Custom Furniture in landing: A Caddy That Slides Away
Custom Furniture in a landing — the HDB corridor outside the rooms or the condo foyer recess — can include a caddy that slides away: a shallow pull-out tray on runners that tucks into the wall cavity and rolls out when you need the broom or the delivery parcels. In a flat where the landing is the only spare metre, a sliding caddy earns it back. Here's how we build one that runs true.
Why the Landing Is Worth Using
The strip by the bomb shelter or the meter is dead space in most flats. A sliding caddy turns it into a narrow pantry for the things you grab on the way out — shoes, umbrella, the recycling bag.
It also keeps the corridor clear, which matters in a 5-room HDB (~110 sqm) where the landing is the thoroughfare to every room.
Custom Furniture Slide Options
The motion is the whole point:
Full-extension ball runners — S$30 to S$70 a pair, pull the caddy right out and hold the load; our pick.
Soft-close slides — add S$20 a pair so it eases shut instead of slamming the cavity.
A fingertip push-catch — press and it pops, for a handle-less face that matches the surrounding wall.
We fix the runners to a built carcass, not the bare wall, because the wall isn't flat enough to carry a slide on its own.
Materials for a Narrow Box
The caddy is shallow, so the board choice is simple:
Plywood — light enough to pull out one-handed and strong at 150mm depth; default here.
MDF with laminate — cheaper and smooth, fine if the landing stays dry, which it usually does.
A laminate base — wipes the parcel dirt, since the caddy is where the deliveries land.
We round the front edge so a hip doesn't catch it on the way past in the dark.
Cost, Timeline, and HDB Rules
A landing caddy runs roughly S$400 to S$1,200 for a 300 by 1,200mm pull-out with runners. As a standalone fit it's ready in 3 to 5 weeks; inside a full reno the 6 to 10 weeks from measure to install applies.
HDB allows a landing fit as long as it doesn't block the escape path or the meter access — keep 1,000mm clear. The 1-year defect liability period should cover a runner that stiffens. A condo MCST may bar fittings on the common corridor wall, so build into your own recess, not the shared one.
What to Store and What Not To
Good in the caddy: cleaning kit, shoes, umbrella, recycling, parcel tape. Bad: anything wet that rots the board, or anything tall that stops it closing.
Size the cavity to 150mm deep max so it doesn't eat the walk; deeper and you're building a cupboard, not a caddy.
If your landing is just a pass-through, a sliding caddy is the cheapest square metre you'll ever win. Get the maker to build a square carcass, run full-extension slides, and keep the face flush with the wall so the corridor stays clear. Then the broom and the parcels have a home instead of the floor, and the landing finally does a job, which is the point of a metre you'd otherwise just walk past.
