my budget.
First looked in charity shops (thrift stores) to find something I liked, obviously much happier to compromise on it, but didn't find anything close to what I needed. Also looked in local stores and nothing suitable or in budget. So I looked on IKEA and I found a pretty nice one right at the top of my budget but no stock. So, I decided to look into going above budget to get something I really loved. I didn't mind doing this as I'd gone WAY under budget for lots of other items (first ever new place, so lots of stuff to buy that each had their own budgets that were set to be not too expensive if I had to go top end, but not too restrictive that I compromise too much and hate it. They also accounted for buying firsthand too, which I didn't do for many things).
The PAX was the most suitable by far due to its customisability. I found that with a lot of sliding wardrobes in particular, there's way too much shelving or drawers. Shelving in a wardrobe is useless, at least to me, and I'd only use drawers for underwear and socks so I don't need three big massive drawers at the bottom. Mine has two rails on one side of wardrobe on top of one another on one side, then the other side has a single rail with a longer drop to the three small drawers at the bottom. I can't really name anything that compares, especially for the price. Also the new tool is great and runs perfectly. The one thing I wish they had were more door options. Either a plain black version of the cheapest door or them to bring back the fully mirrored door. Most options seems to be this metal grid with panels, including the mirror door. My mum's is just a plain mirror door and it's great, but I see no point in a full length mirror for it to be broken up by thin line. Why did they change it? The black panels were really glossy, which I wouldn't mind if the panel doors didn't cost a fortune.
The price was obviously more than double my initial budget, but as Nick says in this video it's high quality. My mum has had one for over 10 years and it's still good as new from what I've seen. I knew that if I was going over budget, I wanted something that'll last both in terms of durability and design. Hell, if my needs change later (eg, I got a chest of drawers after moving again for whatever reason and didn't need so much rail space) I can just change up the inside instead of selling it.
However, there have been issues. The biggest one being stock. IKEA was/is having stock issues due to several factors and has apparently had issues with the system wardrobes since the start of COVID. Particularly an issue with the black wardrobes, which is what I needed for this space. Tried looking for minor compromises but there weren't any small enough for the price. I was checking for a few weeks on the wardrobe components. Really frustrating as I'm living out of bags of clothes and have been for 2 months, missed the opportunity to get the stuff delivered on my week off, and I needed other items too to get stuff out of boxes but didn't want to pay £40 for delivery more than once. I have no IKEA near me as it's 2 hour drive, so it would need to be a day trip to be worth it. Which I wouldn't mind doing if this only involved me, but I can't drive and I can't exactly carry the big items home on a train. The items came in stock at chance at like, 2am. So I had to madly look through the website to make sure I got everything I wanted and ordered at 4am.
The second thing is the delivery time. Despite there being a warehouse relatively close, it's an extra 3 weeks wait from the order time. I get shifts 2 weeks in advance (or I'm supposed to anyways) so I had to just click the slot and hope. And of course I get a long shift that day. So I'm trying to fix that mess. Not all down to IKEA but it's just a thing you have to work around.
Love the review. I’m writing this 5 months after you posting. On one of the cons you mentioned - I bought many pax systems recently. The Ikea I went to will not let you walk-in and self serve Pax systems. You must use an employee as a planner to order parts. They print out order, you pay and pick up. This may help with the complex system. Not sure this if this is nation wide. If you are savvy you can order it yourself online and collect it at the parking lot- I think it’s call Click and Collect.
It’s the same at my ikea. I used the online planner and gave my code to an employee…got the printout, paid, went to a separate warehouse down the street and everything was ready for me on a pallet.
I had to load it I’m my car by myself. I also did the assembly/installation myself. I broke one frame because it was so heavy and I dropped it trying to get it upright lol
Yeahh they don’t do I like that in mine at Atlanta