Greenwich · London
Alcove Units in Greenwich
From one end of Greenwich to the other, we design and make alcove units for your room. We visit, measure and talk it through before we quote.
Planning alcove units in Greenwich?
Where we work in Greenwich
What it covers: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Choose your neighbourhood from the list for local details.
Main places
Alcove units in Greenwich: how it works
We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, chosen part by part. MDF gives smooth doors and panels that take paint well, while birch plywood is strong and holds screws well. The finish is spray painted in the workshop or hand painted on site, in a colour agreed with you. We make alcove units from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and people most often get in touch about somewhere to keep books and records and walls too uneven for standard furniture.
Fitting day follows a set order: floors are protected, the sections come in, everything is levelled, scribed to the walls, fixed and finished. Then the room is tidied and we look over the work with you. How long fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote.
- You get in touch about alcove units and the room they’re for.
- At the design visit we measure up, agree the layout and talk about colour and finish. You can choose a spray-painted finish from our workshop or a hand-painted one done in your home.
- The written quote then sets out the design, the materials and the finish you’ve picked.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The units are fitted and scribed to the alcoves.
- New paintwork takes a while to cure fully, so treat the surfaces gently at first.
Quotes in Greenwich
Awkward rooms take more time: uneven walls, sloping floors and angled ceilings all add scribing and cutting on site. The quote allows for it, which we write after seeing the room.
Why choose Bespoke Carpentry
- More than 300 projects completed
- Built around your room
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Saturday visits and fitting by prior arrangement
Ask for a quote
There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space. Because every room is different, the quote comes after the design visit, when we’ve measured up and talked through the design. For a quote, get in touch through our contact form.
Local landmarks in Plumstead
We fit furniture in homes around Shooters Hill Sixth Form College, St John's Church and Plumstead Common and the streets around them. Other local landmarks include The Queens Arms (a few minutes’ walk north-west), Plumstead Manor School (close by, under half a mile south-east) and South Rise Primary School (within half a mile south-east). Plumstead has its own railway station: Plumstead station. A little further out are British Hospital for Mothers and Babies (1.3 miles west) and Gallions Reach Shopping Park (1.6 miles north).
Homes across Greenwich and their living rooms
Shelves for books, cupboards for clutter and a place for the TV: that is what most living-room enquiries from Greenwich come down to. Alcove units can do all three in one design, built in our workshop and then fitted.
Homes built since 2000 make up about 26% of the housing in Greenwich, with about 22% built before 1919, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. About 26% of homes in Greenwich were built since 2000, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. Newer homes typically have plasterboard stud walls and open-plan rooms, often with no chimney breast, so the fixings go into the studs, or heavier pieces stand on the floor. About 43% of households in Greenwich live in purpose-built flats, based on Census 2021. In a block, each section is sized to get up the stairs or into the lift and through the door. Many blocks have rules on lift booking and working hours, so check with the managing agent before fitting day.
Much of London is covered by controlled parking zones run by the boroughs, and depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed. It helps to let us know about parking at the measuring visit.
Plumstead: If your children go to South Rise Primary School or a school nearby, alcove units can be planned with low cupboards for toys and higher shelves for everything else. If you live in a flat close to Plumstead station, each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room.
When you need someone else
Damp treatment and building work are for other specialists, and there are a few other limits too:
- Curing damp, which needs the right specialist
- Replastering, which is a plasterer’s job
- Decorating the rest of the room
Made for the room, or bought in a box?
Off-the-shelf furniture comes in set heights, which normally leaves a gap above. A bespoke unit can run up to the ceiling or finish just under the picture rail, whichever looks right in your room.
What to check before you book
- Are the boards named, such as MDF or plywood?
- Real projects you can actually look at
- Where they’ll park and unload
- How the furniture will be finished, and where
Do you need alcove units?
In bedrooms, the alcoves may be the only place for hanging space. A fitted alcove cupboard holds clothes without filling the floor, which matters in a smaller room.
A few of the things people ask us to solve include:
- Shelving for books and records
- Alcoves that are wasted space
- Alcoves that are not square
- Units that sit well with original features
Flat-pack or bespoke?
The real difference is in the fit: edges scribed to the wall, a level base on a sloping floor and a neat line where the furniture meets the ceiling. In an older room, standard units rarely manage that.
Where bespoke earns its keep is in rooms that aren’t square. Older London rooms tend to have leaning walls, sloping floors and alcoves of different widths, and standard units leave gaps.
Looking after your furniture
A few practical points help before and after fitting day. Here are some things worth bearing in mind:
- Bring the sizes of anything that has to fit in the cupboards
- Talk to your electrician early if you want new sockets
- Consider whether the units should reach the ceiling
- Let us know about parking and access at the measuring visit
Painted finishes feel dry quickly but take longer to cure fully. At first, go gently with the new paintwork: lift things onto the shelves rather than sliding them, and do not scrub the surfaces.
Keep heaters and very hot lamps from standing right against the paintwork, as strong heat can mark paint over time.
Questions we are often asked
Will you travel outside London?
No. We cover London only: all 32 boroughs and the City of London.
Who moves the sockets behind the alcove units?
That’s a job for your electrician. It is best done before the units go in, and we can tell you where the units will sit so the sockets end up in the right place. The units are made with cut-outs and cable gaps to suit.
How tall should alcove units be?
That depends on the room and what you’d like to store. Units can stop just under the picture rail or run up to the cornice, or run to the ceiling for a built-in look. The height is settled at the design visit.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
It needs a little planning: ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps avoid condensation and mould. Damp treatment is not something we do, so any damp needs sorting first.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
We need someone to let us in. It also helps to have someone around at the end, so we can go over the finished furniture together.
Will alcove units block the chimney vent?
Any vent in the chimney breast is kept clear when we design the units. A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help stop damp and we design around it.
Which boards do you build with?
Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. MDF gives a smooth, stable surface for paint; birch plywood is strong and good for shelves and drawer boxes, and the quote says which is used where.