Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Kensington and Chelsea · London
South Kensington Alcove Units
Few London rooms are perfectly square, and we scribe the furniture to follow the walls. We make alcove units for homes in South Kensington, each designed at a visit to your home.
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- A place for a small desk
Ask about alcove units in South Kensington
Questions from South Kensington
Is South Kensington in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes. South Kensington is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Kensington and Chelsea and London. To get started, you can tell us about the room on our contact form with some details.
Do you cover homes near West Brompton station?
Yes. We cover all of Kensington and Chelsea and the rest of London. To get started, you can send us a few details through our contact form with some details about the room.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Usually not. Inside a house, fitted furniture doesn’t normally need planning permission. Listed buildings can require listed building consent for works that affect their character, so check with the council first.
What affects the price of alcove units?
Each room is quoted on its own: the size, what goes inside, the finish and how square the room is all count. You will get a written quote once we’ve measured up.
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 helps to be around at the end.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
It’s a chance to measure properly and talk through what you’d like. We look at the walls, floors and anything the furniture has to work around, then send a written quote.
Alcove units for homes in South Kensington
Few alcoves in older houses are truly square. Walls bow, corners wander and floors slope, often all at once. We make each unit in our workshop to the measurements we take, then scribe it on site, so the sides meet the wall closely rather than showing a dark line. Adjustable feet or a plinth set it level. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand, and the usual reasons to get in touch are old alcove cupboards that have seen better days and shop-bought shelving that doesn’t fill the recess.
In a house from the Victorian or Edwardian years, the chimney breast tends to survive even when the fireplace itself has been blocked up. That matters around South Kensington, as a large share of the homes there were built before 1919. The recesses either side take alcove units scribed to the plaster and cut around the skirting.
Everything we agree at the design visit goes into the written quote: the layout and internal fittings, the materials and the finish. If something is not quite right, tell us before anything is made.
- Place
- South Kensington (SW3, SW7, SW10)
- Borough
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it’s made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Made from
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- When we fit
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Neighbourhoods near South Kensington
What else we make in South Kensington
Alcove units for homes in South Kensington
Homes built before 1919 make up about 71% of the housing in the area around South Kensington, with about 9% built between 1919 and 1939, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. The age of a home tells us a lot about its walls, floors and ceilings, and so about how alcove units are fixed and fitted. 31 conservation areas have at least part of their area within a mile of the centre of South Kensington. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings. In inner London, a large part of the street parking sits inside borough-run controlled parking zones. In South Kensington, a van will typically need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a suspended bay, and the council arranges suspensions, often with notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the measuring visit.
If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, like Church of St Luke, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. For a listed home, fixing into original features may need listed building consent. The wider area includes historic houses like Carlyle's House, about 0.6 miles south-east. If your own home is a period one, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units.
South Kensington is about 1 mile north-west of Kensington, within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Whether your home in South Kensington is a terraced house, a flat or a newer build, we measure the room as it is and design around it. Our work takes in places right across Kensington and Chelsea.
Design visits and fitting in SW3, SW7 and SW10 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. If your home is on a street such as King's Road, Fulham Road and Museum Lane, or close by, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. South Kensington is near the A3217, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you contact us. Other places close to South Kensington include Little Chelsea (1 mile south), Chelsea (1 mile east), Brompton (1 mile north-east), World's End (1 mile south) and Earl's Court (1 mile west). Elsewhere in Kensington and Chelsea, we also cover Notting Hill (2 miles north-west), Notting Dale (2 miles north-west), Kensal Town (3 miles north-west) and North Kensington (3 miles north-west).
What’s near South Kensington
The streets we cover here include those near Natural History Museum Library and Archives, Anglesea Arms and London School of Dramatic Art and the streets around them. South Kensington’s nearest station is West Brompton station, about 0.8 miles west of the centre. Nearby you’ll also find Victoria and Albert Museum Spiral (within half a mile north) and Harrods (0.8 miles north-east). Open spaces near South Kensington include Campden Hill and Serpentine.
Pricing alcove units in South Kensington
A few things affect what fitted furniture costs:
- How square the room is
- Doors and drawers, and how many
- How big the furniture is
- The internal fittings
Every room is priced on its own, because size, layout and finish change from job to job. A spray finish and a hand-painted finish involve different work, and that shows in the price. The figure comes in your written quote after the design visit.
Getting in touch
To help us picture the room, please include:
- Rough measurements, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
- Whether it is a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- Anything in the way, such as radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- Pictures of styles you like, if you have any
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. To arrange a visit, send us a few details through our contact form.
Do you need alcove units in South Kensington?
Many people ask about alcove units because the alcoves are the most obvious wasted space they have. Standard furniture seldom fits an alcove, so there are gaps at the sides and the top. A fitted unit fills the recess up to the ceiling if you want.
Most of the enquiries we get are about needs like these:
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
If you live near Burton’s Court, alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it.
Choosing a carpenter
- Whether they can show you real projects they’ve done
- How the furniture will be finished, and where
- Have they thought about parking near you?
- Who does any electrics, plumbing or gas work
Flats, blocks and rented homes
In a flat, the route in matters as much as the room. We measure the stairs, landings, lift and doorways not just the room, so each section is sized to get through.
If your flat is leasehold, check your lease before fixing furniture to the walls. Some leases need the building owner’s consent for alterations, and that’s best sorted before fitting day. We can’t give advice on leases, so check it yourself or ask your managing agent.
Fitting day, step by step
You’re welcome to ask questions while we work. The design, materials and finish were settled before anything was made, so the day itself is about careful fitting. How long 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. Scribing is done on site, which means some cutting in the room or close by, so a clear area to work in near the room helps. We keep dust down and tidy as we go. Hand painting, if that is your finish, can follow the fitting.
- You get in touch and tell us about the room and the alcoves.
- We visit to measure the alcoves and go through the design, checking how far the walls are out of square.
- We send a written quote for the units, for you to read through at your own pace.
- Each unit is built in our workshop to the measurements we took, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We install the units, set them level and scribe them to the alcoves, so they sit tight to the chimney breast.
Before we arrive
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Take anything hanging off the wall we’re fitting to
- Clear the hallway and stairs so the sections can come through
Arranging a design visit
If you know what you want, say so; if you do not, that is 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 arrange a visit, message us from the contact page.
Related advice
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
A bespoke unit takes longer to arrive than something from a shop: it needs a design visit, a quote and time in the workshop. In return, the unit is planned for your alcove alone. Chimney breasts in older houses stand out by different amounts, so the recesses either side are rarely the same, and standard units bought as a pair rarely suit both. Each side can be made to its own size.
How it is painted is part of the price: spray painting happens in the workshop, and hand painting can be done in your home. Your choice, along with the size and the fittings, is reflected in the written quote.
Why work with us in South Kensington
- We work across all London boroughs
- Built in our workshop and fitted in your home
- Fitted tight to walls that are not straight
- Built around your room
Read how bespoke compares with ready-made and how to compare quotes.