Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Enfield · London
New Southgate Alcove Units
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, for homes in New Southgate. We make each piece in our workshop and fit it in your home.
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
- Shop-bought shelving that doesn’t fill the recess
- A place for a small desk
Need alcove units in New Southgate?
How fitting day works
Every fitting follows the same order: floors are protected, the sections come in, everything is levelled, scribed to the walls, fixed and finished. At the end, we tidy up and go over the work with you. How long fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. On fitting day, each piece is fitted to the room’s own walls, scribed where walls bow and levelled where floors slope. Spray-painted pieces arrive finished; hand-painted ones can be finished on site.
- You get in touch with a short description of the alcoves and your ideas.
- We visit to measure, look at how the walls run and note the skirting, picture rail and any vent.
- We send a quote in writing setting out the layout, materials and finish.
- Once you are happy, the units are built in our workshop, each one sized to its own alcove.
- Fitting day: the units go in, are scribed to the alcoves and levelled on a plinth or feet. The finish is sprayed in our workshop or hand-painted on site, as agreed.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Get any new sockets or wiring done by your electrician before fitting day
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
- If you live in a block, book the lift and tell the building manager
How to get a quote
The design visit is where every quote starts. We measure the room properly, check how the walls and floors run and go through the design with you. A quote in writing follows the visit, so you can take your time with it. To arrange the visit, fill in our short enquiry form.
Advice
About our alcove units in New Southgate
One alcove can be given over to a desk, with shelving overhead and storage underneath. It gives you a place to work without turning a room into an office. Desk height and depth are agreed with you, with a gap or hole planned so cables can reach the sockets. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand, and people most often get in touch about old alcove cupboards that have seen better days and a desk that tucks into an alcove.
Every room has its fixed points: the window, the door, the radiator and the sockets. Whatever kind of home you have in New Southgate, alcove units are planned around those first. Then the cupboards, shelves and any space for a screen are arranged for how you use the room, and the paint colour is agreed with you.
A written quote is the clearest record of what we have agreed. It describes the alcove unit we have designed for the room, its materials and its finish.
- Where
- New Southgate (N11, N10, N14)
- Borough
- Enfield
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it is made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Working days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Contact
- Send us a message
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What affects the cost of alcove units
A few things affect what fitted furniture costs:
- How big the furniture is
- Doors and drawers, and how many
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- Parking and unloading on your street
Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. Bigger pieces use more board and take longer to make and fit, so size comes first. After that, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish all play a part.
Getting in touch
There’s no need for exact sizes or plans. It’s enough to send:
- The postcode, so we can plan the visit
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
- Whether it is a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- Photos of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling
To get a quote, message us from the contact page and tell us a little about the room and roughly what you’d like. We then arrange a design visit to measure and discuss the design, and a quote in writing follows.
Flats, leases and landlords
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.
In a flat, the route in matters as much as the room. At the design visit, we measure the stairs, the landings, any lift and the doors, so each section is sized to get through.
New Southgate homes and alcove units
About 27% of the homes in the area around New Southgate went up before 1919, and about 26% between 1919 and 1939, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. We take that into account at the measuring visit, since older and newer walls take different fixings. New Southgate is partly covered by a conservation area, going by Historic England’s data. The controls in a conservation area are mostly about the outside of buildings, so furniture fitted inside a house does not normally need planning permission. If you’re unsure, check with the council before work starts. TfL’s Ultra Low Emission Zone covers every part of London, Enfield included. That includes the vans that bring and fit furniture in New Southgate. Parking and access are planned at the measuring visit.
Heath Hall, about 2.9 miles south-west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. If your own home is a period one, 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 St Paul's CofE Primary School N11 or a school nearby, shelving with deep cupboards below keeps books, games and school things in one place. If your home is one of the older houses near St Paul's Church, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at.
New Southgate is about 4 miles east of Edmonton, in the London Borough of Enfield. We design and make alcove units for homes in New Southgate, as part of our work in every London borough. New Southgate is one of 26 places on our list for Enfield.
In N11, N10 and N14, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. You’ll find streets here such as High Road, Orion Road and Atlas Road, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. New Southgate is near the A1003 and A1110; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. We also cover the places around New Southgate: Friern Barnet (1 mile west), Arnos Grove (1 mile east), Bounds Green (1 mile south-east), Brunswick Park (1 mile north) and Southgate (1 mile north). Across the rest of Enfield, our area takes in Edmonton (4 miles east), Enfield (4 miles north-east), Enfield Chase (3 miles north-east), Bush Hill Park (4 miles north-east), Upper Edmonton (3 miles east) and Gordon Hill (4 miles north-east). Being one of the larger places in Enfield, New Southgate is covered for alcove units and everything else we make.
Landmarks near New Southgate
Our area takes in the homes around The Ranelagh pub, Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum and Ming-Ai and the streets around them. There is a railway station in New Southgate itself: New Southgate station. Nearby you’ll also find Grand Arcade (1.5 miles west) and Broomfield House Museum (1.1 miles east). For a walk, there is Barfield Allotments Nature Park.
Is bespoke worth it?
A bespoke unit takes longer to arrive than something from a shop: there is a design visit, a quote and making time in the workshop. In return, the unit is planned for your alcove alone, not the nearest catalogue size. Few rooms have truly flat walls and level floors, and standalone units show it with gaps and wobbles. Fitted furniture is scribed and levelled on site.
We don’t publish set prices, because every piece is designed for one room. We measure up, discuss the design and send a quote in writing, with the materials and finish set out. To start, send us a few details through our contact form.
Why us?
- 300+ projects completed
- We work across all London boroughs
- Scribed to uneven walls
- Saturday visits and fitting by arrangement
Read how bespoke compares with ready-made or what to look for in a quote.
Looking after your furniture
Fitted furniture is part of the room, so it’s worth looking after. Here are a few tips worth knowing:
- Make the alcoves easy to reach for measuring
- Book your electrician first if sockets need moving
- Think about what you will store before we meet
- Have any damp looked at before the units are made
Doors can settle a little once the units are in use. Hinges can usually be adjusted to bring a door back in line, so a small gap or rub is easy to correct.
Now and then, check handles and hinges are still tight and adjust a door before a small rub becomes a mark.
Neighbourhoods near New Southgate
What else we make in New Southgate
Questions from New Southgate
Is parking a problem for fitting in New Southgate?
It can be, depending on whether your street is in a controlled parking zone. A van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a parking bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. It’s useful to let us know about parking at the measuring visit, and we’ll plan around it.
Does a conservation area in or near New Southgate affect fitted furniture?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are largely about how buildings look from outside, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, works inside that affect its character may need listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
How tall should alcove units be?
It depends on the room and the look you want. Units can stop just under the picture rail or run up to the cornice. The height is settled during the design visit.
Which finishes are there for alcove units?
There are two options: a spray-painted finish done in our workshop, or a hand-painted finish done on site. Either way, the colour is agreed with you. Spray painting is smooth and even, while hand painting is easy to touch up.
Do you work outside London?
No. We cover London only: all 32 boroughs and the City of London.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, Saturdays are possible by prior arrangement. Just mention it when you contact us, and we’ll see what we can do.