Hi Everyone, I am moving from US to Switzerland and wonder about the dress closet there. Do they have walk-in closets like the Americans? Would I find any use of my closet organizers if I bring them there? Thank you in advance for the information!

Hi there!

Most apartments/houses in Switzerland don't have walk in closets. Instead, most people buy armoires of some kind. To get an idea about these, go to Ikea (or Ikea online) and look at their PAX line of closets--you'll get an idea of what you're dealing with and whether or not your organizers might work in there. Many houses might have a front closet or a closet in a hallway that such organizers could be useful in as well.

Welcome

The houses I have seen so far do not have built in closets, I got all of mine from Ikea

It is rare, but such things exist. I will be moving into an apartment that has one in October actually.

We have a walk-in closet (maybe it's a Baden/AG thing?) and it would have been great to have closet organizers.

I agree that it's very rare to find an apartment with a walk-in closet. In fact, many apartments barely even have closets. Mine has one closet for a 3-room apartment. I ended up buying an armoire. I could have though used the storage space in the cellar to store an organization systems that would not have been used.

You might be lucky and find an apartment with a larger closet. Good luck!

Yes, Swiss houses do indeed often have walk-in closets - they are called bedrooms over here.

Seriously, you need to get used to smaller spaces. I've viewed many a house where the bedrooms are smaller than a respectable US closet. Storage space is at a premium - you fit your 'stuff' to the space available, not vice versa.

So - first step, a good pre-move clean out. Then look at the Ikea catalog for an idea of what to expect. And if your budget stretches to a larger house/flat (assuming you can find one in this tight market), an extra bedroom would come in quite handy.

Good luck with your move.

Agree to what was said, this is very rare in Switzerland. We were also were looking for a walk-in closet in the house that time we moved in but rented appt seldom offer this. Now we used a very small room (used to be a kind of office before) and built in our on dress closet. Looks good and very useful. The other option is IKEA as said by the others. Good price for OK value.

Most people convert their panic rooms - apart from those living in Geneva and Lausanne, where the advice is to keep it as panic room - just in case.

Quite right. The closet I have in Michigan is bigger than the private office I have in Switzerland, and it's only one of four. The garage in Michigan is so big I can chop wood between the two (big) cars without risking dents in the cars. A garage of that size in Switzerland would cost as much as the entire house in Michigan, without the lot, which would cost many, many millions in Switzerland but only 25 grand in the rural Midwest, including a 200 ft beach.

That's the price you pay for living in a very small and densely populated country. On the other hand, for some mysterious reasons, bell peppers usually are much cheaper in Switzerland than in the USA. Hope that helps a bit.

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Thank you all for the information! I am moving to Lausanne as a single person, and looking to rent a studio or a flat. So I guess I most likely won't find walk-in closet but a armoire instead. At time same time, probably no need to pack many clothes!