Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bexley · London
Crook Log Alcove Units
Alcove units in Crook Log: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. We visit to measure and go through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Alcoves that are wasted space
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Space for a growing book collection
Need alcove units in Crook Log?
Alcove units for homes in Crook Log
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. If your home has cupboards in keeping with an older house and worn or badly fitted alcove units, that is what alcove units are for, made from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed.
With interwar houses or semis a big part of the picture around Crook Log, many homes have had the front and back rooms knocked together. The result is often a long room with a chimney breast, a good spot for alcove units. At the design visit we plan any cable routes and ventilation the room needs.
The furniture is made at our workshop after you’ve had the quote and decided to go ahead. It describes the design, the materials and the finish agreed at the visit, so you can check every detail beforehand.
- Where
- Crook Log (DA7, DA6, DA16)
- Borough
- Bexley
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it is made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Boards and paint
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Is bespoke worth it?
Off-the-shelf units can work in an alcove, and they typically cost less to buy. The catch is the fit: standard widths rarely match the recess, and uneven walls make every gap obvious. A bespoke unit is built to the alcove and scribed to follow the wall. Doors, windows and radiators rarely leave a gap that matches a standard width, so ready-made furniture often ends up in the wrong place. Fitted furniture is designed around them.
Parking is part of the price picture in London. The boroughs run controlled parking zones across much of the city, so a van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension. Let us know about parking at the measuring visit.
What you get with us
- Built around your room
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Scribed to uneven walls
- More than 300 projects completed
Read our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and how to compare quotes.
Questions from Crook Log
I live near Bexleyheath station. Is that in your area?
Yes, homes across Bexley and the rest of London are within the area we cover. 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.
Can you make alcove units for a home in Crook Log?
Yes, Crook Log is within the area we cover, which takes in all of Bexley and the rest of London. The first step is a design visit, where we measure and talk through the design, followed by a quote.
Do photos help?
Yes, they help. Photos of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling, give us a good idea of the space. To send them, tell us about the room on our contact form.
Can you build alcove units for alcoves that are not square?
Yes. Few alcoves in older houses are truly square, so we scribe each unit to follow the wall. Adjustable feet or a plinth take care of a floor that slopes.
Should both alcoves have the same units?
That is your choice. Matching units give a balanced, formal look around the chimney breast, but you might want a desk on one side and cupboards on the other. We can keep the details the same so they still look like a pair.
Which finishes are there for alcove units?
You can choose a spray-painted finish from our workshop or a hand-painted finish in your home. Both are in a colour agreed with you. Spray painting is smooth and even, while hand painting is easy to touch up.
Neighbourhoods near Crook Log
What else we make in Crook Log
Flats, blocks and rented homes
Conversions and newer flats often have stud walls rather than solid brick. We choose fixings to suit the wall, which we check at the measuring visit.
If your flat is leasehold, check your lease before fixing furniture to the walls. A lease can require consent from the building owner for alterations, which is worth sorting early. We cannot give advice on leases.
How fitting day works
Getting everything level comes first. Where the floor slopes, we bring the furniture up to level on adjustable feet or a plinth. After that, it’s fixed to the wall using fixings that suit the wall, whether that is solid brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard. Some interwar and suburban streets have driveways, which can make unloading easier, so let us know during the design visit. Otherwise, a visitor permit or a nearby bay helps. Doorways, stairs and floors are covered on the way in.
- You contact us about the alcoves you want to fill.
- We come to measure and talk through cupboards, shelves, heights and doors.
- We put the design, materials and finish into a quote in writing.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. A spray-painted finish is applied there too, if that’s what you chose.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill.
How to prepare
- Empty the space we will be working in
- Tell us about parking near your home
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
Ask for a quote
The quote is built from the design visit. We take full measurements, see how true the walls and floors are and work through the design together. Afterwards, we send a quote in writing. To arrange the visit, message us from the contact page.
Advice
Caring for painted furniture
Most of what helps is simple. What we’d suggest:
- Let us know about stairs, parking and access early
- Think about what you’ll store before we meet
- Bring the sizes of anything that has to fit in the cupboards
- Sort out damp patches before fitting
To clean painted units, a soft cloth that’s barely damp is enough. Avoid abrasive pads and strong cleaning sprays, which can dull or mark the paint. Dry the surface afterwards.
Spread heavy loads and keep the heaviest things on lower shelves. Most sagging comes from shelves carrying more than they were planned for, so tell us at the measuring visit if a shelf will hold something heavy.
How it’s made
Plinths and scribe strips
A plinth lifts the cupboard off the floor and hides any slope. It can be set to line up with the skirting for a tidy finish.
Spray-painted finish
A sprayed coat covers edges and corners evenly and leaves no brush marks. You choose the colour at the design stage.
Alcove units for homes in Crook Log
About 49% of the homes in the area around Crook Log went up between 1919 and 1939, and about 18% between 1945 and 1972, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. There are 10 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Crook Log. You can check whether a particular building is listed on Historic England’s list. TfL’s Ultra Low Emission Zone covers every part of London, Bexley included. It applies to every van that comes to fit furniture in Crook Log. Parking and access are planned at the measuring visit.
Red House, about 0.3 miles south-east, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place. If your children go to Crook Log Primary School or a school nearby, a cupboard for board games and a shelf for reading books can go into the same design. For an older house near Trinity Baptist Church, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.
Crook Log is about 2 miles south-west of Sidcup, part of the London Borough of Bexley. Anywhere in Crook Log, it works the same way: a design visit, a quote in writing, furniture made in our workshop and fitting in your home. Our work takes in places right across Bexley, from the busiest high streets to quiet residential roads.
Design visits and fitting in DA7, DA6 and DA16 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. Streets in the area include Bean Road, Lion Road and Alers Road, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. If you’re just outside Crook Log, we also cover Upton (1 mile east), Bexleyheath (1 mile east), Welling (1 mile west), Blendon (1 mile south) and Bexley (1 mile south). We also make alcove units in nearby places like Sidcup (2 miles south-west), Erith (2 miles north-east), Belvedere (2 miles north-east), Northumberland Heath (2 miles north-east), Lessness Heath (2 miles north-east) and Albany Park (2 miles south-west).
Near you in Crook Log
Around Crook Log, we cover homes near St Columba's Catholic Boys' School, Bexleyheath Academy and The Crook Log Public House and the streets around them. There is a railway station in Crook Log itself: Bexleyheath station. Other landmarks nearby include Broadway Shopping Centre (0.9 miles east) and Bexley Museum (1.7 miles south-east).