Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bromley · London
Alcove Units in Keston
In Keston, we design alcove units around the room you actually have. Your alcove unit is designed at a visit to your home and made at our workshop.
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Somewhere to keep books and records
Alcove units for your home in Keston
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
Blocks of flats often have their own rules on lift bookings, entry systems and times for trades. Tell us about them at the measuring visit, and we’ll plan the fitting around them.
For a rented home, access for the design visit and fitting day has to be agreed with the tenants. An agent can arrange access for you, and the written quote can go to whoever needs it.
Alcove units in Keston: what you get
Skirting boards, picture rails and coving are common in older rooms. Units can be cut around them, stop just below them or run neatly up to them, whichever suits the room. A plinth can be set to line up with the skirting so the units feel part of the room. These details are settled when we visit, before anything is made. If you’re living with cupboards in keeping with an older house and toys and paperwork with no proper home, that is what alcove units are for, made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
A good part of the housing around Keston is interwar, semi-detached or detached. If yours is a 1920s or 1930s house, the front room may have a bay window at one end and a chimney breast on the side wall, which decides where alcove units sit. Walls in houses of that age are usually straighter than in Victorian ones, though they’re still checked and scribed where needed.
The written quote is your record of the job. It sets out the alcove unit designed for your room, its materials and its finish.
- Location
- Keston (BR2)
- Area
- Bromley
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Where it’s made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What it’s made from
Shelves
We set shelf spacing around what you own. Upper shelves can be shallower for a lighter look.
Moisture-resistant MDF
In an alcove unit, MDF gives smooth doors and tidy edges, ready for a spray-painted or hand-painted finish. The moisture-resistant grade is a sensible choice next to a chimney breast.
Flat-pack or bespoke?
Bespoke work comes into its own in rooms that are not square. In period homes, walls lean, floors slope and the alcoves on each side are often different widths, which leaves standard units with gaps at the sides and top.
It’s worth being honest about cost: off-the-shelf furniture typically costs less up front. Bespoke makes more sense where the room is awkward, the space is valuable or you want the furniture to look built in.
Living-room storage in Keston
In the neighbourhood around Keston, the largest groups of homes date from between 1945 and 1972 (about 33%) and between 1919 and 1939 (about 31%), according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. The centre of Keston is within about a quarter of a mile of the Keston Village Conservation Area. Conservation area controls are largely about how buildings look from outside, and fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. The council can confirm if you are not sure. TfL’s red routes have strict stopping rules. Where a home in Keston is on or beside a main road, it helps to mention that at the design visit. We can then plan where the van will stop.
For families living near Keston Church of England Primary School, a cupboard for board games and a shelf for reading books can go into the same design. The wider area includes historic houses such as Down House, about 2.2 miles south-east. 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.
Keston is in the London Borough of Bromley, about 4 miles north-east of Orpington. Wherever you are in Keston, the process is the same: we visit and measure, send a written quote, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. In Bromley, Keston is one of the places we cover, and the borough has 49 places on our list.
In BR2, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. If your home is on a street such as Church Road, Greys Park Close and Heathfield Road, or close by, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Nash (1 mile west), Farthing Street (1 mile south-east), Locksbottom (1 mile north-east), Leaves Green (2 miles south) and Hayes (2 miles north-west). We also make alcove units in nearby places such as Orpington (4 miles north-east), Bromley (3 miles north), Beckenham (4 miles north-west), St Mary Cray (4 miles north-east), Chislehurst (4 miles north) and Penge (5 miles north-west).
Local landmarks in Keston
In Keston, that includes homes near Ravens Wood School and The Greyhound pub, among other places. For rail, the closest station is Hayes (Kent) station, roughly 1.5 miles north-west of the centre. Well-known places in the area include Princess Royal University Hospital (1.1 miles east) and Bethlem Museum of the Mind (1.5 miles north).
Fitting day, step by step
The last stage of the day is the finish. With a spray finish from the workshop, there’s typically only filling and touching up to do in the room; hand painting, if that is what you chose, can be done in place once everything is fitted. The finish is always the one agreed in your quote. Fitting day means carrying in the sections, joining them and fitting them to the walls. Hand-painted furniture can be finished on site; spray-painted pieces arrive finished from the workshop. Saturday fitting is possible by prior arrangement.
- To begin, message us from the contact page; a brief note on the alcoves is plenty, and mention if you live in a flat or up a few flights of stairs.
- We visit to measure the alcoves, go through the design and check the route from the street to the room.
- We then send a written quote for the units.
- In our workshop we build the units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, sized so each piece gets up the stairs and round the corners.
- On fitting day the sections come in, are joined in place and scribed to the walls. A spray-painted finish arrives done; a hand-painted one is applied once the units are in.
Before fitting day
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
Getting a quote
If you already have something in mind, tell us; if you don’t, that’s fine, and we can work it out together. The design is talked through at the visit, once we have measured, and the written quote then sets it out. To start, tell us about the room on our contact form.
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FAQs: alcove units in Keston
Do you cover homes near Hayes (Kent) station?
Yes. We cover all of Bromley and the rest of London. You can fill in our short enquiry form to arrange a design visit, and let us know about parking and access at the same time.
Is parking a problem for fitting in Keston?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run 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. It’s useful to let us know about parking during the design visit, so we can plan the day around it.
What happens when you come to measure?
We measure the space and discuss the design, materials and finish. We look at the walls, floors and anything the furniture has to work around, and the written quote comes afterwards.
Should alcove units go up to the ceiling?
It’s up to you. Full-height units give the most storage, while a low cupboard with shelves above keeps the room feeling lighter. We’ll go through what suits your room when we visit.
Do you move sockets for alcove units?
Your electrician handles sockets and wiring. Ideally it’s done before fitting. We then plan cut-outs and cable gaps around them.
Do alcove units affect the chimney’s ventilation?
We design around any vent so it stays open. Ventilation helps keep a capped chimney dry. Any existing damp should be dealt with before the units go in.
Places near Keston
Other services in Keston
Do you need alcove units in Keston?
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.
Here are some of the needs we are asked about most:
- Walls too uneven for standard furniture
- A desk that tucks into an alcove
- Units that sit well with original features
- Somewhere to keep books and records
For an older house near Keston Parish Church, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.
Before you choose who makes it
- How the furniture will be finished, and where
- Whether they measure the room themselves
- Whether the route into your home has been checked
- Whether the quote says what the furniture is made from