How Long Does an IKEA PAX Wardrobe Really Take to Assemble?
A single PAX frame looks simple on paper. In practice, the time it takes depends far more on your walls, your floor and your doors than on the number of screws in the box.
The honest timings
For a standard two-frame PAX with sliding doors, a professional takes roughly three to four hours from flat-pack to finished. Hinged doors with internal drawers push that closer to five.
A first-time DIY build of the same wardrobe usually runs between eight and twelve hours spread over a weekend — most of it lost to re-reading steps and correcting panel orientation.
- Single 100 cm frame, hinged doors: 2–3 hours
- Two frames with sliding doors: 3–4 hours
- Three frames, drawers and internal lighting: 5–6 hours
What slows the job down in Barcelona flats
Eixample and Gràcia buildings rarely have flat walls or level floors. A 4 mm dip across two metres means the doors will never sit flush unless the frame is shimmed properly before the panels go on.
Hollow brick and old plaster also change the fixing strategy. The plugs in the box are made for solid walls; on rasilla brick they pull straight out.
Wall anchoring is not optional
Every tall wardrobe must be fixed to the wall. It is the single step people skip and the one that causes the accidents. We always anchor with fixings chosen for your actual wall type, and we test the load before we leave.
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