paint it what? the sektion already comes in slew of colors or wood-like stains.

what exactly are you looking to do?

Thanks for the input, but we are using Sektion since we can fit our space better with more variable box widths than Pax and we want drawers that can be opened without opening doors. My idea is not deeply flawed as I’ve successfully painted Ikea laminate before and it has been durable, so I’m not afraid of going this route at all.

Ideally we’d want a light blue or green, Ikea does not offer these colors and the route of Semihandmade or other third party vendors is too far over our budget.

If you want to use laminated particle board panels as a basis for constructing a custom closet with drawers, do that. It’s relatively easily sourced and created. You can even order Formica sheets to customize the colors. Don’t waste your time with either Ikea or trying to paint any of that. Laminate is far tougher than paint, and is not worth trying to paint.

If you are going to paint the inside of the cabinets there is really no reason to order panels. The main benefits of panels would be (1) the ability to paint remotely and (2) when spraying the ability to position the panel for ease of painting.

I would mention that if you are using doors, painting the inside is a lot of extra paint for little benefit.

ETA: it's a closet not an anvil... how tough do you really think it needs to be?

ETA2: You can absolutely paint laminate, if done properly (which is not that hard) it will be just as durable and last just as long as the coatings we use on cabinets. In other words, laminate with a decent primer and a 2k poly, will last just as long as cabinets with the same decent primer and 2k poly. The paint may not be as scratch resistant as the laminate, but it will add the same durability that coatings add to other products that are painted.

We have a Ford truck with an aluminum body... and they painted it. I guarantee you that aluminum is more difficult to paint than laminate and it is also a lot tougher than laminate, still my truck is not aluminum colored.

Laminates are not painted because it doesn't make sense from a cost perspective to paint panels that could be colorized in production. In other words, why paint laminate when you could just order a laminate in that color? No manufacturer is going to do that and so laminate is rarely painted, but it is not an unsuitable substrate for coating.

So pretty please, with sugar on top... stop a moment to think whether or not the opinions gathered over decades in a tangential field are based on fact or assumption.

Thanks for the advice on painting and panels! I’m not afraid of the painting at all, just was trying to decide on the panels to hide the cabinet sides.

just was trying to decide on the panels to hide the cabinet sides.

The end panels are mostly for the purpose of matching the sides to the door & drawer front covers so I don't see any need for them if you are planning to paint everything anyway. Other than making the paint job marginally easier if you are spraying off site. But then there is no reason why the sides can't be painted before the cabinets are assembled.

Painting the wood doors, sure. But you’re lost it if you want to paint the interiors. That is 5x more work than painting the doors. Not ever worth it, unless you have glass doors.

There are dozens of tutorials and examples of painted pax closets on utube and on the internet. I finished out All of the closets in my home with pax including all the bells and whistles from drawers to pull out jewelry to pull out shoe shelves, glass shelves, lighting, you name it, ive got it. I did 4 closets for what it would cost to do 1 comparable California reach in closet so the value is there. Painting them in theory seems like a good idea but in practice, it would be a giant PITA, and IMO prone to scratching. Ours are all trimmed in and look waaay more expensive than they are even tho i left them white. They come in white, black and gray i believe. I would save the energy and money that would be spent on prep and paint and use it to trim them in, upgrade to prettier hanging rods and upgrade the drawer fronts and pulls. My master closet (to a closet snob) is really nice but who is really going to see it and tell their friends about it? This is my opinion as someone who actually has pax, good luck w your decision.

IMO the pantry cabinets at 24" deep are not deep enough for hangers behind the doors and as for the Pax drawers I always use the sliding doors when I design Pax . IMO a much better choice for closets since there is a huge choice of layout to be perfect for whatever you need in a closet. If you go the deeper pantry you also run into issues with the shelf that needs to installed for stability . I just hope you have thought this through and as for painting the sides IMO closets are not high use items so go ahead if you must . I like Pax white boxes frosted glass sliging doors and if at all possible the sides fit close to the walls so no need for paint..

The end panels would allow you to use the IKEA hanging system, other wise you would have a gap at the back (which I guess you could cover with wood)

Leaving the laminate unpainted would be preferable, of course. But I don't think painting laminate that is on lightly used surfaces is going to be a problem, either. Assuming proper prep (scuffing with sandpaper) and the right paint.

I have some drips of either Cabinet Coat or Breakthrough paint on the porcelain lid of my washing machine. Obviously no primer...the drips have been there for 4-5 years and defied numerous thumbnail attempts to dislodge. When DIY painting, you obviously have matched paint for touchups if needed.

ETA: I absolutely would not paint the interior...a lot of work, hard to do a decent job (unless you paint prior to assembly), will require 3x the amount of paint and white reflects the most light which is what you want inside a wardrobe. And, once filled, not much of the color will be visible anyway. Maybe paint just the back panel or wallpaper the back panel if you want a dash or color/ fun?

Why are you not using PAX the wardrobe / closet system from IKEA? It has all the accessories for hanging and storing clothes.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/pax-doors-with-hinges-19112/

As I’ve stated, the Sektion comes in more widths that work better for our space. We also want the ability to open drawers separately from having to also first open the entire wardrobe door and we don’t want to have to order custom fronts with specific dimensions provided by us. We only need drawer space and hanging space- we don’t care about all the special closet accessories of the Pax Komplement line. This is along a wall in our bedroom but with 8” of space on the end runs due to radiators and a break in the middle for a window so I would like to have the same color on the interior, but wallpaper is a good idea too.

We’ve also looked at availability of items and we can get the Sektion items quickly vs Pax has remained out of stock for pickup or delivery for months! Thanks for all the input.

Back to the original question about cover panels...

I think the point of the cover panels is to match the color of the doors & drawers. And/ or the chosen door style.. Since you are planning to paint a custom color of your choosing and because you have chosen slab fronts, adding cover panels would be pointless and would serve only to add to the cost. Save the $ and skip the side panels.

Side panels also add a finished touch to the design, as they project forward covering the sides of the doors and drawers. They also add width to the installation. I do believe that you could get greater customization by building the entire thing yourself, rather than being stuck with the limitations of Ikea's pre made components. If you can put this together yourself, and spray the whole with a high quality result, then there is no reason you cannot do the same for something you make yourself out of sheet goods. At a lower cost, with no limitations.