City of London · London

Alcove Units in City of London

Wherever you are in the City of London, we can design, make and fit alcove units. We visit, measure and talk it through before we quote.

Talk to us about alcove units in City of London

Arrange a design visit

Alcove units across the City of London

We make cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Pick your neighbourhood below to see the details for your area. To get started, use the contact form.

Larger neighbourhoods

What else we make in the City of London

Postcodes in the City of London

Alcove units across the City of London: what to expect

We fit alcove units across the City of London and the rest of London. It starts with a design visit, where we measure the alcoves and go through the design. Then you receive a quote; the units are then made at our workshop and fitted in your home. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted, and the usual reasons to get in touch are a desk that tucks into an alcove and storage that suits a period room.

However carefully a piece is made in the workshop, it still has to meet the room, and that happens on fitting day. Walls in older homes are rarely flat or square, so each edge that meets a wall is scribed to follow it, closing the gaps a standard unit would leave. How long the fitting itself takes depends on the size and number of units, and the fitting days are set out in your quote.

You contact us with a few details about the chimney breast and alcoves.
We visit to measure the alcoves top, middle and bottom, and check the floor for level. Then we go through the design together.
We send the design, materials and finish in a written quote.
In our workshop the units are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with a little extra left on the edges that meet the wall.
On fitting day we level the units and scribe the edges so they follow the line of the plaster.

What goes into your quote

Awkward rooms take more time: walls that lean, floors that slope and sloping ceilings all mean more scribing and cutting. That is reflected in the quote, written once we have measured up.

Why work with us

Every London borough and the City of London covered
Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
Every quote follows a design visit
A spray or hand-painted finish

How to get a quote

You do not need exact measurements to get started. We measure everything properly at the measuring visit, including how level the floor and ceiling are. To get started, drop us a line using the contact form with a few details about the room. The written quote follows the visit.

Landmarks near City of London

The streets we cover here include those near St Olave Old Jewry, Prior Weston Primary School and Children's Centre and St Mary-at-Hill and the streets around them. Nearby too are Barts Health Archives (within half a mile north-west), Fashion Retail Academy (less than half a mile north-east), St Alphage Garden (less than half a mile north) and Golden Fleece pub (close by, under half a mile south). City of London has its own railway station: London Cannon Street station. Nearby you will also find Gabriel's Wharf (0.8 miles south-west) and London Mithraeum (within half a mile south). For a walk, there is Ludgate Hill.

Living-room carpentry across the City of London

Some living rooms across the City of London are long knocked-through rooms; others are compact flats where one wall has to hold everything. Either way, alcove units are planned around how the room is used day to day. The finish is agreed with you, spray-painted or hand-painted.

Homes built between 1945 and 1972 make up about 40% of the housing in the City of London, with about 27% built since 2000, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. We take that into account at the measuring visit, since older and newer walls take different fixings. More than a third of the homes in the City of London (about 40%) were built between 1945 and 1972, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. Rooms from that era are often squarer, with fewer alcoves and sometimes no chimney breast, so a full wall of alcove units is often the answer, with fixings chosen for the wall. About 27% of homes in the City of London were built since 2000, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. In homes built since 2000, living rooms are often open-plan with stud walls, so the fixings go into the studs, or heavier pieces stand on the floor.

We work across all 32 London boroughs and the City of London, and the City of London is part of that. Every job starts the same way, with a design visit to measure and discuss the design.

City of London: Mansion House, about 0.2 miles south-east, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units. If you live in a period home close to St Olave Old Jewry, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.

Flats, leases and landlords

Blocks of flats often have their own rules on lift bookings, entry systems and times for trades. Let us know about them at the design visit, and we’ll plan the fitting around them.

For flats on red routes or busy main roads, getting the furniture from the van to the door needs planning. Red routes are run by TfL and have strict stopping rules, so it is worth raising at the design visit.

The problems alcove units solve

Sometimes it is the clutter of a busy living room. Toys, games, paperwork and gadgets need somewhere to go, and cupboards with doors keep them out of sight. Open shelves above are left for the things you like to see.

People typically get in touch with us about things like these:

Cupboards in keeping with an older house
Alcoves that aren’t square
Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
A place for a small desk

What it costs

A few things affect what fitted furniture costs:

Spray painting or hand painting
Awkward walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
The width and height of the space
How many doors and drawers there are

Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. Bigger pieces use more board and take longer to make and fit. Doors, drawers, internal fittings and the finish make up most of the rest.

Getting in touch

Getting a few details early makes the visit more useful. Where you can, include:

Whether it is a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
Radiators, sockets, pipes or meters on or near the wall
The postcode, so we can plan the visit
Pictures of styles you like, if you have any

The price comes in a written quote, worked out from the measurements and the design you choose. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it, when we’ve measured up and talked through the design. To arrange a visit, use our contact form.

Where other trades come in

It’s useful to know what’s outside our work before you plan:

Any structural work on the chimney breast
Making good damaged walls before fitting
Curing damp, which needs the right specialist

Bespoke or off-the-shelf?

Alcoves vary in depth, and the chimney breast decides how far a unit can come out. A shop-bought cabinet may stick out past the chimney breast or leave a deep gap behind it. We set the depth to suit the room.

Before you hire any carpenter

Whether the quote follows a visit to your home
Do they scribe the furniture to the walls?
Are the boards named, like MDF or plywood?
How parking will work on your street

Your questions about alcove units in the City of London

What materials do you use?

Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, depending on the part and the design. Your quote sets out the materials.

Can you come on a Saturday?

Yes, by prior arrangement. If a Saturday works better for you, say so when you contact us.

Do you work in the City of London?

Yes. We work across the City of London.

Can you build alcove units for alcoves that are not square?

Yes. Each alcove is measured at the measuring visit, make the units in our workshop and trim the edges on site to meet the wall, so there are no tricky gaps.

How long will the fitting take?

The time on site depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. The units are made in our workshop first, so the work in your home is about fitting and finishing.

Does someone need to be home during the fitting?

We need someone to let us in. It’s good to have someone there at the end to look over the work with us.

How is the price worked out?

It depends on the size, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish, along with access and parking. The price comes in a quote in writing after the design visit.