Insights / Atelier
Built-in furniture in Bangkok: what it costs per metre and how to specify it
Built-in furniture in Bangkok is priced by the linear metre of run, at full height. In 2026 laminate is ฿9,000 – 14,000 per linear metre, veneer or lacquer ฿16,000 – 28,000, and kitchen cabinets ฿14,000 – 26,000 including carcass, fronts and hardware but not stone or appliances. A television wall runs ฿80,000 – 300,000. Lead time is three to five weeks from approved drawings, and hinges and runners from Blum, Hettich or Häfele should be named in the quotation.
Joinery is the largest single line in most Bangkok interiors, usually 30 to 40 percent of a fit-out, and it is the line clients understand least. It is not sold by the piece. It is sold by the metre, and what a metre contains varies from one workshop to the next. This guide sets out the studio's 2026 rates, what they include, and the questions that separate a quotation you can hold someone to from one you cannot.
What a linear metre includes
Built-in furniture is measured across the face of the run, in metres along the wall, at full height. A wardrobe 3.2 m long and 2.6 m high is 3.2 linear metres. A normal rate covers the carcass, the doors and drawer fronts, internal shelves and rails, edge banding, hardware, delivery and installation.
It does not usually cover stone tops, glass, integrated lighting, the electrical work behind the unit, or scribing and packing if the floor is out of level. Ask for those four items to be priced separately and visibly, because they are where a cheap quotation hides.
Two things change the rate in ways that look like arithmetic errors. Height. Above 2.7 m a run needs a separate top box, and the price rises by roughly fifteen percent rather than in proportion. Depth. A 60 cm wardrobe and a 35 cm pantry cost almost the same per metre, because most of the labour is in fronts and edges rather than in the back.
Laminate, veneer, lacquer and solid timber
| Finish | 2026 price per linear metre | Where it earns its place |
|---|---|---|
| Melamine laminate | ฿9,000 – 12,000 | Wardrobe interiors, storerooms, anything behind a closed door |
| High pressure laminate, ABS edging | ฿11,000 – 14,000 | Kitchens, children's rooms, surfaces wiped every day |
| Timber veneer, lacquered | ฿16,000 – 24,000 | Fronts on show in living rooms and bedrooms |
| Sprayed lacquer, matt or gloss | ฿20,000 – 28,000 | Flat colour with no grain; shows dust, repairs badly |
| Solid timber fronts | ฿30,000 – 50,000 | Small areas only; moves in Bangkok humidity |
The honest recommendation for a condominium is laminate carcasses throughout with veneer or lacquer fronts where the eye lands. On an 80 m² flat that choice alone is a difference of ฿150,000 to ฿250,000, and nobody has ever noticed the inside of a wardrobe.
The hardware is the part that fails
Hinges. Blum Clip Top Blumotion or Hettich Sensys, ฿180 – 400 each, four to six per tall door. A no-name hinge costs ฿40 and sags within two years on a door of any weight.
Drawer runners. Blum Tandembox or Legrabox, Hettich ArciTech, ฿1,200 – 3,500 per drawer depending on width and height. This is the item most often substituted after the quotation is signed.
Sliding gear. Häfele or Hettich top-hung systems, ฿4,000 – 12,000 per opening. Bottom-rolling gear is cheaper and collects dust; in a bedroom it is a false economy.
Lighting. Strip inside a wardrobe with a door switch, ฿1,500 – 3,500 per metre installed including driver. Specify the driver location, because a driver buried behind a fixed panel is a future demolition job.
Name the brand and the model in the quotation. A joiner who will not write Blum on paper will not fit Blum on site.
Three runs, priced
| Item | Size | Laminate | Veneer or lacquer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedroom wardrobe, sliding doors | 3.0 m | ฿27,000 – 42,000 | ฿48,000 – 84,000 |
| Walk-in closet, double-sided | 6.0 m of run | ฿54,000 – 84,000 | ฿96,000 – 168,000 |
| Kitchen, L-shaped, base and wall | 5.5 m | ฿77,000 – 143,000 | worktop extra |
| Television wall with storage | 3.5 – 5.0 m | ฿80,000 – 150,000 | ฿150,000 – 300,000 |
A television wall covers the widest band of any item in a flat, because the price is driven by what is behind and around the screen: stone, backlit shelving, a fireplace recess or a concealed door. Decide that before asking for a number.
How to read a joinery quotation
Check six things. That the unit is per linear metre and the height is stated. That the carcass board is named, 16 or 18 mm, and its moisture grade. That hinge and runner brands appear. That the finish schedule lists codes, not adjectives. That stone, glass, lighting and electrics are priced as separate lines. That the lead time is counted from drawing approval, three to five weeks in a normal season, longer between October and December when every site in Bangkok wants the same workshops.
What goes wrong in the first year
Doors that catch at the top, because the run was fitted before the floor levelling screed cured. Drawer fronts out of line, because there was no adjustment in the substituted runner. Swollen bottom shelves under a sink, from a leak nobody found for a week. Veneer lifting at an edge in a room left unconditioned for a month.
All four are humidity and sequence rather than craft. Install joinery after wet trades are finished and the air conditioning is running, keep the flat closed and cool, and insist on a snagging visit at sixty days rather than at handover, when nothing has had time to move yet.
