Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Enfield · London
Arnos Grove Alcove Units
Alcove units in Arnos Grove: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. We make each piece in our workshop and fit it in your home.
- A desk that tucks into an alcove
- Storage that suits a period room
- Everyday clutter left on show
Need alcove units in Arnos Grove?
How we make alcove units for Arnos Grove
An alcove can also take a small desk, with shelves above and a drawer or cupboard below. It’s a neat way to work from home without giving up a whole room. Desk height and depth are agreed with you, and leave a route for cables to reach the sockets. If your home has furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove and clutter with nowhere to go, alcove units made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted can solve it.
Rooms in houses from before 1919 tend to have generous ceiling heights, and a large share of the homes around Arnos Grove date from then. That gives full-height alcove units room to reach the picture rail or the cornice, so the furniture looks as if it belongs to the house. Where a fireplace has been blocked up, the chimney still needs ventilating, and any damp is sorted before units go in.
Where other trades are needed, for example an electrician to move a socket, we point that out. The quote itself covers our work, from the design to the materials and finish.
- Place
- Arnos Grove (N11, N14, N13)
- Area
- Enfield
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Contact
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Fitting day, step by step
Before anything is fixed, we set the furniture level. Floors are often out of level, so adjustable feet or a plinth take up the difference. Only then is it fixed to the wall, with fixings chosen to suit brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard. Parking on terraced streets can be tight, especially in a controlled parking zone, so details of permits, bays and any loading restrictions help. Unloading is kept short, with sections taken straight inside. Saturdays are possible by arrangement.
- You contact us with a short note about the room and the units you have in mind, and a rough sketch helps if you have one.
- We come to measure the alcoves, look at the walls and agree the design with you, checking how far the walls are out of square.
- You receive a quote in writing setting out the units, materials and finish, so you can look it over in your own time.
- The units are built in our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We fit them in your home, scribing them to the walls. Then we go through the doors and shelves with you.
Preparing the room
- Get any new sockets or wiring done by your electrician before fitting day
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
Getting a quote
Your quote is written for your room once we’ve visited and measured. Because every room is different, the quote comes after the design visit, when we have measured up and talked through the design. For a quote, message us from the contact page.
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Is bespoke worth it?
With bought furniture you’re limited to the maker’s finishes. We paint ours in the colour you pick, either spray painted in the workshop or hand painted. They can match the walls, the woodwork or neither. The two recesses beside a chimney breast are seldom an identical size, which means a matching pair of ready-made units seldom fits both. Fitted furniture is made to each one separately.
What goes inside matters as much as the outside: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers all add work. We will talk through what you need inside during the design visit, then set it out in the quote.
Why choose Bespoke Carpentry in Arnos Grove
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Saturday visits and fitting by prior arrangement
- 300+ projects completed
Take a look at our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and what to look for in a quote.
Questions from Arnos Grove
I live near New Southgate station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Enfield and the rest of London. To get started, you can drop us a line using the contact form with some details about the room, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Do you make alcove units for homes in Arnos Grove?
Yes. Arnos Grove is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Enfield and London. To get started, you can tell us about the room on our contact form with a few details.
Can alcove units be fitted to uneven walls?
Yes. Most period alcoves are out of square in some way, so each unit is scribed to the wall on site. Adjustable feet or a plinth take care of a floor that slopes.
How long will the fitting take?
It depends on the size and number of units, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. We’ll talk you through what fitting day involves before we start.
What happens at the design visit?
We measure the space and discuss the design, materials and finish. We also check the walls and floors and note radiators, sockets and other things in the way, then send a quote in writing.
Do you move sockets for alcove units?
Electrical work is not something we do. If you want sockets moved or added, your electrician should do that before we fit, and some electrical work in homes is covered by Part P of the Building Regulations. We plan the units around the sockets, with cut-outs where needed.
When you need someone else
Some parts of a job need another trade, such as an electrician, a plumber or a Gas Safe engineer. Here is what to bear in mind:
- New sockets or wiring (your electrician handles those)
- Plastering or repairing loose plaster in the alcoves
- Taking out a chimney breast or opening up a fireplace
If in doubt, you can fill in our short enquiry form and describe the room before you arrange a visit. How a job runs, step by step.
What it is made from
- Birch plywood
- Adjustable shelves
- Hand-painted finish
- Panelled or flat doors
- Scribed side panels
- Spray-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
Tips worth knowing
A few practical points help before and after fitting day. Here are some things worth bearing in mind:
- Let us know about parking and access at the design visit
- Think about what you will store before we meet
- Have any damp looked at before the units are made
- Think about how the units meet the picture rail and cornice
Make a note of the paint colour used so any touch-ups match. Hand-painted finishes are the easiest to touch up in place.
Keep heaters and very hot lamps from standing right against the paintwork, because constant heat is not kind to a painted finish.
Alcove units in Arnos Grove: local notes
In the streets around Arnos Grove, the largest groups of homes date from before 1919 (about 46%) and between 1919 and 1939 (about 28%), based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. Part of Arnos Grove is in a conservation area, according to Historic England’s records. Conservation area controls are mostly concerned with the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. The council can confirm if you are not sure. The share of homes built before 1919 around Arnos Grove, about 46%, is well above the figure for Enfield as a whole, about 23%, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. So older-house details are more likely to come into the design of alcove units.
If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, like Arnos Grove Underground Station, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. If your own home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original features. Bruce Castle, about 2.6 miles south-east, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. If your own home is a period one, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units. Living in a block of flats near New Southgate station? Then alcove units are made in sections sized for the stairs, landings and lift, so measuring the route matters as much as measuring the room.
Arnos Grove is about 3 miles east of Edmonton, in the London Borough of Enfield. From period terraces to newer flats in Arnos Grove, we measure the room as it is and design around it. In Enfield, Arnos Grove is one of the places we cover, and the borough has 26 places on our list.
We make alcove units across N11, N14 and N13. We cover homes on streets such as Oak Lane, High Road and York Road, along with the roads around them, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. The A109 and A1004 runs close to Arnos Grove; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include New Southgate (1 mile west), Bounds Green (1 mile south), Southgate (1 mile north), Palmers Green (1 mile east) and Oakthorpe Park (1 mile east). We also make alcove units in nearby places like Edmonton (3 miles east), Enfield (3 miles north-east), Enfield Chase (3 miles north-east), Bush Hill Park (3 miles north-east), Upper Edmonton (3 miles east) and Gordon Hill (4 miles north-east).
Landmarks near Arnos Grove
Our area takes in the homes around The Ranelagh pub, Broomfield School and Ming-Ai and the streets around them. Arnos Grove’s nearest station is New Southgate station, roughly 0.6 miles west. Nearby you will also find Greentrees Hospital (1.3 miles east) and Broomfield House Museum (0.5 miles east). Green spaces nearby include Barfield Allotments Nature Park.
What it costs
When we put a quote together, we consider:
- Where a van can park, like a permit bay or a bay suspension
- The internal fittings
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- How big the furniture is
Awkward rooms take more time: uneven walls, sloping floors and angled ceilings all add scribing and cutting on site. The quote allows for it.
Getting in touch
Here’s what helps us most when you contact us:
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- What the furniture needs to hold
- A few pictures of the space, taken from the doorway and from each corner
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
It’s useful to see the room before we come. Pictures of the whole wall, the corners and the ceiling line tell us a lot about the space. To share them, send us a few details through our contact form, and we will suggest a time for a design visit.