Combination Chest

Half the case goes to drawers and half sits behind a door, hiding either a short hanging rod or a stack of adjustable shelves. Overall the piece runs 36 to 48 inches wide, 48 to 60 inches tall and 20 to 24 inches deep. That makes it the deepest in the family because the door side has to swallow a hanger. Dividing a case this way is the point: one object covers folded and hung clothes where no closet exists.

Behind the door is where these succeed or fail, and the numbers are strict. A hanger facing forward needs 21 to 24 inches of interior depth. A shirt or a pair of folded pants needs about 40 inches of rail height to clear the bottom. Many units offer only 30 to 36 inches under the rod, which takes jackets and shirts but leaves dresses and coats trailing, so measure inside the compartment rather than trusting the outside height. Concealed cup hinges, which sit in a 35 millimeter bore in the door and adjust in three directions with a screwdriver, bring a sagged door back level in a minute where surface hinges cannot be adjusted at all. Weight also sits unevenly across the case, heavy on the drawer side and light behind the door. That means leveling the feet matters more here than on any symmetrical piece.

A wardrobe, covered under Wardrobes & Armoires, gives full length hanging and few or no drawers. Handing the whole case to drawers, a tall chest stores more folded clothes in the same footprint. Double dressers stay low and offer no hanging at all. Versions built with a television compartment behind the doors need venting or an open back, the same heat problem Media Consoles are designed to solve.

Older homes built before closets became standard are the natural setting for one, along with any bedroom that has no closet at all. Guest rooms gain a place for a visitor to hang a jacket without unpacking. Renters get hanging space without drilling a system into someone else's wall. Anyone with a working closet should buy a tall chest instead and take the drawers back. Rooms with under 4 feet of walkway suffer, since a hinged door sweeps roughly 18 inches out before it is fully open.

Open both doors and pull down on the rail, which should be metal and mounted into the side panels rather than screwed to the back. Turn the hinge screws once a year and the doors stay level. Level the feet after loading, strap the case to framing, and leave a small gap behind it so air moves through the hanging side.