High class closets: fancy closet organization systems spawn happy homeowners and more profits for pros.

Every 18 months, KB Home's Houston division surveys potential local home buyers about the features they most want in a new home. Almost everyone asks for the same thing--larger closets.

So three years ago, the division added large, walk-in closets to all of its floor plans and scrapped

"The trend started to shift when the custom builders were beginning to use ventilated and laminated shelving," says Tim Mayo, the division's executive vice president. "The perceived value [of an upgraded closet] had increased."

In fact, home builders who offer their buyers the option to upgrade bare-basics closets with wire, melamine, or wood shelves as well as drawers, racks, and hampers are seeing them jump at the chance--and open their wallets to pay for it. Manufacturers estimate that a home buyer who adds a factorymade closet organizer to an otherwise standard closet will shell out an average of $2,500 for it. In high-end homes, says self-titled "closet lady" Doreen Tuman of New York City, it's not unusual for the owners to pay $10,000 to have several closets designed and fitted with storage-stretching compartments finished to match the bedroom furniture.

FUNCTIONAL TO FAB

Closets have gone from functional to fabulous as the makers of organization systems have made their wire-and-melamine space-savers visible to consumers through displays at popular stores like The Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and The Container Store.

And, says Ginny Snook Scott, vice president of franchise development for California Closets, Americans are spending more energy, time, and money putting together their wardrobes, so they want closets that help them protect their clothing investments.

"People are more fashion-oriented," she says. "There's more of an emphasis on how to store your clothes and how to take care of them."

Yet builders continue to treat closets as holes in the wall, accuses Tuman, of the Closet Lady/Manhattan Murphy Bed. "Some just put in the closets and you're on your own," she says. "They'll put in wire shelving because that's the cheapest way of going. But if you're paying $1 million for a house nowadays, wire systems aren't what you should be putting in there. You should be giving clients some sort of choice."