Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Barnet · London
Alcove Units in New Barnet
Alcove units for your home in New Barnet: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Each piece is designed at a visit to your home, made at our workshop and fitted by us.
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Room to work in an alcove
- Shelving for books and records
Alcove units for your home in New Barnet
Alcove units in New Barnet: local notes
Homes built between 1919 and 1939 make up about 32% of the housing in the streets around New Barnet, with about 23% built between 1945 and 1972, 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 44% of households in the area around New Barnet live in detached or semi-detached houses, the 2021 Census shows. In a semi or detached house, a driveway, where there is one, can make unloading easier. The ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) now covers the whole of London, Barnet included. So any van that delivers or fits furniture in New Barnet is covered by it. How the van gets to your door is planned at the measuring visit.
If your children go to St Mary's CofE 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 New Barnet 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.
New Barnet is about 3 miles south of Finchley, within the London Borough of Barnet. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and New Barnet is part of that. New Barnet is one of 41 places on our list for Barnet.
Postcode districts we cover here for alcove units: EN5, EN4 and N20. Streets in the area include York Road, Park Road and Henry Road, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. If you’re just outside New Barnet, we also cover Barnet (1 mile west), Cockfosters (1 mile north-east), East Barnet (1 mile south-east), Underhill (1 mile west) and Whetstone (1 mile south). Across the rest of Barnet, our area takes in Finchley (3 miles south), Burnt Oak (4 miles south-west), East Finchley (4 miles south), Hendon (5 miles south-west), Edgware (5 miles west) and Friern Barnet (2 miles south).
What’s near New Barnet
In New Barnet, that includes homes near East Barnet School, Trent School Cockfosters and The Alexandra pub, among other places. New Barnet has its own railway station: New Barnet station. Well-known places in the area include Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum (2 miles south) and Barnet General Hospital (2 miles west). For a walk, there is Greenhill Gardens.
How we make alcove units for New Barnet
Few alcoves in older houses are truly square. Walls bow, corners wander and floors slope, often all at once. Each unit is built in our workshop to our measurements and scribed to the walls when we fit it, so the sides meet the wall closely rather than showing a dark line. A plinth or adjustable feet take up any slope in the floor. If you are living with toys and paperwork with no proper home and a place for a small desk, alcove units made from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted can solve it.
Around New Barnet, with interwar houses or semis making up much of the housing, the living room may be a good size but with fewer recesses than a Victorian house. Alcove units can fill the alcoves, run the length of a wall or frame the chimney breast. The carcasses are made from moisture-resistant MDF or birch plywood, painted in a colour agreed with you.
Where other trades are needed, for instance an electrician to move a socket, we point that out. Our quote covers the carpentry: the design, the materials and the finish.
- Where
- New Barnet (EN5, EN4, N20)
- Borough
- Barnet
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Boards and paint
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- When we fit
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
What happens on fitting day
When the fitting is done, we tidy the room. Before we go, we look over the finished furniture with you and explain how to look after the paint. The time the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Some interwar and suburban streets have driveways, which can make unloading easier, so let us know during the design visit. Otherwise, details of permits or nearby bays help. Floors and doorways are protected while the pieces come in.
- You get in touch to say you’d like alcove units, with a note of the room they’re in.
- We come to measure and talk through cupboards, shelves, heights and doors.
- We put the design, materials and finish into a written quote, ready for you to check.
- We build the units in our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill.
Preparing the room
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Move furniture and belongings away from the wall
Starting with a design visit
To get a quote, tell us about the room on our contact form and let us know which room you have in mind. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and a written quote follows.
Advice
Nearby places to New Barnet
Also in New Barnet
Practical tips
Painted fitted furniture is easy to look after with a little care. A few things help it stay looking good:
- Check whether there is a vent in the chimney breast
- Make a rough list of what the cupboards need to hold
- Let us know about stairs, parking and access early
- Measure anything large that must fit inside, like a record player
To clean painted units, a soft cloth that is barely damp is enough. Skip scouring pads and harsh cleaners, as they can mark the finish. Wipe it dry when you’ve finished.
Spread heavy loads and keep the heaviest things on lower shelves. Most sagging comes from shelves carrying more than they were planned for.
Your questions about alcove units in New Barnet
Will parking be an issue for fitting furniture in New Barnet?
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. Let us know what parking is near you at the design visit.
Can you make alcove units for a home in New Barnet?
Yes. We cover all of Barnet and the rest of London, and New Barnet is part of that. We start with a design visit to measure the room and talk through what you need, followed by a quote.
What happens to the chimney vent when alcove units go in?
We plan alcove units so any chimney vent stays clear. A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help stop damp.
How long does it take to fit alcove units?
The time on site depends on the size and number of units, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. The units are made in our workshop first, so the work in your home is about fitting and finishing.
How much will my alcove unit cost?
It depends on the size, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish, along with access and parking. We send a written quote after the design visit.
What happens when you come to measure?
We measure the room, check how level the walls and floors are and talk through the design with you. We will also ask about access and parking.
When is bespoke worth it?
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there is often a strip of wasted space at the side or above. Furniture we make is built to the room’s own sizes, so it can use the full height and width.
Off-the-shelf furniture can be a sensible choice. In a room with square walls and standard sizes, it can work well, and it is quick to buy.
What prompts alcove units in New Barnet
Sometimes there are old units already, worn, badly fitted or the wrong size for how you live. Starting again lets you rethink the layout.
Most of the enquiries we get are about needs like these:
- Everyday clutter left on show
- A desk that tucks into an alcove
- Somewhere to keep books and records
- Furniture that does not fit the alcove
If your home is one of the older houses near Holy Trinity Lyonsdown, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at.
Before you hire any carpenter
- A quote in writing that sets out the job
- Whether they can show you real projects they’ve done
- How they handle walls that aren’t straight
- Will other trades be needed, and who arranges them?
How we price alcove units
Each piece is designed for one room, so each price is too. The things that affect it are:
- How square the room is
- Stairs, lifts and the route to the room
- Parking and unloading on your street
- How big the furniture is
Rooms that aren’t square take more work: 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.
Helping us understand the room
The more you can tell us at the start, the better the design visit goes. When you get in touch, it is useful to send:
- Rough measurements: width, height and depth
- Pictures of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling
- Examples of the look you are after
- Whether it is a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
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, drop us a line using the contact form.