Ikea HURDAL Wardrobe Impressions: Big Wood Box

I recently took a look at some lower priced wardrobes from Ikea like the BRIMNES and ASKVOLL at the sub CA$ 200 range. This time I checked out a more expensive option that was the HURDAL.

Completely unrelated photo of water

Disclaimer: I had not had any firsthand experience with any HURDAL products when I wrote this piece. Details were quoted from the Ikea United States website or Canada website in mid April 2016. Details on this page are NOT guaranteed for accuracy.

First Impressions: The Ikea HURDAL Wardrobe
A CA$ 499.00 (US$ 499.00) wardrobe with the following terms under the "Product description" that I found interesting: "Solid pine," "Fiberboard," and "lacquer." It was noted on the Ikea.ca product page to have dimensions of 109 cm x 59 cm x 198 cm (width x depth x height). And there was a line about "1 clothes rail and 1 stationary shelf included."

The product photos suggested that the Ikea HURDAL wardrobe was a rectangular box with two large swing-open doors and a sliding drawer at the bottom. Inside the main compartment, I saw a single rail across the width and a shelf right above it. There also appeared to be a lock and key mechanism on one of the interior doors. And the rear panel seemed to have a pattern on the inside.

What I like to do is compare wardrobes to the Ikea ANEBODA because it's a cheaper yet functional alternative -- I got one about a decade ago, don't know if the dimensions or features changed since though. According to the ANEBODA's product page at the time, not the one I bought years prior, the wardrobe stood at 81 cm x 50 cm x 180 cm (width x depth x height) and there was supposedly "1 adjustable shelf included."

It looked like the HURDAL wardrobe was 28 cm wider, 9 cm deeper, and 18 cm taller than the ANEBODA. The width and height differences seemed fairly significant considering that 29/81 = 0.358 or about 36% wider, and 18/180 = 0.10 or 10% taller. Yes, that makes the depth almost 20% greater but 9 cm seemed like a small absolute number.

What I did with my ANEBODA was place the adjustable shelf near the bottom, roughly at the height of the top of the HURDAL's drawer. The drawer just above the clothes rail in the HURDAL looked like a nice bonus. Overall, it seemed like the HURDAL would allow one to pack items more densely into the wardrobe more cleanly and efficiently -- without having to buy extra accessories. I packed my ANEBODA pretty full by stacking folded items at the bottom, but it didn't work great. Items had to be removed to access those at the back or bottom. Having a drawer could help to alleviate that problem somewhat.

Unfortunately, the larger width and drawer of the HURDAL wardrobe seemed like they would require more free space in front. One would probably need space to swing the doors open and to pull the drawer out.

Final Thoughts
Did I mention that the Ikea HURDAL looked great? Those looks came at a significant cost though. When I looked, the ANEBODA was CA$ 99.00 (US$ 99.99) or roughly a $400 discount to the HURDAL. However, it looked like the HURDAL provided better space organization while being somewhat larger.