Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Greenwich · London
Alcove Units in Avery Hill
Alcove units in Avery Hill: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. We make each piece in our workshop and fit it in your home, with a spray or hand-painted finish.
- A place for a small desk
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Alcoves that are wasted space
Alcove units for your home in Avery Hill
How it’s made
Shelves
Alcove shelves can be fixed or adjustable. Fixed shelves help brace the unit, while adjustable ones give you room to change things.
Spray-painted finish
Because the units are sprayed before they come to you, there is less painting to do in your home. Give the paint time to cure fully once fitted.
Alcove units in Avery Hill
A classic layout is a low cupboard with open shelves above. The cupboards take the things you’d rather not see, while the shelves hold books and the things you want on show. The top of the cupboard makes a useful surface at a comfortable height. We set the heights to suit the room and what you will store. 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 empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast and space for a growing book collection.
With interwar houses or semis a big part of the picture around Avery Hill, many homes have had the front and back rooms knocked together. That leaves a long room with a chimney breast on one side, which suits alcove units along that wall. At the design visit we plan any cable routes and ventilation the room needs.
A written quote follows the design visit. It describes the design we discussed, the materials and the finish, so it is clear what’s included.
- Location
- Avery Hill (SE9, DA15, DA16)
- Borough
- Greenwich
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it’s made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Contact
- The contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Practical tips
None of this takes much effort. Here’s what we suggest:
- Move things out of the alcoves so we can measure properly
- Measure anything large that must fit inside, like a record player
- Decide what goes behind doors and what goes on show
- Mention parking and access when we visit
Paint is dry to the touch well before it has fully cured. At first, go gently with the new paintwork, lifting things rather than sliding them and avoiding any scrubbing.
Avoid placing a heater hard up against the units, as strong heat can mark paint over time.
Bespoke alcove units or ready-made?
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. Bespoke units are made to the depth you want. Bays, box rooms and stair bulkheads are where off-the-shelf furniture struggles most, and those are common in interwar houses. Fitted furniture is made around them.
There’s no price list, because every piece is designed for one room. We measure up, discuss the design and send a quote in writing. To arrange a design visit, fill in our short enquiry form.
Why work with us in Avery Hill
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Saturday work by arrangement
- Edges scribed to follow your walls
- Designed for the room you have
Take a look at our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and how to compare quotes.
FAQs: alcove units in Avery Hill
Do you cover homes near Falconwood station?
Yes, homes across Greenwich and the rest of London are within the area we cover. You can tell us about the room on our contact form to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Will parking be an issue for fitting furniture in Avery Hill?
It can be: much of inner London is covered by controlled parking zones. Depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed, and suspensions often need notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the design visit.
Who moves the sockets behind the alcove units?
Your electrician handles sockets and wiring. It’s best done before the units go in so the sockets line up with the design. The units are made with cut-outs and cable gaps to suit.
How is the price worked out?
Size, doors and drawers, what goes inside and the finish all affect it. The price comes in a written quote after the design visit.
Do I need to be in when you fit?
Someone needs to be there to let us in. After that, you do not need to stay in the room, but it is useful to be around at the end.
Is an outside wall a problem for fitted furniture?
It can be done with some care: leaving ventilation behind and inside helps stop condensation. Damp treatment is not something we do, so any damp needs sorting first.
What happens on fitting day
Once the main sections are fixed in place, any doors go on and any drawers or lids are fitted. Each one is adjusted until the gaps are even and it closes cleanly, then checked again. The time the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. If you have a driveway, it can make unloading simpler, so let us know at the design visit. Otherwise, details of permits or nearby bays help. Doorways, stairs and floors are covered on the way in.
- You get in touch and describe the alcoves you want to fill.
- 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.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, leaving a scribing allowance where they meet the walls.
- At fitting, we set each unit level on a plinth or feet and trim that edge to follow the wall.
Before we arrive
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Take anything hanging off the wall we are fitting to
How to get a quote
You do not need exact measurements to get started. We measure everything properly during the design visit, along with the walls, floor and ceiling. To get started, drop us a line using the contact form with some details about the room. You receive a quote in writing after the visit.
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Neighbourhoods near Avery Hill
More for homes in Avery Hill
Alcove units for homes in Avery Hill
Homes built between 1919 and 1939 make up about 52% of the housing in the neighbourhood around Avery Hill, with about 25% built between 1945 and 1972, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). That matters for alcove units, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Avery Hill include Avery Hill Training College (main Doorway (Grade II), less than half a mile south, and Church of Holy Trinity (Grade II), about 0.5 miles south-west. Listing covers the inside of a building as well as the outside, so works that affect a listed home’s character, like removing original joinery, can need listed building consent. The council’s conservation officer is the person to ask before work starts. The ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) now covers the whole of London, Greenwich included. Vans bringing furniture to Avery Hill fall under it, just as they do across the rest of London. We plan parking and access with you at the design visit.
If your children go to Stationers' Crown Woods Academy or a school nearby, low doors that small hands can open, with books and ornaments higher up, suit a busy family room. Eltham Palace, about 1.2 miles west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. For a flat near Falconwood station, alcove units are made in sections sized for the stairs, landings and lift, so measuring the route matters as much as measuring the room.
Avery Hill is about 2 miles north of Plumstead, part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Design visits and fitting in Avery Hill can be on a Saturday, by prior arrangement. Our work takes in places right across Greenwich, from the busiest high streets to quiet residential roads.
Design visits and fitting in SE9, DA15 and DA16 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. Streets in the area include Bexley Road, Glenure Road and Perpins Road, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. The A210 run close to Avery Hill, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you contact us. Other places close to Avery Hill include Blackfen (1 mile east), Eltham (1 mile south-west), New Eltham (1 mile south), Falconwood (1 mile north-east) and Well Hall (1 mile west). Across the rest of Greenwich, our area takes in Plumstead (2 miles north), Greenwich (4 miles north-west), Woolwich (3 miles north), Westcombe Park (3 miles north-west), Maze Hill (4 miles north-west) and Coldharbour (2 miles south-west).
What’s near Avery Hill
We fit furniture in homes around Alderwood Primary School and the streets around them. Avery Hill’s nearest station is Falconwood station, about 0.6 miles north of the centre. Well-known places in the area include Eltham Community Hospital (1 mile west) and Metropolitan Police Museum (1.7 miles south-east). Not far away are The Tarn.
Where other trades come in
We design, make and fit the furniture. That means:
- New sockets or wiring (your electrician handles those)
- Taking out a chimney breast or opening up a fireplace
- Redecorating, which is for your decorator
If in doubt, you can use our contact form and describe the room. Our process from visit to fitting.
What it is made from
- Birch plywood
- Spray-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Panelled or flat doors
- Scribed side panels
- Hand-painted finish
- Adjustable shelves